How to make aircraft more buoyant...

[Strawberry Yogurt]

Hi guys, do any of you know how to make an aircraft's wheels more buoyant - you know, when you need that extra ten feet of runway that are covered in water? Yeah, that's what I need to know...

[Hagar]

You could always change the wheels to floats in the contact_points section of Aircraft.cfg.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

I'll try that. Thanks a lot!

*edit

How do you know which points are the wheels?


[contact_points]
point.0=1,  -15.00,   0.0, -1.05, 1800, 0, 0.238,  60.0, 0.300, 2.5, 0.40, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.1=1,    1.24,  -3.0, -5.25, 1600, 1, 0.728,   0.0, 0.540, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 2.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.2=1,    1.24,   3.0, -5.25, 1600, 2, 0.728,   0.0, 0.540, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 3.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.3=2,   -1.00, -17.7,  1.80,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.4=2,   -1.00,  17.7,  1.80,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 6.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.5=2,  -14.40,   0.0,  4.50,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 9.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.6=2,    5.40,   0.0, -2.20,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 4.0, 0.0, 0.0

static_pitch = 15.2
static_cg_height = 4.3


:-?

[Hagar]

The first 3 points are the wheels. Change the first value to 4 like this:


[contact_points]
point.0=4,  -15.00,   0.0, -1.05, 1800, 0, 0.238,  60.0, 0.300, 2.5, 0.40, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.1=4,    1.24,  -3.0, -5.25, 1600, 1, 0.728,   0.0, 0.540, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 2.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.2=4,    1.24,   3.0, -5.25, 1600, 2, 0.728,   0.0, 0.540, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 3.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.3=2,   -1.00, -17.7,  1.80,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.4=2,   -1.00,  17.7,  1.80,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 6.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.5=2,  -14.40,   0.0,  4.50,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 9.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.6=2,    5.40,   0.0, -2.20,  800, 0, 0.000,   0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.000, 0.0, 0.0, 4.0, 0.0, 0.0

static_pitch = 15.2
static_cg_height = 4.3

This will make the aircraft float on water but I don't think it will operate from land.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

What if I put "3" where the "4" is - would it be amphibious?

[Hagar]

No. Class 3 = Skis/Skids.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

Soooo.... Is it possible to make it "waterproof" just to keep the "splash" from coming up? I still want to be able to operate from land... And I don't want to turn off realism settings... 

[Hagar]

Not sure exactly what you want to do. I suppose you could add some extra float points to make it think it's an amphibian. Use the default Goose for reference. You would still get a splash when you touch down on water.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

Well, what I wanted to do is make the tires a bit more buoyant so when I touch down in water, it doesn't trigger a "splash". I would still like to be able to move on land. Is this even possible?

Or even make the "floats" roll, like wheels?

[Hagar]

My last suggestion might work. I haven't tried it. The floats will be virtual so won't affect the wheels. Not sure they would rotate when they touch water.

Which aircraft do you wish to modify?

[Strawberry Yogurt]

The FSX default Piper Cub.

The wheels don't need to turn on the water; just on land!

[dave3cu]

I've got your drift...want to do Jim Tweato's short rwy/sand bar approach over/on water. I've been working on that also on the Aerosoft Beaver-Tundra.

Simply replacing wheels (1) with floats (4) won't do it as they will not work on land.

What I've done is add 2 more point as floats. I copied the main gear points and then pasted as new point. Example:

[contact_points]
point.0 = 1,

[Strawberry Yogurt]

Thanks so much, I'll report back on how it works!  [smiley=beer.gif]

[Hagar]

Dave is thinking along the same lines as me. I quickly tried it on the Piper Cub. It works fine but not on Full Realism.

[Strawberry Yogurt]

Yeah, doesn't work on full realism. I'm beginning to think there's only one way to do it: but I can't seem to find the thread with it in it. There was a thread in one of the Screenshot Forums where someone said they "made the wheels more buoyant for landings like Jim Tweto's" or something along the lines of that. That poster might have the information we need.