YES!!!!!!
 

so, I should give you a little background story.

I fly primarily FSX, and lately I've picked up the Reno Air Racing that you can do in the game, which counts laps and times, in the practice mission.
I love air racing as there is more to it than racing cars.

So I downloaded a freeware P-51, designed to look like Race 38, Precious Metal.
http://www.a2oxford.info/pages/reno_...limited_10.jpg
out of the box it wasn't doing so well. A low roll rate coupled with some improper engine and prop tuning ended up with a plane that could barely handle the pylons at little more than 400 MPH. she flew so slow and so improperly that I took it upon myself to make her fly right, under the speeds I knew Precious could fly.

so I did. I tuned the engine up to its proper horsepower, the proper piston displacement, and everything else, and then I took some cues and hints from the RealAir Spitfire, which has a contra-griffon powered Spitfire for the propeller stats.

The creator, Bill Cook, used stock P-51 wing geometry, so I modified the wings in the file to match their actual statistics.
_____________________________

all that took about a week, between work and being social.

After all that though, I flew the Reno practice mission to find that Precious Metal BOMBS around the pylons at speeds of 465-470 MPh and times of 1:04 to 1:06. :D
A happy coincidence, I found, is that under 1000 RPM on the ground, the engine coughs and stalls out.

Now to create my custom paint job.

EDIT: I am going to try contacting the pilot/owner over facebook to get some more data about the engine. Specifically the boost pressures and so on.

very cool :up: I've flown a few of the air races and always surprise myself when I don't crash lol. I think it's probably easier than I always thought it would be. Great fun once you get the hang of it. :rock:

:) :up:

Aj, best little trick I learned is based on fact.

Reno racer Mustangs have the center of gravity located far aft. so they need to be flown with the nose being pushed down instead of pulling the stick up.

I have the trim buttons set up on my joystick so I can hit them with my thumb in flight for immediate trimming. since I;m not using the buttons to lock onto targets or select missiles.

So I trim the plane to pull up at about 3.5 g's. I press down on the stick nd control how hard the plane pulls up by letting off the stick. once the stick is in neutral I know I'm pulling about 3.5 gs and that I'm going to bleed off speed.

Mind you, I was setting those laps without running the plane flat out. the gauges aren't calibrated right. but I still dont run her at the full 130"hg manifold pressure. I was running 120, ADI on.

There is very plenty to discover in FSX, i just had one quick jump into the Mustang'S cockpit on the day the sim arrived, and slammed the plane into the ground immediately after take-off - somehow the engine imploded or died, whatever! :D

I have ordered the F-16 from Aerosoft, and I probably will make a post about it once it is here. The pit is looking AWESOME. And having flown the default Hornet I instantly knew that for this FSX I need a fastmover, pronto.

Glad it's not just me then, there's a Mustang shaped hole just outside Norwich airport after I gunned her too much and blew a cylinder.

Skybird, seriously, if you have the money get yourself an Accu-sim plane. B-17, Spitfire, P-47, B377, Piper Cub, doesn't matter which one, they are all classics and impeccably modeled in every aspect.

B-17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCLMg...el_video_title

P-47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7cTL...eature=related

Spitfire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsgEiJoBxX0

I've only flown the B-17 and Spit and they are both beautiful aircraft. :yep:

They look nice, yes. Maybe the Spit, one day. But I had the Realair Spitfire in FS2004, and although also a nice package, I did not fly it much.

For FSX, so far I got a gliding thing (Discus), a small fast thing (SF.260 upgrade), a bigger very fast thing (F-16), I plan for the very big slow thing (PMDG 737), and I could imagine the other old thing (Cheyenne), since I liked it so much in FS9. Maybe, at the very end, the Huey-thing as well, the helicopters are finally usable in FS, it seems.

With that palette, I would be nicely set up, having one thing for every opportunity. :D

Nice to say that I had plenty of airprot sceneries for FS2004 that I altready bought in the doiuble cionfguration for FS9+FSX, both versions on one disc. I am already well supported in airports, and next week some general scenery upgrades (mesh, LCs, textures) and weather improvements will follow.

Is there a good but free flight planner who writes PMDG and FSX formats? It'S getting a bgit more money ove rhere than I origfinally planned, so I want to start saving a bit. Same is true for traffic tools - anything good and free out there?

I believe REX 2.0 comes with a flight planner tool.

Oberon, Sky, having flown every one of the accu-sim planes
(disposable income defined)
I can say theres no better plane for the money, whichever one you choose.

I love the B-17, I'm currently working on a transatlantic flight.
the 377 slows down my system a little bit, unfortunately, so sometimes the rigors of taking off and landing get the best of me (somehow, landing at <10 fps should earn you a medal all its own)
Spitfire is absolutely wonderful, I fly it for kicks whenever I'm not tooling around in the Hughes H-1

P-47. What a brute. She goes...and goes....and goes...

Can;t wait for the P-51 though. It looks like a really sweet ride.

EDIT: you guys need to treat your Mustangs better....XD
I suggest you all get the Hughes H-1 from Aerosoft, its so cheap and well worth every penny. Once you learn to manage that big radial you can pretty much fly any prop plane you want.

But it is - by reviews' conclusions - even less capable than the FSX default one and very rudimentary. I need it to be able to write PMDG format. From FS2004, I know Flight Sim Commander 7, which did a good job, all in all. But it costs 40 Euros.