A modern replica of the 1934 Brown B-2 air racer orginally built by the Brown Aircraft Company of Montebello, California. "Miss Los Angeles" raced in the 1934 Nation Air Races and Thompson Trophy race and competed for a few more years after that.
Experimental rated. Daytime VFR only. With no transponder, you may think you are limted with airspace, but in the U.S. you can call ahead and get clearance into most airspaces and airports.
INSTALLATION
Copy the sal1800-brown-b2-racer directory into your community package directory.
Startup
Battery switch on
Fuel cutoff to on position (up)
Mixture handle full rich
Throttle 25%
Turn key to energize magnetos and continue to rotate to start
If engine starts, adjust throttle for 700-1000 RPM
* At low RPMs, the alternator may not produce enough voltage to charge the battery. Avoid spending too much time at low idle.
Taxi
As with any taildragger, visibility is limited. Look out the sides and use S-turns. Full rudder and brakes will engage differential braking to help make tight turns as long as your speed is low.
Takeoff
Set mixture rich and fuel pump on. Set a small amount of up trim. Gradually apply full throttle. When the tailwheel lifts, be ready to apply left rudder as needed to maintain centerline. At 90 kts. you should be able to lift off. Adjust the throttle to stay below the redline RPM.
Cruise
Turn off fuel pump and adjust throttle and mixture for best fuel economy. Trim for level flight. You may find that you have a consistent roll. Use keybindings for alieron and rudder trim to adjust.
Approach and Landing
Plan ahead to slow to below 100 kts while decending to pattern altitude. Take your time because diving the nose down will pick up too much speed. Trim up as you slow. When stable below 100 kts, you can select flaps and end up at 70 kts on final with as gentle a touchdown as you can manage.
After touchdown, apply brakes along with gradual backpressure on the stick to keep the tailwheel on the ground.
Crosswinds are not recommended. If you are having a hard time flying this plane, please try settng your weather to clear skys and give it a chance.
Fixed Pitch Propeller
The propeller pitch is set for reasonably high speeds, so you will need more throttle on the ground and as the airspeed increases, adjust lower to stay below the RPM redline.
Realism
I developed the engine performance and flight model to be both real world plausible and easy enough to fly in the simulator. I used many references, so this is not attempting to recreate any particular real-world aircraft, but a realistic homebuilt replica version of the type.
The flight model has been developed around a Curtiss airfoil (http://airfoiltools.com/airfoil/details?airfoil=curtisc72-il) which would be appropriate for the time it was originally designed.
This would actually spend most of its life in a museum. If it was kept in flyable condition, it would maybe see very few flight hours.
Sound
With version 2.0, I have a more realistic engine sound through a simulated version of the Menasco B6 using Engine Simulator. You can try this engine out for yourself in Engine Simulator. https://catalog.engine-sim.parts/parts/916
Painting Resources
I have included some files to help repaint this model. Some areas, especially in the interior have the textures mirrored and some UVs overlap. The exterior largely can be painted easliy.
There are a few decals available on the exterior that can be changed just by modifying the textures with alpha channel. For example, there is one on the side of the cockpit if you would like to add your name there.
3 months ago
sal1800
Great plane but I've got a problem.
Something weird going on with the rudder, on the ground everything works fine, in flight if I press the left rudder pedal the initial kick is to the left then the plane yaws and tips to the right, and opposite when pressing the right pedal.
I don't have any other planes doing this so I can only assume it's a bug, could someone else test and see what happens in your sims?
Cheers
8 months ago
Also when flying straight and level it just badly tips to the right, i have to trim left quite a bit.
8 months ago
mfblues
mfblues
This thing is amazing. Love it.
8 months ago
person5615563
This is an excellent plane, beautifully modelled, flies great and easy on FPS.
9 months ago
mfblues
Works perfectly and looks really great.
Both variants are really great.
Thanks for that.
11 months ago
Quassel89
Cool merci à toi 😊 https://youtu.be/bLJpdsoZ4TQ
12 months ago
davidmyst
Another awesome racer! The detail and flight modeling absolutely could be payware. Thanks so much for sharing this (and the Wedell-Williams!) with the community!
With this, your W-W, the Ryan ST, the Gee Bees, DH Comet, and Hughes H-1, we've got quite a start to an amazing period air race stable! Just discovered that Kermit Weeks has a replica at the Fantasy of Flight museum.
Can't wait to see what you do next. (The Military Aircraft HM-1 would be an interesting and similarly rare bird, but excited for whatever you're passionate about!)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Military_Aircraft_HM-1.jpg
12 months ago
DennyAtkin
Great work! Thank you!
12 months ago
Ginete
Fun plane ! ... aerobatic is where I play with it !!! ... thx 😊
12 months ago
Great_Qc
Thanks for your great contribution Sal. Love it.
12 months ago
venom0
Superb airplane, very well done. Very interesting flight model, very nice model, textures and sounds. It's a challenge for find the right approach on landing, the beauty does not like to bleed speed. the not too strong brakes help a lot while touching ground and it seems that a 3 point is the best option. Thanks for this very nice addon! Going to test the Model 44 tomorrow 😉
12 months ago
Landing is the hardest part, for sure. The good thing is this plane will fly well even quite slowly, so bleed the speed all the way to final approach. Then it's easier to manage. Crosswinds are very dangerous though. Even in light winds, you do need to keep flying after the wheels are down.
12 months ago
sal1800
fStopper
Thank you so much for all your hard work! Your planes are awesome, and this one is even better than your previous ones. It looks stunning both on the out- and inside and is a blast to fly! Now we've almost got enough vintage racers in the sim to recreate the Thompson Trophy =)
12 months ago
This is one of my most favorite planes, so I had to go the extra mile with the details. I wish I could see one in person, but I am too far away. I do have my eye one some other Golden Age racers, but I don't know if people will get tired of them.
12 months ago
sal1800
Stearman94
très sympa
12 months ago
jcremy
Great job, thank you! Quite difficult to land because of the narrow and wobbly landing gear. But it's a lot of fun.
12 months ago
Steffsim
Thanks a lot. Fast and vintage airplane. Good work!
12 months ago
Jeremy