Having fun with the Alpha F-105 Thunderchiefs

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F-105F of the Virginia Air National Guard....the Flying Anvil II. Took a good hour or so to replicate the nose art....and even then I didn't do it justice. There should be a cloud painted behind the anvil and text, but my artistic skills are not up to doing a good job of it...so I went for a "good enough" likeness.

View attachment 48107View attachment 48108

Onward I go...adding the weathering layer to the skins that I had done already, and then on to more new skins.

OBIO
 
Looking good OBIO. I love the name,"Flying Anvil II".:icon_lol:
I look forward to flying that "Anvil"!

J
 
I am having upload issues here at SOH....DangerousDave is on the case trying to help me figure it out.

So, to Flightsim.com I went to upload a teaser package for ya'll to check out. The package contains a tweaked MDL file for the F-105F and one new bare metal (and reflective) skin for the F Thud. This package does not include the tweaked 2D and VC panel set ups or the new effects package...that will all be saved for the final package. The skin in the teaser package may (most likely will) change before the project is fully done....I am trying to learn to add more weathering to my paints....Smoothie is giving me some lessons...that guy is good.

So, hop over to Flightsim.com tomorrow or the day after and grab the teaser package. It will be under the FS2004 New Files or do a search for my name, Tim Dement.

OBIO
 
Currently have 5 skins done for the D model and 3 skins done for the F model. Some of these skins are repaints of the stock skins that came with the Alpha Thuds, some are new skins. The bare metal (and reflective) skins really look nice on the Thuds...all models are now reflective...so you can fly a bare metal D model in clean, drop tank, or loaded configuration.

I am still hoping to be able to mod the MDL files so that all three D models use the same texture name...the clean and drop tank models have the _t ending in the names (they came with reflective texturing as part of the model files) while the loaded D does not have the _t (it and the F model are actually older CFS2/FS2002 models that did not come with reflective texturing as part of the model make up).

If I can achieve this mod, then it will cut down on the size of the upload since one texture folder can be shared between the 3 D model MDL files. As it is now, I can share one folder between the clean and drop tank models and have to rename a set of textures to work with the loaded D model. And with the textures all being 32-bit full size sheets (4.0meg per sheet), this can quickly become a very large file to upload and download and will result in unnecessary HD space consumption.

Next step is to complete the repaints of all the stock skins and get them out of the way...then move on to new skins....including a really cool desert scheme from Hill AFB. With a rattle snake on the vert tail area....way cool!

OBIO
 
Sounds good OBIO. I appreciate your work (The 105 being my favorite all time US military jet) and look forward to burning up the sky with your Thuds.:salute:

Horus J
 
Speaking of bare metal Thuds....I am reworking the drop tanks to incorporate the proper anti-glare paint on the upper, forward portions of the tanks and the forward parts of the drop tank pylons. Really adds to the overall look of the planes....but there are a couple of issues due to texture mapping. The port side pylon and drop tank paint lines up perfectly.....the starboard side...not so much..a bit off. Since the tank and pylon mapping is shared, there is no way to adjust the right side to line up. It's not off by much, so it isn't a huge thing.

The second issue has to do with the drop tank fins. The way they are mapped, one of the fins picks up the anti-glare paint...not the whole fin, about half of it. Looking at the tanks from the rear, it is the left hand downward angled fin that picks up the color. Again, there is nothing I can do about this...other than NOT adding the proper anti-glare treatment to the drop tanks. I would rather have a bit of excess paint on the fin that to lose the added detail of the anti-glare paint on the drop tanks.

I have one more stock D model skin to redo and a couple of adjustments to the one stock F model skin...then the stock skins will be redone. Then I will concentrate on new skins.

OBIO

Oh...you know how I stated in the teaser pack that the included skin would most likely be changed prior to the completion of the full project...well, it has changed...and for the better. The anti-glare paint on the fuselage has been reworked and vastly improved, the color of the aluminum skin has been changed to give the plane a more used and weathered look. It way better looking now.
 
I really like the way this bird came out:

View attachment 48217View attachment 48218

This is one of the stock skins redone with crisper details, improved aluminum skin and in 32-bit format.

If you look at the drop tank fins, you can see the spot where the one fin picks up color from the anti-glare area on the drop tank's upper forward portion.

And speaking of the anti-glare....is there a standard color for anti-glare on drop tanks or what it just what ever happened to be on hand? I have pics that show the anti-glare that look black, some that look lighter, some drop tanks don't have the anti-glare on them at all. I have pics of a model Thud with the anti-glare in a very nice looking blue green/green blue/aqua color...I did that scheme...have no idea if it is totally accurate but it looks nice. I have some DT anti-glare areas painted to match the anti-glare on the spine of the plane. So, was there a standard for this area or just hit and miss?

OBIO
 
I was checking out the skins I have done so far....and realized that I do not like the bare metal on the bare metal paints. It's too gray, to much like shiny lead. So, I adjusted the base color on one texture sheet until I got something that I do like...not airshow polished silver metal, but not spit shined lead either. A nice aluminum color, but not a polished aluminum...an aluminum that is still reflective, but showing a bit of a haze, a bit of tarnish maybe.

So....I have a lot of bare metal skins to tweak. Thank goodness for Photoshop layers....and my habit of saving every paint as a separate folder...I will only have to open each file, change the base color, save the file with the alpha layers active, then hide the alpha layers, flatten the file, save it as a bmp, then format the raw bmp in DXTbmp in 32-bit 888-8 with the proper alpha layers. Maybe an hour worth of work to get all the bare metal skins tweaked. Then on with more painting.

OBIO
 
I've downloaded the plane, and noticed that there isn't a checklist or reference file showing takeoff speeds, landing speeds, and vspeeds in general.

Does it simply not exist, or did I miss something? Other Alpha planes have them.

Thanks.
 
I don't recall seeing a check list for the Thuds. Once upon a time, there was a site that had check list info for tons and tons of aircraft.....will look around and see if I can find it.

Found the page:

http://www.freechecklists.net/

Nothing there for the Thud though. Mostly GA and prop Commercial planes from looks of it. Still a very valuable resource.

OBIO
 
I have one more stock skin to redo....will have it done tonight. Have a good number of new skins I want to do...but we are on the verge of moving. This move is going way out of our plans....we will be living in my mother-in-law's finished basement until such time that the place we are moving into is actually empty and ready for us to move into. The place was SUPPOSED to be vacated at the first of the month, then the landlord was SUPPOSED to have 3 weeks to have the place painted and new carpet installed, and we were SUPPOSED to move in the last week of this month. But the lady is still there, the place has not been painted or carpeted...but we HAVE to out of our current place on the 30th. So....after this Friday, my system will be down, stacked in my sis-in-law's spare bedroom. I will not be able do any sim work until AFTER we get into our new place, get everything set up and get the cable/internet company out to hook us up. 2 weeks, 3 weeks, a month....good gosh I do not look forward to a month living in my mom-in-law's basement!

I will get the last new skin done tonight, get gauges and effects files packed up, make sure all the config files are set up properly for the skins and get this package uploaded to Flightsim.com by Thursday night. There will be 3 parts to this package. Part 1 will cover the F-105D in clean and drop tank configurations, as they share common texture naming and can use the same texture folders. Part 2 will cover the F-105D in loaded configuration, as it uses a different texture naming. Part 3 will cover the F-105F. There will be 9 textures for the D model Thud and 4 for the F model Thud. All stock skins will be present in redone form....higher resolution, enlarged texture sheets, crisper markings and such. 4 new skins for the D model and 3 new skins for the F model. More new skins will come once we are settled into the new place and all that jazz.

I think you folks will enjoy the enhancements to the Alphasim Freeware F-105 package. For an older package, the external modeling is pretty darn good, the VC....it's a VC. It ain't gawd awful, it ain't great...it's usable. Some new VC textures would go a long way to improving the VC...but that is a "down the road" kind of thing.

OBIO
 
OBIO said:
I think you folks will enjoy the enhancements to the Alphasim Freeware F-105 package. For an older package, the external modeling is pretty darn good, the VC....it's a VC. It ain't gawd awful, it ain't great...it's usable. Some new VC textures would go a long way to improving the VC...but that is a "down the road" kind of thing.

OBIO
Click to expand...

Is that the texture F105_vpanel.bmp? I'll have a look at it tomorrow, see if I can get something better for you.
 
Andy

The F105_vpanel and F105_vpit are the vc textures that I want to clean up and improve. Those two panels, if redone with crisper details, would really bring the F-105's VC up a notch or three.

Tim
 
OK, I'll have a look tomorrow. Not promising that I can do anything, but with all this time on my hands it will at least be good practice.
 
Landing the Thud

Hey guys. Can't land this bird? Well, here is a 'New & Improved' set of FDEs that will tame this rocket. The cfg has extensive mods done to it. Much better handling now. It can even do aerobatics while going 700 kts! Lands at 120 to 140 kts. Hand fly it all day if you wish. Too much fun already. (I'M TOO GOOD-hehe). Enjoy.
Chuck B
Napamule
 
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