|
|
|
|
I am still evaluating the Clearview Simulator as I haven't had much time to focus on it just yet, but I will provide a preliminary review from what I have tried so far. Overall Impression of Simulator - I am very impressed with the simulator. The graphics are very nice, especially for a simulator at this price and the flight capabilities are as good as anything else I have tried. It of course does not have the extra bells and whistles that make the most expensive simulators seem real (realistic damage to aircraft, photo realistic aircraft, dust blowing in the wind, etc) but if you do not have an extra $300 laying around and no better use for it, this sim offers up a very impressive menu of features and options. Regarding my primary interests of this simulator at the moment was to evaluate the Mud Duck and Agri-Duck. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Agri-Duck is actually included as a core plane for the system. It is not one of the demonstration enabled planes when you download the free demo, but is immediately available from the aircraft menu when you pay to activate the simulator for full use. Agri-Duck - The Agri-Duck, as provided in the core simulator is a fun flying plane but it is not accurately representing the Agri-Duck. As I found in a forum post, the modeler, Matthew, requested the models to be created and was discussing the creation with Ken Northup (the author of the sim models). I discovered that both Matthew and Ken had never actually flown either model before and Ken based the flying parameters off of the parameters used for the Lazy Bee. Although the parameters are similar, it looks like I will need to play with them and see if I can get it closer to the real thing. How does the Simulator version and the real Agri-Duck differ? Well I immediately noticed that the simulator rolled and flew the model inverted like it was a typical sport plane. A word of warning to Agri-Duck modelers that haven't flown the real one yet... Do Not try to roll or fly the Agri-Duck inverted in real life! If you do somehow manage to get the plane upside down in the first place it won't remain there very long. Why is this you ask? Well applying simple aerodynamics that most experienced modelers usually know; a flat bottom airfoil with dihedral is difficult to fly inverted because everything (in the design) is trying to make the plane fly strait and level, upright. Now look at the Agri-Duck, it has far more dihedral than most trainers and has a fully under-cambered airfoil. The wing is generating tons of lift under the wing, the only thing keeping the plane from going strait up and making it go horizontal is gravity and parasitic drag, flip the plane upside down and gravity takes over immediately, elevator can't save you. The good news is that the ailerons will not even let you roll it over even if you give it 90 degree throws, it will fight you every step of the way. Ailerons are for banking and correcting droop when yawing, they are not for rolling on the Agri-Duck. The Agri-Duck model on the simulator was relatively close to the ease of flying the real thing upright and horizontally but the real one lifts off the ground even easier and flies slower, but does not have the climb or vertical prowess that the sim does, there is just too much parasitic drag. I have never looped a real Agri-Duck and you may push the structural integrity of it unless you beefed up a few key areas, even then I do not feel confident it can do it, it simply wasn't designed for it. What this all boils down to is that the virtual model needs to be tweaked (in flying parameters) to make it more realistic. Overall I think Ken Northup did an awesome job modeling in virtually and it looks very real in the air on this simulator but I just need to figure out where to set the parameters to make it more accurate so modelers aren't overestimating the capabilities of the real Agri-Duck. Mud Duck - The Mud Duck model which can be added to the simulator is a fun flying plane but also does not accurately representing the Mud Duck, but in a different way than the Agri-Duck. This model was converted from the FMS simulator add-on planes and I don't know if it is from the conversion or if it was intended to fly this particular way. The difference between the CV add-on Mud Duck and the real thing is that the virtual model does not have any elevator authority and not enough vertical climb. Although this could have been designed by someone familiar with an underpowered MkI or MkII and didn't use a lot of elevator throw. Like I said earlier in this page, I have only done a quick evaluation of the Sim and these two models so I may find that I just don't have something set up right. Also to mention on the Mud Duck add-on is that it is set up as a three channel and flys from the left rudder stick and is not coupled to the aileron stick, which is fine by me because I like to fly rudder on the left without coupling, but may be odd for those of you who like flying almost always with just the right stick. I will also play around with the parameters on this model eventually to try to make it a little more accurate and to add a copy of it with ailerons for those of you who have built the aileron options into your Duck. If I get better at it and decide to dabble with the free-ware software that allows you to design models for CV I will reduce the physical size and change the parameters to make a Mud Duck Sport to use on the CV sim (maybe). Overall the Mud Duck does give you a good idea of a real Mud Duck but is a bit too underpowered and unresponsive on the elevator (unless you use low rate on elevator and fly a 108" w.s. plane the size of a Honda CVCC on an old .60 2-stroke).
|
Send mail to
mudduck@optonline.net with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
