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 FSX/P3D  DOUGLAS DC-7B

 DC-7B (no saddle tanks) Base Pack with American Airlines 1957 Livery

 Version 1  6/2019
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Support available at the CalClassic Forum:
http://calclassic.proboards.com/

The latest and many other aircraft are available from the CalClassic Propliner Page:
http://www.calclassic.com

Painted by Tom Gibson
Aircraft by Greg Pepper, Jens Kristensen, and Tom Gibson
Metal textures by Greg Pepper

Flight dynamics by FSAviator - see Reference file (F10).  This FDE is not designed for AI use - it will not work.  Download AI propliners at http://www.calclassic.com/.

This is the DC-7B Domestic Base Pack.  This is a "domestic" aircraft, with no nacelle saddle tanks.  It was typically used by US domestic airlines and many international airlines.  You will add all other DC-7B liveries to this Base Pack installation.  This Base Pack already includes the American Air Lines 1957 livery.

VERSION 6 FEATURES:

1. The two speed supercharger system is now set up by default and is available for FSX only.

2.  FSX native models are now supplied, which are P3D compatible.

VERSION 5A FEATURES:

1.  There is now a checklist file available from the kneeboard (F10).

VERSION 5 FEATURES:

1.  The models now include a version without radar.  Some Eastern DC-7B's were delivered with no radar.  To specify a specific model, edit the livery section of the plane's aircraft.cfg file:
model=          Domestic cockpit, radar
model=noradar   Domestic cockpit, no radar

2.  There is a version specific for Eastern Air Lines (to model the paint layout on the nose).  To use this version you will need to download and install the Eastern DC-7B textures by Eric Joiner.  They are in the file eal_dc7b_n836d_final.zip at flightsim.com.

model=eal    Special EAL version

3.  There is a version for international airlines, with a navigator's station in the VC.  

model=intl   International VC

VERSION 4C FEATURES:

1.  All doors in this model are now able to be opened.  It also features airstairs by John MacKay (thanks!) at the passenger door, maintenance stairs at the crew door, and chocks on the wheels.

2.  To display the airstairs, you must apply the parking brake, shut down engines 1 and 2, and open the passenger door using Shift E.

3.  To display the maintenance stairs, you must apply the parking brake, shut down engines 3 and 4, and open the crew door using Shift E 3 (hold down the Shift key and press E, then release both keys and press the number 3 key on the main keyboard).

4.  You can also open the underfloor baggage doors by pressing Shift E 2.  Their main lighting is controlled by the baggage compartment light switch on the overhead panel in the 2D cockpit and the VC.  They will also come on by turning on all the lights with the L key.

5.  To display the chocks, you must apply the parking brake and shut down the engines on that side of the plane.

6.  There is some mesh deformation around the opening doors; I have minimized this as much as I am able (I'm not a GMAX expert).  Thanks to Milton Shupe, Bill Leaming, and others at the FreeFlight Design Shop for help in reducing this.

7.  The colors of the airstairs are controlled by the stairs_t.bmp texture.  It can be night lit using a proper stairs_L.bmp texture, but this has not yet been done.  The stairs_t.bmp file of the DC-6B PSA livery is plain bare metal, and can be used for any repaints that do not come with a specific stairs texture.

8.  The color of the maintenance stairs and interior cabin is controlled by the Interior.bmp file.  These can be copied to other liveries to get the color of the stairs/interior you want.  The current DC-7/DC-7B stairs colors are:  United yellow, American orange, National gray, Pan American blue.  Interior textures by Manfred Jahn, modified by Frank Gonzalez and Tom Gibson.

VERSION 4B FEATURES:

1.  The VC now has accurate supercharger levers for the R3350 engines.  These are the levers directly behind the prop pitch box.  Click to go to HIGH, click again to go back to LOW.  The electric supercharger switches have been removed from the VC, since they are correct only for the R2800 engine.  They are still used in the 2D panel, however.

2.  The fuel and crossfeed levers in the VC now work the same as the levers in the 2D panel.  Left click to bring aft, right click to bring forward.  Refer to the DC-7 panel manual for details.

VERSION 3 FEATURES:

1.  All new Virtual Cockpit, by Jens Kristensen.  Speed brake is now a momentary lever that releases the main gear uplocks.  To raise the speed brake move the gear lever from NEUTRAL to UP.  Converted to GMAX and modified by Tom Gibson.  Textures by Jens Kristensen, Tom Gibson, Robert Graf, Diego Barreto, Edd Jezard, and Manfred Jahn.

2.   This is the DC-7B Base Pack without saddle fuel tank nacelles.  This is a usually a "domestic" aircraft, with no navigator, but a few airlines like Panagra used it for international routes, so an international VC is also provided, with navigator.  You will add all other DC-7B (no saddle tank) liveries to this Base Pack installation.  The only DC-7B *with* saddle tanks were owned by Pan American and South African.  These liveries should use a different Base Pack.  This Base Pack already includes the American Airlines 1964 livery.

3.  If the VC is too dark for you at night, open the plane's aircraft.cfg file and in the Lights section, remove the // from the left side of the lines that end fx_vclight.  Start with only one or two lines, and increase the number of active lines until you are happy with the light level.  Reload the plane each time you edit the cfg file.  The VC darkness at night will vary with your monitor's brightness setting, and thus must be optimized for your monitor.

FSX/P3D FEATURE:

1.  Camera Definition for new CalClassic VC View, with correct view in VC after pressing Ctrl-Spacebar (i.e. reset view).

OTHER FEATURES:

1.  Real prop reverse (throttle to idle, click reverse lever, power to 30" MAP, allow plane to slow down, throttle to idle to go back to forward thrust)

2.  Contrails whenever you want them (press the I key).

PANEL:

Please download and install the United DC-7 Base Pack from www.calclassic.com.  

SOUND:

Download the United DC-7 Base Pack which will install the sounds automatically.


FLIGHT DYNAMICS, FUEL PLANNING, ETC.

Press F10 to bring up FSAviator's Reference file.

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The DC-7B was a direct development of the DC-7, which ushered in non-stop transcontinental airline service. The DC-7B was externally identical to the DC-7, except for DC-7C style lengthened nacelles filled with fuel on Pan American and South African examples. This extra fuel often enabled non-stop transatlantic flights under normal circumstances (anything more than light headwinds still required a westbound stop at Gander or Iceland). Thus, many of the DC-7B's were sold to airlines with international routes, although Eastern had a large fleet of the planes, and later DC-7 deliveries to American and Delta were designated DC-7B's. Lockheed, after seeing the impressive speed and range statistics of the DC-7B, hurredly began development of the 1049G model from their current offering (the L1049E), but the DC-7B was still a little faster than even the Super G. 

Douglas ended up selling 112 DC-7B's (more than the 105 DC-7's sold), and the DC-7B proved to be a very popular plane on overseas routes. The DC-7B is often considered the fastest of the Douglas propliners due to aerodynamic improvements over the DC-7, but they proved to be less reliable and economical than the DC-6 series, and almostall DC-7/7B's have been retired and scrapped. 


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NOTE: This plane and many other classic airliners can be 
downloaded free from Tom Gibson's Cal Classic web site at - 
http://www.calclassic.com/ 
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Now the legal stuff:

COPYRIGHT 2019 BY TOM GIBSON, JENS KRISTENSEN, AND GREG PEPPER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

REPAINTS:  REPAINTS ARE ALLOWED WITHOUT FURTHER PERMISSION, BUT WE PREFER THAT THEY ONLY BE UPLOADED TO TOTALLY FREE SITES - I.E. NO CHARGES OR SUBSCRIPTION FEES FOR INCREASED ACCESS.  HOWEVER, IF YOU REPAINT THE PLANE YOU MUST CREDIT ALL OF THE ORIGINAL AUTHORS IN YOUR TEXT FILE AND INCLUDE THIS TEXT FILE.  YOU MUST ALSO REMOVE ANY EMAIL ADDRESSES FOUND IN THIS FILE, AND NOT INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR FILE.  WE DO NOT SUPPORT REPAINTS.  PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR TEXT FILE.

THIS AIRPLANE IS THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR, AND CANNOT BE RE-SOLD OR PACKAGED WITH ANY PRODUCT FOR SALE, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORS.  THIS INCLUDES "FREE" CD COMPILATIONS WITH A CHARGE OF ANY KIND.  THIS IS FREEWARE!!

YOU MAY NOT UPLOAD THIS PLANE TO ANY OTHER SERVER, IT MUST REMAIN ON THE ORIGINAL SERVER.

THIS FILE ARCHIVE OR ANY REPAINTS MUST NOT BE UPLOADED TO A SITE OR LOCATION THAT CLAIMS ANY SORT OF COPYRIGHT ON THE FILE; COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR.  UPLOADING OF THIS FILE TO SUCH A SITE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORS TO VIOLATE THESE TERMS BY THAT SITE. 

THIS FILE ARCHIVE MUST REMAIN INTACT; YOU MAY NOT REMOVE OR UPLOAD PARTS OF THIS ARCHIVE.  THIS ENTIRE TEXT FILE MUST BE INCLUDED IN ANY DISTRIBUTION.  

THE AUTHORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR AS A RESULT OF USING THESE PRODUCTS.  YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF USE.

