A bit late, but I just saw your post today. The problem with the JF DC-6 (and the Connie and the DC-3 as well) is that it's not an in-depth simulation like the 737NG by PMDG. It can be difficult to operate some systems from the VC. Some switches are just fake and do nothing. Cowl flaps have no influence on operating the engines at all, you can take-off and fly for hours with the throttles set at full power without damaging the engines. But than, you don't have to pay 70 box for this aircraft. Being propliner lovers we just have to live with this type of add-on aircraft. Here is what I did to give my propliners a bit more "life"so to speak. The panel is lifeless, there are no sounds. So the first thing I did was downloading the cockpitsoundsv2 gauge by Daniel Gauthier. You can find it on Flightsim or Avsim. It is designed for general aviation aircraft, but it works also with the DC-6 and the Connie. If you own the Connie as well, you can copy the squeaking brakes gauge to the DC-6. Just go to panel folder of the J069, open the panel.cfg, scroll down to the section [Vcockpit01] and find the lines gauge07=..... and gauge08=.. and copy and paste these 2 lines to the same spot in the DC-6 panel.cfg Of course you have to change the numbers to the right order, don't forget that. Next find another soundfile for the engines. Look for the freeware package fsx_sas_pwr2800_sounds.zip And now the subject of your post: the cowl flaps. To make life a lot easier I changed the button assignments in FSX. Go to Settings-Controls-Button/keys, scroll down to Cowl flaps(close incrementally) and change the default setting to a single letter, the C for example. Do the same for "open incrementally" the letter "O" will do. ( I never use the "C"and the "O" so no problem here. One more step to go. The engines of our dc-6 start the moment you push the startbutton. That's not very realistic. To give the engines a slow start do the following. Go to the aircraft.cfg, scroll down to the section [Piston_Engine] and find the line normalized_starter_torque=0.035 and change the value to 0.005 Make a note of the default value as this can be tricky, too low a value and your engines will not start at all.!!! This is not a major improvemnet of the dc-6 of course, Í am not a designer of add-on aircraft, but it gives just a bit more life to the six, and more fun. When preparing your fligth go into cockpitview, press the batteryswitch (CLICK), generators (CLACK) beacon on (click), then go to spotview. Select engine 3 press E3 Open cowl flaps press "O" 2 or 3 times Props high rpm press ctrl + F4 Mixture full rich press shift+ctrl+f4 magneto and start press M+++ then select engine 4 and repeat the above, followed by E2 and E1 Don't forget to select all engines by pressing E1234 Excuse my english which is not my native language. Enjoy your DC6 Peter
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