Flying the DCS Corsair a decent bit currently, and you need to use the rudder a lot. No biggie, I was curious however how rudder trim factors into the mix in reality.
Does adding rudder trim actually offset the pedals physically in an aircraft like using the trim hat does to the stick?
I am retracting what I said here because of what Troll said a bit later
Okay that’s roughly what I was thinking. Thanks!
A trim tab usually do move the rudder and the pedal, on conventional aircraft. Aircraft with powered controls can differ.
Here’s an article explaining how it works.
It uses the elevator as an example, but the principle is the same for the rudder or ailerons.
Basically a trim tab moves in the opposite direction, to push the control surface in the direction you want to steer it.
So, @Sryan, if those pictures of the Corsair trim tabs are correct, i.e, the tab move to the left for left trim, I’d say it’s a bug.
Thank you kindly, @Troll for the explanation. There was a substantial gap of my understanding of the trim tab. In the other warbirds (that I tried, the 51 and the 47) it is as you explained. The tab moves the other way which pushes the whole rudder over in the desired direction, and it does indeed move the pedals as the rudder moves.
The corsair in DCS is on par with my erroneous theory that the tab moves with the direction of trim, it also doesn’t seem to adjust the physical location of the rudder under airflow and thus not appears to be moving the pedals.
I have looked for a historical manual for the corsair, and there, it is described to function exactly as @troll just described how a trim tab works.
So perhaps we should inform M3 that it is indeed mistaken. Thank you for the correction. I guess this is another point of proof that the fastest way to get info online is by putting something on the internet that is wrong 
EDIT: It has already been reported and the dev is looking into it. TrimTabs of Aileron and Rudder visually move the wrong way. - Bugs and Problems - ED Forums
Oooh… You happen to have a link?
Thanks a bunch! I just love reading these old POH manuals.
I noticed this, from your manual page excerpt:
CAUTION
In order to improve stick forces in the landing condition these airplanes are equipped with a heavy bungee spring, connected to the elevator controls and the tail wheel door mechanism, which becomes effective when the landing gear control is moved to the “DOWN” position. Because of this it is necessary to watch for a change of trim when raising or lowering the landing gear.
May be good info for @chipwich when making FFB profiles…?
The elevator becomes heavier with gear down. I wonder if this is simulated?
Thanks for the info update @Troll.
My question was the result of not being 100 percent on what the controls indicator on the F4U are showing me. With the rudder trim in, the rudder axis indicator still shows full left and right movement of my rudder rotary. While this is handy to know exactly how far my a specific axis is deflected from center, it really doesn’t help judge what the actual affect of the action has on the aircraft control surface in question.
Oh well time to build trimbable pedals to go with the trimable stick.
I may be misunderstanding you here, but trim won’t give you more rudder input. It will just move the neutral position.
In other words, you can’t push full right rudder, and then get more rudder by trimming to the right.
Right, however the control indicators don’t show that fact.
So here’s take off trime 6 degrees right, and my rudder rotary fully turned to the right.
And more problematically, full left:
I get t that the large diamond is simply where on my rudder axis the physical control in my sim rig is. However, having to look at it, mentally subtract the smaller 'trim location" diamond from it and guesstimate how much trim I have on is a pain. Using something like the Huey or the Kiowa where it moves the “center point” of the axis to match the trim in the indicator really helps make it simpler to understand how much trim you have on and what your controls are actually doing.
I see.
Using FFB that physically moves the neutral/center point, without moving the end stops, is the most realistic depiction of how rudder trim works.
Got it. I think my confusion was based on the F4U’s rudder being extremely effective, the need to use it alot, and the fact that most DCS aircraft that show the trimmer location move the control axis center point to the trim location. Once I really sat down and stared at it, it made sense.
