RA-5C Vigilante

[michael davies]

Time to do a new one???

Roland

Maybe, it flits in and out of my interest bubble more than most aircraft, the only trouble with the Viggi is the lack of real detailed VC info and for today's models you really need all the nuts and bolts etc to pass muster, or more correctly, more than interests me LOL, we'll see, I'm not committing to anything FS for some time, need to find a balance of interests at the moment and catch up on hobbies neglected over the years by being 100% FS orientated.

Michael

 

[michael davies]

Just noticed these!. Very realistic looking based on real photos. This plane was usually big, fast, loud and filthy!



Michael, all your work is top notch but you really nailed this one. The shape is perfect and it stands up so well after a number of years. b/t/w - the low polys are a bonus with the AI Viggies I have camping at NAS Key West!

Your too kind , the shape isn't too bad I suppose, certainly not top shelf any more, but reading recent posts by a few, there seems to be a growing band of those just out for fun and not minding the older style of simpler model making?.

 

[delta_lima]

Time to do a new one???

Its one of my old alltime favorites and I fly all 4 in FSX with Alphasim modernized gauges (e.g. off SR71) and it is fine and a gracefull look,but just imagine what HD textures and a bump map could do to THAT beautiful plane

My 2 cents as non modeller at all

Roland

I disagree. What we need is more P-51Ds, more early mark Spitfires, and what – only two Beechcraft Barons – however will we survive? Our real crisis, however, is with F/A-18 Hornets. With only the 3 versions including MS A/C models , MS/CS B/D models, and the VRS versions E/F models, the scarcity of Hornets is getting severe. Thankfully, we have another A/C model is on the way.

Of course, I’m being facetious – tastes and market behaviours are statistically biased to the familiar, so I understand the compulsion for developers, especially payware ones, to follow suit. But bravo to those developers who brought us interesting, off-the-beaten path – yet iconic aircraft that most of us may never even see in museums, much less have seen flying. Hopefully my personal hope is that FSX FJ- Furies, F-4 Phantoms, CF-100s, F-8s, and small-wing U-2s will someday grace our skies. And an FSX Vigi? You bet – I’d get one in a heartbeat. In the interim, maybe Falcon409 could work his magic on the VC textures on the Alphasim model?

Question – where are the 4 Vigis? I know only of AS and Altieri’s, and I suspect Abacus did one. Whose is the 4[SUP]th[/SUP]?

Thanks!

DL

PS - any screens of the Diaz RVAH-11 paint? That's my favourite Vigi scheme - not at sim pc for a few days ... looks lovely!

 

[thunder100]

need to find a balance of interests at the moment and catch up on hobbies neglected over the years by being 100% FS orientated.

Michael

That I understand VERY well

Just there are dreams

take the Alphasim Vigilante
Textures to 2048
Bumpmaps
FSX output-then we could use other (non accurate) interiors
FSX animations of that famous mixer steering
a 2 D VC just with a far higher texture resolution,where we could place the gauges flat in.

Now then again there are FAR more important things in life-then such a beautiful plane(by all standards**)

Best regards

Roland

**All Standards-I love Connies and was in about most development groups-still so the Vigilante has something

 

[fsafranek]

Question – where are the 4 Vigis? I know only of AS and Altieri’s, and I suspect Abacus did one.
Whose is the 4[SUP]th[/SUP]?

I saw something over on Razbam's facebook page this morning.
Looked a bit like a Vigilante panel but I might be wrong.

PS - any screens of the Diaz RVAH-11 paint? That's my favourite Vigi scheme - not at sim pc for a few days ... looks lovely!

I have some textures he sent me this past weekend after I hooked him up with OBIO's
paint kit. I've sent him back some feedback covering a few things I noticed. These
are WIP and also from FS9 so please excuse the ugly water color (I know we're standing
in the FSX room but does anyone recall a solution for that?).

If anyone has any comment on the accuracy of the underside dirt/grime this would be
the time to comment. Otherwise he'll probably use this as a common template for all
of his repaints.

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View attachment 65473

 

[thunder100]

Question – where are the 4 Vigis? I know only of AS and Altieri’s, and I suspect Abacus did one. Whose is the 4[SUP]th[/SUP]?

Thanks!

DL

The both you mentioned + ITO A-5 and ITO RA-5 so no miracle here(NO VC)

Roland

 

[noddy]

View attachment 65476

 

[delta_lima]

The both you mentioned + ITO A-5 and ITO RA-5 so no miracle here(NO VC)

Roland

Hmmm ... no VC can actually be an advantage over an embedded low-quality one, in that you can transplant one from a suitable FSX donor ... you have me thinking.

I had totally forgotten about the Ito model ... pity that there aren't too many repaints of that model. Still, might be good with a transplanted interior from some model with a one-piece windscreen ... maybe the Alphasim FSX F-5? Food for thought.

Thanks for a great thread.

 

[noddy]

View attachment 65477

 

[thunder100]

Hmmm ... no VC can actually be an advantage over an embedded low-quality one, in that you can transplant one from a suitable FSX donor ... you have me thinking.

I had totally forgotten about the Ito model ... pity that there aren't too many repaints of that model. Still, might be good with a transplanted interior from some model with a one-piece windscreen ... maybe the Alphasim FSX F-5? Food for thought.

Thanks for a great thread.

Ito-sans isnt FSX-->so the VC thing will not work-unfortunately

have fun

Roland

 

[papab]

If anyone has any comment on the accuracy of the underside dirt/grime this would be
the time to comment. Otherwise he'll probably use this as a common template for all
of his repaints.

Used to work on these in NAS Key West-jet mech

The recon canoe never really got that dirty(center under aircraft)
She used to get dirty around the J-79 exhaust feathers back about two feet from the end on the body of the Vigi

What a fun aircraft to wash-slipped off a wing a time or two...
Rick

 

[michael davies]

I saw something over on Razbam's facebook page this morning.
Looked a bit like a Vigilante panel but I might be wrong.

Over the years I've learnt one solid fact, what ever your working on then some one else is probably doing the same, if it's USN then chances are Razbam are doing one, if its USAF then it'll be Milviz .

 

[expat]

Rick,

Am very curious what other heavy Viggie squadrons were there at Key West and what years during your service there. I know RA5C's were winding down until the last was stood down in late '79. I camped next to the NAS on Spring Break (briefly) in March '80 and the roar of what had to be J-79's was unmistakable but from the history assume these were f-4s and Vigilante's were gone. Oh! We were in a McDonalds next to the base and some USN people had T-shirts saying: "We flew Viggies, the best for last!!" for some kind of exercise or competition. Do you know what that was about?

Really diggin these paints - and this thread!!

 

[Wings of Gold]

USN Weathering

Hi guys,

I flew for the Nav for 26 years (starting in 1961). Almost all the USN textures that I see are over-weathered. The Navy birds were generally quite clean. I subscribe that to:

1/frequent corrison control, because of the ever present salt air
2/The fact that each squadron maintained their own aircraft (no maintenance squadron) gave the CO a lot more control over his aircraft.
3/ With hte close proximity of the other air group squadrons, there was a lot of rivalry.
4/ The guys who did the cleaning were on 24 hour contracts, unlike commercial aviation, no one was paid over-time to keep it looking good.
5/ I never saw a pilot who wanted HIS airplane looking filthy. I was the same way.

Bill

 

[OBIO]

I'm really glad to see the OBIOed AS Vig being put to use. I really enjoyed working on that big sexy plane. It's amazing seeing what Diaz has done with my bare bones paint kit....weathering and dirt just haven't worked well for me. A bit of grime is all I can muster without it looking too fakey and too overly done.

I don't know if the tried but true Alphasim F-105 Thunderchief models will work in FSX or not...but at some point, after I get over being burnt out on sim work, I need to finish up the OBIOization of those packages....lots and lots of tweaks done to the model files (including full reflectivity...FS9 style, not the bump map stuff in FSX) and some really sharp new paints.

OBIO

 

[delta_lima]

I personally enjoy weathered paints - maybe not as realistic, but maybe in a subtle way, they're a representation of the visceral work, danger, and effort that is military flying - that can never be fully conveyed through simulation. Maybe it's why I could more easily suspend disbelief when watching Star Wars versus Star Trek ...

Got home early tonight and did a bit of Vigi testing. Hard to choose ... Diaz' new paints give Alphasim model the nicest visual look in terms of painted realism, but I'd say Ito's model has the most amount of details and overall quality. No VC, and the flight model is wacky. What to do ... Wonderful subject - if one could combine the best of all these, there would be a pretty decent model, this side of a totally new FSX model.

Thanks!

 

[thunder100]

Dear DL

I fly them with the AS advanced FDE which works well after a bit of hassle(take AS-->Copy and paste from ITO FDE-->Contact points,light location's tiny others-->is more realistic then.As I do carrier landings for my own enjoyment( a bit less space to manouver though) I use the FA-18 FSX Acc settings for the tailhook there

Roland

 

[expat]

Agree with you DL that the weathering makes it more immersive per your Star Wars analogy. We are fortunate to have the very valuable contributions from USN vets here who saw these aircraft up close and it sounds like the weathering is a matter of degree and calibration. Looking at some pics attached again the Vets are right that the new paints are probably a bit over weathered. However, like you, I find perfect, factory fresh war planes very nice to look at but then for some reason it seems more like a game than a sim. Also very much chuckled re your bit about Mustangs, Spitfires, Barons and Hornets!!

Re FDE's, I recently switched out of the "Advanced Flight Model" which as far as I can tell merely adds lots of fuels tanks. Because I forget half the time doing traps - and as a result crash and burn - because I am flying a Viggie with 100% fuel, I need to pause in game in order to drop the fuel load down to around 20% and having a single (or even triple) tank makes this a little easier (is there a key stroke command to REDUCE fuel while flying the way their is to increase it, i.e., Ctrl + x?). If this had fuel management modelled like e.g. the CS 707 or Manfred Jahn Connies I would probably think differently. Am going to switch back to the advanced FDE however as I am finding the single tank air.cfg flies with too much nose down and needs constant up trim which is a bit tedious.

Re panels, I actually suspect that it was not blue colored like the AS panel bitmap but grey and the AS panel resulted from a color (Ektachrome) photo that turned bluish over time. Just a theory.

Re a new FSX lash up (short of ground up build) if there was some not-too-difficult way to convert Michael's model to native FSX and then splice in e.g. an F-5 vc that would go a long way for me!

 

[papab]

Rick,

Am very curious what other heavy Viggie squadrons were there at Key West and what years during your service there. I know RA5C's were winding down until the last was stood down in late '79. I camped next to the NAS on Spring Break (briefly) in March '80 and the roar of what had to be J-79's was unmistakable but from the history assume these were f-4s and Vigilante's were gone. Oh! We were in a McDonalds next to the base and some USN people had T-shirts saying: "We flew Viggies, the best for last!!" for some kind of exercise or competition. Do you know what that was about?

Really diggin these paints - and this thread!!

Expat,
We moved the Vigilante Community from NAS Albany,GA to NAS Key West,Fl in January of 1974..
The Squadrons that moved in were HEAVY:1,3(training outfit), 5,6,7,9,11,12 & 13 as I remember

I joined HEAVY 9 in April of 1970 and I got out in August of 1974 but my wife,who was a WAVE(still married 38 years later,even though the Chief in my shop said it would not last!), was in until 1977 so I was in Key West that whole time

Being a Jet Mech we used to take the Vigi to high power area, put her in the Alameda Chocks and tie downs, full bag of fuel, start her up and blast those J-79's from idle to full burner and back-what a trip!
The nose wuld drop two feet on full burner!

Really enjoyed my time in the NAVY
Rick

Here is a link on the Vigilante you might be interested in:

http://www.bobjellison.com/RA5C_Vigilante.htm

And another showing some videos of the Vigi:
http://rvahnavy.ning.com/video/a-5-vigilante-rare-videos

 

[fxsttcb]

Hi guys,

I flew for the Nav for 26 years (starting in 1961). Almost all the USN textures that I see are over-weathered. The Navy birds were generally quite clean. I subscribe that to:

1/frequent corrison control, because of the ever present salt air
2/The fact that each squadron maintained their own aircraft (no maintenance squadron) gave the CO a lot more control over his aircraft.
3/ With hte close proximity of the other air group squadrons, there was a lot of rivalry.
4/ The guys who did the cleaning were on 24 hour contracts, unlike commercial aviation, no one was paid over-time to keep it looking good.
5/ I never saw a pilot who wanted HIS airplane looking filthy. I was the same way.

Bill

Ditto that, Bill.
In the Corps, rivalry, and pride, kept our Phantoms sparkling.
The only spots that weren't easy to keep clean were the lower main gear doors. That burnt rubber was tough!
I was Avionics, but, with 15 birds, and 225 total enlisted members, it fell on all of us to help.
If a section had no gripes on the board they'd have a cleaning party. Yes, it could turn into a Cluster-****, and often did!

The most Vigilantes, I ever saw in one place, was at Key West in the fall of '75, we were on the Hot Pad and, IIRC, RVAH-12 and RVAH-13 were on deck, and RVAH-9 was on the transit ramp. I love my Phantoms, but, those RA-5s were quite sleek and very impressive to watch.

Anyhoo, I started on a Alpha Viggie port-over to FSX a while back and kinda lost interest. When I saw OBIO's Restoration in the library I decided to grab it and see if I could get going again.

I have a few Panels and Ports out there, that use one of my PhantomGaugesDCBVx.cabs, so naturally the latest version(still a WIP) fit the bill for period correct instruments. By no means realistic, the Viggies VC and 2D function well in FSX.
The plane is still a WIP overall(I haven't touched the FDE...yet) and I thought I'd share a shot of my VC.
The consoles aren't mapped for gauge placement so I pretty much put everything I could on the main panel(which is mapped like a 2D).
The 2D is almost the same, but, some things needed to be moved...Don

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