Maneuvering On The Ground With Differential Braking

[AG-51_Razor]

I'm not sure that I am doing things correctly, but it seems to me that, with the tail wheel locking handle pulled up and turned 90 degrees, the aircraft should turn freely in either direction with the application of one of the wheel brakes and a small application of power if necessary. The P-47 comes to mind, where I sometimes feel as if I'm riding around on an air hockey puck instead of in an airplane that might weigh around 14,000 pounds. The Corsair, on the other hand, seems as though the tail wheel is not unlocked at all and is very unwilling to turn without a fair bit of forward motion. Not having any RL experience in either one, I can't say which is more correct but I have to think that the Corsair's ground handling qualities are more than a bit under done. 

 

Otherwise I have to sat that M3 has done a beautiful job on this iconic plane and I couldn't be happier with my purchase! BRAVO ZULU M3!!

[JupiterJoe]

I think it would work better if Magnitude 3 added a similar main gear suspension 'bounce' as the Mustang.  It was only added to the P-51 in the last year and made turning whilst taxiing much easier.  

[_Hoss]

When unlocked it turns quick for me Razor. What they need to fix or upgrade is all the Toggle, and + -  commands. With up/down, On/Off, and rotary switch capability with the fuel selector knob, magnetos switch, much like the way the Jug has been done. I really like it but there is a ton of refinements needed to bring it up to the Mustang, Jug, Spitfire and Mosquito level of control in the cockpit. Happy Birthday old man... the Corsair came out on mine.... 

[RichCotte]

I've noticed a similar problem on any of the WWII Marianas dirt/grass fields.

Loaded her up and Anderson on the modern Marianas map, just to practice on the hard surface and she works fine.  

[Nealius]

The wheel friction does feel sticky on the Marianas dirt strips. Trying to do a 90-degree turn onto the runway and she simply stops after turning 10-20 degrees. I need a good burst of 2000+ rpm to get her turning again.

[BeforeBroadband]

It's like there's a sweet spot of speed/throttle and brake application that it likes, and is a stubborn donkey outside of that. It's doable, but this is definitely the hardest warbird to turn on the ground.

[AG-51_Razor]

It looks to me like all of you guys are experiencing pretty much the same thing I am seeing. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Marianas map? I will try a different map and report back here. Thanks for all you replies and that you Hoss for the birthday wishes. We gotta get in the friendly skies together soon brother!  

[Mud]

I find it challenging on concrete in the Normandy map as well. A lot of power is needed to pivot around, and small taps or light braking just is not enough to make sharp turns and it still kills all forward speed at 800-1000 rpm.

I do not see myself make the following turn for instance in the current state of the module.

 

[AG-51_Razor]

I have just tried it on both the Normandy map as well as the NTTR map with the same results. I did not experience any difference between the Marianas map and the NTTR map or Normandy map on dirt surfaces or hard stands. For those of you that say you're not having issues, could you go to your F2 view and look at the tail wheel during a sharp turn? In my case, I don't think that I have seen the tail wheel swivel more than about 20-30 degrees. I really do think that this is a bug and would very much like for M3 to weigh in on this in the event that I am wrong.

[Super Wabbit]

Also experiencing this on Caucasus.  It almost feels like the tail wheel has a centering spring in it.  Full left or right brake, tail wheel unlocked and lot of power to get it to turn on a point and the tail wheel does not seem to caster more than a couple degrees off center.  

[DrDetroit]

I can't get  this thing to turn at all unless I give it a <profanity> ton of throttle, then it's uncontrollable and I can't steer at all.  Man, what a pain!  No problem with any other module.

Thrustmaster Warthog, Saitek combat pro pedals, working great.  Not sure what gives, but this is frustrating. 

 

EDIT: seems using differential braking is the only way to turn while taxiing.  

Edited June 24 by DrDetroit

[AG-51_Razor]

I have no doubt that M3 will be all over this at some point. Hopefully it will be sooner than later.

[Nealius]

The taxiing experience shouldn't be too much different than the FW-190A8 given that she taxis around at 800-1000rpm as well. Only real difference would be usage of a dedicated tailwheel locking lever instead of using the stick position to lock/unlock. Though I have to say that most of the ED warbirds like to slide laterally as if they're on ice, which the Corsair pleasantly does not do in its current state.

[Slippa]

I noticed the tail-wheel seemed a bit iffy too. Glad to have another prop here though.

[AG-51_Razor]

I am bumping this post of mine just to see if -Rudel- will respond to say whether or not this is a known bug or that M3 believes that the tail wheel is modeled correctly.

[jetski]

I have noticed this as well, but additionally, if you are only using the single wheel brake toggle button, (and the rudder pedal axis for differential braking), the visual pedals work but differential braking does not.

I mapped the left & right toe-brakes to separate joystick buttons and this works much better.

[AG-51_Razor]

I'm not having a problem with the brakes. I use rudder pedals, each with a brake axis, and I can get the Hog to spin around the point of one of the main landing gears with enough power. That is not the issue, IMHO. If you look at the tail wheel while making one of these sharp turns (or even something much less aggressive in terms of brake or power usage), you will see that the tail wheel is not swiveling more than about 10-20 degrees. Once the tail wheel is unlocked, it should swivel around 360 degrees quite easily. As a matter of fact, you are supposed to unlock the tail wheel prior to landing aboard the carrier to prevent damaging the tail wheel and /or it's locking mechanism due to the possible violent side loads that can be put on it at touch down. This doesn't seem like a terribly difficult thing to fix but I am just a layman, not a professional coder. I am just curious to know what M3 thinks about it.

[felixx75]

Yes, the tail wheel behaves as if it were spring-loaded and not as if it could rotate freely. It always wants to return to its original position.

[tekwoj]

High rudder inputs, throttle strong forward for a short time and very gentle brake tapping works for me.

[felixx75]

2 hours ago, tekwoj said:

High rudder inputs, throttle strong forward for a short time and very gentle brake tapping works for me.

Yes, that's how I do it and it works somewhat well, but the tail wheel doesn't behave the way I know it from other warbirds.

[GeoS72]

Yes, this is certainly a bug that should be addressed.

As needed, my thread could be merged into this one: Bug/No Bug Differential Braking (link also has track file).

@-Rudel-, would you kindly add this to the list of issues to address?

Edited July 5 by GeoS72
Comment about track file

[tekwoj]

1 hour ago, felixx75 said:

Yes, that's how I do it and it works somewhat well, but the tail wheel doesn't behave the way I know it from other warbirds.

I found it very similar to what I'm used to in IL-2, except the break strength being stronger.

[felixx75]

But I don't think the tail wheel should feel as if it is spring-loaded. My IL-2 days were literally decades ago. But if it feels similar, it's probably not really realistically implemented there either

[JabbyJabara]

I've flown all sorts of tail wheels IRL and this Corsair is definitely misbehaving, differential braking is differential braking the physics do not change between aircraft types - this function of the corsair is bugged for sure

[dresoccer4]

+1 here just got the bird and having a helluvuh time taxiing