Wartime Versus Restored Warbirds for FSX????

[T6flyer]

Hey T6Flyer, which P-51 have you been in ya lucky sod?

G-SUSY and N51RR. Lucky, yes very lucky indeed, but worked for and not just joyrides. Plus lots of other interesting types such as T-28s (B and Fennec), 10 British T-6s (7 Harvards, 2 T-6Gs and the now unique SNJ-7C), TBM-3 Avenger, Piston Provost, T-34.....the list goes on and on.

Best wishes,

Martin

 

[Kowalski65]

I prefer the vintage look, with some wear & tear, but it's nice to have pop ups with modern radios & a GPS for when you need help in navigating!

 

[Snuffy]

Actually I'm hoping that one day ... SOMEONE will find a way to take these vintage birds from FSX and make a real live shoot em up (or shoot em down,) combat sim.

So if we don't model them with vintage equipment they'll never work for the future combat sim without modification.

 

[MudMarine]

I like them the way they were originally designed. A WWII P-51 with GPS.......no thanks!!

 

[guzler]

I love the dirty weatherbeaten look for vintage realism on my flightsim, but if I owned a warbird, my OCD would kick in and I would be forever cleaning and polishing it !!!!!

 

[alexdan]

Personally I never use modern gear in a WWII simulation. No VOR, ILS or worse a GPS, which IMHO turns it into an
arcade thing. I used them in the RW, except for GPS, but if you want to fly in '43 I feel it should be done correctly.
However- marketing is based on the majority wish. It would be nice, though, if we were offered the option.

Normally I remove all traces of modern handholding items - at least from the panels - of my payware stuff..but with the shift to mdl programming that is no longer possible. A2A's absolutely superb B-17G Accusim for one.
Just my minority 2c..

Alex

 

[Lateral-G]

My preference is for OEM versions.

-G-

 

[Piglet]

Something I thought about..
For 30+ years I built model planes, and always made the plane as it appeared in history(WW1 WW2, Nam, etc.) Or as G says OEM!
Some planes have been in service so long(miltary and civil) that they do get upgrades in RL. I'm sure the P-51's in service in Dominican Republic during the '80's would have some modern " bits in their pits". Modelling this would have been acceptable to me. FS plane making is an extension of model building to me, and my ways still stand.
Of course, digital building allows new ideas and options, and I like the idea of modern bits popping up to replace historic bits....

 

[Steven190]

I like the orignal equipment of the plane, as to the peroid, but with the new painted surfaces.


It's I just like the cleaniness for the new skins

 

[SirBenn21]

Actually both. Just depends on the mood I'm in.

Ben

 

[THibben]

I like them both ways. It is fun to hand fly landings, take off's and crawl along close to the ground. But it is also fun to just turn on the autopilot and enjoy the scenery.

Tom

 

[Cazzie]

I get the warbirds, but fly them very little. I prefer the original instruments.

I fly planes that I can fly in real life, I will never in my lifetime fly a real fighter or bomber. And those planes would be opld GA aircraft with few instruments. About all one could add would be a GPS unit, which most have via FSX anyhow.

Quite controversial from my scale model building, I like my warbirds weathered a bit in the sims, but more museum quality in my plastic models. Don't ask why, just an odd quirk I guess.

Caz

 

[anatolpopov]

I like ones with original looks but inside updated that they can fly today (if they would be real)

 

[DennyA]

Make the actual plane model WW2-authentic.

But give me a pop-up panel with modern GPS/radios in case I need them.

 

[bazzar]

I prefer to see representations of wartime aircraft, looking as they did when at work. Some saw very hard work and were unbelievably weathered and scratched through constant use with no time for cosmetic maintenance.

If we are doing a restored example though we try to keep it as it is today. A single scratch or scuff in the cockpit of a two million dollar restoration would be unwelcome! I like Maurice Hammond's aeroplanes because they have e a very subtle mix of old and new and from fist glance look like the originals. Bit give me a Spitifre and I want all the grime, oil, scratches and smoke stains you can give me please.

Panels are easy things to add to an existing add-on so any amount of modern gear can be added to taste.

There are very good programmes like Panel Studio with simple clear instructions. Using these anybody can add avionics and extra gauges as pop-ups or fixed windows. There are excellent freeware gauges available for all sorts of uses too so combinations can be assembled to suit the exact need.

 

[tigisfat]

I like both. I want pristine restored show warbirds that you can eat off, and I want old beat up warbirds that look like noone had any regard for the paint.

 

[p14u2nv]

Actually I'm hoping that one day ... SOMEONE will find a way to take these vintage birds from FSX and make a real live shoot em up (or shoot em down,) combat sim.

So if we don't model them with vintage equipment they'll never work for the future combat sim without modification.

My thoughts exactly Snuffy as I read every post thinking if that would ever be possible. If we could ever be lucky enough to have it all and in one sim...quality of FSXA and WWII combat. Just a mere dream perhaps

 

[fsafranek]

Make the actual plane model WW2-authentic.

But give me a pop-up panel with modern GPS/radios in case I need them.

I agree. I like period accurate systems modeled in. It's much easier if they are there to start with. Factory fresh looks sterile to me, as if someone lost interest after they modeled it or have never really been in a cockpit. I want a little weathering but don't make it look like it's been baking in desert storage for 40 years. (Another reason why I don't like "photorealistic" textures -- you're photographing something too old to fly and applying it to something with a flight model you hope replicates something brand new.)

If I want modern systems to double check my own navigation I can always add them as popups -- that's always been the nice thing about FS panels, we can equip them to suit ourselves.

And if you spill something clean it up.
:ernae:

 

[ronvking]

Like many I prefer to fly with the original cockpit. In fact when I got the Realair Spitfire I changed all the modern aircraft to clean original. Prefer a clean, freshly painted aircraft when possible and, again with the Realair Mk IX paintkit I changed JE-J by redoing the paint with no dirt although had to repaint the roundels as they were only in faded condition. Pity the desert scheme only came as dirty in the layers.

Ron

 

[Snave]

Tricky to answer, I think.

My personal preference is for `vintage`, in `as flown` condition - scars and all!

However FSX is a `today` sim and the fact is that modern flying requires modern avionics as a requirement, not a choice. No B-17 would be allowed to fly unless their radios met current requirements, they need a transponder, and no pilot would be daft enough to take off in a Spitfire for anything other than a local flight without at least a hand-held GPS (and often these days a real-time weather package).

Primary safety and the longevity of the aircraft is the prime consideration, not pretending its still WWII. And I fly them in FSX as if they were delicate antiques, not "fly `em, fight `em, throw `em away" mass-produced short lifespan tools with a service life of weeks or months, not years or decades.

So, for me at least, there IS a prima facie need for access to modern avionics. And I think the popups provide the answer - they don't clutter the VC and change the original look, but they are there if needed.

But having the choice is far and away the best choice!