Old And New [WIP stuff inside]

[Bjoern]

First: A short flight with Vitus' (the L-10E guy) WIP Blériot IX.


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_1.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_1.jpg)


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_2.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_2.jpg)

Wheeeee!
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_3.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_3.jpg)


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_4.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_4.jpg)


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_5.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_5.jpg)

Note the subtle transparency of the wing canvas.
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_6.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_6.jpg)


The loadmanager.
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_7.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_7.jpg)


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_Bleriot_100408_8.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_Bleriot_100408_8.jpg)

There's still a lot missing (Louis himself for example is still in the animation shop) so the model won't be ready for a while, but so far it's quite fun for an old and sloooooooow crate. Heh.

P.S: I'm going to have the "honor" of doing the (probably nightmarishly to do) wing warping animations. :kilroy: :d

[Bjoern]

Then: The new stuff.

You might remember my Do-328.
Well, it's mostly in the paint shop now, but the paint wasn't the only thing I've done.
Work on the mesh has been extensive so far as well. Cut out the service door, did extensive modification to the gear blister, completely replaced the cabin windows, worked on the rudder (trim tabs) and, most importantly, "de-boned" the main gear and nose gear animations. Seems to work much better now and saved me 21 parts on the nose gear and 95(!) parts on the main gear. The number of bones fell from 107 to 17, all used in the passenger door railings.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_328_100408_1-1.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_328_100408_1-1.jpg)

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_328_100408_2.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_328_100408_2.jpg)

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/th_Tease_328_100408_3.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/t3h_3vil/FS%20Development/Tease_328_100408_3.jpg)

Still need to work of the prop, say add disks or at least animations for the two remaining speed settings. Then there's a whole still unmodified texture file and still missing lights, pitot tubes, antennas, etc...

Work, work, work... :isadizzy:

[peter12213]

That Blériot IX looks absolutely stunning! :salute:

[Sundog]

All I can say is...:ernae:

They both look great.

[warchild]

indeed they do.. If that dornier has a vc, i'm going to be incredibly interested in it.. awesome birds to fly.. love em..

[spotlope]

I like them both, although I'd be more likely to fly that Dornier. The canvas work on the Bleriot is pretty sweet, though. Your 328 is progressing nicely!

[OleBoy]

That Blériot IX looks absolutely stunning! :salute:

+1 Looks fantastic!

[Kiwikat]

That Blériot IX looks absolutely stunning! :salute:

+2!

Normally those kinds of planes aren't my thing, but that looks stunning! :jump:

[Bjoern]

If that dornier has a vc, i'm going to be incredibly interested in it.. awesome birds to fly.. love em..

Not yet, but a VC will definately be there one day.

I thought I'd release the exterior first, for bug hunting and testing purposes while I take care of the -300 and the VC. Get everything done and then, there'll be the fun part...experiments! Lotus style lights, *working* windscreen wipers, maybe a bit of Accusim, that interactive checklist, a co-pilot who deserves his title...sorry, drifted away a bit. *Cough*

The 328s may be fun for pilots, but for the ground crews, they're a medium nightmare. This could also explain one of its nicknames..."dork". :d


- Edit: LoL, totally overlooked your comment Bill. Thanks!

And yes, the progress is there. Another thing is that it's finally a -130 with all the nice stuff like increased dorsal fin area and not a -100something.

By the way, I think I'll leave the airline liveries entirely up to others. Just to see what they think of the paint kit/texture mapping.


- Edit²: Just sent Vitus the link to this thread. Let's see what he says.

[Pips]

Yes, it's the Bleriot that holds the fascination for me! And that does look a very lovely rendition.

I spend a lot of my time flying Jean-Michel Castagne's version of the Bleriot XI, which is just a peach to fly.

But then, you can never have enough of the vintage aeroplanes, so another Bleriot will go down a treat! :jump:

[warchild]

welllll, i'll definately be waiting :0 just let us know when that VC is ready .. been waiting for a 328 with a VC for four years now ( Abacus's doesnt count.. i'm sorry ) so can wait a little longer..

[Bjoern]

welllll, i'll definately be waiting :0 just let us know when that VC is ready .. been waiting for a 328 with a VC for four years now ( Abacus's doesnt count.. i'm sorry ) so can wait a little longer..

I've seen PAD work on the 328 family. As usually it won't be native, but avaiable in due time (unlike mine).

Well, if you want to help me out, I still need proper FDEs for both the prop and jet. ;)
Brett Henderson said he could do them as well, but I bet he's quite swamped and two sources is better than one source, so...what about a mention in the "credits" section of the readme in trade for two FDEs? :)

[Slund]

Both look fantastic but the Blériot IX is my style of aircraft. Beautiful work on the wings and fuselage canvas. The view looking backwards over the tail section is incredible.

[jetstreamsky]

A work colleague is part of a group building a Bleriot XI, there's quite a variety of design options with all the Bleriots built, but your model seems to be using the same configuration. Excellent work, I can see much of the detail that went into that verses the new build one. They have a two seater military version at the workshop too.

[warchild]

Bretts pretty good with flight models but i dont know what his workload is at the moment.. Presently i'm finishing up this p-36 for Deano, but yeah. let me work on that 328.. i dont think i'd be very good with wing warping.. Letme PM you later today and we can start working things out..

[Mr.Mugel]

Both are looking like great projects, having seen a Bleriot last september it would be nice to fly it! And the Do-328 is really making progress, too! I think it is one of the very few modern aircraft designs I really like.

[Lionheart]

Nice work on the 328 Bjoern!

:ernae:


How in the world did you get that Bleriot from Vitus! That thing is a jewel. I cant believe his detail levels, lol... Amazing craftsmanship.

I was joking with him on 'where is the GPS and Nav Lights and things'. His answer was brilliant and hilarious.


Bill

[Bjoern]

Bretts pretty good with flight models but i dont know what his workload is at the moment..

Well, my last information is that he had a CV-580, BAe 146 and a GA aircraft in the works, so I guess he's pretty busy.




How in the world did you get that Bleriot from Vitus!

My instant messaging statistics say that we've exchanged ~50000 words so far, so there's your answer to how I got my hands on the Blériot. :d

[Vitus]

Hi guys,

50,000 words already? Gosh, I wish I had written that much for my confirmation report for the uni...

glad you like my Bleriot. I sent a wip to Bjoern as I hope he can help me out with the skinned mesh animations for the cables and wing-warping. He is an expert on that subject, his gear animation for the Do328 is superb!

The aerodynamics will be set by Alexander Metzger and they are already pretty good. This plane is slow, but it's soooo much fun!

I got some new screenshots:
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1693/bleriot1i.jpg

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/7416/bleriot3.jpg

A first glance at Louis Bleriot on his way to Dover:
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/356/blerio2.jpg

Some new parts in the cockpit: a fully functional wobble pump, the main fuel valve, gauge glass and fuel level indicator:
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4882/bleriot4.jpg

Cheers,
Vitus

[wiltzei]

That kite looks wicked! Keep up the good work, guys.

[Naki]

Hi Vitus

We met at the Tauranga airshow in February.

Thats a nice looking Bleriot and one that I could of done with in a recent screen shot comp. Is it Anzai powered?

Cheers

Paul

[Pips]

The aerodynamics will be set by Alexander Metzger and they are already pretty good. This plane is slow, but it's soooo much fun!
Cheers,
Vitus

It may be slow but the Bleriot was surprisingly agile! There's some classic vintage film of Adolphe Pergoud (one of the great French pre-war pilots) performing aerobatics in a Bleriot in the DVD 'Four Years Of Thunder'. At one point he performs four (4) consecutive loops at 500ft. Simply brilliant. :)

[Daube]

Very impressive work on that Bleriot !!
I really love the amazing amount of details, and the transparent body textures are looking so realistic o_0

As for the Dornier, I really love this kind of small "liners". Can't wait to see the complete version with the VC :ernae:

[Pips]

Just wondering if there are any more progress reports on the Bleriot? :)

[Bjoern]

Just wondering if there are any more progress reports on the Bleriot? :)

Impatient bunch, lol.

Well, all I know is that Vitus is redoing the whole model because he wasn't happy with the frame (the most crucial part). Other than that, there's a custom soundset in the works.
And there seems to be an XML smoke effect which varies in intensity depending on the engine's RPM.

I have the (latest?) version here, but couldn't be arsed to fire up FSX yet. Maybe (there will be screenshots) tomorrow.

[Bomber_12th]

I'm really liking the looks of that Bleriot!

I'd imagine Bjoern, that the smoke effect depicts the open-application of castor-oil to the engine - a very cool touch! If you or Vitus are interested, the most accurate-feeling Bleriot flight dynamics I have experienced, are those found in this package, which may be useful for reference: 09blerxi.zip, at Flightsim.com

With wing warping, the wings don't serve much purpose at all, except for helping to balance the airplane while making rudder inputs, which is the only effective means to control direction, and these flight dynamics do an excellent job of replicating this - the airspeeds also seem very accurate, and it just acts sort of like a big kite at times, not easily wanting to stop flying.

[txnetcop]

Wrap 'em up I'll take 'em! :jump::jump::jump:
Ted
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[Bjoern]

...

Vitus' Blériot will get a custom FDE made by Alex Metzger and as accurately done as possible of course.

[Pips]

Well, it has been several weeks since any progress reports. :) Any more news? Perhaps a screenshot or two to tie us vintage nuts over?? :wiggle:

[Bjoern]

Of the rustbucket?

Well, I've got a WIP version, but I'm not sure if it's up to date. Also it's absolutely no joy to fly so I'm hesitant to take it out for a spin.

And from what Vitus is saying he's doing some module/tool programming on other projects at the moment, I don't know if he's even working on the Blériot at the moment.

Might ask him later if there's any news and then post a few shots if I'm in the mood.


(Also, impatience should be punished.)