In honor of Fathers Day, I am releasing my latest girl, the Fairchild 24. The main reason for this release is that my Dad had one and so this is also for him.
As you might know, the Fairchild 24 was born in the 1930's. The famous Industrial Designer Raymond Loewy was hired to design the interior and appointments of
the 24 which he equipped it with automotive details, like car door handles, roll down windows, plush interiors and comfortable seats like you would find in a
nice automobile.
During WWII, a version for duty was created called the Argus. Many of these were shipped over to Europe, and some remained here (in the USA) as coastal patrol
spotters. They were able to carry 2 100 pound bombs and they had some success in spotting German U-Boots.
The 24 has a strong, welded steel tubing fuselage frame and is finished off with wooden runners top and bottom to give it a nice shape. The tail section leading
edges were wood covered and the wings featured wood ribbing with a heavy duty Spruce wood spar, and all covered in fabric/Dacron.
There were many engine versions for the Fairchild, but mainly the in-house built, straight six Ranger engine (inverted as well) and also the Warner Super Scarab
radial engine. In our recreation of the 24 Series, which is based on the time where tons of surplus engines and planes were made available after the war, the
planes are fitted with top of the line engines. The Ranger is a 200 HP model and the radial is the 165 HP Super Scarab.
There are quite a few planes in this package. Kind of a crazy amount. 37 in total. These also include float models. OlderthenDirt twisted my arm and I
relented and made a float version for both the radial and Ranger versions. The many variants have all various interiors to match the exteriors. Some are
prestine, rebuilt, super extravagent interiors with leather and wood laminated panels. Others like Blue Louise are work horses that have spent their lives in
the mountainous regions of Washington, Idaho, Canada, and Alaska. They will have some interiors that are in need of some pretty strong TLC. Blue Louise for
instance sports changed out control surfaces, one in yellow (rudder), one in primer (left aileron) some duct-tape patch work here and there, and some amazing
paint work of 'mud'. The yellow 'Tango' model is fading fast, alot of its top surfaces eroding to the primer base underneath. The military United States Army
Air Corps Ranger model is in nice condition, recently gone into duty, where the radial version Argus has alot of chips and bits. They all feature different
paintwork on the panels, so each is a totally different plane.
I have stories for each of them, but wont bother you with this now. For now, it is released and they need homes.
I am not the best modeler, so you might find blemishes or flaws. I could not get the radio dials to function properly on the antique Narco Mark 12 radio. They
work, but do not rotate. I tried for 2 months to get them to rotate. At one point, the COM knobs rotated, but the NAVs never did. Forums had no answers. The wind sound on the windows and doors turns off immediately when you go to close the windows and doors. (Yes, the windows roll
down).
But all in all, they are fun planes to fly. Wayne who did the Piper Pacer airfiles also did the 24 Series and really prides himself over the engines. I should
let you know now how they run. The Scarab radial needs to run in the green, which is about 1700 RPM. It can do much more, but 1700 is what it should be doing in
normal cruise. The sound will make you think its idling, but that is what it is. It will put you at 120+ MPH. The Ranger will need to cruise at 2100 RPM and
this should also put you at about 125 MPH. You can overspeed the planes, getting into the 140 MPH range, but you (in normal reality) could ruin your engines and
so it could be costly. Getting the radials serviced with an overhaul could cost you alot, back then and now.
There are no 'engine failures' to bring you down to Earth early, so enjoy that bit of luxury.
NOTE: There is a manifold gauge. DO not use this for engine speeds. The prop is fixed pitch, so there is on use for using the MAP gauge for speeds. Tachometer is for that in these planes.
I prided my newly learned technique of 'cutting' rib edges into the surfaces of the fusealge and wings, something I learned with the Robin. But on the F24's,
they were almost invisble at noon sun, so I added ribbing shading and highlights. The interiors are now shaded with 3DS Max. Pretty amazing program.
There are 2 paint scheme version paint kits at my webpage for the Fairchild Series, as well as a interior pack. I recommend doing interiors for these. If you
have a request for one of the paint schemes in PSD, let me know and I'll put it on the server and send you a link. They are 'huge' downloads though, so you are
warned.
No manuals in PDF format. This is a built in manual again, located in the cockpit; popup is Shift-6 and a kneeboard is Shift-7.
I pray there are no bugs in these. I soaked the planes in bug killer for over a week. We tested them hard. One might surface, so if one does, we'll get on it
as soon as possible. It might be several days as we should wait to see if there will be any other bugs that surface. Hopefully not though.
On my website is a section that explains how everything works as well as things people might think are bugs but arent. FSX has limitations that Prepar3D doesnt
seem to have issues with, so we had to do what we could to get things working in FSX, such as the window cranks. To lower the windows, you click the windows or
window sill edges (thin strip around the windows). This section that explains everything is at www.lionheartcreations.com/Fairchild_24 Its the red ink section
below the sales section.
Also, I should note. I was strongly (strongly) asked to at least do a 2D panel. I did. However, it only has instrumentation. There is no popups of throttles
and mixture knobs, no controls, only instrumentation. It gives you the 2D panel environment, but working things like the fuel selectors and throttle is all done
in the 3D cabin area. You get one black crinkle panel for the 2D panel area.
These are available now at SimMarket.com and at my site through PayLoadz. JustFlight should have them up tomorrow. I do not know if Flight1 can carry these as they use an online activator code system now. I'll see if they can but doubt it. FlightSimStore in Australia and PCAviator will be notified also and have it as soon as they can get it online.
Some humble screenshots of the 24's.
As you might know, the Fairchild 24 was born in the 1930's. The famous Industrial Designer Raymond Loewy was hired to design the interior and appointments of
the 24 which he equipped it with automotive details, like car door handles, roll down windows, plush interiors and comfortable seats like you would find in a
nice automobile.
During WWII, a version for duty was created called the Argus. Many of these were shipped over to Europe, and some remained here (in the USA) as coastal patrol
spotters. They were able to carry 2 100 pound bombs and they had some success in spotting German U-Boots.
The 24 has a strong, welded steel tubing fuselage frame and is finished off with wooden runners top and bottom to give it a nice shape. The tail section leading
edges were wood covered and the wings featured wood ribbing with a heavy duty Spruce wood spar, and all covered in fabric/Dacron.
There were many engine versions for the Fairchild, but mainly the in-house built, straight six Ranger engine (inverted as well) and also the Warner Super Scarab
radial engine. In our recreation of the 24 Series, which is based on the time where tons of surplus engines and planes were made available after the war, the
planes are fitted with top of the line engines. The Ranger is a 200 HP model and the radial is the 165 HP Super Scarab.
There are quite a few planes in this package. Kind of a crazy amount. 37 in total. These also include float models. OlderthenDirt twisted my arm and I
relented and made a float version for both the radial and Ranger versions. The many variants have all various interiors to match the exteriors. Some are
prestine, rebuilt, super extravagent interiors with leather and wood laminated panels. Others like Blue Louise are work horses that have spent their lives in
the mountainous regions of Washington, Idaho, Canada, and Alaska. They will have some interiors that are in need of some pretty strong TLC. Blue Louise for
instance sports changed out control surfaces, one in yellow (rudder), one in primer (left aileron) some duct-tape patch work here and there, and some amazing
paint work of 'mud'. The yellow 'Tango' model is fading fast, alot of its top surfaces eroding to the primer base underneath. The military United States Army
Air Corps Ranger model is in nice condition, recently gone into duty, where the radial version Argus has alot of chips and bits. They all feature different
paintwork on the panels, so each is a totally different plane.
I have stories for each of them, but wont bother you with this now. For now, it is released and they need homes.
I am not the best modeler, so you might find blemishes or flaws. I could not get the radio dials to function properly on the antique Narco Mark 12 radio. They
work, but do not rotate. I tried for 2 months to get them to rotate. At one point, the COM knobs rotated, but the NAVs never did. Forums had no answers. The wind sound on the windows and doors turns off immediately when you go to close the windows and doors. (Yes, the windows roll
down).
But all in all, they are fun planes to fly. Wayne who did the Piper Pacer airfiles also did the 24 Series and really prides himself over the engines. I should
let you know now how they run. The Scarab radial needs to run in the green, which is about 1700 RPM. It can do much more, but 1700 is what it should be doing in
normal cruise. The sound will make you think its idling, but that is what it is. It will put you at 120+ MPH. The Ranger will need to cruise at 2100 RPM and
this should also put you at about 125 MPH. You can overspeed the planes, getting into the 140 MPH range, but you (in normal reality) could ruin your engines and
so it could be costly. Getting the radials serviced with an overhaul could cost you alot, back then and now.
There are no 'engine failures' to bring you down to Earth early, so enjoy that bit of luxury.
NOTE: There is a manifold gauge. DO not use this for engine speeds. The prop is fixed pitch, so there is on use for using the MAP gauge for speeds. Tachometer is for that in these planes.
I prided my newly learned technique of 'cutting' rib edges into the surfaces of the fusealge and wings, something I learned with the Robin. But on the F24's,
they were almost invisble at noon sun, so I added ribbing shading and highlights. The interiors are now shaded with 3DS Max. Pretty amazing program.
There are 2 paint scheme version paint kits at my webpage for the Fairchild Series, as well as a interior pack. I recommend doing interiors for these. If you
have a request for one of the paint schemes in PSD, let me know and I'll put it on the server and send you a link. They are 'huge' downloads though, so you are
warned.
No manuals in PDF format. This is a built in manual again, located in the cockpit; popup is Shift-6 and a kneeboard is Shift-7.
I pray there are no bugs in these. I soaked the planes in bug killer for over a week. We tested them hard. One might surface, so if one does, we'll get on it
as soon as possible. It might be several days as we should wait to see if there will be any other bugs that surface. Hopefully not though.
On my website is a section that explains how everything works as well as things people might think are bugs but arent. FSX has limitations that Prepar3D doesnt
seem to have issues with, so we had to do what we could to get things working in FSX, such as the window cranks. To lower the windows, you click the windows or
window sill edges (thin strip around the windows). This section that explains everything is at www.lionheartcreations.com/Fairchild_24 Its the red ink section
below the sales section.
Also, I should note. I was strongly (strongly) asked to at least do a 2D panel. I did. However, it only has instrumentation. There is no popups of throttles
and mixture knobs, no controls, only instrumentation. It gives you the 2D panel environment, but working things like the fuel selectors and throttle is all done
in the 3D cabin area. You get one black crinkle panel for the 2D panel area.
These are available now at SimMarket.com and at my site through PayLoadz. JustFlight should have them up tomorrow. I do not know if Flight1 can carry these as they use an online activator code system now. I'll see if they can but doubt it. FlightSimStore in Australia and PCAviator will be notified also and have it as soon as they can get it online.
Some humble screenshots of the 24's.
