Convair CV-580

rohan said:
That is very good news – thanks for going this extra mile.

On my PC and screen, there is a distinctly bright blue “shine” on the cowlings in the photo in post 15 - https://www.sim-outhouse.org/sohforums/threads/convair-cv-580.161482/post-1371075. I hope that this will not require much more work to achieve, if it is at all possible . . .

Thanks again for making all these non-fire changes to the base model,
Ro
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It may be reflections from the clear blue sky off of the shiny chrome cowling.
 
I doubt most people notice, but the Convairs all had a small splitter plate between the two front windscreens. Perhaps to deflect wind noise or precipitation, but all 240/340/440 / 580s seem to have had it. I have never seen it modeled. aero_conv580_01.jpgSee this photo --
 
The reflection on the nacelle does look like the sky reflection. All the reference photos I've seen of them, none of them have that bluish reflection. So I figured it was just that. The sky reflecting off of it. I've been looking at info on the 131Hs and there were only 4 of them apparently that the Navy had. I thought maybe there were more than that, but I guess not? All of them came from the USAF.

As far as that windscreen splitter plate. I'll look at adding it. Now that I know it's a predominant feature, I can just gather some reference photos of it and see if I can add it to them.
 
It is always difficult judging the actual colour of something from a photo, and particularly a copy of an original photo . . . camera settings, film settings and screen settings can all play a part in the perceived colour.

Having said that, to my eyes there is a distinct blue sheen to that cowling, especially when I look at the lower part where there is a reflection of the ground rather than the sky. There also appears to be a narrow band of a more natural metallic colour around the front edge of the cowling, which does not seem to reflect either the sky or the ground.

Still, you are the one with the skills and experience at building realistic models and textures, so I will bow to your judgement on how to implement this . . .

Thanks for considering my thoughts,
Ro
 
rohan said:
It is always difficult judging the actual colour of something from a photo, and particularly a copy of an original photo . . . camera settings, film settings and screen settings can all play a part in the perceived colour.

Having said that, to my eyes there is a distinct blue sheen to that cowling, especially when I look at the lower part where there is a reflection of the ground rather than the sky. There also appears to be a narrow band of a more natural metallic colour around the front edge of the cowling, which does not seem to reflect either the sky or the ground.

Still, you are the one with the skills and experience at building realistic models and textures, so I will bow to your judgement on how to implement this . . .

Thanks for considering my thoughts,
Ro
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It is difficult to determine things like this too due to the time period of the photo. It could be environmental reflection, or it is indeed some sort of treatment on the nacelle that gives it that coloration. I'll do some more digging around too and see if there's a definite color code or some sort of reference for it too and see if I can replicate it.

I did some fiddling and messing with a few things since I've had these in and out of my editing programs the last couple days. I was looking at the CV-5800 as well. The stretched version of the 580 with more powerful variants of the T56s as well. As luck would have it, I've managed to possibly have recreated this variant as well. From how the 5800 looks though, it's entirely based around the 580F cargo variant. Doesn't seem like there are any passenger versions of this one made. So I will try to make a working prototype of it. Right now I'm setting aside bits and pieces to get to it in order to try and put it together once I get the main stuff for the other main models done. Since it will have most of the stuff from the 580, but I will likely have to remap the whole fuselage since it's notably longer than a typical 580 is. 81 feet long vs 95 feet on the 5800. With this that will mean I will piece together some more changes for it since it's performance will be different as well. I think after this leap. I'm capping what all else I'm adding to these. I have a tendency to keep messing with stuff and I'll let it get away from me if I don't put a stop on it (lol).
 
Same aircraft I posted operating without titles or national markings when serving in Governmental VVIP role.
As far as the tinge of blue on this aircraft in my previous post in the USN colors, I don't see it, however I doubt that
the NAVY Vip version had any blue paint on the nacelles.

Capture.jpg
 
Maybe these pics will dispel any notions or thoughts about the mysterious blue tint. It does look like haze gray paint on the bottom third of the fuselage. On one of this pics, the nose is black and later white. I like the black color.

Capture.jpg
Capture1.jpg
Capture2.jpg
 
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I couldn't find anything around either to indicate it was painted either. I did find an Air Force One paint of the 131 also, but it too has the typical chrome nacelle too. Didn't hurt to check though. Appreciate the additional resources too.

I've got another tanker update/conversion pack I'm finalizing and then the 580s will be my primary focus, so I'll be able to spend a bit more time on them here soon.
 
Scorch00 said:
It is difficult to determine things like this too due to the time period of the photo. It could be environmental reflection, or it is indeed some sort of treatment on the nacelle that gives it that coloration. I'll do some more digging around too and see if there's a definite color code or some sort of reference for it too and see if I can replicate it.

I did some fiddling and messing with a few things since I've had these in and out of my editing programs the last couple days. I was looking at the CV-5800 as well. The stretched version of the 580 with more powerful variants of the T56s as well. As luck would have it, I've managed to possibly have recreated this variant as well. From how the 5800 looks though, it's entirely based around the 580F cargo variant. Doesn't seem like there are any passenger versions of this one made. So I will try to make a working prototype of it. Right now I'm setting aside bits and pieces to get to it in order to try and put it together once I get the main stuff for the other main models done. Since it will have most of the stuff from the 580, but I will likely have to remap the whole fuselage since it's notably longer than a typical 580 is. 81 feet long vs 95 feet on the 5800. With this that will mean I will piece together some more changes for it since it's performance will be different as well. I think after this leap. I'm capping what all else I'm adding to these. I have a tendency to keep messing with stuff and I'll let it get away from me if I don't put a stop on it (lol).
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The CV-5800 was the creation of Kelowna Flightcraft. Only 6 were constructed, all are cargo aircraft. Five are operated by Contract Air Cargo out of Miami International Airport, one is operated by Air Freight NZ. I recently read that Contract Air Cargo is retiring their CV-580's, but continue to operate their CV-5800's.
 
This is the early prototype of the 5800. The proportions aren't 100% there yet and I have to do other tweaks aside from getting the body a bit more accurate. Also, the window cuts for it. I wanted to see how it looked in the sim. So here that is. I have it in the Kelowna Flightcraft paint I'm working on currently, is on it for now. Will do others with it as well. The animations are also all retained and working from the standard cargo variant, including the large rear cargo door.

53941089559_eb4498b7c3_k.jpg

53941007743_10953cffee_k.jpg
 
Fuselage was updated with the windows and the animations re-added and functioning on this version now. Probably will go through one more additional prototype I think. But this one has all the working bits at least on it now.

53941987379_7a95e48faa_k.jpg
 
The collection of "Baby Electras" is looking good. I can have fun with GSX loading and unloading cargo in the 5800.
 
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They are a really cool airplane. When I started investigating the tanker variant I obviously went through the standard model information first and was kind of blown away by it and it was really no wonder they've been flying this long. I've gained a lot more interest in the airframe because of this project. The guys at CalClassics did a great job of putting the original one together I'm just glad I can hopefully help expand and keep this great turbo-liner around a bit longer with some of these updates.

The versions that will be in the pack are as follows:

CV-580 Passenger (Aero Products Propeller Variant)
CV-580 Passenger (Hamilton Standard Propeller Variant)
CV-580F Cargo (AP Prop)
CV-580F Cargo (HS Prop)
CV-580T Tanker (AP Prop)
CV-580T Tanker (HS Prop)
CV-5800 Cargo (HS Prop)
VC-131H Passenger (AP Prop)
 
Not much else to report model wise for these, just moving bits around to the versions I've had started. Still haven't started on the 580Fs yet. I'll be focusing on doing the tankers first and then working my way back to each one to fine tune them. The 5800, I've separated from the lot and started working on the updated performance stuff for it. It has more powerful engines, higher MTOW, and longer fuselage. So with all that it really just needed to be separate from the other 580s. The air splitter plates mentioned by Mike71 between the front windscreens has also been added to all models. I will also be making an "antenna" blank to add the assortment of extra antenna bits to them as well. As I think offhand, there's some missing for this model. But it will probably vary based on what version. So that will be something else to look at for these.
 
After gray eagle's comment about NAS Alameda, and your work on the C131 USN version I am interested, too. Looking forward to your completing this and being able to fly it. Thank you for all your hard work.
 
stansdds said:
The CV-5800 was the creation of Kelowna Flightcraft. Only 6 were constructed, all are cargo aircraft. Five are operated by Contract Air Cargo out of Miami International Airport, one is operated by Air Freight NZ. I recently read that Contract Air Cargo is retiring their CV-580's, but continue to operate their CV-5800's.
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Here is the information of the one of two airworthy 5800's I found by accident...interesting that it's still operational:

Airframe Family:Convair CV-240/340/440/580/600/640 / C-131 / R4Y / T-29
Latest Model:CV-5800
Last Military Serial:140996 USN
Construction Number:340-279
Last Civil Registration:N351FL
Compressed ID:Kelowna Flightcraft CV-5800 sn 1409...
copy_icon.png
Latest Owner or Location:Gulf and Caribbean Cargo Inc, Waterford, MI

There are a lot of really nice photos of this aircraft online but all are copyrighted so I didn't want to publish any here. If you do a blank that can be used for a paintkit or HAVE a paintkit with psd's I will do a repaint of N351FL.
 
Right now the texture map is the same as Greg Pepper's original 580s, even on the 5800. That will probably change though as the proportions will likely mess with a detailed paint. Right now it looks okay, but it won't be the final version I'm pretty sure. I'll look at making a new map for the 5800 too as this process goes on. But all the others models will work with the original paints and paint kit. Some of the models also had the wings remapped separately now too. But are based off the original paints to keep it simple and mostly compatible with original paints (just separated the maps as different names for each wing. I haven't moved the separated wing models to the other versions, just is on the VC-131 for now and am debating doing this as the models I don't think will require it aside from the VC-131, but people more familiar with the platform may be able to shed light on that. The tankers I will leave with the stock wing configuration since their wings don't have unique markings that require it. But the regular 580, 580F, and 5800s I need more info on if I need to apply that mod to them as well. So that it can be made so the wings aren't mirrored images like they are on the base models. Allowing repainters to paint reg numbers, airline markings, etc that will be different top and bottom, left and right. As like I said, this is not possible with the original wings.
 
I found in FSX that they foolishly IMO mirrored the wings and fuselage on some of their default aircraft that made it very difficult as you say to do other markings repainting for them. Thank you again for all your hard work. No rush I will patiently wait to create this. Just thought that it was a neat repaint to do since they are still flying and not seen at least by me elsewhere
 
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