Glowingheat B-58 in P3Dv4

[DaveQ]

Apologies, only just seen this thread.

That's amazing work you're doing there, just a week and a half ago I saw a B-58 up close for the first time at Castle Air Museum in Atwater, CA - awesome looking aircraft, might be tempted to revisit it for a third time.......curious how you got PBR to work. If i did revisit it, it would stay at the same old price, and I'd see what I could do for existing customers. It was released for FSX as I hadn't then tried P3D.

Lets talk!

Please email me support @ glowingheat.co.uk

Will do.

DaveQ

 

[jymp]

Bought this B58 years ago for FSX, great idea for P3D v4.5. Looking a bit into the future...yes, its too early, don't know enough yet, but would love this in the coming new Microsoft Flight Simulator.

 

[DaveQ]

The first XB-58 'Old Grandpappy' as it was in later years, in a two-tone red and white scheme. Thanks to Glowingheat for a beautiful model and to Frank Safranak for the original texture and paint kit.

DaveQ

 

[Wings of Gold]

Shiny Military Aircraft

As much as many might want their favorite military aircraft (read B-58) to be shiny, it did not happen in real life. In air shows or museum displays, the aircraft are buffed and then given a protective clear coating. Squadron aircraft (and USAF normally had a maintenance squadron) would not do this because of the prohibitive amount of labor (man hours) required.In the B-58 case, they could not keep the normal paint on the fuselage (due to the speed and temperature involved) much less and protective coating.Bill

 

[Navy Chief]

As much as many might want their favorite military aircraft (read B-58) to be shiny, it did not happen in real life. In air shows or museum displays, the aircraft are buffed and then given a protective clear coating. Squadron aircraft (and USAF normally had a maintenance squadron) would not do this because of the prohibitive amount of labor (man hours) required.In the B-58 case, they could not keep the normal paint on the fuselage (due to the speed and temperature involved) much less and protective coating.Bill

Oh, I completely understand the facts! I just like the shiny, buffed look! Just as a lot of simmers prefer other military aircraft, i.e. the Phantom, to be spotless, clean textures; but in reality, those aircraft were anything but splotchy looking, except for Change of Command ceremonies, or when coming straight from rework. Most of us never saw a Hustler when they were still in active inventory. NC

 

[DaveQ]

Yes I agree. Nothing was ever polished in service. This was meant to be 'straight out of the box' clean. I'm trying to learn how to get various effects with PBR. Figuring out how to get the correct level of shine is not as straightforward as it was with alpha and spec. PBR allows the shader to more accurately reflect light from an object. So for metal for instance, as the object moves relative to the light source, the metal changes colour as well as reflectivity and shine (pics 3 & 4 show this on the wings). First lesson with metal is that the diffuse (albedo) colour needs to be the actual colour of the metal; for aluminium this is nearly white (245,246,246). Putting less shine by darkening the smoothness channel actually shows as lighter (see wing panels) in some lights. Which makes detailing panel lines, rivets and scratches more challenging....

Next one will be duller.

DaveQ

 

[b52bob]

One of the few aircraft I bought long ago that I still enjoy flying. Cockpit could use a little updating but overall just smashing. Works fine in P3D also.

i just visited Pima air museum and the B-58 is beginning to look a little weather worn. Completely polished a few years ago for a “Air and Space” magazine article it now has some major water stains (in Arizona?) but mostly a dull aluminum look.

I so wish there was a Good B-58 in XP-11.

Bob

 

[DaveQ]

After a summer spent tinkering with PBR I (foolishly) decided to look back at what FSX did with the B-58. And liked it.....!

PBR certainly offers more opportunities for depicting realistic surface texture than non-PBR but there are difficulties. For one thing the light engine/shaders in P3Dv4.5 don't seem able to bring out the best in PBR, at least IMHO. Detailing lines and rivets to get just the right amount of texturing is a challenge, especially when you've no access to the real thing and only got a limited number of images to go on. Oddly this I think is why alpha/spec in FSX can work; PBR requires (again it seems to this old git) a far greater knowledge of how the real thing reacted to light to get it looking right. Here's Super Sue in PBR; there are minor upgrades to the texture but nothing really significant. See what you think....

DaveQ

 

[Mach3DS]

Looks great Dave!!

 

[Sundog]

Nice work on the PBR. BTW, check out the updated shots of the Blackbird on Facebook (@Glowing Heat). It is looking super realistic with the PBR added as well.

 

[centuryseries]

Nice work on the PBR. BTW, check out the updated shots of the Blackbird on Facebook (@Glowing Heat). It is looking super realistic with the PBR added as well.

Please note that this is a brand new mesh based on the A-12 mesh, not the 2008 model!

 

[Sundog]

Please note that this is a brand new mesh based on the A-12 mesh, not the 2008 model!

Oh cool, I didn't know that. The images you have been showing looked very realistic, none the less.

 

[centuryseries]

 

[Sundog]

I feel some rapid transcontinental crossings coming on in those images.