Svetlin

baffmeister, may I ask you a question? I am using this thread since it is somewhat MiG-21 related as well. I have not had the time to test the new data.ini you offered here, so I do not know, may be the issue I have in mind might have been addressed there. I am writing about the angle of attack the aircraft has on the ground (or the stance as I've heard it being called). The stock TW MiG-21 sits in a well visible nose-up position, while in real life pictures the aircraft seems horizontal or just slightly nose-down (I am not considering pictures of the aircraft on the runway before take off with the throttle up and brakes applied). Is there any way to control the stance of the aircraft on ground, without affecting the FM of the aircraft? I know out of personal (and rather ignorant I must admit) tests with the CG position entry in the aircraft data.ini file, that by changing the position of the CG, the stance of the aircraft on the ground changes. Changing the CG position does affect the FM though, so I doubt it is the right thing to do. I also know that each aircraft component in the data.ini file has an entry for the weight (for example weight of the nose, weight of the tail, weight of the wing, etc.) and I guess a rather low weight entry for the nose or a rather high one for the tail or other component aft of the CG may cause the aircraft to have a nose-up stance, but I have not messed with that yet. I believe I recall seeing somewhere an entry in the aircraft data.ini addressing just the angle of attack on the ground (it was something like aircraftongroundangle=) and I checked several stock TW aircraft, but could not find the correct entry. Any ideas?

The file was updated and now has to be approved again. Hopefully someone will do it soon.

The fake pilot method works perfect for objects that need to stay permanently fixed on the aircraft. So one needs to consider if the subject pylon is to be constantly visible on the aircraft or not. In other words, if the fake pilot metod is used, then no matter what type of weapon is selected or if any weapon is loaded at all, the pylon will stay fixed on the aircraft.

What I am after. Awfully slowly making progress. Unfortunately my skills are too limited to make a skin, identical to the original.

Yes, what yakararov79 wrote was my plan too and it works fine. I added the tank and I can select between the early FPU-6/A tank and the later FPU-8/A tank. I just need to make a matching skin with the same level of weathering as the aircraft, though that is not really mandatory.

Guys, do we have in some weapons pack the early F/A-18A/B drop tank? I have not come accross it, but I might be missing something. The external difference with the later drop tank is in the shape. The early one has an oval shaped cross section, the later one has a circle shaped cross section and is more pointy at the front. There could be other differences as well, but these are the most obvious to me.

Thank you so much, russouk2004, I truly and greatly appreciate your kindness to devote some of your time to this. I will give it a try to solve the issue, I believe I have an idea what I need to do for the fixed FPU-8/A tanks to show only when specifically called for.

Got it, 10x

Here is the source drawing, in case it helps better. I am not sure I understood your post. Do you need me to make calculations or did I understood correctly that you could use the drawing to scale the tank properly?

Thank you so much for the proposal, russouk2004! Here is a drawing, showing front, side and top of view of the FPU-6/A drop tank: So far I have not been successful in finding the dimensions. I have a drawing of the newer style FPU-8/A drop tank in the same scale, showing it in front, top as well as side view and a drawing in the same scale of the F/A-18. I suppose that knowing the dimensions of the F/A-18, I could use all these drawings to calculate approximate dimensions of the FPU-6/A drop tank I am looking for. I will give it a try and will post the results here. I guess it will be better than nothing.

EricJ's recent uploads of fabulous skins for the Hornets motivated me to try something myself. Far from being finished still...

EricJ, did you try to use this as a source: https://www.markstyling.com/f_a_18s/f_a-18e.cu.43a.jpg

Hi, my pleasure, here it goes. Chapter II - Geometrical data Horizontal tails a) moving surface Area Mean aerodynamic chord (MAC) of the moving part of the horizontal tails - along the air flow - perpendicular to the rotation axis Spread Sweep angle at 1/4 MAC Elongation Waist Cross angle V Relative thickness (along the air flow) Profile along the air flow Horizontal tail shoulder (distance from wing 0.32 MAC to 0.25 MAC of the moving part of the horizontal tail) ======================================================= Here is the part you are interested in: Deflection angles along the air flow (maximum angles at high level setting of the automatic booster control) - front part of the stabilizer turned up - front part of the stabilizer turned down Sweep angle of the stabilizer rotation axis Location of the rotation axis in % from the MAC of the moving part of the horizontal tail ======================================================== b) with ventral fin Area Spread Mean aerodynamic chord along the flow Vertical tail (fin) (without the ventral fin) Area of the vertical tail Mean aerodynamic chord Sweep angle along 1/4 MAC Elongation Waist Relative thickness of the vertical tail (mean or average) Profile along the air flow Vertical tail shoulder (distance from wing 0.32 MAC to 0.25 MAC of the vertical tail) Rudder area Rudder mean aerodynamic chord (perpendicular to the rotation axis) Area of the axial compensation of the rudder (in % of the rudder area) Maximum rudder deflection angle (perpendicular to the rotation axis) I must ask you to excuse me as my translation is that of an amateur. I have no technical education and I have only read about most of the technical terms used here, but only in Russian and Bulgarian, so I believe I understand what most of these terms mean, yet my lack of experience with the English terms is rather obvious. So I just hope you are able to make something out of what I am trying to translate as I am sure I am not using the proper English term in most cases.

Proposed re-positioning of serial numbers on the wings to better match the real thing: Replace: [Decal005] MeshName=RightFlap DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=MiG-21 LanceR C/RO1/RumNum Position=1.25,-2.85 Scale=0.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal006] MeshName=LeftFlap DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=MiG-21 LanceR C/RO1/RumNum Position=-1.25,-2.85 Scale=0.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 with: [Decal005] MeshName=RightAileron DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=MiG-21 LanceR C/RO1/RumNum Position=2.45,-2.85 Scale=0.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal006] MeshName=RightAileron DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=BOTTOM FilenameFormat=MiG-21 LanceR C/RO1/RumNum Position=2.45,-2.85 Scale=0.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal007] MeshName=LeftAileron DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=MiG-21 LanceR C/RO1/RumNum Position=-2.45,-2.85 Scale=0.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal008] MeshName=LeftAileron DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=BOTTOM FilenameFormat=MiG-21 LanceR C/RO1/RumNum Position=-2.45,-2.85 Scale=0.8 DecalMaxLOD=3

OK, now here goes the first page: Aircraft Weight Summary In order to calculate the balance of the aircraft at the possible changes in aircraft construction and equipment, the weight and center of weight of various aircraft equipment and systems are listed. Aircraft balance calculations are performed using the X and Y axis. Axis X is the aircraft longitudinal axis and matches the aircraft constructional horizon. The Y axis is perpendicular to the X axis and is vertical, situated 600 mm towards the aircraft tail from frame #16. The point where axis X crosses axis Y is the starting point in the center of weight position calculations for the aircraft, its systems and each component, which is part of the various aircraft systems. The coordinates of systems and components, situated in the direction of the aircraft tail on the X axis and up vertically on the Y axis, have a "+" sign and those towards the aircraft nose on the X axis and down vertically on the Y axis have a "-" sign. (Picture 92 shows the location of the balancing axis) Weight summary and load balance and the main equipment with respect to the centering axis are listed in table 27. Weight summary and balancing of loadout with respect to the centering axis are listed in table 28. Weight Summary and load balance and main equipment Table 27 =============== Table headers: Name / PX (measured in kg) / X (measured in meters) / P (measured in kg) / У (measured in meters) / PУ (measured in kg) ============== Aircraft with normal load (landing gear is lowered position) Empty aircraft Normal load Normal load Pilot with parachute R-3R missiles (2 pcs) Cartidges (250 pcs) Fuel in fuel tank #2 V = 830L Fuel in fuel tank #3 V = 340L Fuel in fuel tank #4 V = 175L Fuel in fuel tank #5 V = 245L Fuel in fuel tank #6 V = 185L Fuel in the front wing tanks V = 360L Fuel in the rear wing tanks V = 220L Fuel in the fuel tank on the aircraft back (in the structure behind the canopy that flows into the aircraft vertical tail) V = 530L Launch rail APU-13U-2 (2 pcs) ============================== The other page will follow probably tomorrow.

Hi, I will translate these for you as well, but after a quick glance at the 2 pages, I still cannot make out what PX, X, P, У and PУ mean. As for the 800L drop tank, that could be loaded under the fuselage, from what I have read at www.airwar.ru, the tank was first introduced on the MiG-21SM (first flight in 1967) and was available on all subsequent variants such as SMT, M, MF, bis. I am not 100% sure, but I am willing to believe that the subject 800L drop tank was later used also on the MiG-23 and we do have that tank stock in SF2. In fact I have modified the MiG-21s in my install to carry the MiG-23 800L drop tank and it fits quite nicely, here is a proof of concept

Can you post also the first part of table 28 and probably the next page after this table, as looking at this part of the table alone, I cannot figure out the meaning of PX, X, P, У and PУ. I think I can help with the translation of the rest. Chapter VII - Weight and balancing characteristics Table 28 continued =============== Table headers: Name / PX (measured in kg) / X (measured in meters) / P (measured in kg) / У (measured in meters) / PУ (measured in kg) ============== Under the wings ============== Inner pylons loadout ============== R-2R missiles loaded (2 pcs) -------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D launch rail APU-13U R-3R missiles ============== R-55 missiles loaded (2 pcs) ------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D launch rail APU-68UME R-55 missiles =============== R-13M missiles loaded (2 pcs) -------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D launch rail APU-13MT R-13M missiles ============== UB-16 rocket pods loaded (2 pcs) -------------------------------------------- C-5M unguided rockets (16 * 2) rocket pods UB-16-57UMP pylon BDZ-60-21D =============== OFAB-100 bombs loaded (2 pcs) --------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D bombs OFAB-100 =============== Unguided missiles S-24 loaded (2 pcs) --------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D launch rail APU-68UME unguided missiles S-24 =============== OFAB-250 bombs loaded (2 pcs) --------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D bombs OFAB-250 =============== UB-32 rocket pods loaded (2 pcs) -------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-60-21D rocket pods UB-32A C-5M unguided rockets (2 * 32 pcs) =============== Incinerating canisters ZB-500 loaded (2 pcs) ------------------------------------------- pylon BDZ-50-21D ZB-500 incinerating canisters (from me - something like napalm bombs I guess) ================ By the looks of it, the table shows parameters with various types of weapons loaded, giving first total amounts for the whole unit loaded under the wing (weapon+pylon+launch rail) and then giving a break-down for each component - the weapon alone, the pylon alone, the missile rail alone (if one is needed for the weapon; naturally no missile rails needed for bombs and rocket pods). Hope that helps.

In my view the shape of the drop tank is OK to represent the larger 800L drop tank, that China designed for the J-7. It is slightly longer than the standard MiG-21 drop tank, has larger diameter and is not so pointy at the front as obviously it was not planned for use during flight with high supersonic speed. The J-7 can be loaded with both the standard MiG-21 drop tank and the larger 800L drop tank, though most likely the larger tank can be loaded only on the centerline pylon.

Hello, very nice looking models. From realism standpoint, if I remember well, drop tanks cannot be loaded on the inner wing pylons, becuase of the landing gear and the flaps. Same as on all MiG-21 variants after MiG-21M/CM. Also on the screenshots the wheels seem a bit too thin, can you make them a bit wider?

Actually the fake pilot elements in the MiG-21K mod were made by Spillone104.

The first graphic in Russian says: Полньй форсаж = Full afterburner Максимал = Full throttle, i.e. highest throttle before afterburner starts Рис. 27 Перегрузки установившегося виража самолета с двумя ракетами Р-3С = Drawing 27 G-load during sustained virage of aircarft loaded with 2 R-3S (AA-2A Atol) missiles G=7500 кг = G=7500 kg Рис. 28 Радиусьй установившегося виража самолета с двумя ракетами Р-3С = Drawing 28 Radius of sustained virage of aircarft loaded with 2 R-3S (AA-2A Atol) missiles The second graphic in Russian says: Зона предупредительной тряски = Warning shake zone (probably refers to a warning shake of the aircraft controls, avialable to warn the pilot, that a critical level of certian flight parameter has been reached, for example a warning shake before stall) сваливания = stall Граница по максимальному отклонению стабилизатора = Limit of maximum deflection of the stabilizer Начало предупредительной тряски = Begining of warning shake На большом плече АРУ = probably means "at high level setting of the automatic booster control" На малом плече АРУ = probably means "at low level setting of the automatic booster control" Рис. 21 Изменение коеффициента подьемной сили самолета = Drawing 21 Fluctuation of the coefficient of aerodymic lift of the aircraft При остатке топливо <= 1200 л = At fuel level of up to 1200 L При остатке топливо <= 2200 л = At fuel level of up to 2200 L Рис. 22 Максимальнъйе разполагаемъйе перегрузки = Drawing 22 Maximum available G-load Hope that helps a little.

Nope, Kfir C7 is a single-seater aircraft, the one in the picture is 2-seater, so I would say Kfir TC2

Fruther to what Gepard wrote, if I understand correct, every "soviet" aircraft had a serial "production" number and then the so called "board number". The "production number" was of course unique to each aircraft, while the "board number" could change. In fact, speaking about the Bulgarian Air Force as an example during the Cold War, I have read from pilots and mechanics of the time, that the "board numbers" would sometimes be changed intentionally with the purpose of causing confusion about the actual number of operational aircraft. Perhaps that was the case not only in Bulgaria, but also in other Warsaw Pact countries.

Hi, you may try here: https://www.scramble.nl/index.php?option=com_mildb&view=search