Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: AKDogg on March 02, 2010, 06:12:56 PM
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I curious to how HTC is going to model the engine on this plane. This plane doesn't have a throttle. It uses what they call a blip switch that either cuts the ignition off and on, or the selector magneto, which alters the number of complete revolutions needed to fire all 9 cylinders.
So essentially, it is either idle, half power or full power. I guess is what I am saying what it has depending on the mag setting and the blip switch. It actually doesn't even idle, it constantly revs/ pulses when near idle.
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here is a flyby of a sopwith camel:
sopwith camel flyby (http://www.arabian-knights.org/files/Dogg/sopwith_camel/flyby.wav)
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It had a quarter power setting too. Maybe a three quarters power setting, but I don't know that for sure.
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I'll take a wild guess that HTC will model it like the engine on a Sopwith Camel. :old:
Not sure how they'll model the engine controls but I can think of a couple of options.
We'll have a lot of spare buttons without flaps, gear, prop pitch, etc to worry about.
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The rotaries usually had idle (just one cylinder firing per revolution), 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 (which was actually more like 2 in 3) and full settings, as well as the 'blip' switch that would cut the ignition (but not the fuel flow). Overuse of the blip switch was what usually caused engine fires, as unburnt fuel would build up and then catch fire when the ignition came back on.
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It would be easy enough to set the number of cylinders with the flaps control the same way it's used to change gears in a vehicle. The engine key is already an on/off toggle. RPM or throttle axis could set the fuel air mixture.
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Im really eager to check these old birds out, I have always been in awe of the guys that jumped in these flying hay bales, when the science was practically brand new.
Any ideas on the release date? :x
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My bet is that HTC will simply make the throttle have a staircase response. You will control the engine just like you do now with the analog throttle on the stick, but it will respond in jumps instead of a smooth variation.
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My bet is that HTC will simply make the throttle have a staircase response. You will control the engine just like you do now with the analog throttle on the stick, but it will respond in jumps instead of a smooth variation.
This.
Anything else would just p me off.
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This.
Anything else would just p me off.
+1
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See Rule #4
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here is a flyby of a sopwith camel:
sopwith camel flyby (http://www.arabian-knights.org/files/Dogg/sopwith_camel/flyby.wav)
You sure thats not an old lawnmower? :D
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You sure thats not an old lawnmower? :D
I am positive it is not a lawn mower,lol. Sure sounds like it though, hehehe.
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Im really eager to check these old birds out, I have always been in awe of the guys that jumped in these flying hay bales, when the science was practically brand new.
Any ideas on the release date? :x
Wrong way to look at it. These kids jumped into the hottest, most high-tech machines in history. Not entirely unlike the kids today jumping into, say, an F-22.
Looking back someone will comment on how brave F-22 pilots were, jumping into those flying aluminum garbage cans when the science was practically brand new.
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The Sopwith Camel was equipped with a few different engines. The early models using the LeRhone 130 and Clerget 130 had the ability to throttle down to about 2/3rds to 1/2 throttle. Also dependent upon whether they were descending, you could pull the fuel mixture quadrant out of synch with the air volume lever and lean the engine and slow it even more for a short period of time. The low compression ratios on these engine actually withstood leaning of the mixture somewhat as long as they weren't being loaded much.
The 160 hp Gnome Monosuapape was entirely different as it was not much different from the earlier Gnomes that could not be throttled. It used an elaborate clockwork ignition distributor that turned off rotating sets of cylinders in alternation, so you didn't foul the plugs on what would have normally been the ones always shut off.
Hard to explain, but it worked as they shut of 3 or 5 or 7 sets of cylinders depending upon where the mag switch was set. I also believe the Gnome Mono did have a fine mixture setting lever for the engine when running at "partial ignition throttle"
The Bentley Rotary used on the later F.1 Camels, was a British manufactured, upgraded Clerget 130 that also had a half throttle carb "idle" position. Because most rotaries were in a pretty low state of tune, the partial throttle was more close to having a reasonable amount of throttling, mainly because of the low state of engine power per cubic inch. These things only spun at about 1200~1300 RPM max.