My Bonnie..

[jankees]

..was flown by Lt Joe Shea of the 362nd FS/357th FG in the final days of the war.

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6072.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6090.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6083.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6087.jpg

[DaveQ]

Fantastic Jan Kees. Glad to see someone else is still painting this Pony!!:ernae: We'll have to persuade IanP to do us some AI files for Raydon!

DaveQ

BTW Happy New Year to all!!

[IanP]

Not a problem - especially if I just hijack the Fowlmere flightplans and change the aircraft and airport code.

However... 353rd or 357th? Can't have a mix and match, you know. That would be naughty! :icon_lol:

[Cleartheprop]

Fantastic Jan! :ernae:

[daytonite_andy]

Lovely stuff :icon29:

[jankees]

Not a problem - especially if I just hijack the Fowlmere flightplans and change the aircraft and airport code.

However... 353rd or 357th? Can't have a mix and match, you know. That would be naughty! :icon_lol:

well, with this one, I now have 29 different 357th Mustangs installed, and that's just the D models...if you really want to fill it...

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a2339.jpg

[IanP]

Are they all available here, jankees?

BTW, I should have said before - looks nice, thanks! :)

[jankees]

Are they all available here, jankees?

BTW, I should have said before - looks nice, thanks! :)

Thank you!

All of them? To be honest, I have no idea...here and at avsim, you should be able to find most of them, some under the FS9 flag..it will take some digging..

Bonnie though, exists only on my computer so far...

[IanP]

Well I've just downloaded all the ones from here. That should do for a start... If you can tell me what you'll be using for the title of My Bonnie, I can certainly put her in as well.

I *think* I might be able to do RAF Leiston as well, albeit not in as much detail as I'd like, in which case I may be able to get flights nipping backwards and forwards between the two bases of the 357thFG. Leiston is a bit of a pain, however, as most of it has been eradicated and it has more dispersals than common sense.

[jankees]

at the moment, the title is: 'title=P-51D 'G4E shea'

[IanP]

I appear to have snit a minor hag with this lot, unfortunately...

It is only minor, but there's a bit of an imbalance going on. Just using jankees repaints available here at SOH:

362nd FS (G4) have a total of 12 aircraft repaints... but two of them are G4-E ("My Bonnie" and "Missouri Armada")
363rd FS (B6) have a total of 6 aircraft repaints.
364th FS (C5) have a total of 7 aircraft repaints.

So... Which G4E would people prefer me to use (or do I just include them both with the same registration) and would people prefer 6 aircraft per squadron in an AI file (using dds textured repaints in preference over bmp ones), or use 'em all and have a 362nd FS overload when they all try and taxi out at once?

Last but not least, with a bit of careful silliness, I could actually assign specific squadrons specific parking spots, so all the aircraft for each Squadron are parked in roughly the same area. That would require you to make a change to the aircraft.cfg file for each aircraft - or use information that I collate together (i.e. a copy and paste from my own aircraft.cfg) or would you prefer that I just let everyone park anywhere in a general free-for-all?

Just for the record, having done some research, Raydon was much better known for Jugs than Mustangs, so once I have something usable for Leiston in place, the 357th are liable to be moving out, to allow the P-47Ds back in to play. :bump:

[jankees]

I appear to have snit a minor hag with this lot, unfortunately...

It is only minor, but there's a bit of an imbalance going on. Just using jankees repaints available here at SOH:

362nd FS (G4) have a total of 12 aircraft repaints... but two of them are G4-E ("My Bonnie" and "Missouri Armada")
363rd FS (B6) have a total of 6 aircraft repaints.
364th FS (C5) have a total of 7 aircraft repaints.

So... Which G4E would people prefer me to use (or do I just include them both with the same registration) and would people prefer 6 aircraft per squadron in an AI file (using dds textured repaints in preference over bmp ones), or use 'em all and have a 362nd FS overload when they all try and taxi out at once?


Oh dear, it would seem I have to paint a few more 363rd and 364th aircraft, just to make it an even dozen for all? Can do...
As to the two G4-E's, I've tried to prevent things like this, but then I came across Joe Shea on the net, and of course I had to do his a/c...
Any code had several different aircraft and pilots assigned to it, as pilot came and went, and aircraft came and went as well. In this case, at the end of his tour John England left for the ZI, and Lt Shea was assigned G4-E.
The good part with the 357th is that all different kinds of paintjobs actually flew together, so full camo, half camo and BMF can all be seen on the same airfield.

[IanP]

Same thing happened with everyone... I'm quite happy to have two G4-Es flying around, different numbers of aircraft per squadron... doesn't bother me in the slightest. I was just wondering what anyone else thought? :)

If you do decide to do some more, this might be of use. I did it so I knew which letters to assign as registrations to flights for each livery, but it also quickly shows which ones you've done that are available at SOH. If you can tell me which ones I'm missing, I'll track them down too and add them.


http://www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/historical/usaaf/357th.jpg

[jankees]

Same thing happened with everyone... I'm quite happy to have two G4-Es flying around, different numbers of aircraft per squadron... doesn't bother me in the slightest. I was just wondering what anyone else thought? :)

If you do decide to do some more, this might be of use. I did it so I knew which letters to assign as registrations to flights for each livery, but it also quickly shows which ones you've done that are available at SOH. If you can tell me which ones I'm missing, I'll track them down too and add them.




Now that is a useful overview, why didn't I think of that? Could you mail it, saves me the trouble of copying..
I've also done G4-B Sweet Helen II, C5-N Frenesi,( but Bomber's version is better I think, mine's really old), and I believe somebody else did a C5-E Tangerine, a B6-S Old Crow and G4-A Passion Wagon, but I'm not sure who? Maybe on avsim or flightsim.com?

I can easily do a few more if you like, I can fill the entire alphabet I believe...

[Snuffy]

Ian,

I have a map for Raydon of the same quality as Flowmere. You interested? :d

[IanP]

(Psst. It's Fowlmere. ;))

I have a pretty good layout diagram for Raydon so I'm pretty sure that what I have is as accurate as I can get it, but if you want to go picking holes in it then please feel free to send corrections... Not sure when I'll be able to update Raydon though, as I'm to my bald patch in other stuff right now. :running:

I'll e-mail that spreadsheet over to you jankees - no problem whatsoever. Will start scouring Avsim for repaints too.

Thanks gents! :salute:

[jankees]

from avsim:

Frenesi: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004acrp&DLID=110835

Gentleman Jim: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004acrp&DLID=111425

Old Crow: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004acrp&DLID=111115

Tangerine: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004acrp&DLID=107349

not sure if these links still work though..

[IanP]

Unfortunately, of those, only Frenesi works. I did also find another one by you, G4-W "Cooter", though... :)

http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=P-51+cooter&CatID=root&Go=Search

[huub vink]

Bonnie though, exists only on my computer so far...

Not completely true... my son had something with a Bonnie for a while ;).

Cheers,
Huub

[IanP]

Yeah, but that was His Bonnie, not My Bonnie. :d

[huub vink]

Yeah, but that was His Bonnie, not My Bonnie. :d

That's a though one... but he referred to her as "my Bonnie", but for us it was his Bonnie. But there are more similarities with the WBS Mustang from Jan Kees. We don't see her anymore as well..........

(sorry I couldn't resist :173go1:)

Cheers,
Huub

[IanP]

And we now have another repaint, which has unfortunately introduced another clash, in the mix as well... Greenhouse357 has just pointed me at his G4-A "Passion Wagon" v2 repaint (available in the library here) - which became G4-A with no name, but a "Cute Nude" on the nose when the pilot changed and has been done by jankees...

Thanks! :applause:

This place is going to be busy. Then because the 357th never actually flew a single operational mission from Raydon according to a couple of accounts I've read, I'll have to send them all off to Leiston anyway. :running::icon_lol:

[Snuffy]

Ian ... check your email. :)

[IanP]

Have you seen how many dispersals Leiston has? I think it may be some time before I get to do that lot! :icon_eek::crybaby:

[Snuffy]

Have you seen how many dispersals Leiston has? I think it may be some time before I get to do that lot! :icon_eek::crybaby:

Ummm Yeah I saw that ... just before I sent it to you. LOL!

It'll never be as good as yours but I'm not doing much right now ... other than digging up info on Luftwaffe airbases in France before D-Day ...

[jankees]

If there are indeed so many dispersals, I'd better get a move on filling them...
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a0.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a4.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6-1.jpg

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a1.jpg

[IanP]

Thanks jankees... The only thing that concerns me a little about this is AI file is whether anyone's PC will actually be able to run it all? ;) :icon_lol:

In 1944, apparently, Leiston had 12 blister hangars, 2 T.2 hangars, 38 frying pan dispersals, 17 PSP (steel mat) dispersals, and 12 double fighter pens. That's a total of 79 parking spots, excluding the hangars.

Snuffy: What I do isn't actually that difficult, if you want to have a play with Leiston or anywhere else for that matter. It's more a case of being able to match what's on a diagram with what's left on aerial photographs from Virtual Earth. All you need is SBuilderX to get the GeoTIFF and ADE to do pretty much everything else unless you want to make ponds (you can't set the level of water in ADE at the moment - it's a known issue on the support forum - so you have to use SBuilderX for that).

If anyone else wants to have a go at this lark, feel free! It only gets truly hard when you start trying to do it properly, customising buildings for each site, and using photorealistic backgrounds and custom ground textures... Then you need to be one of the truly talented people that we find around here.

[Snuffy]

Jankees ... Awesome stuff! Thanks.

Ian, I'm familair with ADE ... just tried to update my stuff here and ran into a problem, I'm probably headed off to the FS Developer forums shortly.

Its not that I can't do them, its just that mine don't appear to be as pretty as yours!! :bump:

Anyhow ADE is buggered here atm ... I'll get it sorted. Soonish I hope rather than later.

A point, I don't, or rather, can't do AI traffic. So, if you want it, somone else is going to have to do that. :mixedsmi:

[IanP]

I've just spent an hour or so slapping down the very basics for Leiston (runways, taxiways, flatten) so if you want, I can send that across to you by e-mail with GeoTIFFs pre-placed (although they're actually GeoJPEGs now)?

Have you got the latest version of ADE? If it's not 9x that saves using ADEX in the filename rather than ADE then you're best uninstalling and reinstalling ADE from scratch anyway.

Gotta go out. Don't want to, but SWMBO pointedly requests my help with shopping in the ice. Back later.

(P.S. Get AI Flight Planner - it makes AI so easy even I can do it. :d)

[jankees]

of course you all noticed I forgot the yellow rudders on these 364th Mustangs, but fear not, that has been corrected:

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6158.jpg

and while I was at it, I thought I might as well try a few 363rd Mustangs too, so I present to you:

The Count (B6-E)

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6156.jpg

Q-pee (B6-Q)

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6153.jpg

and Super-X (B6-X)

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6168.jpg

and all of them together:

http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww230/jcblom60/a6161.jpg

[Snuffy]

Just an update guys!

After several days and unexpected occurances I now have a fully functional up to date installation of ADE once again. (Man I hate updates!)

That said:

Leiston now has 3 runways, a perimeter track and starting in the southeast corner, has 6 psp hardstands and 3 asphalt hardstands, and at least 1 blister.

I'll blaze away on more of it tonight.

---

In the mean time, IanP, (or anybody,) do you have thumbnails for all of Ted Andrews and Bill Womack's stuff? It would be a big help. Thanks.

[huub vink]

As I know absolutely nothing from scenery making, this is most probably a pretty dumb question.

In FS2004 scenery often CFS1 models are used to as static aircrafts. I was wondering whether you could use reasonable simple FS2004 model as static aircrafts in FSX?

While following this thread I reaslised you are trying to fill all the dispersals on this airfield. When you use for instance the ex-donationware P51B/C for this you already have quite some high quality repaints......

And when you need more, I still have Dave Green's paintkit for this model ;)

Below some examples....

Cheers,
Huub

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/Huub_Vink/Joan_a1.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/Huub_Vink/hhh_a1.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/Huub_Vink/pugh_1.jpg

[IanP]

The main problems with using FS2004 models in FSX scenery are that some peoples' systems (mine being an excellent example) experience a disproportionately large loss in performance when they are drawn (I halve my frame rate when drawing MCDesigns' FS9 objects at Fowlmere) and that they won't work for anyone using DX10 preview mode. Often they won't display at all well in SP2 in general.

All I said I'd do originally was create an AI file for all the repaints, as requested. That got turned into Snuffy developing Leiston because the FG never actually flew operationally from Raydon (which I now need to update). However, if we seriously fill every dispersal, whether it be with a static or AI, how many peoples' PCs will seriously be able to run it?

Unfortunately I don't have thumbnails for any of it, Snuffy - there are pics of all Ted Andrews stuff in his R12 library downloads (the ones I use, at least, are the same models remade for FSX) but they won't work as thumbnails directly because he's named them using the object name and not the GUID.

[Snuffy]

Huub, Those are great skins and shots! Wow!

Unfortunately all I am is a basic mudmover. I know nothing about incorporating static aircraft or AI ...

So basically what you're going to get from me when Leiston is "done" is an airfield with all spots available and some other pretty scenery. And yes, I'm using Michael's FS9 ww2 military vehicles so expect that frame hit. Sure wish he'd update them to FSX ... soonish please.

[Snuffy]

Just so ya'll don't think this was forgotten ...

here's an update ... still a wip ... Leiston.

26811

[IanP]

I think you missed a dispersal... :icon_twi:

...IanP runs quickly for the nearest NBC shelter and slams the door behind him... :engel016:

[Snuffy]

I think you missed a dispersal... :icon_twi:

...IanP runs quickly for the nearest NBC shelter and slams the door behind him... :engel016:

LOL! At the time of this picture, I have missed several things ... surprisingly its going quite well. As of this writing, all parking places are in, both T2s are present, a control tower and a fire house.

I have a couple outlying building areas mapped and some interfield roads laid out. A little more work on it today might get it close.

[IanP]

Having just discovered that Jan Kees has uploaded the six from this page of the thread to the library (I'd missed them... oops!), I now have a grand total of 33 paints installed for the 357th FG. I'm currently working on an AI file basing them at Raydon, as my Leiston consists of three runways and a peri track - as soon as Snuffy's airfield becomes available, I'll do a find/replace to swap the airport over and they'll shuft over there.

However. Question for anyone interested in this... 33 A2A Mustangs really is going to be a heavy load at one go - and especially with other bases nearby, which will produce more copies of the same model when they are flying.

I currently propose to do three AI files, one per squadron, with three aircraft set up to fly at 1%, three more at 10%, three more at 25% and any remaining at 50% AI slider (they seem to work on the airliner slider). Does anyone think that is appropriate, or would anyone like to suggest more appropriate slider settings/aircraft numbers for them?

[Greenhouse357]

Thanks to IanP, JanKees, and Snuffy for working on my favorite mustangs and WWII airfield (Leiston). I probably don't have the power to run everything, but I'll try :salute: