Yellowknife teaser

[PeteHam]

Some of the members here have shown interest in the Yellowknife area.

Here's something Sid and I have been working on .....

http://www.vanisleva.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10038

We've still got a bit to do yet ...... :icon_lol:

And of course Markus has also been busy with his paintshop :jump:

Pete.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Hi, Pete!

This looks ab-so-lu-te-ly gorgeous!
Where can I buy it? :icon_lol:


And of course Markus has also been busy with his paintshop :jump:
This shop still is open for business.
Would you mind me doing the 440Sq Twotter in the AI version (HTAI model) and contribute it to your package?

Cheers,
Markus.

[Richard Westcott]

Nice work Pete and Sid, you scenery is really the best.

[dogknot]

Looking forward to the new version!


I have the CYZF SS V1 and enjoy that, but as posted in your other thread, there is a big cliff behind the airport with default mesh FS9.
I dropped in the Yellowknife flatten bgl and the Sea Plane Base bgl/afcad from ytbases1.zip by Curt Jardey. Fixed it right up to look closer to your screenshots.

ytbases1.zip is available at flightsim

[Wild Bill Kelso]

... there is a big cliff behind the airport with default mesh FS9.
I dropped in the Yellowknife flatten bgl and the Sea Plane Base bgl/afcad from ytbases1.zip by Curt Jardey. Fixed it right up to look closer to your screenshots.

Thanks for this HU!
My "Yellowknife Cliff" looks more like a water reservoir by now, let's see if this fix will flatten it...

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Very quick and terrible dirty WIP:

[Sidney Schwartz]

This looks ab-so-lu-te-ly gorgeous!
Where can I buy it? :icon_lol:
Thanks, Markus. The feedback has been very positive so far. Most of the textures for the Buffalo hanger were taken from photos of the real thing...I wanted that one to look especially good.


Would you mind me doing the 440Sq Twotter in the AI version (HTAI model) and contribute it to your package?
Absolutely. :ernae: And if you or anyone else knows how to make static ai traffic, please let me know. That's something I'm not familiar with.

We're still at least a couple of weeks out from being done, I'm estimating. The last big bit for me is doing the terminal/tower building in Gmax.

[dogknot]

There's a nice little tutorial at flightsim on setting up static aircraft. Well they are (Almost) static. Almost is the best you can do without dropping in aircraft models as part of the scenery. The "almost" static birds are simply set up to do their one run, once a week or so in the middle of the night, when you won't miss seeing them.
It works great.

filename: fs9stat.zip

[Brian_Gladden]

I'm gonna take a stab at working up some repaints for the Cal Classic AI Propliners in the appropriate Buffalo paint jobs for use as Static AI (And flying too) For the traffic file, I could plagiarize Mike McIntyre's VT ANG static files and change the airport codes and aircraft to fit...

All dependent on getting the proper birds repainted.


Brian

[PeteHam]

I'm gonna take a stab at working up some repaints for the Cal Classic AI Propliners in the appropriate Buffalo paint jobs for use as Static AI (And flying too) ............. All dependent on getting the proper birds repainted.


Brian

Thanks Brian ...... & Markus for working on the AI repaints :applause::applause:

There's a large ramp area out the back of the Buffalo hangar that needs lots of aircraft to fill it.

Pete.

[Sidney Schwartz]

Thanks all for your contributions. Dogknot, I'll check out that tutorial. :ernae:

[Wild Bill Kelso]

So the 440Sq CC-138s with various tailnumbers will be done.
To keep the ramp from boredom, I'll vary the yellow tone and the markings (with or without FIP logo) too.
I hope no one will worry about their long noses...

What else do we need?

The HTAI Kingair in Air Tindi colours is also in the works.

What about the Tindi Dash7?
Maybe Sir Milton will give permission to include an AI set of it too?
Tongass Fjords comes with his Dash7 in AI version, but I presume the specific AI airfile was made by FSAddon. What had to be done to AI-ifice it and who could do this?

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Found two other candidates:

Dee Waldron's HS.748 and L188 Electra.
Don't mind their current liveries, the Hawker will bear First Air colours and the Electra the Buffalo scheme.
Will fit well, won't they? :jump:

[Wild Bill Kelso]

That's it for today.
It's 11pm, bedtime now.

Good night and good luck!

[Tom Clayton]

That's it for today.
It's 11pm, bedtime now.
Not here it's not! Get back to work!!!:icon_lol:

[Brian_Gladden]

Markus... Thanks for doing the electra... one less that I have to do....



Brian

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Here's the First Air 748 (I know this has been done before, but I wanted to make this repaint on my own just to include it into the upcoming package...):

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/ai748firstair2.jpg


And these are the Buffalo Electras:

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/ai188fbaq.jpg

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/ai188glba.jpg


Twin Otters are next...

[Milton Shupe]

So the 440Sq CC-138s with various tailnumbers will be done.
To keep the ramp from boredom, I'll vary the yellow tone and the markings (with or without FIP logo) too.
I hope no one will worry about their long noses...

What else do we need?

The HTAI Kingair in Air Tindi colours is also in the works.

What about the Tindi Dash7?
Maybe Sir Milton will give permission to include an AI set of it too?
Tongass Fjords comes with his Dash7 in AI version, but I presume the specific AI airfile was made by FSAddon. What had to be done to AI-ifice it and who could do this?

Great looking work there Pete et al. :)

Markus, of course, anything of mine you are welcome to use.

I did a pseudo AI Dash 7 version for John Hubbard a few years back and it is posted on Flightsim. If you wish to use the version in Tongass, you will need to request that from Holger Sandmann, with my permissions of course granted.

If that does not work, I will setup a special model and email it to you.

Thanks for all you do. :applause:

[Willy]

Hopefully Milton won't slap my hands for this, but his no-VC models usually make for some beautiful AI and fly well too. Plus all the paints work to boot. I've used his Aero Commanders, Beech 18, Spartan and Howard 500 no VC models as AI with good results.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Thank you so much, Milton!

The AI Tindi Dash7 is almost done:
I grabbed the HTAI Dash7 and will "borrow" its AI airfile and remove the VC from your model with some hex editing. The Tindi textures are already reduced to DXT3.

4 down, 4 or 5 to go...

[Tom Clayton]

The hex edit only prevents the VC from rendering - it doesn't remove the VC from the model. It might be easier to get the original FS2002 version (http://www.flightsim.com/file.php?cm=SEARCH1&fsec=0&fname=dash7v1.zip) and convert it to AI. It would probably be a lot easier on frames.

[Milton Shupe]

Actually, you should get the AI version from Flightsim I posted above. It has 20,000 fewer polys, looks as good, same mapping, and based on the dash7v1.

[adhockey]

And these are the Buffalo Electras:


I read somewhere online that only C-FBAQ was flying and the other Electra was used for spares, but I haven't researched it myself.

IMO you can never have enough of L188s in the air. Any chance Air Spray gets that far North?

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Thanks for your hints, Tom and Milton!
Just loadin' the John Hubbard version.


I read somewhere online that only C-FBAQ was flying and the other Electra was used for spares, but I haven't researched it myself. IMO you can never have enough of L188s in the air.

Various pics I grabbed show GLBA working too, but I don't know when they were taken. GLBA also seems to bear a bald head eagle anniversary logo with a "10", but I couldn't get a template for it...
These AI planes mostly are intended to be used as statics to crowd Yellowknife's ramps and less to depict accurate traffic at a specific date, so I hope no one would bother seeing GLBA in the air (again). :icon_lol:


Any chance Air Spray gets that far North?
Huh. As Buffalo does fire supression too, I'd rather presume them to be the quasi-monopoly fire fighters up there...

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Actually, you should get the AI version from Flightsim I posted above. It has 20,000 fewer polys, looks as good...

Oh, well it does: :applause:

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aidhc7tindi.jpg

Where did all those polys go?
Hard to tell any significant difference to the 'full-scale' model!

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Here is the current Twin Otter status:

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aicc13802.jpg

As far as I can see, 440Sq. now operates #802, 803, 804 and 805.
Can anyone confirm this?
So this will be the ones to recieve their individual lettering and markings.


And this one will of course be not forgotten:

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aic46.jpg

It's Mike Stone's C-46 to receive two different Buffalo schemes!
Garry J. Smith who's hosting Mike's 100+ free aircraft repository at
http://www.gjsmith.net/Mike-Stone/ (http://www.gjsmith.net/Mike-Stone/)
kindly gave me the permission to re-distribute the entire C-46 pack for this purpose. This will to save the users the trouble to obtain the required archives.
Garry's one condition was this:

"Therefore I would like to request that a link to the Mike Stone repository site be provided within you package and/or links on the relevant site so that simmers could benefit from the availability of over 100 other free aircraft. This second para is a request, simply to ensure that Mike's aircraft continue to get a public viewing from simming patrons and that Mike's efforts and product is continued to be presented for their simming
pleasure."

I gladly obey this proviso, and I'm grateful that Garry doesn't consider my request as 'downgrading' Mike's legacy to AI traffic - his aircraft still are so much more than just static staffage, even when used for AI purposes in this case.
Hopefully their appearance will raise additional interest in his work as a benefit!
Thank you, Garry! :ernae:
And thank you, Mike, for your incredible amount of contribution to the community! :medals:

Cheers,
Markus.

[Milton Shupe]

Pete. Sid, Markus, and all of you that contribute directly or indirectly (Gary for Mike), thank you for all the efforts. This is looking to be so awesome! :applause:

[CG_1976]

Markus,

To confirm CAF Twotter # 802, 803, 804, 805 are the current flightline. #802 is assigned to YZF most of the time for SAR Role while the other three are usually on Transport mission.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Thanks for confirming, Tim!

Cheers,
Markus.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Browsing along Mike Stone's huge hangar, I came across his Canadair CL44:

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aicl44.jpg

Will this graceful Freightliner fit to the Yellowknife scenery?
In which livery?
Proposals are welcome, some pics would be nice!

Cheers,
Markus.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

13802 is ready for take-off (803 - 805 just need their numbers):

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aicc13802_3-1.jpg


And here is Mike Stone's Commando in her new clothes:

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aic46_3.jpg

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt112/wildbillkelso_berlin/aic46_4.jpg

GTXW's roof still needs some less alpha - it's bare metal, not shiny white!

Enough for today -
Good night and good luck!

[PeteHam]

Wow ... they're looking great Markus :applause:

Pete.

[srgalahad]

I doubt a -44 ever made repeated flights to YZF, but in the guise of an RCAF Yukon it might have made a few stops... now if there's an AI Herc it could be either PWA or Northwest Territorial depending on 'era'

And then there's the "Polaris" -- Northwest Air Lease? Swearingen Metroliners (Mike Stone again) and later Bae-41 Jetstreams that did the twice-daily sked to Ft. Smith (CYSM)

[CG_1976]

Ah L-130 First Air.

[Sidney Schwartz]

Wow, Pete and I really appreciate the enthusiastic support. The Buffalo ramp is going to be jammed. :ernae:

In the meantime I've had Chester working hard on the terminal/tower building. The model for the terminal part is done...here it is in FS9. Ignore the weird colors, it has no textures yet...that'll be the last part. Time to start on the tower.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

I'm glad to have a little share in your promising project!

Let's talk about the era:
Do you have a special era (decade? year?) on your mind?
I'd gladly provide the CC-106 Yukon, but as far as I know, it was retired from CF service in 1971. Personally, a dull grey Hercules in current CF markings won't be my favour, but it could be added rather quickly, same goes for the Herky in First Air clothes!

And another question about time:
Due to my vicious addiction to colourize other people's aircraft, I have to know when to stop it.
I think it would be great to have an 'all-in-one-package' in the end with all the aircaft, a customized AFCAD and traffic file included, and I think both still have to be built (by whom?). Of course I'd provide the specific "aircraft.txt" file to base the flightplans on, but a time-line or even a deadline for this project would be nice.

Pete and Sid?
Please tell me when it's enough for you! :icon_lol:

Cheers,
Markus.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

This will be next:

[PeteHam]

Markus your enthusiasm is addictive :jump::jump:

Thanks again for your input. :applause:

I didn't have any era in mind, but as for aircraft textures, I prefer colourful rather than dull .

Pete.

[Sidney Schwartz]

And another question about time:
Due to my vicious addiction to colourize other people's aircraft, I have to know when to stop it.
Go ahead and indulge your addiction...I wouldn't want you to suffer withdrawal symptoms. Just keep in mind that they may not all get used.


I think it would be great to have an 'all-in-one-package' in the end with all the aircaft, a customized AFCAD and traffic file included, and I think both still have to be built (by whom?).
That'll be my job.


Please tell me when it's enough for you! :icon_lol:
As a fellow junkie my judgement is questionable at best. :isadizzy:

[Sidney Schwartz]

Do you have a special era (decade? year?) on your mind?

Here ya' go....

[Wild Bill Kelso]

You really want some more flying chicken shacks?
I'll see want I can do... :bump:
Now who said that the germans can't build beautiful aircraft...? :icon_lol:


Just keep in mind that they may not all get used.
The choice of course is yours!

[Flyboy208]

Now this is really going to be something special! Mike :applause:

[CG_1976]

Ah more YZF Teasing.

[PeteHam]

Even more to temp you :icon_lol:

http://www.vanisleva.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10098

Pete.

[srgalahad]

OK guys, this is getting a bit painful...:icon_lol:

1. Someone (thanks Sidney) actually grokked that the control tower cab is 7-sided (it's a long story but has to do with angles of incidence and reflection on the inside glass).
2. The 'wonderful' stacks for the heating system (just above the Cdn North name in the 2nd pic) that sent plumes of hot, moist air up to fog over the FSS and tower windows on cold days! and the intake system that sucked up the fumes from kerosene-burners and then pumped it thru the heating system (and the First Air 748's ran at idle for ages on a cold day). Strong enough to cause the FSS staff in the lower section to get nauseated.
3. the good/bad memories - the polar bear in pic#2 looks like he's sniffing in my office window - no wonder I got the habit of looking over my shoulder while writing Ops Memos :icon_lol:
4. Unless they've changed procedures, most days the ramp in front of the terminal (about where the building 'bends') there would be 2 or three unattended baggage carts and/or pallets stacked high with groceries for the trips north ... and constantly guarded by the biggest, meanest ravens who were laying claim to their lunch (the boxes of Ruffles were their favourites :icon_lol: ) - some days the ravens won!

I was there for the two years it took to build/rebuild the terminal ('89& '90)... odd sight when they stripped the tower of it's cladding and it looked like a steel skeleton. Then there was the huge (tank-car-sized) propane tank just east of the tower to provide heating fuel. One day a worker threw/dropped a sheet of the plywood skin off the tower. It hit the tank valve and, unnoticed, started a slow leak which filled the basement of the new terminal ... "Hmmm something smells odd here...", causing the fire dept. to evacuate the building, ramp and shutting down ops for several hours. Fortunately there was no "Big Bang"! The just-landed 737 was rerouted via the threshold of Rwy 27 to the NWT (now First Air) hangar where they deplaned.

Yellowknife is never a dull place :}

Rob

[Sidney Schwartz]

7-sided?? Oh crap. I thought it was either 6 or 8 and decided 8. It was surprisingly difficult to tell even from the photos. I should have asked Tim before I went ahead and built it. Oh well...if you thought it was 7 sided I guess it's not such a serious error. :icon_lol:

And here's the 440 ramp (formerly the Tindi ramp) with some of the wonderful ai static aircraft provided by Markus. :applause:

We're getting real close to being done, Rob. Hang in there. :ernae:

[srgalahad]

LOL Sidney, it LOOKED 7-sided!

The design was 'borrowed' from the FAA but was modified, partly because of places like YZF and YEV that have very low sun elevations in wintertime. The science determined that the least internal reflections came with an odd number of surfaces and the best angle was about 52* (360/7). Of course this turned into a nightmare for engineers and contractors who couldn't imagine anything but 45* & 90* :icon_lol: (and probably add grey hair to FS modellers). The "new" fishbowl ones with frameless glass are 15-sided.

One other little Real-world 'flaw' ... the standard skin was a 3/4" plywood surface coated in fibreglass and resin, lined with insulation. As anyone who's built boats will know, glass/resin is NOT waterproof and after a few years moisture would soak through and rot the plywood :kilroy:

[CG_1976]

Darn ravens always seem to win lol today. 4 Twotters = the 440Sq dead on. Im not going there about them pipe stacks and steam, they made yesterday heck on the ramp due to the wind and mother natures mood swings lol. Now if only the light bulb up here would stop dimming or give more northern lights. Gonna take me time to get used to this midnight sun.

[srgalahad]

Now if only the light bulb up here would stop dimming or give more northern lights. Gonna take me time to get used to this midnight sun.

ROFLMAO!!

20 years ago today I drove out of Yellowknife for Calgary (after the previous night's ATC "open House" Christmas party - 15 gal of homemade eggnog, 23 doz. beer, 6 40's of rum ). When I started the car it was -48C and after I stopped at the airport for a farewell coffee I drove to Peace River. After Hay River the highway runs straight south... the sun is about 8 degrees above the horizon - which is found just over the centerline of the road... and just below the lowest point of the sunvisor in the car :icon_eek:. Of course, going south it stayed up a bit longer. 5 hours from YHY to YPE with a dim but still bright spot right in my eyes. :blind:

Relax lad.. after today there's a bit of a 'pause' and then, about Jan 5th you'll see the days grow a bit longer with each sunrise. :icon_lol: Believe me, after 5 winters in YZF and YEV I share the pain!

[Sidney Schwartz]

LOL Sidney, it LOOKED 7-sided!

Seven, eight, whatever. What's a side or two between friends? And I can guarantee you that we used only the finest materials and our tower will stay looking brand new and never need repairing. :mixedsmi:

I'm afraid your pain is about to get worse, Rob. The static ai aircraft, thanks largely to Markus, transform the scenery from "Wow" to FREAKIN' AWESOME! :medals: :icon29:

[srgalahad]

Looking great Sidney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


we used only the finest materials and our tower will stay looking brand new and never need repairing
Obviously this ISN'T a government contract!

All that needs to be done now is crank the temps down to "Severe Cold", fill the air with ice fog and muttered curses, dial up the wind and it'll really look like the first of winter.

:applause::applause::applause:

[Sidney Schwartz]

Better? :wavey:

[Wild Bill Kelso]

FREAKIN' AWESOME!

What else could I say...?
I'm mesmerized!

And talking about weather conditions:
No northern lights here, but don't forget that my humble hometown of Berlin is at 52°31'N and the mercury is currently down to -10°C.
Just like Yellow"freezin"knife but without those fluffy polar bears... :bump:

[CG_1976]

-19C with a Snow flying:icon_lol:. Saw a great Northern light show last night off Slave Lake by the Water Aerodome. In the sim wise ya those northen lights need a fixin, gonna have to call the REX Maint. Dept.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Dangit!

With my posting above, I tried to show off with my hometown being on the same parallel than Yellowknife. Sid's screenie of post #52 read to me like 52°N.
But now I learned that "the Knife" lies far northern at 62°N.

Shame on me!
Blame the small monitor in the civil registry office I'm currently working in (it's 2:25 pm here, almost time to go home... :running: ).

At this minute, it seems to rain here on the frozen ground - this'll be some nice skidding... :bump:

Cheers,
Markus.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Made it home safely. Finally.

One more thing to mention:
The two graceful Buffalo DC-3 in pic 3 of Sid's post #50 were painted by Mike Wilson on the MS stock DC-3

FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Propliners FS2004 Buffalo Airways Douglas DC-3
[ Download (http://flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=65860) | View (http://flightsim.com/zview.php?cm=list&fid=65860) ]
Name: bufair_1.zip (http://flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=65860) Size: 4,975,292 Date: 04-10-2004 Downloads: 779
http://flightsim.com/j/bufair_1.gif FS2004 Buffalo Airways Douglas DC-3. A repaint of the default DC-3 in Buffalo Airways other livery. Textures only. By Mike Wilson.
FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Propliners FS2004 Buffalo Airways Douglas DC-3
[ Download (http://flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=71335) | View (http://flightsim.com/zview.php?cm=list&fid=71335) ]
Name: bufair.zip (http://flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=71335) Size: 4,430,057 Date: 12-16-2003 Downloads: 728
http://flightsim.com/i/bufair.gif FS2004 Buffalo Airways Douglas DC-3. A repaint of the default DC-3 in Buffalo Airways livery. Textures only. By Mike Wilson.



He kindly gave permission to re-pack and include them in the upcoming project. I just tweaked the airfile to make them invisible in the "choose aircraft" menu.

Thank you, Mike!

Cheers,
Markus.