Hi everyone,

I'm a pilot of both a Cessna 172 and (more importantly) an Auster D4 108 registration G-ARLG.

I got into real flying as a result of encouragement from some Flight Simulator friends back in 2002 and got my NPPL licence in 2004. When I can (but not often enough) I fly the Auster from a strip near Andover, Hampshire.

For a long time I've used Björn Büchner's Taylorcraft Auster on FS2004 as it has an almost identical Panel to the one in our Auster. With his permission I modified the Panel Instruments so they are as close to those in the real aircraft (seen here durng a maintenance session):



Ideally what I would like to do is marry the Panel from Björn Büchner's Taylorcraft to the David Molyneaux Auster D5 that is hosted here. I realise there are some differences in the aircraft behind the front seats (the D4 has only 2 seats and now window above and behind unlike the D5).

I also realise that the VC which is important to me forms part of the model and if I want to undertake this myself I would need to learn how to do some Dev work with GMAX or FSDS. This is probably not beyond my capability but if there was any chance of acquiring copies of the dev version/code I'd be happy to learm. (I continue to write vb scripts as part of my day job).

I'm not too worried about the external views of the aircraft, but I would like to improve the performance as the D4 108 only has a 108hp engine and climbs very, very slowly (I count 500fpm on a cold winter's day good going!)

So do you think the idea viable? Am I asking too much?

Incidentally I believe that while the D5 was the last production model to bear the Auster name, our own Auster D4 108 was the last Auster ever to be produced and bear the name as it was constructed from spare components for use by the factory flying club and was registered in April 1961.

Neil

A very interesting post Neil.
My Auster MK5 was modelled on G-ANIE from information supplied by our collaborator Martin and photos and help from it's owner - Roy Ingram to make it a close copy of the real thing both in looks and performance.
Making a specific V.C. cockpit is in practice the major part of any build project - the external model taking perhaps 25% of the time, the interior, new gauges etc. etc. filling the rest of the time. So you would not be talking of doing 'some work' - it would in fact be simpler to start from scratch.
Although I've now built most of the major Auster marks, I've always found I've had to start from square one most of the time. Trying to patch stuff in is fraught with problems.
The modelling is in GMax - which would have to be learnt first.
However, the crux is - modellers do not as a rule release the source-code for their aircraft (being their intellectual property) and I'm no exception.
Cheers
Dave M(oly)

Thanks for your response Dave.

I hadn't appreciated that most aircraft models would require working from the ground up. So I suspect that this may be a project too far (at least until retirement time - which fortunately/unfortunately is a way off yet).

But just so as I understand the development cycle here.

Is GMAX (the version that shipped with FS2002) enough for what I would want to do or is a different version required?

Are there any good tutorials on how to build an aircraft to include the VC?

Maybe if I find some time I'll revist this.

Anyway - thanks to those who run this site for all the interesting British aircraft available for download. If anyone wants anymore info or photos of the D4 108, please let me know.

Neil

Thanks Neil.
Not sure about which version shipped with FS2002, I use GMax 1.2 which came with FS2004 as I believe many others do. There is also FSDS - very popular and supposed to be easier, a very relative term indeed
Re, complete tutorials, I don't know of a complete one including V.C. building. This one covers the external model only - www.simviation.com/gryphon/tutorials/gMax_00.htm but gives you a 'feel' for the task.
Also needed - essential, is the FS2004 S.D.K .which gives very terse descriptions of all the components of a F.Sim aircraft. For FSX, the appropriate S.D.K. would be needed.
It's mainly a question of trolling through the specialist forums like www.freeflightdesign.org/ picking up tips and specific tutorials.
Be aware that it takes a long time to build an aircraft - anything from a few months if worked on 'full-time' (I'm retired ) to years for a working man.
H.T.H.
Cheers
Dave M(oly)