I have had this beautiful aircraft for a number of years but haven't flown it until recently and now I remember why.
First off, my platform is FSX Acceleration. In my hangar I only have 4 other, four engined pistoned propeller aircaft. Manfred's B-50, C-97, Cal Classic DC-7B and Manfred's L-1049. Of these, the L-1049 is the only one that exhibits the problem I am about to describe. I have applied the various updates and revisions as found on the Cal Classic website under the Super Constellation header.
After loading the aircraft ,and setting the Autopilot IAS, heading and desired altitude, but not activating the AP, I prepare to start the engines, but not yet. I set flaps to flaps 1, check all my gauges and everything looks good. Of note here are the two Manifold Pressure gauges which oddly enough, at least to me, have all four needles at 35 MP. Mind you, the engines haven't been started yet. Why are they at 35 MP? OK, I start the engines using Ctrl-E. All OK. I release the brakes, and start my take off roll. At 140 kts, I rotate , retract the gear and fly straight out for about 3 miles. At that point I am about 1200 feet ASL and I engage the autopilot for altitude climb and and heading. Seeing that I am doing an ILS approach, I level off at 2900 feet and head towards the ILS marker on the GPS. So far, so good and then it happens. At close to the 7 minute clock of flight time, number 4 engine followed by number 3, 2 and finally 1, sputter and shutdown. Fuel quantity in all tanks is full. In FSX, I have Unlimied Fuel and Auto-Mixture options checked. In the aircraft cfg file, I have changed Auto_Mixture=0, to 1. If in flight, if I Reload the aircraft, it restores the engines operation, but screws up the Autopilot so I start a dive to the ground. I can not get beyond 7 minutes of flight to where I loose the engines, attempt after attempt. I have followed the documentation instructions for initiating a new flight. No change. 7 minutes in, engines quit. I have attemped to use other panels from the C-97 and B-50, but I end up with the nose steering gear pointing at 90 degrees. Makes for deteriorating rubber and somehow just doesn't look right! LOL! Not to mention that the C-97 or B-50 panels look awlward in a L-1049.
So that is it. Can't keep engines running beyond 7 minutes of flight. For anyone who has this wonderful aircraft, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.