CFS2 Albatross G.III Grosskampfflugzeug released!

[aleatorylamp]

Friedrichshafen G.III/IIIa and Albatros G.III

Hello Folks,
Now come two new twin-engined Grossflugzeug Projects, which you may be interested in,
namely the 1917 Albatros G.III with its rounded, graceful lines, and the larger, heftier Friedrichshafen G.III,
with its 1918 box-tailed variant, the G.IIIa. (These two were also called Friedrichshafen 450Hp bombers).

The Albatros G.III model is almost ready, because the FS98 version I´d done in 2008 was already hollowed out.
Not so the Friedrichshafen, so that will take a little bit more to do.

Anyway, here´s some more eye-candy (sugar is addictive...).
The pictures of the Albatros are already in CFS2, but the Friedrichshafen ones are still FS98 ones, but give the idea...

We never get bored, do we now? ;-)
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[Klein]

Wow Aleatory lamp, even not the most pretty, those "Fried" will be welcome

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello Martin Klein,
Compared to the smart looking, aerodynamic Albatros, the Friedrichshafen is a bit of a brute,
but it was quite a sturdy and reliable medium-sized work-horse.
A lot of work to upgrade, but quite fun, I´m sure!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[Ravenna]

Pretty or plain they both look good, and help to add a bit of variety on the Great War stage.

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello again,
I´ve put them on the conveyor belts, with a few workers working on them, mainly tidying things up to get them going, but there are other simultaneous projects going, so it might yet be a while before they progress.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Albatros G.III on the conveyor belt.

Hello Folks!

Now´s the turn of the Albatros G.III mid-range bomber.

After an initial 4-engined version of the first prototype was regected for being rather underpowered and ungainly, a second scaled-down prototype twin-engined machine was produced in 1916,
with 2x150 Hp Benz Bz.III engines.

Six units were produced and saw service. It was still rather underpowered, so the design was then further developed, including more powerful engines (see below), for the larger main G.III production batch.

This little-known, large, twin-engined biplane with very graceful lines was produced in small numbers. Some sources state 18 or 19, and apparently 11 or 12 were used together with some Rumpler G.II from Kagohl 1 in Macedonia, and then, 9 units saw service on the Western Front, with Kagohl IV.

It seems to have been very rugged, easy and pleasant to fly, with a remarkable top speed of 150 kph (93 mph) thanks to its powerful 230 Hp Benz Bz.IV pusher engines.

One interesting factor is that the lower wing trailing edge was cut out to allow a further forward placing of the heavy Benz engines, very much improving the centre of gravity. The top wing was also cut away, improving the rear gunner´s field of fire.

Payload was 24 x 12.5 kg PUW bombs on 6-bomb racks, 3 internal ones and one on the left side of the fuselage near the cockpit, and bombs coulb be dropped indicivually or in 6-bomb salvoes.

Here´s a screenshot of the old FS98 model. I really like its graceful, smooth lines!
The CFS2 model will have transparent windows on the sides of the fore-fuselage, and of course crew and weapons will be added by the DP files. The upgrade fortunately seems not to be posing any complications.

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Albatros progressing

Hello All,

Here are two screenshots of the new CFS2 upgrade. One shows a closer view of the external
bomb rack on the left side of the cockpit, and the other, a view of the CFS2 upgrade with crew
and weapons in the Dp files.

The Dp files have a hardpoint limitation: 3 crew and 2 machineguns leave only 18 hardpoints free for bombs, so I can´t put in the total of 24 bombs. The real aircraft had four 6-bomb racks, three internal and one external, and release could be 6-bomb salvoes or individually.
However, I´m sure the 18 bombs allowed in three salvoes will be good enough!

In the CFS2 .air file, engine and propeller parameters and graph tables I fed in came out very well,
to fit aircraft performance with its two large Benz Bz.IV pushers.

Now I´ll make the red spinners brown, or something more better... and fix a few hairline cracks here and there.

Let´s see how it goes.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp.

 

[Ravenna]

Better and better!

 

[gius]

Congrats AleatoryLamp,
very needed and wonderful planes!!! I've downloaded and installed them, can i reskin and repanel?
Regards,
Gius

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello Gius,

I´m afraid the models you mention are FS98 aircraft which haven´t been
upgraded for CFS2 yet. At the moment I´m working on the Albatros G.III,
and later, I´m re-doing the Friedrichshafen G.III/IIIa.

Please note that the new re-builds will have texture mapping differences.

However, if meanwhile you wish to re-texture and re-panel these FS98 models,
please feel free to do so! ;-)

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello Folks,

I just found an extra daytime livery for the Albatros G.III in beige wings
with light blue undersurfaces and yellowish-brown fuselage. Very promising!

Here are some screenshots. I will not include the uncowled engines, though,
because other b/w photos showing these seem to be of planes possibly
being serviced or repaired. The cowled engines look much better anyway!

At the moment I´m battling with the famous CFS2 adverse dark shading
effect on the wings and nose tip. It is more noticeable on lighter colours, but
with re-arranging some triangles, I´m managing on the wings. Let´s see about
the nose later.

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[Rami]

Reply...

A-lamp and Klein,

These both look outstanding, thank you for all of your time and effort on these!

 

[Klein]

Thanks you too, Rami, all that is possible cause you and all the team takes care of this forum, it's great

 

[Ravenna]

Thanks you too, Rami, all that is possible cause you and all the team takes care of this forum, it's great

Amen to that!

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hello again,
It seems to be going well. The nose tip is no longer a structure, and has thus
eliminated the change in shading there, and the top wing is better, and now I´m
trying to sort out the bottom wing-tips. Let´s see if I can get a pic to show later this afternoon!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[gius]

Hello Stephan,
i think actually your mapping is quite difficult, but i can do equally a decent work,
Thank you,
Gius

 

[aleatorylamp]

Re-texturing the old models

Hello Gius,
Thanks once again for your interest in my old models, but I feel it is unfortunately of debatable use to re-paint them.

Both the old Albatros and the old Friedrichshafen models have texture mapping problems, because at the time, AF99 was giving me texture mapping problems. AF99 uses the decimal point, and my Spanish OS uses the decimal comma. I only realized years later, after which I changes the punctuation marks in the Spanish OS, and could correct the texture mapping problems. This is the reason for the re-paint difficulties you are encountering.

As I commented in my post a few days ago, I am currently upgrading the models you mention
for CFS2. Textures are also being upgraded to high-resolution extended bitmaps. Given that I am soon going to upload the Albatros G.III upgraded, improved model, and later the 2 Friedrichshafens, it will probably not be worth your while working on re-paints of the old models.

Cheers,
Aleatorylamp

 

[aleatorylamp]

Two new Albatros G.III liveries

Hello Folks,

Getting there slowly, but still fighting the hairline cracks!

With CFS1 I found it helped to put in a vertex along a straight edge if there was a vertex of an adjacent panel along that edge, as this would eliminate possible hairline cracks, but with CFS2 the extra vertex interferes and makes the whole panel disappear!
Very strange, so I´ll have to make the panels overlap or something ...

Anyway, here´s a set of screenshots for the two liveries. Martin Klein has certainly done a spectacular job again!

Now for the custom instrument panel...

Cheers,
Aleatorylamo

 

[stoney]

REALLY nice!

 

[aleatorylamp]

Hi Stoney,
Thanks! Yes, I´m very pleased too, how it has come out, especially now with the new textgures!
Let´s see if I have enough time this week to do the hairline cracks and do the upload soon.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp