You mean the physical shape of the engine cowl changed? If they’re trying to mimic a real world design, what’s the logic there?
Version 1.1
Basically, the diameter of the cowling increased a little bit so that there’s a gap between the cowling and the front of the fuselage, which allows airflow through the cowling. But, as noted, you can see through that gap completely, as if (visually) there was no engine underneath the cowling. TBF, it does help with vision on landing…
Concur with Apollon0011 on the other points - virtually every major issue has been fixed. I didn’t check the EGT to see if leaning makes any difference now, though.
I’ll add that there still seems to be some ground handling issues relating to the translation between the tail wheel and/or diff braking controlling direction and rudder authority taking over. I think, basically, you need a lot more rudder to keep the tail wheel straight than you need rudder when the tail lifts, so the plane yaws rather violently when the tail lifts. (This is why you have locking tail wheels…) And the plane is still very spinny – it looks like engine torque forces are far outweighing the tail wheel’s ability to cope, which is fine if all you ever make are right turns… EDIT: Upon further reflection, this could also be something relating to the rudder authority suddenly kicking in…
In the air, though – I liked how it handled before; now I love how it handles. Smooth as silk – trims very nicely, and is very stable. (I think this is in part due to the fix to the CG, which is now properly in bounds.) I still wish there was a HDG or NAV ability on the AP, but what’s there is servicable.
EDIT: Forgot to mention - it isn’t as slippery now, too. Cut the throttle back and it will slow to approach speed fairly quickly.
Ah I understand now, thanks for that. Hopefully fixing the cowl is straightforward. I’m surprised that wasn’t caught before the update was pushed out though.
@FndrStrat06 Yes, that is a simple fix.
@DaveR44 HDG and NAV functions work. Just tested everything except entering a flight plan. ALT hold, VS, HDG and NAV direct to, ALT select all work very smoothly. Is the CDI switched to GPS?
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HDG won’t activate on the KAP-140 for me, in any circumstance. So I don’t know if the AP will follow the heading bug or not. (Yes, it is set to GPS, but that shouldn’t impact the HDG setting.) I haven’t tried a preplanned route yet, either - just some free flights - so I don’t know if the GPS NAV mode is working for me or not.
@DaveR44 For sure then, something is interfering with your AP function. Working in other planes?
Yes - no problems with the AP on any other plane. And the vertical speed/alt hold works fine. I can’t figure it out. The only thing I can think that could possibly be interfering somehow is the PMS50 GTN750. I’ll see if disabling that does anything.
EDIT: I may have found the culprit – I had the New KAP-140 mod active (and thought I didn’t). That’s got to be the issue. Testing now.
FURTHER EDIT: Yep, that was the issue. Removed the mod, and everything works perfectly.
ANOTHER EDIT: ALMOST perfectly. NAV mode works great, but I couldn’t get it to stop following the NAV path by switching to HDG mode. It didn’t follow the bug at all, even when I suspended the GPS pathing using the OBS button. And the KAP-140 was showing HDG mode, not NAV (and NAV was not armed either). Unless some other control changes the AP heading? (I naturally assumed the heading bug would control, but what do I know?)
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Did anyone notice the magazines in the back? There’s a Spartan brochure for the Executive, and two copies of “Model Airplane News”. One of those covers has what appears to be the Hughes Racer (HCG’s first MSFS release). The other… is the Curtiss Hawk 75, aka the P-36. Could that be the next plane coming from HCG? That would be pretty cool…
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There’s an easy fix for ground steering if you’re OK with a little cfg edit. Out of the box, the max steering angle is 90°, which is too much. Most people, myself included, tend to twist the stick to the max and expect max steering. But at 90, the plane just can’t roll with the tail wheel turned completely sideways. Even without max deflection, it still makes steering twitchy as heck. Reducing that angle to 70° will let the plane pivot on one main wheel with no problem at all. And if you want a true caster, I believe setting that angle to 180 still works like it did in previous sims.
If you want to make the edit, open the flight_model.cfg, find the contact points section, and edit the following line. The change is in bold/italics.
point.2 = 1,-13.242966,0,-1.279077,1800,0,0.43,70,0.1,1.9,0.8,0,0,0,155,155,1
OK - can someone please tell me why this plane causes a global change where the ATC interactions are now done with my copilot avatar’s female voice instead of my own male avatar’s voice? I’ve done multiple tests moving this one package into and out of my Community folder, and with the plane installed, I end up requesting making requests with a female voice, but with the package removed and setting up a completely identical flight (same plane, same parking spot), the voice from my plane reverts back to male to match my pilot’s avatar.
I managed to work out my autopilot issues and get both HDG and NAV to work properly. I think the issue is just the general wonkiness of the stock KAP-140.
Confirmed that the EGT needle still doesn’t move, though. Alas. (Also, there’s a minor cosmetic issue - the heat blur animation from the exhaust doesn’t end when the engine is turned off.)
That avatar voice thing is very weird. I haven’t had issues with the voices myself. Maybe there’s some sort of conflict with the Exec and some other mod… but I don’t know of any mods that mess with the avatar voices. Puzzling.
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The heat blur from the exhaust pipes stopped about 10 minuets after I shut down the engine, nice little touch along with many other little extras you tend to find the longer you have this plane.
Glad the update fixed the ground handling. Hope someone does some liveries for it with the plane painted instead of the shiny metal.
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That’s what I was thinking, glad to see it confirmed as a feature and not a bug. Great touch!
After the update, the ground handling is excellent now. The wheel friction must have changed heavily because now I can land and roll out straight without skidding like crazy. No more weird sticky wheels when taxiing either. Lovely. The tail wheel animates correctly now too.
I tested the EGT gauge a bit. It does move with the mixture being leaned, but only a small amount and it’s delayed a little. Not like the behavior in any other plane in MSFS with an EGT gauge. Maybe that’s realistic to this plane or this gauge, but it still makes the instrument useless. easier to lean to the first change in engine noise or RPM drop.
Wonderful update. Great plane now across the board.
If your normal copilot avatar is male, try switching to one of the female options and see what happens.
I just go the Spartan a few hours ago and have flown it once. Just a couple things I’ve noticed but need to double check on.
- You can lower the belly flaps without the battery on. You can’t lower the wing flaps, as expected.
- The Pitot Heat switch seems to be toggled backwards. I have a switch on my Bravo and when it’s off, the pitot heat in the cockpit is on and vice versa.
- Should there be any marker on the CDI showing top center so I can line it up when flying VORs or ILSs?
- Sounds are amazing, but there is no gradual transition from idle to slight power, it’s very abrupt. EDIT on further listening, I hear the two sounds overlap, and the idle sound gradually die out.
- AP has been a bit wonky. I don’t have the KAP140 mod installed, should I?
Exhaust pipe heat blur is due to superheated air blowing out of the exhaust. When the engine is off, nothing is blowing out of the exhaust. There is no way that there could possibly be heat blur UNDER the engine - which is the case here, as the exhaust vents downward – unless the engine was running. Heat rises. It’s a bug, or at best an incorrect application of the effect.