IRIS A-10 - you've come a long way !!
Hello,
I installed the A-10 this morning and I am amazed at the work done. This is a superb addon.
Firstly, FPS. I have the frames locked at 30 and they stay at that. Excellent. Secondly, modelling. Very nice and smooth. The shape of this beast is captured very accurately.
I was doing paints for the aerosoft A-10 back in the time and I researched the aircaft pretty intensely. IRIS' A-10A model will be 100% accurate for paint jobs up to say 2002-2003. Then the LASTE mod started to turn up in quantity with external modifications. Among these were the EGI antenna which covers the GPS receiver on the spine, just behind the ^-shaped slime lights. LASTE brought with it the antenna dimples on the lower vertical tail surfaces and the lower tail planes near the root. I understand these are sensors for a collision avoidance system installed after a few close calls. Also NVG compatible lights were added on the extreme rear (2), wing tips (2 each) and spine (2) behind the rather prominent blade antenne. All this stuff is in addition to the excisting lights.
I write this to point David in the right direction since he asked about LASTE. So please, this is not a complaint and I do not wish to be attacked.
I guess this is just small details and in the end it does not really matter for me. I just thought maybe a LASTE would look good with the grey (36320/36375) schemes.
On the aerosoft, 3 basic aircraft models were done:
- A legacy one without any of the above and no slime lights. Good for 80s and up to Desert Storm paint jobs.
- A model with added slime lights.
- A model with full LASTE and the aft facing scoops on the left hand fwd fuselage removed (panels with slots in them instead). GMAX and makemdl did not understand much of the small dimples connected with the external NVG lighting so these never showed up
Cockpit was the same in all models
Back to the IRIS; I find it very nice to fly although I must admit that I have fiddled a bit with getting the HUD to show better. I found, by remming out the VC glass tex, that the model glass material is a bit on the dark side. A "double glazing" (HUD and windshield), both textured kinda dark, makes for a dark HUD colour. I tried adding an alpha to the VC glass tex but this killed external reflection/glossiness on the canopy (??). I brightened and reduced contrast on the VC glass tex and this only resulted in "milkyness". I arrived at a compromise but it it was not what I've wanted. There's no problem reading the HUD with a darker background but it's the bright sky that is the problem.
I guess model material colouring would fix this..... possibly ??
The paints are superbly done. Very nice work indeed. I did Flipper and Peanut for the aerosoft one and smacked some hog teeth on the peanut one. I believe it flew out of Barksdale the way I did it.
Anyway; back to flying and congratulations (in many ways) to David and crew, the best yet and right up there with the best mil stuff done for FSX so far
Thanks
OOOOPPPPPSSSSS !!! forgot to mention....... the NVG mode...... WOW !!