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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

RA-5C Vigilante

Rick,

That's a lot of squadrons - all of them I believe - that moved from Albany. Surprised KNQX could support that number, in addition to its other activities, though I understand in the '70s the deployed squadrons on carriers numbered about only four aircraft each. Is that right?

expat
 
Don,

I have as of a few days ago refitted the AS 2d panel with your PhantomGaugesDCBVx.cabs. Did not think anything could be done with VC but your screenie makes it look great.

Regards,

expat
 
Awesome Don - you do some good work, mate!

Three things about the AS model that I struggle with, relating to texturing:

VC textures - even though large non-functional, it's heavily pixelated. I'm assuming that's where much of Don's work is focused, so that could be a great step forward.
black/untextured canopy interior (solid frame bits, esp the rear - not the clear canopy itself, which is fine, of course)
Wheel detail - in this aspect, Ito's is superior. Don't know how easy it is to create wheel textures

Right now, with OBIO's enhancement, I've got reheat on all the time the lights are on - I've had this with many FS9 AS birds, and I'm sure if I dig somewhere, I can figure out the gauge/light/effect linkage that seems to be the standard cause of this.

I also stumbled across a youtube video of some guy "Simsamurai" who created a nice 2D panel for this aircraft ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-s28eGcJfU

Found his blog page, but couldn't find the panel in question. Though as one of the last holdouts who as late as FS9 preferred 2D panels over VCs, I could be tempted to fly this in 2D only (as I do with almost all airliners) if the 2D panel was good. That said, I've now come out in favour of VCs, so Don's magic on the VC here might be the trick.

Looks like this thread might bust into a second page soon ... :ichile:
 
expat said:
Rick,

That's a lot of squadrons - all of them I believe - that moved from Albany. Surprised KNQX could support that number, in addition to its other activities, though I understand in the '70s the deployed squadrons on carriers numbered about only four aircraft each. Is that right?

expat
Click to expand...

When I got to HEAVY 9 we had six flying and one hanger Queen

By the time we deployed on the Forrestal to the Med in 72/73 we had 4 birds
Half of our Squadron went to NAS Rota Spain so when the Forrestal was in the Western Med, the birds could bingo back to Rota as not to clutter up the deck on the Forrestal
When we worked the Eastern Med we had a deployment(me included) for 4 weeks at Suda Bay Crete( shared with Greek AF) so the birds had a place to roost for the night-that was a fun deployment!


Rick
 
Wings of Gold said:
Hi guys,

I flew for the Nav for 26 years (starting in 1961). Almost all the USN textures that I see are over-weathered. The Navy birds were generally quite clean. I subscribe that to:

1/frequent corrison control, because of the ever present salt air
2/The fact that each squadron maintained their own aircraft (no maintenance squadron) gave the CO a lot more control over his aircraft.
3/ With hte close proximity of the other air group squadrons, there was a lot of rivalry.
4/ The guys who did the cleaning were on 24 hour contracts, unlike commercial aviation, no one was paid over-time to keep it looking good.
5/ I never saw a pilot who wanted HIS airplane looking filthy. I was the same way.

Bill
Click to expand...

Most of the time, the aircraft in the squadrons I was in (mostly at NAS Cecil Field) were kept quite clean. However, when we would go on dets to Fallon, Key West, Roosevelt Roads, and such....it was not so easy to keep them that way. And onboard the carrier, it was almost impossible.

When we would make a port visit, the duty section would be busting their a...s, doing aircraft washes, along with other scheduled maintenance and repairs. At sea, we would go through cases and cases of spray aircraft cleaner (spray Turco). Did the best we could, but the birds definitely looked rough, coming off a cruise. And with the advent of the "Tactical Gray" paint scheme, it was even more difficult to get the aircraft looking clean. It was as if that gray paint would soak up the grime/dirt, and made it really hard to clean.

Preparing for Corrosion Inspections was very stressful. Maintenance Control wasn't notified about which 3 aircraft would be looked at by the wing, so over a period of weeks/months, ALL of the birds would be pulled into the hangar, all panels pulled, and cleaned inside and out. Even with that amount of work, the Corrosion Inspections were a nightmare for the maintenance personnel. And it wasn't just aircraft being inspected; it was all the associated paperwork, training jackets....everything!

Navy Chief
 
viggie on a stick

We still have a viggie here at KNQA Millington, been here for quite a while. She sits in front of what was the
old galley when this was a naval aviation training command now a muni airport. We sold the 8000 ft
airstrip to the city for $1. Such a deal.

View attachment 65525
 
Don, that is truly transforming work on both the 2d and 3d panels. Superb!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words! I'm actually getting to the point, where I can actually be happy flying this beauty rather than "Pause...Tweak...Fly...Pause...Fix...!


richoday said:
We still have a viggie here at KNQA Millington, been here for quite a while. She sits in front of what was the
old galley when this was a naval aviation training command now a muni airport. We sold the 8000 ft
airstrip to the city for $1. Such a deal.
Click to expand...
Ahhhh...I remember too many rushed meals in that Chow Hall. I went through Avionics "A" and "AFTA" at NATTC Memphis a looooong time ago.
Thanks for the Viggie shot, and the nostalgia. :salute:


DL, the 'burners in FSX can be controlled in the aircraft.cfg.
I also added TSFC entries, to mine, using the RW J79 data for Fuel usage in FSX.
They may have to be trimmed to reflect the proper RW range etc., but, it is a good starting point.
[TurbineEngineData]
...
afterburner_throttle_threshold = 1.00 //Percent/100, throttle where a/b comes on
ThrustSpecificFuelConsumption = 0.85 //J79 TSFC: 0.85 lb/(h·lbf) at military thrust
AfterBurnThrustSpecificFuelConsumption = 1.965 //J79 TSFC: 1.965 lb/(h·lbf) with afterburner

I'm one of the fortunate folks that, regardless of calibration, my throttle control will not go to 100%(0.996 max) in the sim's throttle variable.
Max Throttle and the threshhold set to 1.00(100%) the "F4" key becomes my 'burner engage button. Moving the throttle back disengages it.

The gauge that controls the effect now(F-4/mirageburnerLOGO.xml) uses throttle position to turn on the Logo Light for Reheat and it engages both engines' effects simultaneously.
I'm working on a gauge that will turn on the Logo(Eng 1) and Wing(Eng 2) lights when, and only when, FSX ReHeat is active on the related engine. My plan is to include a clickable indicator that includes individual engagement for each engine, so, if an engine's throttle is less than 100%, but, greater than 99%, it will engage the 'burner on that engine without using "F4" that engages both. Thoughts?

Anybody have a fully tweaked FDE yet? I haven't spent much time in the air with her and dunno what, if anything, it needs...Don
 
fxsttcb said:
... I'm one of the fortunate folks that, regardless of calibration, my throttle control will not go to 100%(0.996 max) in the sim's throttle variable.
Max Throttle and the threshhold set to 1.00(100%) the "F4" key becomes my 'burner engage button. Moving the throttle back disengages it.
...
Click to expand...
Try this tweak to fix the throttle not reaching 100% - open the Standard.XML file and set the AxScale value to 129 in this section:

View attachment 65599

In my file this AXIS_THROTTLE_SET section appears twice, the AxScale value was 127 before, I updated both. To avoid the settings getting screwed up again after changing FSX settings you might want to make the file properties read-only.

BTW: In Windows 7, the Standard.XML files lives in folder C:\Users\yourname<YOURUSERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls\
In Windows XP that is C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\Controls\

cheers, Henk.
 
Thanks, Henk, but, you must have mis-understood! I like it the way it is. Simply, because it does not engage the 'burners automatically.
That way I can get 100% military power without fudging what was, IIRC(it's been 40yrs), originally a detent in the J79 throttles at 100%.
IRW moving past the detent engaged AB, so, in effect, with "F4" I think I'm doing the same thing...Don
 
Don, nice to see that sometimes one out of many bugs in FSX can be turned into a feature by the creative minds here on the forum :cool:
 
a little off topic....

fxsttcb said:
Thanks for the kind words! I'm actually getting to the point, where I can actually be happy flying this beauty rather than "Pause...Tweak...Fly...Pause...Fix...!


Ahhhh...I remember too many rushed meals in that Chow Hall. I went through Avionics "A" and "AFTA" at NATTC Memphis a looooong time ago.
Thanks for the Viggie shot, and the nostalgia. :salute:



DL, the 'burners in FSX can be controlled in the aircraft.cfg.
I also added TSFC entries, to mine, using the RW J79 data for Fuel usage in FSX.
They may have to be trimmed to reflect the proper RW range etc., but, it is a good starting point.
[TurbineEngineData]
...
afterburner_throttle_threshold = 1.00 //Percent/100, throttle where a/b comes on
ThrustSpecificFuelConsumption = 0.85 //J79 TSFC: 0.85 lb/(h·lbf) at military thrust
AfterBurnThrustSpecificFuelConsumption = 1.965 //J79 TSFC: 1.965 lb/(h·lbf) with afterburner

I'm one of the fortunate folks that, regardless of calibration, my throttle control will not go to 100%(0.996 max) in the sim's throttle variable.
Max Throttle and the threshhold set to 1.00(100%) the "F4" key becomes my 'burner engage button. Moving the throttle back disengages it.

The gauge that controls the effect now(F-4/mirageburnerLOGO.xml) uses throttle position to turn on the Logo Light for Reheat and it engages both engines' effects simultaneously.
I'm working on a gauge that will turn on the Logo(Eng 1) and Wing(Eng 2) lights when, and only when, FSX ReHeat is active on the related engine. My plan is to include a clickable indicator that includes individual engagement for each engine, so, if an engine's throttle is less than 100%, but, greater than 99%, it will engage the 'burner on that engine without using "F4" that engages both. Thoughts?

Anybody have a fully tweaked FDE yet? I haven't spent much time in the air with her and dunno what, if anything, it needs...Don
Click to expand...


When did you go thru? I was there for AFRAM and avionics A school in late 1962-1963, oh boy, down to Millington to change at a locker into civies and down to Memphis for liberty, maybe stop at Sailor Tailors to have uniform fitted and zipper put in, then down to Beale street............
 
dharris said:
When did you go thru? I was there for AFRAM and avionics A school in late 1962-1963, oh boy, down to Millington to change at a locker into civies and down to Memphis for liberty, maybe stop at Sailor Tailors to have uniform fitted and zipper put in, then down to Beale street............
Click to expand...
I was there in '71, but, the routine sure didn't change in those 8 years!
The Beale St. row, and the Lamplighter(Jerry Lee Lewis' place) were where you could usually find me...Don
 
fxsttcb said:
I was there in '71, but, the routine sure didn't change in those 8 years!
The Beale St. row, and the Lamplighter(Jerry Lee Lewis' place) were where you could usually find me...Don
Click to expand...

I was in Millington from January-April 1971
Jet Mech A school

Oh the nights at the EM club.........

Rick
 
Wings of Gold said:
Hi guys,

I flew for the Nav for 26 years (starting in 1961). Almost all the USN textures that I see are over-weathered. The Navy birds were generally quite clean. I subscribe that to:

1/frequent corrison control, because of the ever present salt air
2/The fact that each squadron maintained their own aircraft (no maintenance squadron) gave the CO a lot more control over his aircraft.
3/ With hte close proximity of the other air group squadrons, there was a lot of rivalry.
4/ The guys who did the cleaning were on 24 hour contracts, unlike commercial aviation, no one was paid over-time to keep it looking good.
5/ I never saw a pilot who wanted HIS airplane looking filthy. I was the same way.

Bill
Click to expand...

Amen to that! as many A-7's that I scrubbed personally in the real world I can contest to. Using the spray turco cleaner was the worst while at sea..took a long time to wipe a bird down with that stuff LOL.
 
You guys are making me feel like the new guy, I was in Millington in early 94, thanks for the pic.

Great to see this model go from a simple port over idea to a full on project.
 
This is fun! Superb panel and set of gauges done by Don. Having a problem with the radios. Can't change the frequencies on either Nav or Com on either pop up. Suspect it is the radio entries in my air.cfg need changing. Can you post the entries from your air.cfg?

Many thanks

expat
 
I went through AFUN-P, then AME-A school in Winter/early Spring of 73. Locals said it was one of the coldest winters on record. I remember the AQs/ATs lived in brand new barracks, and the rest of us were in much older ones. Open bay, with lockers dividing living spaces. The enlisted club was ok, but didn't spend much time there.

When I arrived at Millington, there wasn't enough students to start a class, so they put me in the bakery at the galley, working night shift for a sadistic First Class who hated newbies. I remember scrubbing the inside of a huge oven with a pumice stone and water. Even though the oven was off, it was over 100 degrees or more. And I remember that petty officer screaming at us most of the time. Not fun.

NC
 
I was going to A school at Mllington when that Viggie was towed over and stuck atop those sticks. 1980/81. Cool to see that it's still there. Here's the Massimo Altieri version with some Alphasim gauges in the VC. I like this one. Could use a paint or two, but it's a fun ship.
 
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