BN2 Islander

[jojohnson9]

I keep seeing some fantastic screenshots of AlphaSim's BN2 'Islander'. Does anyone have any clue when this great looking aircraft is going to be taking to the air? I don't dare ask AlphaSim directly cause they get testy when asked. (I'm not taking a cheap shot at AS...I have 33 payware and 12 freeware planes from this great group.) Just asking.

[Kiwikat]

I'd love to give you guys an update but I don't know myself.:help:

[Lionheart]

Man.. I thought it was out. I hope its out soon. I would like to pick that one up myself.




Bill

[d0mokun]

In the two years that I've worked on getting things, I've never given a 'testy' response. Can't speak for others on the team though.. lol.. If you don't ask directly you won't get an answer- nobody here is in a position to give a date.

Never fear for I'm on the scene. Bottom line is though that no, there is no release date as of yet. It is not up to either art team nor anyone at AlphaSim at this moment in time.

When it is known by the team and I, the public will know.

ATB

[Kiwikat]

Yay, Dan is back :welcome:

[Lionheart]

Thanks Dan.


Nice looking work Sir.




Bill

[d0mokun]

Thanks all.

There are a few more schemes that I will preview shortly. Three more German Islander's have been depicted at the request of the publisher.

Just a quick note- I didn't mean for my above post to sound or be at all harsh.

Stay happy everyone. :ernae:

[MudMarine]

Sounded honest and straight forward to me! I respect that! Thank you

[jojohnson9]

I keep seeing some fantastic screenshots of AlphaSim's BN2 'Islander'. Does anyone have any clue when this great looking aircraft is going to be taking to the air? I don't dare ask AlphaSim directly cause they get testy when asked. (I'm not taking a cheap shot at AS...I have 33 payware and 12 freeware planes from this great group.) Just asking.
As I reread this post, I guess this was a cheap shot. What I tried as humor is just nasty. I should have just asked the question without the garbage. Sorry for that.

Thanks for the information...looking forward to the Islander.

[Rezabrya]

Believe me...I have asked. Basically my answer was that they had no idea when it would be out. That's fine with me though because personally i would rather have them take longer and have fantastic plane than to rush it and produce something nobody likes.

[Navy Chief]

Any updates on the Islander's release? I'm interested in somehow getting a repaint done of it in Harbor Air (Washington State based)....colors...........That is, before the airline went out of biz.

Thanks.

NC

[d0mokun]

No new news, sorry. :running:

[gera]

In the two years that I've worked on getting things, I've never given a 'testy' response. Can't speak for others on the team though.. lol.. If you don't ask directly you won't get an answer- nobody here is in a position to give a date.

Never fear for I'm on the scene. Bottom line is though that no, there is no release date as of yet. It is not up to either art team nor anyone at AlphaSim at this moment in time.

When it is known by the team and I, the public will know.

ATB

Bad Marketing Amigo......It must be around 4 months, you or someone from the Islander development team (maybe a lonesome wolf) posted all kind of juice pics of the named subject which got pilots going up and down a tree or palm if in sunny places and saving some Mulaaa for it!!!!!......then Total silence as if someone died in Timbaktu..........Bad Marketing...I for one spend the Mulaaa I was saving for it.....downloaded 6 freeware ones, modified the panels, added better sound, re-painted some for an adventure in the Amazon and am comfortably carrying "Tukti Indian women from the shores of the Amazon to Rio ( made a deal with some jet jokeys from Rio so they can come to my home airport and take the girls to the Carnival)....and if I had not seen this post I had not remembered the "promised jewel" in two months at least.............Good luck when it comes out, maybe if it´s not to expensive, I´ll take my wife to dinner and beg her to let me buy it......maybe..........................Bad Marketing Dude Amigo...bad, bad.....don´t get under the rain!!!!!!
----------------------------------
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/scratchbuilt/amazon3.jpg

[d0mokun]

Bad marketing.. bad press, this that- whatever. I am bowing out of this topic. It's not my fight.

All the best.

[bushpilot]

Based on the preview screenies, this will be a must have for a pilot like me. Beautiful looking bird! Keep up the good job:running:

[gajit]

LOL - what does anyone expect from developers - release dates seem to slip all the time (where the hell did the Bird Dog go??!!) so I take them more as predictions than fact.

[Anneke]

LOL - what does anyone expect from developers -

Honest information and an update from time to time..?

[Navy Chief]

No matter how long it takes, I still look forward to getting this one.

NC

[Henry]

Bad marketing.. bad press, this that- whatever. I am bowing out of this topic. It's not my fight.

All the best.
LOL
dont blame ya!
H

[gera]

Bad marketing.. bad press, this that- whatever. I am bowing out of this topic. It's not my fight.

All the best.

Enjoy..........take a vacation it will do you good.:sleep::sleep::sleep::sleep::sleep:

[gajit]

Honest information and an update from time to time..?

Thats a big ask from most of them

[Henry]

Enjoy..........take a vacation it will do you good.:sleep::sleep::sleep::sleep::sleep:
That could be seen as a personal attack
and we have rules about that!
H

[IanP]

I don't suppose there are Thames Valley or Cheshire Police BNIs in the pack, are there?

"We don't need a helicopter. The Islander flies so darner slowly we get one for a third the price anyway!" ;)

[CG_1976]

Im on the fence thinkin of buying. Now if they have the HMCA Islander in there, it will be a buy for me no matter how long i have to wait.

[yago9]

I,ve asked this long time ago on alphasim site needless to it say didn,t make very popular,..again .,,Why even posting this preview shots when the release it,s not planned for months or years to come ? " I don,t see their point, teasing like that and than getting all sensitive about people asking about their slow progress. Surprise us with a good model when it,s ready,or very close to release date....Do you guys even remember they had a Jaguar in works for how many years now ??? You could probably make a real size one out of glued matches in that time frame.

[6297J]

I,ve asked this long time ago on alphasim site needless to it say didn,t make very popular,..again .,,Why even posting this preview shots when the release it,s not planned for months or years to come ? " I don,t see their point, teasing like that and than getting all sensitive about people asking about their slow progress. Surprise us with a good model when it,s ready,or very close to release date....

I agree. So let's all stop talking about this mythical add-on and move on. The more we build it up, the more disappointing it will inevitably be when it comes out next month or next year. We haven't even seen VC shots yet.
Let's forget about it and maybe we will all have a nice surprise one day :ernae:

[Lionheart]

Dang.. I was just thinking about that plane this morning.

Its in good hands. With a team like Dan, it will be released at the right time and it will be great.

The Catalina took a while to finish. It was well worth it. I am sure the Islander will be too.



Bill

[Rezabrya]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't believe Dan is working on it anymore. I am pretty sure he doesn't have anything to do with it now.

[IanP]

We've been around this loop at least five times now on various threads... Dan remained with the project. Until when, I don't know, but he has stated several times that he is still involved.

[Tako_Kichi]

Im on the fence thinkin of buying. Now if they have the HMCA Islander in there, it will be a buy for me no matter how long i have to wait.
I did a HMCG paint for the freeware FS2004 version.

http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/93830/20071112/b_130118.jpg

[peter12213]

I just can wait for this bird it was like November or October last year she appeared on the alphasim website with a coming soon logo, and no it hasn't been soon!!! as we all know..ive just got there albatross and while yes its external model is excellent as always from alpha I found the vc a bit flat if you know what i mean, it looked like fs2004 textures to me and poor ones at that I can only hope alpha deliver the BN2 and sepecat jaguar soon and at qaulity I now expect as an acceleration user. I'm getting worried about that company!!! There still one of the best tho!!!

[gera]

I did a HMCG paint for the freeware FS2004 version.

http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/93830/20071112/b_130118.jpg

Very nice....where is it????

[CG_1976]

Please do tell and share the HMCA paint location.:jump:By the way were is the freeware model by chance?

[Tako_Kichi]

Very nice....where is it????

Please do tell and share the HMCA paint location.:jump:
I made the repaint at the request of a member over at the CBFS forum a long time ago. I emailed the model builder (Marcel Kuhnt) at the time asking for permission to upload it but never got a reply and so in the end I just emailed the repaint to the person who requested it and left it at that (I also made him a repaint of the Headcorn Parachute Club scheme).

I just checked my HD and it looks like I deleted the AC from my hangar but I do still have the intact paint kit and I am pretty sure I have the finished repaint files on a back-up disc here somewhere. I will have to have a search around and see if I can dig it out and then I will upload the repaints here.


By the way were is the freeware model by chance?
The freeware model can be found here....

http://www.m-r-software.de/ac_eng.htm

NOTE: You will need the BN-2A base pack plus the additional 'rest' file and sound files.

[heywooood]

its like asking a piece of a puzzle what the big picture looks like...how the F would he know :ernae:
...so you saw some screenies and heard a rumor - congratulations to you.

let the artists art and the developers develope and have a coke and a smile when the plane is released

[peter12213]

who's paying them for there coke and smiles ehh the tooth fairy?
were not sitting here wondering we want aircraft now baby thats what we pay for!!!

[Tako_Kichi]

For those who are interested (i.e. 'Gera' and 'Trans') I just uploaded both the HMCG and the Headcorn Parachute Club schemes for the freeware FS2004 version here at SOH. They should be available within 24 hours once the Admins clear them.

[CG_1976]

Thank you for the link Larry, very much appreciated:ernae:.

[gera]

For those who are interested (i.e. 'Gera' and 'Trans') I just uploaded both the HMCG and the Headcorn Parachute Club schemes for the freeware FS2004 version here at SOH. They should be available within 24 hours once the Admins clear them.

Thank you Larry, will be looking for them, they will bring my fleet to 10 or twelve I think!!!! I really like this plane, have flown to the islands in it and see it everyday as they pass over my house......their sound is unique.:icon_lol::icon_lol:

[IanP]

who's paying them for there coke and smiles ehh the tooth fairy?

Well, certainly not us. One nice thing about not having a package out is that we haven't paid a penny for it - hence the advice from pretty much everyone for people to stop complaining that it isn't out yet and either chat, or fly something else in the meantime!

I have funds right now. I'm just trying to decide between the RAS Duke, the Alpha Albatross, the Alpha FSX Texan/Harvards and the Dodsim B206 for what to get... Or something else entirely... Decisions... Decisions... :isadizzy::pop4:

[gera]

From your list I would subtract the Albatross.....sorry to say, you will love the Duke.

[IanP]

I actually suspect the other way around, which is why I didn't get the Duke already. I'm a flying boat fan. A modern twin I doubt I'll use much if ever.

What I really want is all the odd birds that very rarely get made such as Avro Ansons, Boulton Paul Defiants and Hawker Typhoons. I'll probably end up being really random and getting the Dodosim helo. ;)

[Henry]

I actually suspect the other way around, which is why I didn't get the Duke already. I'm a flying boat fan. A modern twin I doubt I'll use much if ever.

What I really want is all the odd birds that very rarely get made such as Avro Ansons, Boulton Paul Defiants and Hawker Typhoons. I'll probably end up being really random and getting the Dodosim helo. ;)
Id love a defiant!
H

[6297J]

Speaking of flying boats, I'd love a Sunderland

(Here is how to use the runway to get the barnacles off your bottom of your Sunderland - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu2qxgtFvW8&feature=related )

[IanP]

Speaking of flying boats, I'd love a Sunderland

Seconded! DAN! ;)

The B-P Defiant was built in Wolverhampton (this is the West Midlands - it's said "Wulveramptun"), just up the road from here. Unsurprisingly there are no memorials or statues in the honour of that, unlike the Spitfires over at Castle Brom the other side of Birmingham. It actually did quite well as a night fighter.

[Henry]

Seconded! DAN! ;)

The B-P Defiant was built in Wolverhampton (this is the West Midlands - it's said "Wulveramptun"), just up the road from here. Unsurprisingly there are no memorials or statues in the honour of that, unlike the Spitfires over at Castle Brom the other side of Birmingham. It actually did quite well as a night fighter.
I always thought that BP factory was in Norwich pronounced noritch to the locals
but you are correct they were made in the west

there's a great one for cfs2
but will not port into fs9 yet alone fsx
H

[IanP]

1068 Defiants apparently rolled off the Pendeford production line, along with 105 Blackburn Rocs, 692 Blackburn Barracudas (hands up who can visualise those two without referring to books... ;)) and a few, although not many, of the 162 Balliols after the war. B-P moved to Seighford in 1956. Apparently, they also made bicycles and cars - never knew the latter.

Almost all aircraft factories in Britain had a "shadow", doing the same job, by 1940. For instance Supermarine were based in Southampton, but the Spitfire is very strongly associated with what was actually a Jaguar cars plant in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. Likewise, Austin cars, also in Birmingham, were a shadow for Vickers - because their airfield was too small, however, many of the Austin-built Vickers aircraft (e.g. Wellingtons) were test flown from a training base in Elmdon, which is better known now as "Birmingham International Airport".

To correct myself, there is apparently a plaque commemorating B-P, and specifically the Defiant, in a housing estate - which is what Wolverhampton (Pendeford) has long since vanished under. I've never known about or seen it, I have to admit. I might have to go hunting one of the days.

[Henry]

my hand is up!
it was probably the Bicycles Made in Norwich
not a lot of hills:applause:
LOL
H

[Henry]

i was almost correct
Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd was a British (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) aircraft manufacturer that was created in 1934, although its origins lay in 1914 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1914_in_aviation), and lasted until 1961 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_in_aviation). The company mainly built and modified aircraft under contract to other manufacturers, but had a few notable designs of its own, such as the ill-conceived Boulton Paul Defiant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant).
The company's origins date back to an ironmonger's shop founded in 1797 in Norwich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich) . By the early 1900s, Boulton & Paul Ltd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_%26_Paul) was a successful general manufacturing firm. The aircraft building business was sold off from the main construction business in 1934 and then moved to Wolverhampton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverhampton).


I guess 1797 was slightly early for the defiant
but us East Anglians are futuristic
we knew then
H:icon_lol:

[IanP]

:icon_lol:

Another funny for you... There was a plan afoot, which never flew, to put the Defiant's powered turret onto the Westland Lysander after they were massacred in France during the retreat to Dunkirk. I say that one never flew, but the Lysander with the underside turret (it crashed) and the Lysander with a split-tail (like the Lanc, for example) and a bomber rear turret both did. Neither went into production, but apparently neither actually flew too badly.

It wasn't just the Royal Engineers that invented wierd and wonderful things during WW2.... (Hobart's Funnies. ;))

[gera]

Did they actually make such a Dud in such numbers????? --Defiants__:pop4:
" The innovative but heavy Boulton-Paul Defiant was withdrawn from daylight operations following the tragedy of 141 Squadron on 19 July 1940, when six out of its nine Defiants were shot down in fighter-vs-fighter combat. Dowding was very well aware about combat experiences with this aircraft and supported the decision of its removal from first-line strength."
--" The Defiant, after some striking initial successes, proved to be too expensive in use against fighters and was relegated to night work and to the attack of unescorted bombers. It had two serious disabilities; firstly, the brain flying the aeroplane was not the brain firing the guns: the guns could not fire within 16 degrees of the line of flight of the aeroplane and the gunner was distracted from his task by having to direct the pilot through the communication set. Secondly, the guns could not be fired below the horizontal, and it was therefore necessary to keep below the enemy. When beset by superior numbers of fighters the best course to pursue was to form a descending spiral, so that one or more Defiants should always be in a position to bring effective fire to bear. Such tactics were, however, essentially defensive, and the formation sometimes got broken up before they could be adopted. In practice, the Defiants suffered such heavy losses that it was necessary to relegate them to night fighting, or to the attack of unescorted bombers.

Read somewhere that "night fighters" were mostly a name, at night at this stage of the war most were just flying blindly and hardly ever saw or shot a target....:pop4:

[Henry]

Did they actually make such a Dud in such numbers????? --Defiants__:isadizzy::pop4:

what????
Yup!
and after their big failure and re designated
they were actually successful
H

[IanP]

The Defiant was nowhere near as much of a dud as history makes it out to be, that's the thing.

It failed totally as a day fighter, being too heavy, too limited in manoeuvrability, too slow and not having forward-firing weapons. Two squadrons were decimated during the Battle of Britain and the type was withdrawn from the front line, but as a stable platform with two crew and the four gun turret, it was a very capable night fighter. They were not ultimately replaced until radar-equipped aircraft came along. It actually paid a far greater role in the war than it is remembered for.

[gera]

The Defiant was nowhere near as much of a dud as history makes it out to be, that's the thing.

It failed totally as a day fighter, being too heavy, too limited in manoeuvrability, too slow and not having forward-firing weapons. Two squadrons were decimated during the Battle of Britain and the type was withdrawn from the front line, but as a stable platform with two crew and the four gun turret, it was a very capable night fighter. They were not ultimately replaced until radar-equipped aircraft came along. It actually paid a far greater role in the war than it is remembered for.

hummmm, hummmm,.......I take that with a grain of salt.:mixedsmi:

[Henry]

hummmm, hummmm,.......I take that with a grain of salt.:mixedsmi:
Ya want fries with that?
:applause:

During the winter Blitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz) on London (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) of 1940–41, the Defiant equipped four squadrons, shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other type.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[/URL]</sup> The turret-fighter concept was not immediately discarded and the fitting of Defiant-style turrets to Beaufighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#cite_note-6) and Mosquito (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito) night fighters was trialled to enable these aircraft to duplicate these methods, but the effect on performance proved drastic, and the idea was abandoned.The Defiant Mk II model was fitted with the AI Mk IV airborne interception radar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar) and a Merlin XX engine. A total of 207 Mk II Defiants were built. After trials in 1940 with the School of Army Co-operation to assess its capabilities in that role, the Defiant was re-evaluated as a high-speed gunnery trainer, with the Air Ministry agreeing to keep the production lines open. The Defiant was removed from combat duties in 1942 and, thereafter, used for training, target towing, ECM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_countermeasures) and air sea rescue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_and_rescue). The Defiant was used to carry the Mandrel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_electronic_warfare_equipment) noise jammer to combat the German Freya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freya_radar) early warning radar.<sup id="cite_ref-Pricep124-52_8-0" class="reference"></sup> In the air-sea rescue role, the Defiant was equipped with a pair of under-wing pods that contained dinghies. A further 140 Defiant Mk III aircraft were built; this model lacked the dorsal turret and was used as a target tug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#cite_note-Pricep124-52-8). Many of the surviving Mk I and Mk II Defiants also had their turrets removed.
In this final target towing variant, the Defiant ended up with a number of overseas assignments with both the RAF and Fleet Air Arm in the Middle East, Africa and India.<sup id="cite_ref-Bowyer_p.270_0-1" class="reference"></sup>Further deployments occurred to Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#cite_note-Bowyer_p.270-0) where the Defiant fulfilled a role as both a target tug and trainer with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Commonwealth_Air_Training_Plan).
Defiants were also utilized for "special" work including tactical evaluations with the RAF Gunnery Research Unit and Air Fighter Development Unit (AFDU) at Farnborough (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnborough_Airfield). On 11 May 1945, Martin-Baker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin-Baker) used a Defiant, DR944, to test their first ejection seat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejection_seat) with dummy launches.<sup id="cite_ref-Bowyer_p.270_0-2" class="reference"></sup>
The last operational use of Defiants was in India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#cite_note-Bowyer_p.270-0), where they were used as target tugs.<sup id="cite_ref-bharat-rakshak_9-0" class="reference"></sup>
H
<sup id="cite_ref-bharat-rakshak_9-0" class="reference">[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#cite_note-bharat-rakshak-9"] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton_Paul_Defiant#cite_note-bharat-rakshak-9)</sup>

[IanP]

Early in the war, "night fighters" were basically Spitfires and Hurricanes sent off into the darkness to find and shoot down an intruder. They rarely if ever found them and even if they did, kills were phenomenally rare. Large parts of the problem were two big issues:

1) Simply flying at night requires full concentration.
2) The glare of the exhaust stacks did a pretty good job of masking enemy aircraft (especially when what you were normally looking for was the glow from their exhaust, and yours was brighter!)

The Defiant got around this in two ways; having the second set of eyes to search, freeing up the pilot to actually fly the thing, and also he faced backwards, so wasn't seeing the exhaust stacks.

Another aircraft used, for exactly the same reasons, was the Bristol Blenheim light bomber. Obsolete as a bomber, but with lots of eyes to find night intruders and a turret to shoot at them, removing the necessity for flying maneouvres that lost sight of the target. This also freed up the (primarily) black Hurricanes and (far fewer) black Spitfires to be painted brown and green and redeployed to far more appropriate daytime use.

[Henry]

here's the Narfuk deal
i knew there was one!
Boulton Pauls aircraft were flown out of Mousehold Heath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mousehold_Heath) in Norwich - an area which became the first Norwich Airport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_International_Airport)
The main reason they were hopeful is the enemy
thought they were hurricanes and would sneak up behind them bad idea!
if they had forward firing guns in the wings and the turret
i believe they would have been more successful
anyone up to do one?:guinness:
beers on me:guinness::guinness:
H

[IanP]

Give me many, many, years to learn gmax and then I'll have to learn an entirely new package to do one for whatever sim we're flying by then. ;)

As anyone who glanced at my latest scenery thread might have noticed (
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=16924 ), Defiants as night fighters were based in quite a few places around the country during their time in service.

[gera]

Give me many, many, years to learn gmax and then I'll have to learn an entirely new package to do one for whatever sim we're flying by then. ;)

As anyone who glanced at my latest scenery thread might have noticed (
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=16924 ), Defiants as night fighters were based in quite a few places around the country during their time in service.

I think there was one in FS9..

[IanP]

There was one in CFS2, but it doesn't seem to have been ported (yet) into FS9.

http://www.pavaservices.com/cfs/P82.htm