Cessna T-50/AT-17 Bobcat Help?

[FlyingsCool]

Hi,

I've been redoing the panel on the old Alphasim Bobcat model and it's coming along nicely. Not an "Awesome" plane by today's standards, but I find it really fun to fly. I've been volunteering with the Collings Foundation in Hudson, MA surrounding their new American Heritage Museum, and I'm working on developing some STEM curriculum for them, including hopefully some flight simulators the kids can fly. As part of that, I've been collecting planes the Collings Foundation flies and paints for them. The Bobcat JRC-1 LoLo being one of them.

So, I dug up the old WWII time period flight manual and I've been rebuilding the panel to match the stock plane, especially thanks to this great restoration group who posted a ton of photos. http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48828

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynbgoph5nq1mkdh/ScreenShot_190104_034.png?dl=1
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynbgoph5nq1mkdh/ScreenShot_190104_034.png?dl=1)

It's coming along nicely, I've used a lot of Milton Shupe/Bob Scott's gauges to fill in most of the blanks, and I'm building others (gear/flaps/Volt meter selector switch, etc). I'm using the Cesst50 model that apparently Norcal put together to make it compatible for FSX, and I've made a set of textures for LoLo. When I'm done I'll release the whole shebang (with directions for the stuff I can't release directly).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/81ac88767odo99n/2019-1-29_15-46-32-705.png?dl=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fl93b0r4792r1oy/2019-1-29_15-48-18-446.png?dl=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7mp2oe55mcifbnd/2019-1-29_19-8-47-740.png?dl=1

This panel I chose is from a pic of a beat up panel I found (as I get closer to finishing it I'll warp the panel to get the control columns to line up). I also plan on creating other versions in colors similar to the build in the link above.

You'll notice, however, in the model there is a gear lever and flaps switches in a couple of boxes covering where the battery and engine start switches would normally be, and there is no gear lever or flaps lever in the real plane, they are controlled by switches in the panel.

I was hoping maybe somebody who is adept at modeling could take the model Alphasim so kindly released and remove the gear and flap levers and their boxes so I can finish this? I have the 3ds model if you need it, but it's out there for downloading, with full permission from Alphasim.

Thanks,

Tom Perry

[FlyingsCool]

(Moderators, is there a way to modify the forum so linked in pictures can show up in the thread? Or, at least, how do I link to pictures so they display in another tab when clicked on so people don't have to download the pictures to see them? :( Every time I click on my links, it forces me to download the files in my posts. :( )

[b24_witchcraft]

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66857&stc=1

Wonder if your problem is due to the fact your pics are in .PNG format.
Cool - look forward to your finished work too! :)

[FlyingsCool]

I'm in the process of, or, at least, trying my hand at, modeling the Collings Hangar you show there in your pic, too :) The whole airfield, in fact, including the Museum.

Nice call sign! :)

[huub vink]

(Moderators, is there a way to modify the forum so linked in pictures can show up in the thread? Or, at least, how do I link to pictures so they display in another tab when clicked on so people don't have to download the pictures to see them? :( Every time I click on my links, it forces me to download the files in my posts. :( )

Hi FlyingsCool,

As b24_witchcraft already showed you can make images show up at the forum, only you need to use the so-called Bulletin Board Code (BBCode) to make the show up in the posts. You can do this either by using the "Insert Image" button above, or by adding the codes by hand.

Like b24_witchcraft already mentioned, perhaps files in .png format are not supported. And I don't know whether dropbox allows direct linking.

Kind regards,
Huub

[spokes2112]

Moderators, is there a way to modify the forum so linked in pictures can show up in the thread? Or, at least, how do I link to pictures so they display in another tab when clicked on so people don't have to download the pictures to see them? :( Every time I click on my links, it forces me to download the files in my posts. :(

Yes, use the forum software to "mount" your photos but you will have to change the dropbox links ex.
(characters separated so forum doesn't parse as a link)

h t t p s: / / w w w . dropbox . c o m /s/ynbgoph5nq1mkdh/ScreenShot_190104_034.png?dl=1 <-- Make sure the last digit is zero, a one forces a download
h t t p s: / / d l . dropbox . c o m /s/ynbgoph5nq1mkdh/ScreenShot_190104_034.png?dl=0 <-- Change the "www" to "dl", this will get the raw image available for forum use

[FlyingsCool]

Testing...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynbgoph5nq1mkdh/ScreenShot_190104_034.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/81ac88767odo99n/2019-1-29_15-46-32-705.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fl93b0r4792r1oy/2019-1-29_15-48-18-446.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7mp2oe55mcifbnd/2019-1-29_19-8-47-740.png?dl=0

If "Retrieve remote file and reference locally" is selected, I get an invalid file error. I didn't want to load your servers up with my photos anyway, which I'm assuming is what that does?

Ok, cool that works. I hadn't tried the add image command AND dl=0
Typically on other sites I always have to change it to dl=1 for other people to be able to access the photos. This worked for me, and I wasn't logged into the web based dropbox, so hopefully it works for everyone.

Thanks!

[FlyingsCool]

Back to the original subject of the thread....

Oh, if the person removing the knobs and boxes could also move or open up the map for the VC Panel down about 4 pixels, that would be great as well. (Notice the black bar at the bottom of the panel).

Or is that something I can change by modifying something about the panel.cfg file? I assumed the texture map is handled in the model about how it applies to the surface, and the problem is there. Again, kinda shows my complete lack of understanding of modeling and textures on a model.

[FlyingsCool]

An update on my learning and hopefully somebody can guide me here. I opened the 3ds model of the plane in GMax.

Flaps Lever is BL_LOD_100 I can delete that
Gear lever is part of AB_LOD_100 this is a group of components including the seats columns and steering, levers for the throttle, prop and mixture, Engines, aerials, wheel wells, canopy frame, sun shields, Top of dashboard and a few other components.
The boxes for the gear and flaps levers are part of AF_LOD_100, which includes the Pilot Torso, instrument panel surface. the door, and maybe something else I'm missing

So I can delete the Flap lever and knob, but for the others, I'll have to figure how to select "surfaces" within a group and selectively delete those from the groups they are in, without changing whatever properties are associated with the other surfaces of the groups.

Then I have to figure how to modify it again for FSX as a few other people have done and export it as a .mdl

I'm assuming there must be a way I can display just the selected group of objects / surfaces, and I assume there must be some way of deleting facets in a model? I hope I don't have to ungroup them to work on them.

[FlyingsCool]

Ok, I found the FSDeveloper Wiki on "Modeling with GMax" and found out how to edit the mesh and was able to delete the facets/elements I wanted to delete. Now I need to find Milton's tutorial on upgrading a model to FSX....

Man, I've been using solid modeling tools since 1988... I have no idea how you guys create such detailed models with this tool, it's excruciating to use :disgust:

But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do....
And it'll get easier as I learn it...

T

[tgycgijoes]

Thank you for taking the time to do this for us.

[FlyingsCool]

Sure, my pleasure. :adoration: I'm always up for learning new stuff.. Sadly, it's going to be a while. I'm a complete newbie at this stuff. And the 3DS file doesn't have any animations in it, so I'm going to have to figure out how to recreate all of them. Thank you Milton Shupe for your videos on converting from FS9. Without them I'd be completely lost. It goes straight to what I need to know, whereas all the other stuff I've been reading is over my head and expects I know things or has nothing to do with FSX.

One of the things I learned is that the control columns are in the correct location, the VC Instrument panel is just mapped badly in the version of the T-50 I'm using. When I look at the mapping of the panel in the model, it's right on.

And, boy do I have a lot to learn. A bunch of components are all grouped together in the model, so I have to figure out how to animate them. I hope I don't have to ungroup elements and save them as parts.

[FlyingsCool]

Not only that, but I'm realizing whoever made the model that's out there in the wild right now added rudder pedals to it, and who knows what else (it looks like those spheres on the control column)?

Anyone know who made that model, the one in Cesst-50.zip?

Heck, I'm having trouble just writing a three way switch gauge, one each for the engine starter, landing gear, and flaps? I'm trying to figure out how to get the switch to return to neutral on release of the mouse button. And just getting my head wrapped around understanding the difference between performing logic in an <element> and a <mouse>. My programming skills ended with Fortran pretty much, so I'm a bit lost at the moment. Finding just the right example isn't easy.

I'm also contemplating a three way Master Battery switch, which in the original can also switch to an Auxiliary Battery, which doesn't seem to be in the default electrical system. Creating my own electrical system for the plane, my goodness, I wouldn't know where to start. What do people think about having the other throw be to connect to an APU, which I think there is a function for that in the default electrical system? Just a thought.

Funny how projects spin out of control, haha. All I wanted to do was fix the $vcpanel mapping to the solid and get rid of those levers :)

Edit: Just read the pilot's manual. That's exactly what they meant, Auxiliary is an external battery cart. Question answered.

[FlyingsCool]

So, I just found Tim Dement's thread from back in 2009 when he was doing a ton of work on this plane. I'd been using some of his work in the work I've been doing, sorting through all the versions of Alphasim's Bobcat that are out there.

Whatever happened to Tim Dement/OBIO... Are you still out there Tim? Ever wanted to get back into this plane? I haven't found your Collings repaint that you talked a lot about out in the wild anywhere. I've got my own now, I was waiting to finish my panel update before I release it, but I'd love to work with you. As I noted, I'm volunteering with Collings and have full access to their plane for research if needed, pics, etc.. Hopefully I might even get a ride in it some day (or pilot it for a few minutes! :) ) ( haha, not likely any time soon, but I am planning on joining their tour as a deckhand this summer).

Now that I see how much work the 3DS model that Alphasim released needs, I might go back and use ModelConverterX and use the CessT-50 model instead, since I have to do so much work to the 3DS model that's out there and it's got .

Unless somebody's got a fully animated updated model out there they'd like to share? I'd be happy to do upgrade work to it.

I did figure out the basics of adding animations thanks to Milton Shupe's video... Lots still to learn.