This is a repainted version of Paul Clawson's FS2000 Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver. A modified version of Paul's SOC Seagull panel is included. Four textures are included for four of the section leaders (red, blue, black & green) of Scouting Squadron Two (VS-2), the Indian Chiefs, of the Lexington Air Group in 1940. The plane works perfectly in FS2002. It will work in FS2004/FS9, but the prop will be invisible. Original model, panel and textures by Paul Clawson. Panel and textures modified by Mick Morrissey.
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Panel:
I have included a modified version of Paul Clawson's FS2002/2004 Curtiss SOC panel, but I strongly recommend that you download the Flight Deck Design Curtiss SBC-3 and alias the -4 to that plane's panel.
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Sounds:
For FS2002 I have aliased the sounds to the F4U-1A Corsair. Since the Corsair is not a stock aircraft in FS2004/FS9, I included an alternate alias in the Panel.cfg file to alias the sounds to the Lockheed Vega. If you'd prefer something better, there are plenty of good radial engine sounds sets available for download. If you download the Flight Deck Design SBC-3 you might like to alias the -4 to that plane's sounds.
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Installation:
FS2002:
If you haven't already, unzip this archive to a temporary folder.
If you're going to use the included panel, move the contents of the Gauges folder into your FS2002 or Flight Simulator 9 Gauges folder. You can then delete the Gauges folder from the Heldiver's aircraft folder.
Move the Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver folder into the Aircraft folder of FS2002 or Flight Simulator 9.
The Helldiver will show up on your Select Aircraft menu under Manufacturer: Curtiss, Type: SBC Helldiver, Variation: SBC-4, (whatever paint).
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FS2004/FS9:
Folow all the above steps, then:
If you're going to use the aliased sounds, go into the Sound folder in the Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver aircraft folder and open the Sound.cfg with a text editor such as Notepad. Delete the line "alias=alias=f4u1a_corsair\sound" and remove the two backslashes from the beginning of the line "//alias=Lockheed_Vega\sound." Your sound.cfg file should then read like this:
[fltsim]
alias=Lockheed_Vega\sound
When you first load the SBC-4 in FS2004/FS9 the sim will pop a dialog box warning you that this model had features that may not be compatible with this version of Flight Simulator, and asking you if you want to disable those features. DO NOT disable the features! If you do, your Helldiver won't have any landing gear!
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Using Multiple Repaints In One Aircraft Folder:
If you've downloaded more than one of the SBC-4 repaints you don't need the whole aircraft for each of them. All you need is the texture files and an entry in the Aircraft.cfg file.
First copy the texture file from your additional download into the Curtiss SBC-3 Helldiver folder in your Flight Simulator's Aircraft folder.
Open the Aircraft.cff file that came with the additional download and copy the [fltsim.X] section(s) into the Aircraft.cfg file in the Helldiver you have installed. Place it after the existing [fltsim.X] section(s). Then make sure that all your [fltsim.X] sections (where X is a number) are numbered in sequence (starting with zero.)
Now you can delete the remaining files from your additional download.
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Known Issues:
In FS2004/FS9 the prop is invisible. Nothing can be done about that. It happends because FS9 can't display certain kinds of animations made with some older model building software.
No matter what color the tail is on a particular variation, the struts below the horizontal stabilizers are always red. That can't be helped. The struts don't take their color from any of the texture files, they just have the color of the underlying model, which is red because Paul's original model had a livery that featured a red tail.
The canopy glass is tinted blue. I don't think anything can be done about that. It seems to be an artifact of the software the original model was built with.
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About The Real SBC-4:
The Helldiver began life in 1932 as the XF12C-1, a two-seat monoplane fighter with a parasol wing. The plane performed adequately but the Navy lost interest in the two-seat fighter concept and directed that the plane be rebuilt as the XS4C-1 scout, soon redesignated as the XSBC-1 scout bomber. It was still a parasol monoplane but featured a different powerplant. When the sole prototype was destroyed during flight testing, BuAir decided that the replacement should be a biplane.
The XSBC-2 looked very much like the production SBC-3 but it was powered by a twin-row Wright R-1510 engine. The SBC-3 substituted a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 and went into production for the fleet, where it served with Scouting Squadrons Three, Five and Six. VS-5 was the first operating unit, receiving it's Helldivers in 1937.
In 1938 Curtiss replaced the 750 hp twin-row P&W R-1535 with a 950 hp single-row Wright R-1820 to produce the SBC-4. The wider, shorter engine required a major reshaping of the Helldiver's nose contours, while the revised aerodynamics and increased power required that the vertical tail be enlarged. The additional two hundred horsepower allowed the SBC-4 to carry a 1000 lb bomb, twice the load of the SBC-3, and the -4 was upgunned from a single .30 cal forward firing machine gun to twin .50's. The new Helldiver entered service in 1939 with Scouting Two, the only fleet unit to operate the -4 version. By then the monoplane Vought SB2C Vindicator was well established in the fleet and the monoplane Northrop BT-1 and Douglas SBD-2 were on the way, rendering the SBC-4 obsolescent upon delivery. Nevertheless the SBC-4 was produced in large numbers for the Naval Reserve. It equipped almost every reserve squadron, replacing a potpourri of trainers and hopelessly obsolete tactical types and providing reserve aviators with valuable experience on a relatively modern fleet aircraft.
The SBC-4 went to war with the Marines when VMO-1 relieved VS-5 for a Neutrality Patrol cruise aboard the Yorktown in 1941, but saw no action. Several Marine squadrons operated the SBC-4 in the Pacific, technically in the combat zone, including carrier operations in support of the invasion of Atu in the Aleutians, but again no combat took place.
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Legal:
These files are released as freeware and are subject to the same limitations expressed in Paul Clawson's original ReadMe file, which is enclosed in this archive.
There is no reason to suppose that these files could harm your computer, but you use them at your own risk and I accept no liability for any consequences, real of imagined.
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Mick Morrissey
mjmorrissey99@yahoo.com
