PutPut
Charter Member 2014
Every once in a while you hit a project that just goes wrong. I have had only two in the years I've been at it. The first was an early British bomber which I never finished. The second is a current project, the Convair R3Y Tradewind. I have taken a "never say die" attitude with it as it has turned into a real learning experience. I thought I would describe some of my trials and tribulations with this bird for the benefit of the other designers or those that dauble with design on this forum. It is at least good for a chuckle.
First, I paid good money for a set of what I thought were professional grade drawings of the aircraft. They really looked nice when I received them but the projections were not consistent at all dimension wise. The drawings showed the same overall length in the side and plan view, but the bird was about 10% longer in the top view. I had to do some work with PSP to get them useful for backdrops.
I have designed bigger and more complex projects so it moved along nicely until it came time to animate the props. It has 8 props but I had already done the Saunders Roe SR-45 with 10 props so it shouldn't have been a problem. I started and the fun began when I hit Prop0_blurred. As soon as I animated the disk it and all the previous prop parts totally disappeared! I was not doing anything I hadn't done before but it just would not come around. I asked Dave Nunez of FSDSTweak fame for some help and he was able to duplicate my results and suggested my source code was corrupt. I rebuilt the project part by part and it always compiled even when I got to Prop0_blurred but once again all the prop parts disappeared. I selved the project and started my Keystone bomber.
A few weeks later it called and I answered by changing the .cfg file and .air file. That did nothing. On a fluke I changed the .mdl file into which I was compiling and that did the trick. The retired engineer in me wants a scientific expanation which I don't have, but the 78 year old pragmatist I have become said "It ain't broke so don't fix it".
Things moved along OK so I decided to add beaching gear to the project. My plan was to add the beaching gear and animate it as a landing gear that retracted 2000' above so it was invisible. Well, FSX didn't like that at all as the beaching gear would slowly settle down as shown in the first pic..
Warwick Carter was kind enough to create a little XML visibility situation that solved the problem. However, I noticed the wheels on the beaching gear quit turning and the whole plane would bounce high in the air when it hit the beach. No end of fussing with the contact points solved the bounce problem so I eliminated the beaching gear.
It is time to do the VC so I went looking for several different gauges for a turbo prop engine. (I am definitely not a gauge designer) I found exactly the set I wanted on an existing freeware project but the designer never answered my request for permission. Fortunately, the gauges in the Premier Aircraft Design C-130 are similar and I just got permission from PAD to use them. I shall carry on. Ain't life grand!
Best, Paul
View attachment 24415View attachment 24416
First, I paid good money for a set of what I thought were professional grade drawings of the aircraft. They really looked nice when I received them but the projections were not consistent at all dimension wise. The drawings showed the same overall length in the side and plan view, but the bird was about 10% longer in the top view. I had to do some work with PSP to get them useful for backdrops.
I have designed bigger and more complex projects so it moved along nicely until it came time to animate the props. It has 8 props but I had already done the Saunders Roe SR-45 with 10 props so it shouldn't have been a problem. I started and the fun began when I hit Prop0_blurred. As soon as I animated the disk it and all the previous prop parts totally disappeared! I was not doing anything I hadn't done before but it just would not come around. I asked Dave Nunez of FSDSTweak fame for some help and he was able to duplicate my results and suggested my source code was corrupt. I rebuilt the project part by part and it always compiled even when I got to Prop0_blurred but once again all the prop parts disappeared. I selved the project and started my Keystone bomber.
A few weeks later it called and I answered by changing the .cfg file and .air file. That did nothing. On a fluke I changed the .mdl file into which I was compiling and that did the trick. The retired engineer in me wants a scientific expanation which I don't have, but the 78 year old pragmatist I have become said "It ain't broke so don't fix it".
Things moved along OK so I decided to add beaching gear to the project. My plan was to add the beaching gear and animate it as a landing gear that retracted 2000' above so it was invisible. Well, FSX didn't like that at all as the beaching gear would slowly settle down as shown in the first pic..
Warwick Carter was kind enough to create a little XML visibility situation that solved the problem. However, I noticed the wheels on the beaching gear quit turning and the whole plane would bounce high in the air when it hit the beach. No end of fussing with the contact points solved the bounce problem so I eliminated the beaching gear.
It is time to do the VC so I went looking for several different gauges for a turbo prop engine. (I am definitely not a gauge designer) I found exactly the set I wanted on an existing freeware project but the designer never answered my request for permission. Fortunately, the gauges in the Premier Aircraft Design C-130 are similar and I just got permission from PAD to use them. I shall carry on. Ain't life grand!
Best, Paul
View attachment 24415View attachment 24416
