Some Fresh Paint

Willy

Willy

Administrator
Staff member
Decided that the FSX native Howard 500 needed a new paint job and I wanted to try a few ideas out while I was slinging brushes and rollers around. Still a work in progress as I haven't done the speculars yet. But, I'm liking where it's going. Just taking a break from installing retro-scenery trying to get my FSX install back close to where it was at.

Figured that while I was checking out the paint in sim at the local airport, I'd just head down to Memphis for some BBQ and some blues.

W
 

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I've seen all the excitement of MSFS which got me interested somewhat back to work in PS again.

I've never finished these two paints and the last I touched them was in 2019. Right now I'm working on a new project.

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Flaps where a challenge.

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TuFun said:
Did you do the TWA paint?
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Yeah, it's one of mine. TWA in the late 40s had an executive L18 Lodestar officially for "Flight Research" but in actuality, Jack Frye (President of TWA) used it as his executive aircraft. So I figured that based on that, TWA needed a Howard 500 for "Flight Research" in the early '60s era. My original idea was to do a quick and dirty AI version paint, but I got carried away. Oops. But folks seemed to like it so it was spiffed up a bit more and released.

I was checking Cal Classic period scenery installs the other day in my black painted Verto V-44 twin rotor helicopter (everyone needs a black helicopter in their hanger), got to thinking about it and started working on a "Black Howard" cargo aircraft for those special missions.
 
TuFun said:
I've seen all the excitement of MSFS which got me interested somewhat back to work in PS again.

I've never finished these two paints and the last I touched them was in 2019. Right now I'm working on a new project.


54264454963_dcd9b5d1c5_o.jpg


Flaps where a challenge.

54264465524_51c5141faa_o.jpg
Click to expand...

How are you generating those views? I see reflections. I've been using ModelConverterX to preview my old FSX repaints, but the previews are a bit crude when it comes to lighting positioning, bump mapping, etc.

Thanks,

Tommy
 
Those pics were taken in P3Dv3 which has reflections of the surrounding scenery. Also, you can move the lighting (Sun) in the sim. The aircraft is Howard 500 v1.1 for FSX and P3D. The last I worked on it was in 2019 unfinished. I dug it up seeing Willy start also to bring back. I've been away from sim 5 years.
 
TuFun said:
Those pics were taken in P3Dv3 which has reflections of the surrounding scenery. Also, you can move the lighting (Sun) in the sim. The aircraft is Howard 500 v1.1 for FSX and P3D. The last I worked on it was in 2019 unfinished. I dug it up seeing Willy start also to bring back. I've been away from sim 5 years.
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Thanks for the reply. Yeah, viewing the progress within the simulator is the best. My computer is so old (Windows 7) that FSX Steam stopped running back in January 2024, so I moved on over to X-Plane 11 to fill the gap. I have gotten a request or two since requesting tweaks to some of my old FSX repaints but without FSX to view the results I've reluctantly said no to those requests.

Tommy
 
tommieboy said:
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, viewing the progress within the simulator is the best. My computer is so old (Windows 7) that FSX Steam stopped running back in January 2024.

Tommy
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Have you considered doing a fresh install of FSX Steam? I can understand if you don't; I have that version, but it would just take up the space I need. I use ModelConverterX for quick alignments and adjustments.
 
TuFun said:
Have you considered doing a fresh install of FSX Steam? I can understand if you don't; I have that version, but it would just take up the space I need. I use ModelConverterX for quick alignments and adjustments.
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I tried, but I was informed by Steam that new installs and reinstalls of Steam on Windows 7 and 8 OS were no longer supported. Without that FSX Steam itself was dead in the water.

Tommy
 
Sometimes, it's useful to browse the other boards to see what the (resourceful) people in other boards of this site are up to!

If you need to install Windows 11 to keep your Steam games running, here is some advice on how to do that, even on rigs that are supposedly not supported by Win11

Upgrade Win10?

I’m still on Win 10 on my rig. Time is running out till I hit end of life on it. Are there any immediate downsides for CFS2 if I make the jump from 10 to 11?
sim-outhouse.org

Cheers,

Priller
 
My old comp has taken to not running SE full screen without crashing the sim about 10 minutes into the flight. I've bit the bullet and ordered a new rig to replace this 8 year old one. Right now I'm trying fit all my paint files and everything else I need to save onto an old portable HD.
 
TuFun said:
Have you heard from Nigel Richards?

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Not in 2 or 3 years. He was on my friends list on Facebook. I'll see if he's still on there.

Edit: He hasn't posted anything there in almost 3 years.
 
The last I heard he'd had a catastrophic failure of his off-grid power generation situation in the wilds of the Greek mountains where he then lived. This was during the Greek financial crisis and during the height of the Covid pandemic. I think he may have gone to live with his daughter or even returned to the UK.
 
Willy said:
My old comp has taken to not running SE full screen without crashing the sim about 10 minutes into the flight. I've bit the bullet and ordered a new rig to replace this 8 year old one. Right now I'm trying fit all my paint files and everything else I need to save onto an old portable HD.
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That really sucks in that FSX itself should still run fine on an 8-year "young" computer rig. I built the computer I'm typing this on in 2009, and FSX SE ran just fine until Stream pulled the plug on Windows 7 and 8 users. I don't think Stream financially gained anything in that move. I had no choice but to move on to X-Plane 11 to keep my foot in the simming world door. That said, are you building a new rig stout enough to handle MSFS 2020/2024 too?

Thanks,

Tommy
 
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