Greg Pepper's Sikorsky S-51 Restoration Project

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OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
Some time ago, I started a "restoration" of Greg Pepper's FS2002 Sikorsky S-51/HO2S-1/HO3S-1G "Dragonfly"...and like so many other projects it got set aside when new projects found their way onto my work bench. Well, I have pulled the project off my external HD and gotten it to the point of being fit for release. It is not done as fully as I had originally planned. It IS done in that there are 6 new skins, new flight dynamics by Michael Davies which has this helo acting like a piston powered helo and flying like a dream, a dedicated sound pack based on Mike Hambly's Pratt and Whitney R-985 GBR sound pack. There are now two MDL files: one has added specular shine and the other has full-on reflective texture capabilities.

What is not done is that I did not utilize the reflective MDL and do up some bare metal skins and the one bare metal RAAF skin uses the specular mdl and looks gray instead of like bare aluminum.

I don't fly helos often enough for this project to be a huge priority for me, but I now that there was a fair bit of interest in this project and a good number of helo pilots here in the Out_House....so, I am uploading this project in AS-IS condition....you can use it AS-IS just fine, but AS-IS leaves room for improvement.

OBIO
 
Who-HOO !!!!!!!!

I've been waiting for this one! Thank you! :ernae:

I'll bet a little fiddling with the alpha channel will make those natural metal paints work with the reflective model. If I can find some time I'll see what I can do.
 
OK, I've got a texture pack almost ready to go, pending receipt of permission to include a couple of paints that aren't entirely mine, and possibly adding some more paints.

Here's what I've done:

Converted all the paints in the rebuilt S-51 package to 32-bit external textures for improved quality. (Those with major frame rate issues might prefer not to use the otherwise-unchanged ones, but there are only two external textures, so I doubt that many systems will object to the 32-bit versions.)

Replaced the US Coast Guard paint with another, which has the effect of removing the US Air Force unit markings that somehow snuck onto the fuselage.

Converted the RAAF paint into reflective textures. Now it looks like shiny silver.

Added a US Air Force H-5 paint. This one was released by Gray Wold back in the days of 2002, and it's the one I'm waiting for permission to include.

Added a Metropolis Daily Planet news chopper S-51 paint. The basic colors are derived from Gray Wolf's Bush Flying Unlimited paint, so it's the other one I'm waiting on permission for. I replaced the BFU gray with reflective silver, and of course replaced the BFU markings with Metropolis Daily Planet markings. I don't have any old Superman comics, so I don't know what the Daily Planet's S-51 really looked like, or even whether it had a consistent livery from one appearance to the next, so I just made this one up. I thought the BFU livery made a nice starting point.

I may add a Royal Navy overall dark sea blue livery; I have a nice photo but I don't know if I have the time.

I may also add a silver US Air Force paint. I have a photo of a restored H-5 in that livery, but I don't know if it's correct. Some of the markings look bogus, and I don't know if the USAF kept any H-5s long enough to be repainted from yellow to silver. As with the blue RN paint, time may preclude this.

Likewise, I'm tempted to make a silver US Coast Guard paint, but I don't know if the Coast Guard got the HO3S early enough to have painted it yellow, before they switched to silver. (Sometime around 1951 the Coast Guard repainted their helos from silver to yellow, and around the same time the Air Force repainted theirs from yellow to silver.) Lack of time might preclude this paint, too.
 
Thanks for all your efforts OBIO. I'll have to take a peek.

I'm sure Greg Pepper would be appreciative of everyone's thoughtfulness.


I'm curious why no one has ever modeled one of these for FS04. Actually shocked! I'm no modeler. But the shape seems like it'd be fairly simple? Lasse Lindh would have been a great candidate to re-create this one. After the Bell 47 he did. That one is downright amazing.
 
My e-mail to Gray Wolf bounced, so I guess I have to presume permission.

I did some quick research and the Coast Guard did have silver HO3Ss, so I must paint one. In the process I'll make a blank silver texture, so I guess it would be pretty easy to paint a silver USAF H-5 as well.

I did the dark blue Royal Navy paint. It was pretty quick and easy.

I also threw together another Army paint in a slightly earlier style, with white lettering and a yellow caution panel on the tail boom. That was even quicker and easier.

Maybe I'll finish the two silver birds tomorrow and be ready to release.

Yes indeed, a nice tribute to Greg.
 
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