A DC3 born from my longstanding wish to build a DC3 myself suited for the rallies which are organized by DC-3 Airways Virtual Airline and Bluegrass Airlines. Hopefully just in time for the DCA WR2022.
Credit / Legal
This DC3 is based on an existing 3D model created by helijah (helijah.free.fr), which can be used by others if they comply with the CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
The original model can be downloaded from Scetchfab: (https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/douglas-dc-3-b30f4fd780934184b123e35522512fa2)
Features
- Animated rudder, elevator, ailerons, flaps, main gear and tailwheel
- Animated cowl flaps and animated control unit
- Animated passenger door
- Six pack: altimeter, indicated airspeed, compass, vertical speed, turn and bank, attitude indicator
- Two nav and two adf radios and two radio magnetic indicator needles to fly using NDB’s and VOR’s. The RMI needles are duplcated on the main compass.
- Two DME gauges
- Two COM radios
- Transponder
- Zulu clock with stopwatch
- ILS VOR gauge connected to the nav1 radio
- Position indicator for flaps and main gear.
- Simple autopilot to maintain heading, altitude and fly a selected VOR radial or localizer heading
- Engines: RPM, manifold pressure, fuel pressure, oil pressure, oil temperature, cylinder head temperature, carburetor air inlet temperature.
- Fuel quantity gauge
- Two fuel tank selectors on the pedestal
- Navigation, beacon and landing lights with corresponding overhead switches.
- Cockpit and cabin lighting
- Master ignition switch and magnetos switches
- Fuel booster pumps and starter switches
- If starting cold and dark on the apron and you don’t want to use ctrl-e, you have to follow a simple startup procedure to get the engines running.
- Two liveries: the helijah livery and a second “white-blue” livery as a starting point to paint your own livery.
The download
The download file contains the package which you should copy to the community folder. For those of you who are interested in the details of how I created the DC3, I included the following extra items:
- The original model of helijah, as downloaded by me a year ago from Scetchfab.
- The original model of helijah, converted to Blender
- The Blender model, which is used in the package.
- A document describing the DC3
- An appendix in the document listing the changes I made to the original model of helijah
Credits
- Elijah: for his excellent 3D model
- Jonx: his YouTube tutorials were my primary source to get started with understanding the workflow which starts with textures and 3D modeling and ends with a flying model in MSFS
- My DCA colleague: for spending time testing and tuning the DC3 and listening to my thoughts on how to develop a good DC3
- Asobo: General Assets and SDK
- Blender: giving a great tool for 3D modelling
- Otmar Nitsche, tml1024, btronquo, mikeaat and paavoph: giving a indispensible toolkit to to create a MSFS gltf model using Blender (https://github.com/tml1024/Blender2MSFS2)
- GIMP: giving a great tool for creating textures.
- Anthony31: for his post on FSDeveloper.com learning me how to implement "mouse grab"
Is a really great plane, everything is perfectly focused and the cabin looks great.
1 years ago
I am happy to notice that, after the release of the Aeroplane Heaven DC3, there are still people around who appreciate my DC3. It motivates me to go on with my Sperry Gyropilot addition.
Thank you,
roggeberg23
1 years ago
Deleted Account
Quassel89
Thanks for this model, well done. After extensive testing of both this and the Airplane Heaven rendition I have found this model much more enjoyable to fly. The visual model from AH is a bit more polished but this one handles and flys much better. Please continue your work on the DC3, it is much appreciated.
1 years ago
Hello n240dg,
Thank you n240dg. I noticed a significant drop in downloads after the release of SU11 and the AH DC3. I hope I can find my own place next to AH because there are more people like you. The last two weeks the development of the sperry gyropilot stopped because I have helped with the flightmodel of the Druine D5 Turbi. Also available here on flightsim.to.
1 years ago
Deleted Account
n240dg
Please keep it up. I'm so disapponted with the AH Dc-3 from SU11, it looks and sounds very nice, but that's all, so many bugs, not or not really working systems. So i'll like to use your version of the airplane.
1 years ago
Hello Stefan. Thank you for your very kind words. I am working on an improvement of the autopilot, or more precise, the Sperry Gyropilot. AH is a professional organisation and I just read an article where they express their commitment to their product and promise to make continuous improvements. We will see how things work out. I hope it will be possible to find a more "technical" position compared to the AH DC3. So less focus on how things look and more focus on systems and how they cooperate to make the aircraft flyable in a pleasant way.
Kind regards,
roggeberg23
1 years ago
Deleted Account
StefanKn
I just finished a testflight in SU11. All seems OK, so I gave myself a thumbs up on the SU11 compatability. I will wait a few days to see if any comments or problems are reported here before changing the formal status to SU11 compatible. I had three findings: (1) altitude hold is not as stable as before, (2) the GPU needs to work harder (3) at landing it was more difficult to keep the aircraft on the runway.
1 years ago
Yes - this works on SU11 & I already clicked for thumbs up on SU11
1 years ago
srirkris
Deleted Account
Very impressive update. And the most useful features are there - big clear dials (especially power), very smooth & predictable flying (by the numbers). Vor / dme / ADFs with clear digits, clock....
I really enjoy flying this plane. Am sure you will continue to add more features in future. 4.5 rating - leaving .5 for future updates.
1 years ago
Hello Srirkris.
Thank you for your stars and thank you for your comment! The feedback you gave is exactly in line with one of my goals: easy to operate and easy to see. I don't like cockpits where I have to zoom in to read gauges. I am working very hard at the moment on a new autopilot: the Sperry Gyropilot. I already have the "hold heading" and " hold pitch" functions working. Adding the function "turn using a set bank angle" will not be that difficult I hope. I will continue developing this model using my own set of design and development ideas, and by doing so reaching virtual pilots which like my particular approach.
Kind regards,
roggeberg23
1 years ago
Deleted Account
srirkris
Thanks very much for this beautie. Much appreciated. Cheers.
2 years ago
At the moment I am working on the Sperry Giropilot A3-A. I hope to come close to how the original worked.
2 years ago
Deleted Account
flsm1
My throttle axis doesnt work
2 years ago
Hello DogeHeadPlayz,
Assuming you have one throttle handle (as I have myself) the work-around / fix I am using is as follows:
Go to Options / Control Options. Select the "device and preset" you are using for the DC3 and check the following (again: assuming you have one throttle handle on your device).
1) the input (event) "THROTTLE AXIS" is NOT connected to your device (very important)
(2) the input "THROTTLE 1 AXIS" is connected to the axis of your device which is the throttle axis.
(3) the input "THROTTLE 2 AXIS" is connected to that same axis.
Hope this helps you out,
kind regards,
roggeberg23
2 years ago
Deleted Account
DogeHeadPlayz
first off thank you for this mod, I love it. Is there a way to change the default camera to the pilot position? Every time i load into the aircraft it starts me in between the pilot and copilot seats by default.
2 years ago
Hello mrhaymon,
Thanks for your five stars. It motivates me to continue the improvements. My idea behind the 6 standard views I created (keyboard CTRL-0 to CTRL-5) is that you start with entering your aircraft in a cold and dark state where you still have overview (= default view = CTRL-0) and than depending on how you proceed you need the other five views. Normally I start cold and dark, so I press CTRL-2 for the detailed MIP view and press apron. Than I press CTRL-3 to set the fuel selectors to main. Than I press CTRL-5 to check the cowl flaps, should be fully open, than I press CTRL-4 to check the parking brake is ON. Than I press CTRL-1, the captains view to turn on the master battery switch and start the engines. After that I will return to CTRL-2 to set the radios. And than when I want to taxi I press CTRL-1 again. And I press the arrow up on my keyboard a few times to raise the eye position for a better view on the apron and the taxi ways. Of course I could change the view-0 and view-1 in the camera.cfg file but I don't know how other users would react to that. Maybe it is an option to change cameras.cfg file to your own needs, you cannot damage anything by experimenting with this config file.
Kind regards, roggeberg23
2 years ago
Deleted Account
Cpt.Loco
To All,
Today I found out that, if you start the flight on the runway, the "GPS drives NAV1" is ON. This means that the NAV1 Hold will not react to the NAV1 radio, the OBS and the Localizer. A simple change to the runway.flt file, line 139, can solve this. Change the line from "GPSdrivesNAV1=True" to "GPSdrivesNAV1=False".
I expect to make a new release in about a week time with some smaller changes which will include this change.
Kind regards, roggeberg23
2 years ago
Deleted Account
Hi sir,
Once installed and selected, the rpm goes from max throttle to min, both engines go idle and stop. Reason ??
2 years ago
Discard previuos comment, because it is solved by disabling "engine stress damage"
Tanks for your add-on file.
2 years ago
ldbfsxbelgium
ldbfsxbelgium
any chance we can get a baro adjustment
2 years ago
Yes, I don't think that would be a problem. I just solved the problem with the invisibility during night of two parts of the ILS VOR gauge. Which I want to release anyhow. So, If it is not to complicated, I make the adjustment of the barometer setting available in the same release.
2 years ago
Deleted Account
SADiSTIC
Thank you!
2 years ago
Vizipok
Very nice job, indeed. Everything seems to work. Please keep up the good work and thanks for sharing. Hoping to see more liveries soon. Maybe Delta and Eastern.
2 years ago
duffystavern
Thank you for sharing this plane, now we need "Aerolíneas del Llano SAS" livery ^^
https://www.allas.com.co/
Regards
2 years ago
Hello sthienard,
Thanks for your rating.
I added an extra livery to the DC3 in case someone would like to paint or learn to paint himself. I painted quite some liveries with the freeware package GIMP. It takes time to learn, but in the end it is not that difficult.
Another route might be to contact MightyMackrel here on flightsim.to. He made a few liveries. May be he is willing to make some extra liveries.
Kind regards,
roggeberg23
2 years ago
Deleted Account
sthienard
Hi roggeberg23,
I love this mod so much that I made a YouTube video of my inaugural flight with it. Just want to say thank you. One question I have is are any liveries available for this anywhere yet? I'm a fan of variety. Also, will this aircraft show up as a parked aircraft (aka ground traffic) automatically, or is this something you have to program into the mod files?
Thank you!
2 years ago
I just stopped working on the passenger door animation I want to add in a next version. It's too late now to give you a proper answer, but I will come back to you tomorrow.
2 years ago
Deleted Account
MeanderingBros