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Hydro-foiling Moth


Hampster
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The International Moth class of sailing dinghy is one of the most awesome boats you can get into as a sailor, and as I am on a roll with making cool sailboats for X-Plane (like my Sailrocket in the DM), I thought I'd start making my own Moth in X-P to see if the physics can be replicated.

I'll let this explain why Moths are so cool:

http://youtu.be/1SN1gSkqvy0

And so far I am up to this point in V9.7:

5by04mn.png

I hope to keep this project going for you all to enjoy in the end.

Hampster

Edited by Hampster
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Thanks Gjalp, now onwards with the 'aircraft development'..

Update (for those who are reading)

New paint!

4zu092j.png

View from skipper's perspective:

LBhIbbl.png

Problem:

6N6R8Lm.png

I have been hacking at this for days but still don't have any results. As the hull only weighs 20 Kg, it is very hard to stop this boat taking off. X-Plane's lateral water resistance is 0 so I have to use a jet to power this boat, but this unbalances the forces involved with making this boat work. I use hidden objects on the T foils to add extra lift when the boat is moving, but it hops and crashes and I can never find sustained foiling. (Or at least a rise in foiling as you increase speed)

If this works I'll make an AC72, but I need help with cracking the hydro-foiling issue.

The .acf file is attached for those who want to jump in and see what they can do...

Thanks,

Ham

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Well, now that 10.30 supports physics hacks natively, I can share more info about how I did it back in 2010;

 

Using weapon stations and a very small custom .wpn object with nearly no weight/attribs you can apply forces to the airframe using a script and the custom weapons datarefs.

 

The math is a little absurd but you can definitely apply custom flight model forces this way.

 

You basically push/pull on the location of the weapon-station by writing custom numbers into the weapon datarefs, this in turn applies forces to the airframe that include any torque values that result from placing a weps station on, say, a wing tip.

 

 

I've used it to supplement clients flight models to more closely match their performance objectives.

 

 

You'll need a custom script/plugin, plent of patience and you probably won't get a high quality result due to the math hacks required and the fact that you're after a near-complete override but there are ways to apply additive forces to the FM.

 

 

Nice little boat by the way, looks like great fun and very manageable as far as storage/launching, etc... no mooring required... less fouling maintenance, all that fun stuff.

 

 

Good luck!

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Thanks for your advice, I will have a look at the weapon idea, stable 'flight' is the goal so once I have cracked that all should be OK...

Is there any chance I could get my hands on that plugin? Moths foil using a 'wand' which skims along the surface of the water, and this the height off the water relates mechanically to the lift coming off the T foil...

If the altitude relates to the forward position of a body of mass, the principle would be exactly the same. I do not know how to work with plugins though, that may be a bit of a problem it I can't grasp variables / codes in the immediate language.

The other option is to convert the file to a .obj and program it to rise with airspeed via a dataref..

Re being cool, yes they are very cool. I was at a regatta the other month, and he guys just pick the boats up on their shoulders and carry them down to the shore. In regards to the sailing sphere, NZ is a very active place in sailing small dinghies which weigh less than 60kg, I for one sail a Farr 3.7 (www.3-7class.org.nz) which is a New Zealand design non-foiling version of a moth. It's a very fun boat to sail!

Allright, onto work...

Ham

Edited by Hampster
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Thanks Radial,

Despite the picture below, I am actually getting close to finding the sweet spot with this model... I have also figured out how to tack the sailing dude from one side of the boat to the other. I will send in some pictures when I have made the breakthrough!

TDBogkY.png

^ Spinning out of control like a boat should (?)

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Success! (ish)

A9Na72w.png

The Moth can now foil successfully at around 11 kts of boatspeed, but hasn't cracked 20 kts yet. I have a bit of work to do with lift/drag. You can't steer either, but I will put steering on as a directional thruster to deduct drag.

UeM8PGy.png

^ New detailing includes mainsheet and blocks, new captain, new buoyancy pods on wings, forestays and sidestays with a funky spreader, new sail etc...

It's quite surprising how stable this boat is when you power it up to 120 kts.. The future of high speed boating? !!

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