I Can't Get A.F. Scrub's Fabulous Hellcat to Grap the Waikato Cable

Hi,

Long time, no attendance here. But a wiped system and reload has me rebuilding my FS9.

I downloaded A.F. Scrub's fabulous Hellcat. It works like a charm but ignores the arrestor cable on the Waikato carrier.

My Flying Pancake catches it, so I suspect it's not my flying technique (as the Pancake is somewhat harder to fly), nor the carrier's problem.

I've checked: It has [Tailhook] info in its .cfg file. It reacts correctly to "tailhook extended." It just rolls past the critical area on the deck.

Suggestions are much appreciated.

Dennis Simanaitis (EngEd)

Make sure the tailhook length is correct. Make it's vertical placement the same as the main gear's contact point length.

Thus:

Main gear's contact point placement: point.1 = 1, 2.72, -6.00, -8.60

tailhook: tailhook_position = -15.0, 0.0, -1.0 ;(feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum

Now the length should be : tailhook_length=7

Notice that the position is -1.0, so the length needs to make up the difference, or 7 to match, at least closely, the length of the mains, as shown in red. Taildraggers are a little different, needing a bit less due to the landing angle (nose up to a specific degree).

You can make it about the correct length, then lengthen or shorten it about .5 feet at a time until it functions correctly.

Lastly, are you using the RCBO-2.0 to set up the carrier and planes? If so, you need to have the correct entries in the Panel.cfg file of the plane. Check you Pancake's panel.cfg file to see what the entries are, or read the RCBO-2.0 documentation. It's in there. Or I can post the entries you need, if you want. Just let me know.

Hope all this rambling helps a little :)

Pat☺

Hi, Phantom,

Thanks sincerely for this. Indeed, I fooled with the Hellcat's original hook length, 4 ft, and tried replacing it with my Pancake's already functional 1 ft. (They're both tail draggers...) No dice with either length.

Yes, I'm using RCBO-2.0. I suspect the problem may be in the panel.cfg, which for the Hellcat has no RCBO files. The Pancake has several.

I tried a quick-and-dirty installation of three from the Pancake's [Window00] array, dsd_carrier_zones, COP_COnfig!..., and COP_Sound!..., but to no avail.

I could simply drop the entire Pancake panel.cfg into the Hellcat, but this, of course, would screw up Scrub's fine panel.

As you note, it's time to reread the RCBO docs.

Thanks again for your suggestions. d

There's more than three lines to go into the [Window.00] section :)

Add ALL the following:

add to [Window 00]

gauge28=rcb-miljet!Icon_Ball, 453,312,11,10,300160

gauge29=dsd_carrier_zones!dsd_carrier_zones, 0,0,20,19

gauge30=rcb-miljet!CatLaunch, 0,0,20,20

gauge31=COP_Config!config, 0,0,,, ./gauges/rcb-miljet/COP_Config.ini

gauge32=COP_Sound!dsd_xml_sound3, 0,0,,, ./gauges/rcb-miljet/COP_Sound.ini

gauge33=dsd_arrester!arrester, 111,347,24,,.

gauge34=dsd_catapult!catapult, 102,369,33,,300105

Your numbers will obviously be different, of course. You will also need to adjust the positions of the last two, as well as the first one (the AOA gauge), to show up in an empty spot on the 2D panel.

Finally, add in another window, which you seem to know how to do, that reads WindowXX=meatball

Additionally, you will need

WindowXX]

Background_color=0,0,0

size_mm=132,129

window_size_ratio=1.000

position=7

visible=0

ident=10011

window_size= 0.109, 0.144

window_pos= 0.450, 0.250

gauge00=rcb-miljet!Ball, 0,0,131,131

gauge01=dsd_carrier_zones!zone_selection, 10,0,121

Obviously, the XX part will be a number, but I suspect you know how to on that all.

This is straight from the Documentation :)

Pat☺

Pat,

Bless your heart. It saves me a whole lot of doc reading. Your kindness will be recalled whenever I hear that snag of the Waikato's cable.

Glad I could help!

Remember, unlike present day jets, most WWII prop planes didn't come down "the groove". They generally made a long, sweeping, curved approach, only straightening up at the last second. They relied very very heavily on the LSO to make the deck too.

Come to think, I'm going to drop Paddles a note over on the FSDT forums. Maybe he can make a version of vLSO for WWII planes...

Anyhow, have fun, and good luck with your CQ's :)

Pat☺