Is there a good tutorial on using the editor? I know there are many threads on editing and designing airplanes but they seem to be spread over most of the Designer Forums and it is hard to know, at least for me, what is current and what is obsolete. The Sig Four Star 54 is actually a plane I'm building so I thought I would work through the process of editing an airplane to match it.
I started by downloading and importing the Sig Four Star_EA by Heeleycopter. It works fine.
Now I want to emulate the Four Star 54. In looking at the EA file in the editor I see a wing length of 36.2 inches. I assume that is for one wing so a wingspan of 72.4 inches and a fuselage length of 54.4 inches (if I'm reading the editor correctly). That looks to me like it is based on a Four Star 60 as the dimensions are close.
To just try my hand at editing, I changed the motor from an O.S. .52 4-stroke to a Rimfire 42-50-800 and the sound file to a small brushless. It worked but it doesn't even take off I assume because the motor is too small for the airframe. I then did a Save As Four Star-EP. Is this stored somewhere as a _AV file or does that only happen when I export?
I noticed that Doug Schluter did an AV for RF 7.5 should I download that as well and use it as the base for my changes?
So my first change, I would guess is to change all of dimensions and weights to match a Four Star 40 which the 54 is based on. Do I need to go into the editor and change each parameter for each surface to match the 40 or is there an easier way? Then I need to clip the wings. I realize that I can't change the graphic for the plane easily. That is a chore for much later, if ever. But... if I clip the wings will that mess up the graphics? I assume the graphic will still show the full length wing but the dynamics will match the clipped wing.
Sorry for all of the questions. I don't mind doing the research to answer my own questions but it seems that unless you have been around with RF for several releases it is hard to find the information in the forums. For instance I saw references to how to install the add-ons packs but I never did find a list of what was in the packs to see if I wanted them. I finally just downloaded them and added them. Glad I did. Search helps but its still hard to find things unless you know where to look.
Tom