Trim Rate

[flyco]

I find the rate at which you can change the pitch trim of the Spitfire totally inadequate.  
 

I have over a 1000 hrs flying single engine training aircraft (prop and jet), and am well used to the need to trim constantly.  When you make a flap or power change, you get to know how much trim you need to put in before fine trimming it.  However on a normal aircraft this takes 1-2 secs to move the trimming wheel, whereas on the DCS Spitfire it takes very much longer.

 

I have timed how long it takes the DCS Spitfire trim to move through its full travel and it is over 40 secs, as compared to less that 4 seconds in, say, a Chipmunk.  This surely cannot be accurate.

 

Surprisingly, I have never seen this remarked on in these forums.  Does anyone else find this a problem?

 

[Art-J]

On the contrary, there was a time when many found 4-sec. full travel way too fast, although that appplied to hyper-sensitive rudder trim back before it was slowed down this year to comparable speed with the elevator one. Previously, trimming (or rather overtrimming) the rudder was a bloody nightmare in DCS Spit - for the same reason I don't think many would like the elevator trim to be more sensitive.

 

40 sec.-sensitivity is perfect for cruise flight for me. I agree it's somewhat slow when I prepare for dropping gear and flaps, but I just deal with it by trimming in advance. Also, If you really need to trim fast, left-mouse click and drag rotates the wheel as fast as you dare, although it's not very convenient.

 

 

[Hornetjock]

Before the new sensitivity of the trims in the Spit, I used to use the actual trim wheels in the cockpit. Now I have them mapped to a HOTAS trim switch - up/down for elevator and left/right for rudder. You get used to the number of seconds it takes and your eyes are on other control settings. Removing the right rudder trim for takeoff is important for co-ordinated flight and can be done easily this way. It used to bug me but used to it now. The main one is pitch - I use very little rudder trim if any - I find the pedals accurate if you get the tail up. Still loving it!

[Helles Belle]

Like @Hornetjock and I guess most people I have the trims mapped to the stick.

I also have the nose down & rudder right trim mapped to two buttons side by side on the keyboard.

I find if you press both until nose trim indicates 1 unit UP, the rudder trim will be right for takeoff.

Slowly bringing the power up to 10-12 boost it almost lifts off the ground by itself and flies away.

 

I also find the trim rate better now. I think slower you are able to finesse the trim to a point where minimal input is required for straight & level.

At other times I’ll just use rudder to keep it balanced and hold elevator & aileron as required.

 

Now if only they would fix the trim rate on the Bf-109, that is way to quick.

[Holbeach]

On 12/27/2020 at 8:02 PM, flyco said:

I find the rate at which you can change the pitch trim of the Spitfire totally inadequate.  
 

I have over a 1000 hrs flying single engine training aircraft (prop and jet), and am well used to the need to trim constantly.  When you make a flap or power change, you get to know how much trim you need to put in before fine trimming it.  However on a normal aircraft this takes 1-2 secs to move the trimming wheel, whereas on the DCS Spitfire it takes very much longer.

 

I have timed how long it takes the DCS Spitfire trim to move through its full travel and it is over 40 secs, as compared to less that 4 seconds in, say, a Chipmunk.  This surely cannot be accurate.

 

Surprisingly, I have never seen this remarked on in these forums.  Does anyone else find this a problem?

On 12/27/2020 at 8:02 PM, flyco said:

 

 

[Terry Dactil]

Have you noticed that the Spitfire has very little longitudinal stability (by design)?

This means that only very small trim adjustments are normally required in flight.

I imagine that if ED increase the trim speed they would then get complaints that  it moves too fast to be accurately set.

I have no problems with it in flight; it is only a pain setting pre-flight where possibly a large adjustment is needed.

Our main problem is that we are using a computer and a fixed rate, whereas in the real aircraft the trim can be manually moved as far and fast as you desire.

I guess life wasn't meant to be easy. 

[grafspee]

ED should make all trim wheels work like in p-51 if you press it for longer time trim change accelerates, but at the beginning it is very precise and slow.

[Terry Dactil]

Now there is a good idea.

[Eisprinzessin]

I have the problem that my spit always pulls up. did the first flights today and not be able to trim ist that it takes level flight. also pulls up. 2000 rpm....4 boost....pulls up.

 

and rolls to the left. on top with rudder trim fully right...hm, did i miss something?

[Terry Dactil]

Suggest checking all your axis controls. The default values have things like the rudder also wanting to control  pitch, roll and throttle.

The default settings bind anything that can control an axis to everything it can find!

[Fri13]

The trimming is fixed value. I don't know what file it was, but it was mentioned in these forums once in topic of P-51.

You could adjust the trimming speed in it. In modern jets it is too fast, you can't example trim L-39 to level flight as it always gets over the wanted trim position so you are constantly going up/down. Adjusting the file you got it much slower so you could have nice smooth trimming by holding trim down.

 

But, you can do it otherway around as well, set it faster so less time moves it more.

[Sandhill]

Oddly, I have had the exact opposite problem with pitch trim in the Spit.  It is viciously fast near center using button presses.  To trim for straight and level I go from too much up to too much down in the course of a super quick button push.  I have had this problem with no other aircraft.  Yes it does take forever to go from full Nose UP to full Nose Down, but that range around center had been pretty useless for me.  I had a long throw axis available which I have put to use, but even then I had to turn the saturation way down and put quite a bit of curve on it to get to where I can consistently trim to within a couple hundred FPM for straight and level.  I'd prefer to use the same hat for pitch trim that I use for every other aircraft, but I've had to make the exception for the Spit.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Sandhill
smelling

[LeCuvier]

On 1/8/2021 at 1:51 AM, Fri13 said:

The trimming is fixed value. I don't know what file it was, but it was mentioned in these forums once in topic of P-51.

You could adjust the trimming speed in it. ..

Changing the "gain" in the file "clickabledata.lua" in the folder "...\Cockpit\Scripts" helps only if the HOTAS control is directly linked to the sim cockpit object. That's not the case in the Spit.

For fine-tuning of the elevator trim you could bind a rotary encoder to the two trim commands (in addition to the POV hat). You could then use the POV hat for coarse trim and the rotary encoder for fine adjustment.

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by LeCuvier

[Fri13]

1 hour ago, LeCuvier said:

only if the HOTAS control is directly linked to the sim cockpit object.

What do you mean with that?

[LeCuvier]

3 hours ago, Fri13 said:

What do you mean with that?

Some of the bindable commands defined in the "default.lua" are linked to "clickable" cockpit objects visible in "clickabledata.lua". Others are "parallel" objects implemented separately for binding.

Technical answer unfortunately, but it's a technical subject.

[Sandhill]

On 3/2/2021 at 10:45 AM, LeCuvier said:

For fine-tuning of the elevator trim you could bind a rotary encoder to the two trim commands (in addition to the POV hat). You could then use the POV hat for coarse trim and the rotary encoder for fine adjustment.

 

 

 

 

Nice, hadn't thought to try that ... it seems to be working well!  Thanks!