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Northrop P-61C Black Widow project

You are damn good Dean!

Being stuck in FSDS world, I was gob-smacked to discover you'd done the Reporter and BW in FSDS 3.5. It's fantastic to see what can be done with it in the hands of an expert......who needs Gmax pahhhh!! ;)

Those compound curves are just beautiful, and there's a lot in a P61. Didn't think FSDS could look so good. :applause:

Cheers

Shessi
 
Shessi said:
You are damn good Dean!

Being stuck in FSDS world, I was gob-smacked to discover you'd done the Reporter and BW in FSDS 3.5. It's fantastic to see what can be done with it in the hands of an expert......who needs Gmax pahhhh!! ;)

Those compound curves are just beautiful, and there's a lot in a P61. Didn't think FSDS could look so good. :applause:

Cheers

Shessi
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Thanks Shessi for your kind words! :)

FSDS may be a bit long in the tooth but it's adequate for just about anything if a user is willing to put the time and effort in. Same goes for the other programs too. The best plan is always to pick the right one for you and then stick with it the whole way through.
 
Minor update: I've been away on holiday for a week so haven't had much time to work on the Widow. Just got back the other day and did some tests in FSX, making sure that the engines and VC controls are porting over okay, checking texture layouts etc. All progressing well :) It's going to take some work to convert the cockpit and create the RO position, but I'm still hopeful for a July release with TacPack compatibility for weapons and a simple radar for night time Zero hunting operations...

Textures for the airplane will be a bare metal test version ( the only P-61C ever to wear bare metal ), a Project Thunderstorm scheme and, of course, Moonlight Serenade.

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Speedbrakes ( spoilers ) now modeled and animated. These should bring her up short in a speed dive no problem at all! I chose to model them with the actual cavities in place rather than texture them in, as it wouldn't have looked anywhere near as good and they're very prominent when deployed.

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Sundog said:
It's looking great! If you ever decide to make an A model, I highly recommend making B.G. Barnes personal P-61, which had the armament and RADAR removed and an extra fuel tank placed where the turret used to be.
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Not quite the A-model, but a quick shot of the P-61C in bare metal. The scheme was from a converted test-bed P-61A contracted out to Goodyear Aircraft, Ohio, for fitment of the P-61C engines and designated as XP-61D. The spinners and cowling were in yellow, and she wore a large "791" number in black on the nose. I'll finish off the textures later when the bumps are complete along with the rest of the modelling.

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Test fitted the re-shaped virtual cockpit tonight. It seems as though the Widow's forward canopy sills are modeled a little too low so they'll have to move up a bit. Lots of re-shaping to do around the VC internally before it's servicable, and also Boolean out the oleo wheel bay entry port, before I can start adding details and tidying up. Grabbed this screenie, taken at dusk in FSX to check out how the textures are coming along. Bump maps need altering to match the gondola's shape a bit better and also to reach up to the top of the central section. I think it looks good so far in the low light though :)

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WarHorse47 said:
Anything new to report?? Looking forward to this one. :bump:
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Amazing timing Warhorse - I've spent the last two weeks working on the cockpit framing, which has taken an age due to the number of polygons that needed to be built to join the inner and outer sections. Took a couple of images last night though and just got around to posting them now. The VC has a long way to go ( only a flat colour texture in place at the moment for the framing ) but the external model is much cleaner now, just some minor improvements left to go and I can crack on and finish the interior.

Still on target for a July BETA :encouragement:

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Dean, this is starting to shape up very nicely. Thank you for all of your hard work. This beast is beginning to look awesome. Looking forward to its debut.
 
Thanks all! A last shot from a test flight I did an hour ago, just caught that glossy black metal at the right angle in Prepar3D :biggrin-new:

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P.S. Jankees - paint kits will soon be available for both planes ( Reporter and Widow ) once both are released.
 

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