Blenheim Fuel Cock .......

[Walshy]

Have tried everything to get the two fuel cocks to operate for takeoff, no joy at all. I even tried binding keys to operate the bloody things and no joy at all. I'm trying to learn flying the Blenheim with full CEM, when I hover my mouse over both the fuel cocks the pointer changes to a hand but when i click to operate the fuel cock it just doesn't move. Losing my patiecence and hair at a fast rate of knots!!!! Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or is there something else that I'm missing perhaps ...........

[JG53Frankyboy]

You are using Keycommands to toggle fuelcock #1 (left engine) AND fuelcock #2 (right engine)?
And have an eye on the engine temperature (the gauges above the fuelcockwheels), they have to bee 200 degrees before you can give throttel , just in case ;)

[esmiol]

you have to cliqu and stay push to turn the wheel of fuel cock.

don't forgert the little black swith.... there 3 fuel cock. wheel green, red and black switch.

and wtch that you put your mouse on the good side... if you push at the left side of wheel it is to turn off and on the right side to turn on

[Walshy]

Great guys thanks again!

[Anvilfolk]

Did you manage it? For me I've only ever had to click them both and that was that. Never had to keep clicked and move the mouse around like for radiators or somesuch.

On this subject... anyone know what the third fuel cock is for?

Also, Walshy, the Crosscountry mission is particularly hard for takeoff because of cross-winds. You might want to set up your own mission or fly online :) Good luck, and let us know if you have any problems!

[Walshy]

Did you manage it? For me I've only ever had to click them both and that was that. Never had to keep clicked and move the mouse around like for radiators or somesuch.

On this subject... anyone know what the third fuel cock is for?

Also, Walshy, the Crosscountry mission is particularly hard for takeoff because of cross-winds. You might want to set up your own mission or fly online :) Good luck, and let us know if you have any problems!

Yeah I'm still having problems with the flippin things!!! Click on the right side it doesn'y move, click on the third it just looks at me like I've two heads and the second one .......... don't ask!! LOL All Joking aside they just don't move??? Good info about the crosswinds but I can't get these bloody things to budge, I'll keep trying though ..........

[JG53Frankyboy]

Just map keycommands, insuggest . This clicking around in the cockpits is most annoying ...... and will not have to search theclevers againin other planes :D

[Blackdog_kt]

The two round fuel selectors have three positions switching in the following sequence: off, outboard tanks and inboard tanks.
The sequence reflects standard operating procedure for the real Blenheim, which calls for start up, taxi and take off on the outboard tanks and cruise on the inboard tanks.

There are two outboard and two inboard tanks,one of each on each wing. Each engine is fed by the ones on its side of the wing.

The third fuel cock is optional, it is actually a crossfeed valve that allows running the engines from the fuel tanks on both wings.
The only reason to use it is if you have a fuel leak and you want to use as much of the leaking fuel before it runs out, or running both engines from a single tank on one side of the wing if the other one is empty (which would only happen if it leaked, as normally both sides get depleted at an equal rate because each engine is fed from its own tanks). Setting it to on will let the engines be fed not only from the tanks on their side of the wing, but the tanks on the other wing as well.

So for example, if you have a leak in the left inboard tank and you want to use up some of it before it's completely dry, you would switch to inboard tanks with the wheel-shaped fuel selectors and open the crossfeed valve.

Once the left inboard tank is empty you can:
1) either switch to outboard and disable crossfeeed, this will have each engine running from the outboard tank on its side of the wing, or
2) keep running on inboard with crossfeed enabled, this will have both engines running from the right inboard tank since the left inboard tank is empty.

In other words, it's useful for balancing asymmetric fuel weights that are caused by battle damage. Otherwise you might have trouble landing because more weight on one side of the wing will result in a rolling motion and that is more pronounced the slower you go because it can't be easily counteracted with a low amount of airflow over the wings and control surfaces.

[esmiol]

blackdog... thanx for this infos. i asking myself what whas the usefull of the thirs fuel cock. thx a lot :)

[Walshy]

Have finally managed to get somewhere Yayyyy!! I have got the port engine to start but the starboard engine just cuts out after ignition? Have set the fuel cocks to the outboard tanks on both engines. Mixture to full rich and throttle to idle? Any ideas?

[JG53Frankyboy]

you REALY activated fuelcocks for both engines ? just to be sure....

[Walshy]

you REALY activated fuelcocks for both engines ? just to be sure....

Yep I did ............

[Anvilfolk]

I've occasionally had problems with the engines starting and respawning worked.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by throttle idle, but when I start my engines, I never have them fully closed. Open it the slightest little bit. Too much or too little and it won't start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noR_tw-FCM0&feature=related

That might help :)

I usually keep the radiators closed to warm up the engine. I start pushing the throttle at around 180-190, opening radiators completely, then off I go. Don't forget full left rudder trim. Good luck!

[Blackdog_kt]

First of all, make sure your mixture is indeed rich: the controls in the Blenheim are reversed, similar to every other RAF aircraft, so in order to get rich mixture you have to pull the levers back.

The levers have a full range of motion (they don't snap into place) but they are actually binary in nature: anything from the middle and forward of the lever's travel range is auto-lean, anything from the middle and back is auto-rich. This is accurate and not a bug (they were the same in the real aircraft).

Apart from that, i find that it's a bit temperamental on start-up. If i try to start with too low or too much throttle it either lacks enough fuel to start or gets choked by excess fuel respectively.

In my experience it takes just a nudge of throttle before hitting the starter button.

The trouble is that if a failed start occurs due to too much throttle, it seems increasingly harder to start them up on subsequent tries. So what i do is try to be on the safe side and attempt starting with less throttle and if that doesn't work give it a bit more, in order to avoid flooding the engines with too much fuel.

[Walshy]

Ok guys great info will try your suggestions, put it this way at least I'm getting there hope to be off the ground in this crate pretty soon though!!! ;)