Hal,
More comments inline. Looking forward to getting this into Git so I can
progress a bit more.
Vivian
>
> On closer reading of p24 and on looking at the diagram on p9 of the
manual,
> it seems possible that the dimmer mask only covered the Channel indicator
> lamps, and not the T/R/REM. light.
What specifically on page 9 are you seeing?
On page 9 I see what I think is the mask in place over the channel lights
with the small hole over the channel visible - compare and contrast that
with the photos that we have found with the in the day position. Page 9 also
shows the T/R/REM. light unmasked. The words on page 24 also imply this to
be the case. But see my comments lower down
I am not sure I agree but I can't say for sure. All of the lamps are in line
with each other so they could easily use the same types of masks and a
common lever for dimming all five lamps. In addition, not dimming the
T/R/REM lamp would not make operational sense since they would have been
very concerned about night blindness and the lamp is white (see next
paragraph) which is not a good thing from a night vision point of view. Also
the 1952 USAF F-51D/K/H manual seems to imply that all of the lamps are
dimmed by the lever although it does not say this explicity. On the other
hand the Aug. 1945 USAAF P-51D/K manual seems to imply that the dimmer mask
only affects the channel lights but again it is not explicit about this. So
I don't know. Perhaps the Spit pilot manuals can shed some light on this?
Not quite in line - but yes it would not have been difficult to have
extended the mask to cover all lamps - and I agree that it would be logical
for this to be the case.
Also something that I had missed from the 1952 manual is that the T/R/REM
lamp is white and the others are green. In most photos I have seen the lamps
all appear to be a greenish blue color, this is clearly the case in the ebay
auction photos, but perhaps this is because they are not lit in these
photos. A yellowish lamp under a blueish lens would glow a green color when
lit while still appearling blue when not lit. Also the photo at this link
shows the channel lamps as a green blue and the T/R/REM lamp as white.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/radio-control-box-bc-602-part-scr-522-
76082646
Too much info - does that photo show the dimmer mask in the down position?
I think so, it looks as if I am wrong about the hole theory - the blue is
transparent mask over - what? Perhaps a more transparent blue mask? The T/R
lamp is not masked. But I'm not sure that we want to introduce a
transparency in our model - bad for framerate. We can easily fix things to
look right without transparency.
I will change the colors of the lamps to match the documentation. But this
is another case where the evidence is contradictory. What colors should
these be when lit and off? I will make my best guess and if some evidence
comes along that my guess is incorrect it will get fixed.
Green is a very usual colour for channel lights - and red/orange for T (but
we know that the SCR-522 worked in reverse). But all photos show the unlit
lamps/mask to be blue.
snip
>
> Please take anything you want. Did you notice that the binding for F12 was
> changed to bring up the new menu? I would really like to use the new
dialog
> in the same way as the default one rather than in the aircraft-specific
> menu, but right now can't figure out how to do that.
I has a new high level menu for the VHF radio stubbed in (IE. the menu does
not do anything yet). So I have some thing working and when I have a chance
to look at your stuff I will try to generalize it so that it has it's own
high level menu.
> I think we might end up with 2 near-identical entries in
> Aircraft/Instruments-3d. I suppose that's OK, since UK aircraft would
> expect the TR1133, and the US the SCR-522. Hmm, what was it known as in
> RAF P51s?
I think this may be the case and it might make sense to consolidate these
into one set of models and code. The names used internally by the aircraft
models does not really matter since to the user these are the same units.
They look and function in exactly the same way.
Yup - I really only started the TR1133 so that I could avoid overwriting
your stuff. I'll leave this one until we have finished.
snip
>
> I now discover that the boxes were the same - only the internals differed.
> However, I haven't yet discovered where the boxes were fitted.
I found this online:
http://target4today.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=643
<http://target4today.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=643&mode=&show=20&p
age=3> &mode=&show=20&page=3
Very useful info. Not sure about the comment on the Spitfire prop weight -
my info shows the DeHavilland 3 bladed metal prop/hub at 350 lbs - which
would have been right for the BoF, while the later constant speed propeller
would have weighed in at 500lbs, but these were not fitted until 1940 in
time for the BoB.
It shows where various things are located for weight and ballance on the
Spit. The TR 1133 is item G and with the dynamotor and other radio items is
part of item 18. These are located behind the VHF antenna at 109 inches
behind the datum point which appears to be at about 25% cord. This is well
behind the cockpit and these might not be visible to the pilot or when
looking through the canopy from the outside.
Of course, I had the info already in my Spitfire drawings, when I searched
thoroughly. I even have the wiring diagram - although that isn't of much
practical use. It might just be visible from outside.
The above is from a thread on the target4today web site forum. A user named
bomber is working on a JSBSim Spit FDM for the target4today software and
there are two extensive threads about this in their forum.
snip
> Looks like the our channel select buttons could do with a bit more
> detailing - from this and other photos, it looks as if they had a raised
> rim.
I was not able to see the rim in the photos I originally used although I did
see that there is a recess in the top of the button which I thought was a
dish shape and I created a shadow for this in the texture. But looking
closely at the ebay auction photos there is a raised rim on the buttons. I
will add this to the model.
> I see that there is an "R" under the T/R/REM. key - that is missing
> from the existing texture.
This is corrected in my current texture as of about 2 days ago. The photos I
had available before had this hidden behind the T/R/REM lever but it is
shown in the manual. I also see looking very closely at the photos that the
lettering on the top cover appears to have been stamped into the top cover
so that it is slightly rasied and then is painted white. The raised
lettering is clearly visible in the ebay auction photos.
Also I have found out that the placards were for both US and UK use. The
black placard is for the US and the red placard is for the UK (A crown M
stands for Air Minstry). These units were produced with both placards in
place and UK and US units were identical and interchangable at least later
in the war.
That's all looking good. Can we get it into Git soon?
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