Historical Fun

aeromed202

aeromed202

SOH-CM-2014
I'd forgotten about the great add-ons over at The Old Hangar, http://www.theoldhangar.net/toh_downloads.html.

I scrolled down to "The Great Days of Steam Steam Powered Aircraft by James Hefner" and have been having a blast flying (trying to) these fledgling air machines. I highly recommend this package for those days when flying safely in reliable aircraft just seems too ho-hum, they're a hoot. Below are two of them, the Du Temple Monoplane of 1874 (with hat and tails), and the Avro Type-F.



PS- if they seem too impossible to fly, I made some alterations so they can be a bit more possible to fly, but still as hair-raising as they were in their day!
 
Cool!

I downloaded those three steamers when they were first released, then never flew them and forgot about them. Thanks for the reminder!

That Avro F isn't a steamer, and it's a real airplane. I believe Dennis Simanaitis made that one, if my recollection is correct.
 
Oops you're right, I knew that :salute:. The Avro was was part of the same shopping spree on TOH. It's still a beaut though, plus they all have VCs.
 
I am glad you all enjoyed them. They were my very first efforts at building planes for FS; I didn't even know how to texture map yet when I made those.

I have been working on and off on an update to them. Some slight improvements to the planes themselves; I also wanted to include a ski jump-like takeoff ramp; since both the Mozhaiski Monoplane and the duTemple monoplane took off from one on their short hops. I got the ramp working in FS2004; tried to make it work in FS2002; but no dice with the sloped surface.

The improvements from them to the Early Fairchild Series showed how much I learned in the meantime; especially about texture mapping. Jim Douglass was also a huge help in getting details right.

I forgot my password, and the process for resetting my password wasn't working for me. But I finally got it straight, and I am still out here. Unfortunately, I don't have the free time at work I used to have to work on them, and now both my FS2002 and FS2004 machines are down at home. (Both also have CFS2.)

I hope to get the FS2004 machine going again fairly quickly; the FS2002 machine's hard disk will have to go to a data recovery firm if I ever hope to get it back. I am wrapping up a major project at work, so I had a little time to make a little headway in building the VC cockpit for Norman Belgeddes' Airliner No. 4; and am retexturing the Ushakov LPL for CFS2/FS2002/FS2004.

-James Hefner
 
Sorry for your PC problems but I do have lots of fun with these machines. Your comment about working ramps got my interest too. I posted a question some time ago about someone willing to try to make a circular runway. I'll search for the post but it would involve making a shallow bowl type thing, basically ramp sections connected together looking sort of like a circular car race track but not so steep. Would that even be possible? One was built I think in Arizona and it worked very well but was too costly to build considering the tunnels etc needed to make it commercially worth while. Below is a picture of the one built.
 
aeromed202 said:
Sorry for your PC problems but I do have lots of fun with these machines. Your comment about working ramps got my interest too. I posted a question some time ago about someone willing to try to make a circular runway. I'll search for the post but it would involve making a shallow bowl type thing, basically ramp sections connected together looking sort of like a circular car race track but not so steep. Would that even be possible? One was built I think in Arizona and it worked very well but was too costly to build considering the tunnels etc needed to make it commercially worth while. Below is a picture of the one built.
Click to expand...

I don't see why not. You would model the runway surface in gmax; then turn off collision detection for it (IIRC.) Then output it as a scenery model. The ramp surface worked great in FS2004; trying take off on one from a standing start, and you can understand why they only achieved a short hop.

I should have taken pictures of the jump ramp; but I did not; since it was a WIP. Maybe I will at least get the FS2004 machine back soon.

EDIT: I would be remiss in forgetting to mention that Roger Law was a major help with the FD; since I didn't know how to do that at the time, either.

-James
 
I just thought it would be unique in all of FS to create this oddity. The Air&Space article indicated it had many benefits to the aviator like perpetual up-wind landings and takeoffs and endless roll-outs for those problem landings but also engendered too many infrastructure costs to be explored further. But those don't matter here right?

I wonder what that sign says, the one off the left wing tip?
 
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