ASOBO P-51 IMPROVEMENT MOD

One thing I am hoping to do is create a new "livery" decal for the airframe with a much better UV map. If that can be done livery painters can have some creative freedom without pulling their hair out trying to make heads or tails of the cluttered default textures. Time will tell how that goes.

Now that would be cool!
As for as I know, only John/Bomber has had the patience to create anything for them. They did something similar for the T-33, although I never got round to making any paints for that...
 
All that she needs now is a gunsight and tanks! ;)

Priller
Hopefully that's in the cards! I'd really like to get a functioning drop tank system in place. Illuminated gunsight might be cool too.


Figured out the black rivets issue a couple days ago, so will work on getting that update pushed out soon. JT/Bomber is updating his liveries accordingly.
 
Are these liveries in this thread downloadable anywhere?

Thanks, LouP
Hi Lou, here are the majority of those which have been made for the Asobo P-51D (not including the "Novawing24" payware repaints):

 
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It would be nice if the tail wheel turned better
Difficult to steer
It seems to function like the real plane for me in FS2020, back stick to lock the wheel & forward for free castor, can do the same in the T-6 event though Randall doesn't appear to have modeled that yet. You also need to left & right brake as well but that is normal for any tail dragger.
I do have a good set of rudder pedals so whether that makes a difference I'm not sure but it seems to work.
 
It seems to function like the real plane for me in FS2020, back stick to lock the wheel & forward for free castor, can do the same in the T-6 event though Randall doesn't appear to have modeled that yet. You also need to left & right brake as well but that is normal for any tail dragger.
I do have a good set of rudder pedals so whether that makes a difference I'm not sure but it seems to work.
The T-6 and P-51 use the exact same code for the tailwheels, to no credit of my own. I can't figure out why the T-6 tailwheel doesn't animate "right" when it's unlocked though. It's on the list to investigate.

That being said, I do wish to tweak the FM for a bit more "inertia" when the tailwheel is unlocked in both aircraft. - EDIT: Well, found the settings for that rather quickly. Edited the FM appropriately. It's not overdone, but if you unlock the tailwheel and get it stuck at 90 degrees, it takes just a blip of power and opposite brake to convince the airplane to track straight again.
 
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The T-6 and P-51 use the exact same code for the tailwheels, to no credit of my own. I can't figure out why the T-6 tailwheel doesn't animate "right" when it's unlocked though. It's on the list to investigate.

That being said, I do wish to tweak the FM for a bit more "inertia" when the tailwheel is unlocked in both aircraft. - EDIT: Well, found the settings for that rather quickly. Edited the FM appropriately. It's not overdone, but if you unlock the tailwheel and get it stuck at 90 degrees, it takes just a blip of power and opposite brake to convince the airplane to track straight again.
Can you share the updated FM?
 
Can you share the updated FM?
Sure thing. It started off as the LadyB FM that Bomber_12th mentioned, then I started messing around with the contact points damping ratio. Made the tailwheel friction 10% less dampened and that seems like a happy medium at the moment. I need to cross reference some other values for tailwheel steering speeds but going from standing still feels a bit better. Note that the base LadyB FM is already packaged up in the mod on fs.to.

Today I also managed to redo all the materials for the prop, canopy, and landing gear doors to fix the issues there.

Feedback welcome.
 

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I've gone through and made new textures for the cuffed-blade prop for each of my P-51D repaints, which I'll post once Randall releases his next update for the aircraft.

For 'Moonbeam McSwine' and 'Little Rebel', which have cuffed blades fitted in reality, the details of the stencil work, decal placement and amount of yellow prop tip paint are matched to the real world examples. For my other P-51D repaints, all of the real-world examples have the later paddle-blade props fitted, so I did things a bit differently for those. For the Blakeslee Mustang and 'Val-Halla', I chose to depict one of the more common variations of the stencils on the blades. For 'Miss Kitty', I made the props match the details of those fitted to 'Sierra Sue II' (both Mustangs were restored by the same shop). And for 'Tall-in-the-Saddle', I made the stencils match the layout and mixed font-types as seen on the paddle blades fitted to the real aircraft.










 
Can I ask John how you manage your PBR set to rid of that annoying borderline that happens between polished metal and matte painted surface, also happens usually around numeral and letter markings against polished metal? Your work is very meticulous and your technique should be documented. Thanks.
 
Hi Doug, I don't do anything terribly special in regards to that issue, other than with the stenciling (where it can cause the worse-looking results). Otherwise, I just try to avoid showing too much of that in the screenshots I take by controlling the lighting/angle.

The root of the problem is of course the contrast in the green and blue channels of the complete map textures, between the values used for the bare/polished metal and the values used for the paint - the greater the contrast, the more borderline shows up in the sim. For the stenciling, which fortunately should already have a rather dark grey value in the complete map green channel (due to compressed paint application/low paint scatter), their grey value in the green channel is not unlike the darker grey values used for the polished bare metal - this, therefore, already reduces a lot of that potential contrast in values. For the stenciling in the complete map blue channel, which should technically be a fairly dark value (being paint and not metal), I make them fairly light/not too dark when contrasted with the full white value of the metal in the blue channel, so as to try and prevent a too-harsh contrast.

Fortunately, that border that can develop in the textures in the sim, between the paint and the polished bare metal, I've actually seen on real aircraft as well, where they've masked the markings prior to polishing the metal, leaving a very slight boarder of lighter/duller metal around the markings.
 
Version 1.4 of Randall's Improvement Mod is now available: https://flightsim.to/file/87154/asobo-reno-p-51d-improvement-mod

I have also now updated all of my repaints accordingly, for use with this latest version of the improvement mod (fixes the appearance of the rivets on the spinner, canopy and landing gear doors, and adds custom textures for the Hamilton Standard 6523A cuffed propeller blades (selectable from the cockpit)).
 
Version 1.4 of Randall's Improvement Mod is now available: https://flightsim.to/file/87154/asobo-reno-p-51d-improvement-mod

I have also now updated all of my repaints accordingly, for use with this latest version of the improvement mod (fixes the appearance of the rivets on the spinner, canopy and landing gear doors, and adds custom textures for the Hamilton Standard 6523A cuffed propeller blades (selectable from the cockpit)).
Always thought the Asobo models had the potential to be masterworks and now they are on their way. Thanks Randall and Bomber.
 
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