Handley Page 42 Heracles

[E.E.]

I have the FSX HP 42 aircraft but the panel and gauges are disappointing. On FS-Sim website I found an FS 2000/2004? aircraft with excellent panels and gauges. Unfortunately the files are arranged in an unfamiliar way (for me at least).
I have DMFS aircraft running in an added AIRCRAFT folder and I thought the Earlier HP42 would run there also but it won't no matter what I try. Really, I want the panels and gauges, can anyone tell me where I am going wrong and if what I want is possible?

[PhilFly]

Hi,

Could you indicate which aircraft you're talking about, I will have a look and see what I could do?

Thanks

Philippe

[garymbuska]

I have the FSX HP 42 aircraft but the panel and gauges are disappointing. On FS-Sim website I found an FS 2000/2004? aircraft with excellent panels and gauges. Unfortunately the files are arranged in an unfamiliar way (for me at least).
I have DMFS aircraft running in an added AIRCRAFT folder and I thought the Earlier HP42 would run there also but it won't no matter what I try. Really, I want the panels and gauges, can anyone tell me where I am going wrong and if what I want is possible?

For starters Are you trying to put this on FSX? If so it may not work or show up correctly. Most FS2000/2004 aircraft will not work or show up correctly in FSX
As for the order in which folders go I do not think it makes a difference, Just look at the Default B737 for the way they are usually put
You have to have the following files AIRCRAFT.CFG This is in the root folder of the aircraft.
You will also have to have a AIR File this is also in the root folder of the aircraft
You should also have a Model Folder a Sound folder A Texture folder A Effects folder and a Panel folder
Inside the Model folder you should have a file with a MDL extension
Inside the Panel You can have a Panel cfg file and all of the bitmaps needed for the panel Or ALIASED to an existing panel.
Inside the Sound folder you should have a sound file or files or it can be aliased to an existing sound
Inside the Texture folder will be the textures needed for both daytime and night time textures
Inside the Effects are the effects files needed for all of the sounds such as wheel squeak on touch down

[pete]

Hi
Are you talking about this aircraft?

http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1 ... p&x=11&y=4

[E.E.]

Wow, I hadn't expected so much response!
Initially I am referring to the FSX download available from this website (Simviation that is). But I found other files at the FlightSim.com website - http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php ... d=44346351. One is the same as the FSX aircraft at Simviation the others are FS2004.
The panel and gauges in the FS2004 aircraft are more convincing while the Cabin seats in the FSX may be 'based' on a photo but .....!
I have FS2004 aircraft running in FSX notably those from DM FlightSim - http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/dh106_comet.htm, so it's possible. However I haven't been able to get the HP42 to fly or even appear.
This is probably because I need edufercating. Point me in the right direction if you can please.

I like the HP42, it's so British. Built at a time when the so called 'Upper Classes' (that means rich) thought they had the sole right to fly. So Handley Page built eight aircraft for Imperial Airways that never flew more than a few thousand feet off the ground, had pedestrian performance, weren't pressurised and had an endurance of about four hours. Just five years later, Douglas produced the pressurised DC2 and it looked like an aircraft built for flying. If you look at the ill fated Brabazon which was off the drawing board about ten years after the DC2 you see an aircraft also with potential. Pity then that Imperial Airways, now called BOAC, wanted it as a flying palace for the upper Classes again. I could go on!!

[E.E.]

Sorry Pete, yes that's the one.

[Hagar]

Your Flightsim.com link doesn't work for me. However, the reason that the FS2004 version by Derek Palmer (hp42ew1.zip) doesn't display on the aircraft selection menu is that it has no Panel folder. It wouldn't display in FS2004 either. It should work if you add the panel folder from the FS2002 panel by Saverio Maurri (hp42_pan.zip). Remember to paste the gauge (HP42.cab) into your FSX\Gauges folder.

The FS2004 model works very well in FSX but it has no VC.



This is the 2D panel



Note that having both versions installed to FSX will cause a conflict. If you wish to use both this can be easily fixed with a small edit to Aircraft.cfg.

[logjam]

EE's comments about the filthy rich flying class brings to mind the SARO Princess too. Magnificent Flying boat made in Belfast. Very interesting subject that, also brings to mind the Titanic and Queen Mary.

[E.E.]

Got it! I used the Derek Palmer Panel, pated into the FSX aircraft. The gauges didn't show but I passed the cfg file from the suggested panel file into the Derek Palmer Panel and hey presto! Then I added the virtual cockpit details from the FSX aircraft.cfg file (because I had already changed the gauges in that ) and everything seems to work. I think it's a bit of an improvement.
Two more points: 1. The radio compass doesn't work, neither the HP42 one or the DC3 one. I've noticed this before in old aircraft.
2. The aircraft wheels don't quite touch the ground when at rest. Where is the adjustment? The cg height in aircraft.cfg doesn't seem to do it.


As to the more political comments, I find it galling as an English person that my fellow countrymen have so little foresight. I think it must have been the first world was that washed ambition from their minds. The HP42 was a development of WW1 technology and it looks it which the DC3 does not. I find it laughable that Imperial Airways wanted just eight aircraft and it was HPs only taker I believe. The accommodation was all First Class, no cheap seats! It was a cosy little transport for the idle. Go forward fifteen years. The Brabazon was conceived in the final years of World War 2. It was in the face of an agreement between the UK and US not to build such aircraft. However, the Brabazon was big, (wingspan greater than a 747!) packed with seats it could have flown as many nobs who wanted to travel to the U.S. or the remains of the Empire with reasonable speed. Bristol proposed just 32 seats with male and female 'bathrooms, bars, bunks, and all the trappings of idledom. BOAC (the successor to Imperial Airways) thought less passengers would be the answer. Brabazon 1 had it's shortcomings but the manufacturer Bristol was half way to conceiving the Britannia and saw turboprops as a replacement for the dual engines. I wonder why there was so little interest? It wasn't because of the DH Comet an entirely different aircraft.

So what happened to the Brabazon 1? It was broken up in a fit of pique just like Concorde another toy of the rich! I won't go on. Don't say 'thank gawd!'.

[logjam]

By jingo ole chap. Pip pip what? Have to pull out my shooting stick and ponder over that one.

[E.E.]

Well whatever! Thanks for your advice Hagar. The more I play with files in FSX, the more I appreciate its flexibility. I'm thinking of making more accurate scenery for Manston in Kent UK before it goes under the bulldozer. The reason is that its my neighbourhood airport.

[Hagar]

You're welcome to the advice.

Two more points: 1. The radio compass doesn't work, neither the HP42 one or the DC3 one. I've noticed this before in old aircraft.
2. The aircraft wheels don't quite touch the ground when at rest. Where is the adjustment? The cg height in aircraft.cfg doesn't seem to do it.

Can't help with the radio compass but I played around with the contact points. This works for me.

[contact_points]
static_pitch = 8.8
static_cg_height = 8.6
tailwheel_lock = 0
gear_system_type = 0
max_number_of_points = 7

point.0 = 1, -60.0554, 0, -0.7, 1574, 0, 1.5, 50, 0.87, 1.5, 0.6, 5, 5, 0, 0, 0
point.1 = 1, 1.75, -14.083, -9.5, 1574, 1, 3, 0, 0.41, 1.25, 0.8, 5, 5, 2, 0, 0
point.2 = 1, 1.75, 14.083, -9.5, 1574, 2, 3, 0, 0.41, 1.25, 0.8, 5, 5, 3, 0, 0
point.3 = 2, 1.8329, -63.864, 9.7252, 1574, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.4 = 2, 1.8329, 64.277, 9.9312, 1574, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.5 = 2, -64.32, 0, 1.5061, 1574, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.6 = 2, 31.3229, 0, -3.0405, 1574, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0

[E.E.]

Works for me too Hagar. Now I've noticed that the FS2004 revolution gauges read high and indicate 1000 when the engines are off. Can that be fixed without scrapping the gauges in favour of a inappropriate type?

[Hagar]

Sorry. The black art of gauge design is a complete mystery to me.

[E.E.]

Something to dig into then Hagar!
One final point, I made a mistake (what, me?) Handley Page was NOT commissioned by Imperial Airways to build eight HP 42s, Handley Page Transport (an airline) together with two other local airlines banded together to form Imperial Airways! this opens a whole new aspect on the airliner.