Multiple flaps

[Travis]

I have been trying to create a Bell/Boeing V22 Osprey, but have been having trouble with the flaps.

The engines need to rotate when the flaps are extended.  I have tried linking the engines to the flaps, but the axes are too different to do this.

I have tried using object names such as "l_flaps_01" or "l_flaps_l" but nothing seems to work.  If the regular flaps work, the engines don't rotate.

Is there a way to have multiple flap settings, like you can do with the gear?  IE: "l_gear_door", "l_gear_piston", etc?

[RIC_BARKER]

Yes this is do-able.

Again, it is the first part of the flap tag that's important, after the "L_FLAP" tag you can append any name you like to have as many itterations of flaps as you like. For example "L_FLAP_ENGINE" would work. You only need one of these per side, everything else can be tagged as a normal engine, but made a child part of your "L_FLAP_ENGINE" part, so these will follow the rotation of the flap parts.

The number and type of flaps are defined in the ".cfg" file. In here you can set their position relative to the refrence datum, the ammount of lift they provide, and their induced drag. You can also set the number of positions they have (ie, for your engines, level flight, 25 degrees, 45 degrees, etc) You can animte this with keyframes. I would recommend a drag setting of 0 for your "engine flaps".

You might find it's easier to set up the whole aircraft as a helicopter with a wing, rather than an aircraft with a rotor.

Ric B.

[Travis]

Okay, what you suggested, I have already tried.  I labled the engines L_FLAP_ENGINE and R_FLAP_ENGINE, but they just stayed level when I opened the flaps, while the regular flaps (L_FLAP, R_FLAP) moved as they should.  Although, since I am using the aircraft.cfg and airfile of the V22 by Vlad Zhuliyevskiy (sp?) just for model tests.  I guess I should make my own, huh?

Making the aircraft a helo will not work, because it wouldn't be able to fly like an airplane, but would instead remain a chopper.  And in FS2k2, all the helos are glorified Bell 206's.  It does, however, work a little better as an airplane with strange lift characteristics.  I'm gonna have to play around with the airfile to find what works best.

[juri]

i've noticed that some parts will NOT tolerate additions in part names, the parts will not animate right if the name contains anything else than the name suggested in the SDK.

but you can have as many parts named L_FLAP as you like, i think. or rather i've noticed... my kingair has two L_FLAPs and two R_FLAPS, two TRIMTAB_ELEVATORs etc, and they all work just fine.

simply name your engine L_FLAP and R_FLAP and see what happens...

-juri

[Travis]

actually, what I did was just make the regular flaps "l and r_pct_trail_edge_flap0" and then made the engines "l and r_flap_key_engine".  That seems to work fine, only now I have to actually finish the model!

Thanks for the help, guys!