Runway Drift

[X9Squared]

I've been touching up my Learjet K7 (haha, get it) over the past couple days and I've been having a constant runway drift problem. I have built this plane in the SPH, with symmetry on at almost all times (except for tail and landing gear). If the tail looks offset, that would be because I have used the offset tool to try to correct the drift that happens almost all the time. It does not affect flight, but I want to publish this ship on the forums and I want the best performance possible out of it.

Images above,

Thanks,

X9

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Will post another image soon, but the lift direction is not tilted (camera angle).

Edited November 16, 2015 by X9Squared

[Geschosskopf]

If you attached the main gear to those swept wings, that's probably your problem. While wing parts with airfoil sections look more realistic than flat plates, it's impossible to mount anything to them that requires precise alignment. And in the case of landing gear, if they're off line by just a tad, your plane won't roll straight.

I really wish folks would either stop making wings with airfoil sections or make invisible, slightly internal flat areas to attach other parts to.

[X9Squared]

Hmm... that I will try (sorry was just trying to make as realistic as possible ;-!

Thanks,

X9

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Do you recommend I just put some structural plates and attach the gear to those? Or what do you think...

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I attached the landing gear to a cubic octagonal strut that was attached to the wings, I think this might work (lemme try it out).

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Nope, at about 80 m/s the plane goes apesh** and completely flips out. Hmm..

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Nevermind, I got it to work with a ugly-ish but works cubic octagonal strut strut, if you will, radiating from the bottom of the plane. Thanks so much for the help Gesch, have some rep

[SpacedCowboy]

Do you have control over your controllers? The winglets out on the tips of the big wings look rather suspicious. Nice looking ship though.

[Geschosskopf]

Nevermind, I got it to work with a ugly-ish but works cubic octagonal strut strut, if you will, radiating from the bottom of the plane. Thanks so much for the help Gesch, have some rep

No problem and glad you've got it working.

[Snark]

There's a simple solution to the not-quite-aligned landing gear problem, and it doesn't require mucking around with cubic octagonal struts.

Hit 3 to get the rotator widget, then F to toggle between "local" and "absolute" modes. Make sure you're in "absolute." In that more, the snap angles of the part you're adjusting will ignore the shape and orientation of the part it's attached to, and will instead align with absolute world coordinates. So once you have toggled it into absolute mode, just rotate the gear one notch and back again and it will be perfectly aligned.

Simple, easy, magical, incredibly useful, and (alas) extremely non-discoverable.

[X9Squared]

Muckity muckity muckity muck. I'll try that.

[X9Squared]

[quote name='Snark']There's a simple solution to the not-quite-aligned landing gear problem, and it doesn't require mucking around with cubic octagonal struts.

Hit 3 to get the rotator widget, then F to toggle between "local" and "absolute" modes. Make sure you're in "absolute." In that more, the snap angles of the part you're adjusting will ignore the shape and orientation of the part it's attached to, and will instead align with absolute world coordinates. So once you have toggled it into absolute mode, just rotate the gear one notch and back again and it will be perfectly aligned.

Simple, easy, magical, incredibly useful, and (alas) extremely non-discoverable.[/QUOTE]

Hmm.. it still drifts. Sure, less than usual, but this method didin't work exactly.

[pincushionman]

The joint flexibility between the left and right sides is different, even with symmetry on. It's the same bug that causes a slow roll on otherwise-balanced airplanes.

Try mounting your gear to the fuselage and give it a go. EDIT. Or install KJR and see if it helps. On second thought, install KJR before you even start.

[AeroGav]

[quote name='Snark']There's a simple solution to the not-quite-aligned landing gear problem, and it doesn't require mucking around with cubic octagonal struts.

Hit 3 to get the rotator widget, then F to toggle between "local" and "absolute" modes. Make sure you're in "absolute." In that more, the snap angles of the part you're adjusting will ignore the shape and orientation of the part it's attached to, and will instead align with absolute world coordinates. So once you have toggled it into absolute mode, just rotate the gear one notch and back again and it will be perfectly aligned.

Simple, easy, magical, incredibly useful, and (alas) extremely non-discoverable.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]
[COLOR=#3E3E3E]The joint flexibility between the left and right sides is different, even with symmetry on. It's the same bug that causes a slow roll on otherwise-balanced airplanes.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#3E3E3E]Try mounting your gear to the fuselage and give it a go. EDIT. Or install KJR and see if it helps. On second thought, install KJR before you even start.[/QUOTE]

Thanks to both of you for pointing out issues that have been driving me mad since day 1. A lot of the reason people give up on aircraft have nothing to do with the inherent difficulty of aircraft, nor the stock aero model (which is pretty simple) but issues with the SPH/Assembly system, it's user interface, and the lack of tutorial to cover ABSOLUTELY vital stuff like this. [/COLOR]

[X9Squared]

[quote name='AeroGav']Thanks to both of you for pointing out issues that have been driving me mad since day 1. A lot of the reason people give up on aircraft have nothing to do with the inherent difficulty of aircraft, nor the stock aero model (which is pretty simple) but issues with the SPH/Assembly system, it's user interface, and the lack of tutorial to cover ABSOLUTELY vital stuff like this. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Hm.. is KJR updated to 1.05? I think I'm okay with my current octagonal strut offset clipping thing, but yeah.