This Flight Simulator 2002 aircraft was produced with gMax, FS Panel Studio, and Paint Shop Pro.
Installation:
Extract the contents of the main zip file S40NC80V.zip into FS2002's Aircraft folder. This should create a structure something like the following:
- c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002
--- Aircraft
----- Sikorsky S-40
-------- Model
-------- Panel
-------- Sound
-------- Texture.NC80V
-------- Gauges
Copy the gauges to the FS2002\gauges folder. If you already have some of the gauges, you don't have to replace them. Don't unzip the SkrskS40.cab file; just copy it to the FS2002\Gauges folder.
Once these files are extracted, Flight Simulator should exhibit a new entry under Aircraft/Select Aircraft on the menu bar:
Manufacturer: Sikorsky
Model: S-40 American Clipper
This model is an amphibian in FS2002. It can fly from land or from water. If handled carefully, it can land on water, drop the landing gear in the water and hop onto land.
Features of this S-40:
- This model is my first attempt at using gMax. My hat is off to the 'real' gMax designers, because it is a lot harder than it looks, and very time-consuming.
- Gear raise and lower with G key.
- Passenger door opens with Shift-E (see note below).
- Reasonably accurate passenger seating arrangement. There is a lounge in the front and back. The back lounge is teak-paneled.
- The aircraft.cfg file was modified to severely increase parasite drag, and shift the center of gravity. This was the only way I could get the plane to fly slowly enough.
- Flight characteristics are fairly realistic. It takes about 30 seconds to get off the water. The ceiling is about 12,000 feet, and you can't get it much higher than that. Cruise is right around 105 mph at 6000 feet altitude, with engines at 2000 rpm and 20 inches manifold pressure. Fuel consumption seems about right for 6-7 hours.
Max cruising speed at 6000 feet is 134 mph, 2200 rpm. At 11,000 feet the model makes about 72 mph at 1834 rpm, 18 inches manifold pressure. That may be a bit more sluggish than the real airplane.
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Sound.
To save space, this model comes with a sound.cfg file that points to a default sound package.
-If you can, download one of the 4-engine packages available. I like the Connie sounds by Mike Hambly of Blue Arrow. That file can be found on SurClaro as bigc2k.zip (3.7 megabytes).
-If you have already downloaded a 4-engine prop plane and you want to point to that sound file, change your S-40 sound.cfg file like so:
[fltsim]
alias=Connie\sound
;alias=c182\sound
This points the S-40 to sound folder under the Connie model, and disables the reference to the default Cessna sound folder.
Other sounds you might like:
Big Bomber sounds by Mike Hambly - bbsnds.zip (1.4 mb)
DC-6 sounds by Mike Hambly - dc6snd.zip (2.8 mb)
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Known issues:
- I used a lot of polygons in the model, so the frame rate may suffer.
- Model is not based on accurate drawings or plans, so you may find inaccuracies of detail.
- 2D cockpit is imaginary. I saw no photos of an S-40 cockpit panel to base it on. I based the panel on a photo of an S-42 cockpit.
- Don't try to use Autopilot to climb to altitude. It will eventually stall. Once at altitude, Autopilot will hold it there. If you get in trouble, shut off the autopilot.
- Tailwheel steers plane on the ground, but doesn't steer visually. I couldn't figure that out in gMax and still have it retract.
- Landing lights show up as floating spheres in virtual cockpit mode, where no other part of the plane is visible.
- Shift-E opens the passenger door, but I find that then I can't zoom in or out in the Spot view any more. I have to change views to cockpit view and back before I can zoom again.
- No 3D cockpit.
- Fuel Selector gauge quirks. It seems whether you select Right Main or Right Aux, the plane uses up the Aux tank fuel first.
- Probably overused reflective textures. Also, couldn't get light map and reflective map to work simultaneously, so no night textures.
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The panel bitmap is original, based on a photo of an S-42 cockpit. The gauge design and placement is guesswork.
Most of the gauges are in XML format. All were begun by copying one of the Microsoft gauges, then changing the bitmaps. Airspeed, pitch, light switch and fuel gauges are just re-colored. But the others are substantially re-worked in the XML parameters also, to the point that they are new gauges. The XML format allows you to customize gauges much more easily than the .gau format which requires C++ programming. With the XML gauges and a utility like FS Panel Studio, you can not only change the bitmaps behind the gauge, but you can change the top and bottom numeric limits, and the scale in between. Or you can create a new guage like the OAT gauge by pointing to a different FS2002 parameter altogether.
Gauge named S40-Tanks.gau is repainted from the work of an anonymous designer.
I consulted many tutorials in building this model. "The Stupid Idiots' Guide to Starting With gMax" by Hugh Shoults was my appropriate starting point. Gerard van der Harst gave step-by-step instructions for building a wing. I used many of Tom Gibson's tips and replies to questions at FreeFlight Design Shop, such as a tutorial on alpha channels in PaintShop Pro. Also many others at the FFDS forum.
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The Sikorsky S-40 NC80V was built in 1931, the first of 3, which all served with Pan American in the Caribbean. NC80V was christened "American Clipper," NC81V was the "Caribbean Clipper," and NC752V was the "Southern Clipper." The S-40 was the largest amphibian plane in the world at the time.
Initially the S-40's were used as amphibians, but later they had the landing gear removed and were used as flying boats. By removing the weight of the gear (1800 pounds) the plane gained payload capacity.
The S-40 had a wingspan of 114 feet and weighed 34,000 pounds loaded. It had 4 Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines of 575 horsepower each. Total fuel capacity was 800 gallons. Two main tanks in the wing held 240 gallons each, and the wing floats each held 120 gallons.
Fuel consumption was 125 gallons per hour.
Passengers enjoyed plush seating in several compartments, with 8-foot ceilings and picture windows. Behind the passenger compartments were two toilet compartments, and aft of that there was a teak-paneled lounge with easy chairs and a folding game table.
In 1934 the S-40's were upgraded to "S-40A" status with 660-hp engines and 3-bladed propellers. The landing gear were permanently removed.
The S-40's flew routes in the Caribbean and Central and South America throughout the 1930's. The route from Kingston, Jamaica to Barranquilla, Colombia (600 miles) was the longest overwater route in the world in 1932. One S-40 served into 1942 with Pan Am, and then was used as a navigation trainer for the RAF during the war.
Some routes flown by Pan Am in 1936, as seen in a photo of the Miami headquarters radio room:
Miami-Havana, Cuba
Miami-Nassau, Bahamas
Miami-San Juan, Puerto Rico
Miami-Cristobal, Panama
San Juan, Puerto Rico-Para, Brazil
Maracaibo, Venezuela-Port of Spain, Trinidad
Maracaibo, Venezuela-Baranquilla, Colombia
Pan Am's base radio station was WKDL in Miami.
References: US Civil Aircraft Series, volumes 5 and 6, Joseph Juptner. Images of Aviation-Pan Am, Lynn Homan and Thomas Reilly. Sea Wings, Edward Jablonski.
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This model is freeware.
All comments and suggestions welcome.
E-mail: george_diemer@msn.com
