Dave,
It is well known that the tail end of default aircraft in MSFS is cut off first in the screen in external side view when it is zoomed.
This is not the case in your Ta 183. The distance to the left and right screen ends is equal.
The visual model of every aircraft has a center which is defined in gmax resp.FSDS. This is the point were the virtual flight model is attached, let me say hooked , to the visible exterior model.
According to the FS2004 FSEdit SDK , typically, for aircraft shipped with Flight Simulator, this point is on the
aircraft centerline, 1/4 wing chord aft of the leading edge.
See the following drawings from the FSEdit SDK FS2004
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/6...rsdksidgx8.jpg
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5...rsdktopzf6.jpg
I assume (I stress assume ) MS choosed this position as it corresponds to the approximate position of the Aerodynamic Center of a real aircraft. This Aerodynamic Center (Center of Lift) and its distance from the CoG play an important role in real world and simulated flight dynamics.
As "1/4 chord aft of the leading edge" is not positioned at half lenght (geometric center) of an aircraft , MS default aircraft and most addon aircraft are offset in side spot view on the screen.
You can center your aircraft optically in spot view by moving the Visual Model Origin aft but then you have to move CoG, payload, fuel tanks and contact points aft as well
to a position that does not correspond you think they should be in the real aircraft, rep. the visual model.
You positioned the VisualCenter aft of the 1/4 chord line and even above the centerline in the Ta 183.
As the flight dynamic model and the exterior model are completely independent from one another this shift of the Visual Model center from its 1/4 chord position does not have any effect on the flight behaviour or performance. The CoG were all forces and moments are acting on the aircraft will fly now as before but it could yield strange results in exterior view, as the flight model is literally pushing the visual model in front of itself . For example the visual aircraft could be still it the air when the virtual main gear already touches the ground smoking and screeching in a landing .
So I suggest as a trial move the visual Center to a point in the .mdl which corresponds to about 1/4 chord of the wing.
Please do not modify the aircraft.cfg now let us see first what happens .
A preliminary remark: The GoG should be at a position close forward of the main wheel of the real aircaft and will surely not be in front of the leading edge. In real life it will be mostly in front of the Center of Lift of the whole aircaft (lift of wings, fuselage and tail combined) wich is aft of the Center of Lift of the Wing which lies at 25% MAC (
Mean Aerodynamic Chord.
I do not understand that fully but will open a thread in a special flightv dynamics forum to learn more about that.
In MS default aircraft the CoG sometimes is put before sometimes after the Visual Model Center.
As an example here is the configuration of the default FS9 Boeing 737.
Opposed to that example the CoG of the Cessna 172 or the Mooney is positioned in front of the Visual Center.
On request I will supply a German version of this text.
Auf Wunsch liefere ich eine deutsche Version des Textes.
Carl