At the Hangar
- Thread starter Ivan
- Start date
Thanks.
The P-40s are mostly released.
The Lightnings are not quite complete. The "Virtual Cockpit" hasn't been done and although textures are mapped, there are no panel lines or paint yet. The B-25 needed some instruments for the panel which it is getting now.
The Lightnings and B-25 both need some interesting non-trivial Fuel Selectors to be REALLY complete.
I just keep plugging along with one thing or another and sooner or later something reaches critical mass and is releasable.
The Lightning Throttle set should be done in a couple days. After that, the Eric Johnson P-38J is as done as it ever will be.
Too many projects and too few technicians in Ivan's Workshop!
- Ivan.
The P-40s are mostly released.
The Lightnings are not quite complete. The "Virtual Cockpit" hasn't been done and although textures are mapped, there are no panel lines or paint yet. The B-25 needed some instruments for the panel which it is getting now.
The Lightnings and B-25 both need some interesting non-trivial Fuel Selectors to be REALLY complete.
I just keep plugging along with one thing or another and sooner or later something reaches critical mass and is releasable.
The Lightning Throttle set should be done in a couple days. After that, the Eric Johnson P-38J is as done as it ever will be.
Too many projects and too few technicians in Ivan's Workshop!
- Ivan.
Here is something I found while searching for a candidate for a Japanese panel upgrade.
I had thought this model had been lost with the disk crashes as well. The big difference between this and the other Thunderbolts I have done is that this one has a Hamilton Standard Paddle Blade propeller instead of the Curtiss Electric propellers installed in the others. The different types of paddle blade propellers had slightly different characteristics. I believe there were about 6 different types of propellers installed in the various models of Thunderbolt. 4 are easily identified visually. The other two are very close in configuration.
Either the Curtiss Electric or the Hamilton Standard was better in climb while the other had a better maximum speed. What is really amusing is that the original "Toothpick" propeller was the best of them all for maximum speed though it was fairly poor in climb and acceleration.
Note that while both the P-47 and P-38 were Turbo supercharged fighters, the P-47 was a "True" High Altitude fighter while the P-38 was not.
The P-47 could cruise all day at 30,000 Feet on escort missions with no issues. The P-38 was really an Interceptor with High Altitude capability.
It could get up to altitude quickly and perform adequately (except for Compressibility) but it was not intended to stay there.
At high altitude and with low cruise throttle settings as would be used on escort missions, the fuel / air mixture in the very very long induction system would get quite cold and the fuel would fall out of suspension.and pool in various places. Life would get interesting if the pilot advanced the throttle quickly under these circumstances. Sometimes the engines would self destruct.
Another issue was that although the P-38 could operate at 30,000 Feet and higher, the Compressibility speed got progressively lower.
At 30,000 Feet, Compressibility effects started at around 440 MPH TAS which is only about 15 - 20 MPH above the maximum level speed at that altitude.
Life got much easier when the Lightning served in the Pacific Theater where operations were conducted much lower.
- Ivan.
I had thought this model had been lost with the disk crashes as well. The big difference between this and the other Thunderbolts I have done is that this one has a Hamilton Standard Paddle Blade propeller instead of the Curtiss Electric propellers installed in the others. The different types of paddle blade propellers had slightly different characteristics. I believe there were about 6 different types of propellers installed in the various models of Thunderbolt. 4 are easily identified visually. The other two are very close in configuration.
Either the Curtiss Electric or the Hamilton Standard was better in climb while the other had a better maximum speed. What is really amusing is that the original "Toothpick" propeller was the best of them all for maximum speed though it was fairly poor in climb and acceleration.
Note that while both the P-47 and P-38 were Turbo supercharged fighters, the P-47 was a "True" High Altitude fighter while the P-38 was not.
The P-47 could cruise all day at 30,000 Feet on escort missions with no issues. The P-38 was really an Interceptor with High Altitude capability.
It could get up to altitude quickly and perform adequately (except for Compressibility) but it was not intended to stay there.
At high altitude and with low cruise throttle settings as would be used on escort missions, the fuel / air mixture in the very very long induction system would get quite cold and the fuel would fall out of suspension.and pool in various places. Life would get interesting if the pilot advanced the throttle quickly under these circumstances. Sometimes the engines would self destruct.
Another issue was that although the P-38 could operate at 30,000 Feet and higher, the Compressibility speed got progressively lower.
At 30,000 Feet, Compressibility effects started at around 440 MPH TAS which is only about 15 - 20 MPH above the maximum level speed at that altitude.
Life got much easier when the Lightning served in the Pacific Theater where operations were conducted much lower.
- Ivan.
The panel for this bird was done a long time ago when the D-27 was released. It is a combination of the bottom half of the stock panel background with a part of the canopy frame from a photograph. The Fuel gauge is replaced with one that can read 270 Gallons for the Main Tank that was installed in late model Thunderbolts. There is a Trim gauge in place, just because I like to have them.
The Thunderbolts, especially when carrying bomb loads are a bit difficult to operate from the little Island Airfield that works well enough for most fighters. The runway requirements are pretty similar to what is needed for a B-25 Mitchell.
- Ivan.
The Thunderbolts, especially when carrying bomb loads are a bit difficult to operate from the little Island Airfield that works well enough for most fighters. The runway requirements are pretty similar to what is needed for a B-25 Mitchell.
- Ivan.
A couple days ago, I decided to look around my old Development Computer.
I was actually looking for a notebook that I keep for flight models, but instead I found a few old stray flash drives.
There were about 10 in all and I have not yet had a chance to go through all of them, but it seems at least one had a fairly recent archive of my AF99 projects and a bunch of CFS aircraft.
Attached are screenshots of a much later version of Alex Simon's FW 190D.
Note that the supercharger intake has been moved to the Starboard side as it should be.
This wasn't the last version, but it has a lot more changes than the last screenshot of this bird that I posted.
The model is not bad, but it needs a better paint job.
- Ivan.
I was actually looking for a notebook that I keep for flight models, but instead I found a few old stray flash drives.
There were about 10 in all and I have not yet had a chance to go through all of them, but it seems at least one had a fairly recent archive of my AF99 projects and a bunch of CFS aircraft.
Attached are screenshots of a much later version of Alex Simon's FW 190D.
Note that the supercharger intake has been moved to the Starboard side as it should be.
This wasn't the last version, but it has a lot more changes than the last screenshot of this bird that I posted.
The model is not bad, but it needs a better paint job.
- Ivan.
Yesterday after speed tests for Saiun, I wanted to find something fun to play with.
I found a lot of aircraft that I probably never really looked at and here is one that I thought the designer did a pretty good job.
As usual, the flight model is a bit questionable, so it doesn't make for a good candidate for Quick Combat, but the model does look quite pretty but with a couple exceptions.
First problem is that with an open cockpit aircraft, a missing pilot figure is just a little too obvious and distracting. The second issue is that the bracing wires are way too prominent.
Now where is Ichabod Crane when you need him?
- Ivan.
I found a lot of aircraft that I probably never really looked at and here is one that I thought the designer did a pretty good job.
As usual, the flight model is a bit questionable, so it doesn't make for a good candidate for Quick Combat, but the model does look quite pretty but with a couple exceptions.
First problem is that with an open cockpit aircraft, a missing pilot figure is just a little too obvious and distracting. The second issue is that the bracing wires are way too prominent.
Now where is Ichabod Crane when you need him?
- Ivan.
Here are a couple more rather nice looking aircraft from the Hangar.
The razorback Ki 100 actually has a CFS AIR file, but I suspect it isn't particularly accurate.
The panel is an interesting assortment of gauges but doesn't have engine controls (Throttle panel) or even a Manifold Pressure gauge.
If I am going to do any work on that aircraft, I may need to insult the author by removing the orange drop tanks. No one would ever fly into a furball intentionally carrying those tanks.
The bubble top Ki 100 is an interesting beast. There is something wrong with the AIR file such that the engine will not start at all.
I have no idea how it behaves in the air or how good the animation is because the propeller won't even twitch when attempting to start.
- Ivan.
The razorback Ki 100 actually has a CFS AIR file, but I suspect it isn't particularly accurate.
The panel is an interesting assortment of gauges but doesn't have engine controls (Throttle panel) or even a Manifold Pressure gauge.
If I am going to do any work on that aircraft, I may need to insult the author by removing the orange drop tanks. No one would ever fly into a furball intentionally carrying those tanks.
The bubble top Ki 100 is an interesting beast. There is something wrong with the AIR file such that the engine will not start at all.
I have no idea how it behaves in the air or how good the animation is because the propeller won't even twitch when attempting to start.
- Ivan.