kelticheart
Charter Member
Hi everybody!
This 2015 seems to be dedicated to Regia Aeronautica airplanes for me. The need for new Italian WWII gauges and improved old ones generated a whole new project.
Using as a base Alphasim's old Veltro 2d panel I am developing 2d panels for all Italian close-cockpit fighters, namely M.C. 202 and 205, Fiat G-55, Reggiane Re2001, 2002 and 2005. I am also working on Fiat G-50 and M.C. 200 open cockpit ones, using Morton's beautiful wide 2d reduced to 4:3 for all still using pc monitors with this format. All Italian WWII close-cockpit fighters shared the same type of cockpit canopy, inspired by the Bf109, therefore the same bitmap can be used for all of them.
From Morton's impeccable work I picked up the San Giorgio gunsight and then moved around the gauge layouts according to the historical pictures, taken from these aircraft pilot's manuals.
For the magnetic compass, which was mounted on a stand in front of the panel, I had the idea to use a popup window, controlled by the Concorde set compass icon, which gives the visual effect of the instrument laying in front of the panel.
There are also new, improved historical-looking gauges and a completely new attitude gauge used when this gauge become standard equipment (you can see it below, mounted in the M.C. 202 panel). Up to the M.C. 200, no attitude gauge was included.
Attached below are samples of what I am doing, starting from the M.C.202 with the popup compass switched on, the M.C.205 and G-55, both with the compass off. I have completed the Re2001-2002 and working on the 2005.
This is by no means an attempt to provide 2d panels precise down to the last screw of their WWII real-life counterparts. I am no painter, so I had to use somebody else's paintworks, trying to improve them.
Good 2d panels for Italian fighters are hard to come in CFS2, this Alphasim's creation offers a feature that I like a lot: a good forward visibility. I hate stock MS panels and their likes, covering 2/3 of the screen!
For the sake of realism factor, I don't like landing or taking off in HUD view either. Thus, this ongoing effort to strike the best compromise between history, realism and a flight sim limitations.
The new pack will include updates of my previous uploads.
Cheers!
KH
This 2015 seems to be dedicated to Regia Aeronautica airplanes for me. The need for new Italian WWII gauges and improved old ones generated a whole new project.
Using as a base Alphasim's old Veltro 2d panel I am developing 2d panels for all Italian close-cockpit fighters, namely M.C. 202 and 205, Fiat G-55, Reggiane Re2001, 2002 and 2005. I am also working on Fiat G-50 and M.C. 200 open cockpit ones, using Morton's beautiful wide 2d reduced to 4:3 for all still using pc monitors with this format. All Italian WWII close-cockpit fighters shared the same type of cockpit canopy, inspired by the Bf109, therefore the same bitmap can be used for all of them.
From Morton's impeccable work I picked up the San Giorgio gunsight and then moved around the gauge layouts according to the historical pictures, taken from these aircraft pilot's manuals.
For the magnetic compass, which was mounted on a stand in front of the panel, I had the idea to use a popup window, controlled by the Concorde set compass icon, which gives the visual effect of the instrument laying in front of the panel.
There are also new, improved historical-looking gauges and a completely new attitude gauge used when this gauge become standard equipment (you can see it below, mounted in the M.C. 202 panel). Up to the M.C. 200, no attitude gauge was included.
Attached below are samples of what I am doing, starting from the M.C.202 with the popup compass switched on, the M.C.205 and G-55, both with the compass off. I have completed the Re2001-2002 and working on the 2005.
This is by no means an attempt to provide 2d panels precise down to the last screw of their WWII real-life counterparts. I am no painter, so I had to use somebody else's paintworks, trying to improve them.
Good 2d panels for Italian fighters are hard to come in CFS2, this Alphasim's creation offers a feature that I like a lot: a good forward visibility. I hate stock MS panels and their likes, covering 2/3 of the screen!
For the sake of realism factor, I don't like landing or taking off in HUD view either. Thus, this ongoing effort to strike the best compromise between history, realism and a flight sim limitations.
The new pack will include updates of my previous uploads.
Cheers!
KH
