Quest Kodiak Amphibian ... fix?

[Doug]

I know this problem has been around a while. The Quest Kodiak amphibian from Lionheart is one beautiful airplane ... but as a "float" .... well, it doesn't.  The darned thing cannot be stopped and it floats like a rocking chair. I've read the "why" (contact points wheels too close, etc). But for such a beautiful plane ... has anyone come up with a fix for it? Just curious if anyone has found one.

Doug

[tap100]

Doug

Like you I was disappointed with the floating characteristics of the Kodiak amphibian. Several years ago I started fiddling with the contact points for the floats and looking on forums, like your post here, for information. Several years ago (I don't remember when) I found some contact points on the ORBX forum. After a little fiddling with them I have come up with the following contact points. They seem to work pretty well - at least for me. There is some very slight forward tilt when slowing but overall the plane floats better in all phases of operation.

MAKE A COPY OF THE AIRCRAFT.CFG

In the Contact Points section of the Aircraft.cfg, comment out points 4, 5, 6, 7 (put 2 forward slashes "//" in front of the word "point") and paste in the following contact points.

//        1   2     3      4     5   6  7   8    9    10   11   12  13  14
point.4 = 4,  6, -5.05, -7.30, 1600, 0, 0,  0, 0.45, 0.1, 0.15,  0,  0,  3
point.5 = 4,  6,  5.05, -7.30, 1600, 0, 0,  0, 0.45, 0.1, 0.15,  0,  0,  2
point.6 = 4, -6, -5.05, -7.20, 1600, 0, 0, 30, 0.75, 2.5, 0.65,  0,  0,  3  //pos 8 = water rudder steering angle
point.7 = 4, -6,  5.05, -7.20, 1600, 0, 0, 30, 0.75, 2.5, 0.65,  0,  0,  2  //pos 8 = water rudder steering angle
//

 I hope they work for you.

[Doug]

Well, that's a great improvement. Like you said, it still dances around a little, but I can live with that. Also if you land to hard, it bounces nicely ... kinda' like that.  But the problem is stopping it. 

I played with the power_scalar ... mine is now set at 1.5   it was at .7 originally and wouldn't leave the water. It now gets out of the water much quicker with 1.5.  But it wouldn't get out of the water at a setting of 1.0.  However it doesn't like to stop ... it's like there isn't enough friction with the water to slow it down.  (Makes you want to put the tailhook down! :-)

What I'm doing to stop it is, after I'm on the water, I'm pulling the red (fuel) lever about half way down on fuel ... and the prop rev (blue) lever all the way (back to feather), then putting the flaps at full ... and it will finally stop.  At least I can do touch and go's with a full stop on the water now.  So that's a heck of an improvement.

It's just a screwy model I think. If we found a way to increase the drag, sure as the dickens, it wouldn't make speed to take off.  Its a real balance.  But what you gave me really helps ... first thing I've seen that does!  Thank you!

Doug

[tap100]

Hi Doug,

I'm glad the new contact points worked for you. There is a way to increase the water drag. The add-on program "Accu-Feel v2" from a2asimulations (https://a2asimulations.com/store, $19.99) enables one to change the water drag, as well as many more parameters. Google "accu-feel" (no quotes) to read some reviews - mostly good.

But you're right about changing the drag. Lowering it enough (I set mine at 80% drag) for somewhat realistic take-offs makes stopping in a short distance difficult and increasing the drag makes take-offs difficult.
But the other parameter settings alone make it worth the money in my opinion even if the water drag setting doesn't help much.

tap100

[Doug]

Thank you Tap!

Doug

[Dieter]

Accu-Feel is an excellent software  created by A2A for FSX.
It will work in P3D but the software is not supported by A2A for use in P3D.

Lewis - A2A:
 No official update is planned, You will need to run through the troubleshooting steps on the forums I believe and maybe perform a reinstall but as noted the product was never designed to work in P3D so we cannot be sure of results.

Some help here:
http://www.avsim.com/topic/479433-accu-feel-v2-for-prepar3d-v3/

[RCFlyer]

Isn't the Kodiak a Turbine with reverse prop capability?  It would seem you could use a little reverse prop to assist with stopping on the water.  Just a thought.

Danny

[Doug]

Well darn, there's something I haven't tried! Thank you Danny.  I just got A2A Feel there, so I'll be playing with those settings too. But an interesting thought on the reverse, I've never done that, I'll try it and let you know.

Doug

[RCFlyer]

I flew the Kodiak last night and used prop reverse to slow down on the water.  It worked very well.  So, at least with an aircraft with prop reverse one can limit the distance when landing on the water.

Regards,

Danny