Saipan: Isley, Kobler and Kagman update

[MaskRider]

Hi guys,

Just a couple of gratuitous screenies of weekend progress at Saipan.

Pretty much have Isley and Kagman in the can. Masking and painting Kobler is next up.

L to R: Looking east along runways at Kobler and Isley; Looking SE across Kagman (East) Field; Looking SW from Kagman-> Isley-Kobler -> North Field, Tinian; Looking NE from south side of Isley toward Kagman.
18559185601856118567

Cheers,
MRhttp://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/misc/pencil.pnghttp://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/misc/pencil.pnghttp://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/misc/pencil.png

[Blue Devil]

Beautiful work, Mask...

Saipan is a favorite location of mine outside of the "Slot", ...so this is definitely going to be a keeper.

Endeavor to persevere on this one, ...I'm pre-flightin' A/C for'em right now... :salute:


Thanks Chris.

[MaskRider]

Endeavor to persevere on this one, ...I'm pre-flightin' A/C for'em right now... :salute:

Endeavor to persevere, aye. :salute:

Yep, Saipan-Tinian area coming along nicely- I mean it really does look cool at around 10K feet with those 3 huge airfields down below.

Can't wait to get Marpi Point, harbor facilities and roads for Saipan completed.

Don't know what I will do to amuse myself after finishing up Tinian.

[mariereid]

I think ya deserve a little rest after all of the goodies you have given us lately! :salute::ernae:

[MaskRider]

Kobler (on the left in the screenie below) is just about done.
18599

Gettin' there!:icon29:

BTW: yesterday I was googling around looking for information about landing and approach patterns for these airfields- I wanted to make sure that I had the default take off directions right for the runways at Kobler and Isley. Bear in mind that there were 4 major airfields with 8 runways all clustered together in a relativly small area. Needless to say there was a noticeable amount of confusion about which airfield was which and furthermore which runway was which. I ran across several stories about planes landing at the wrong runways/airfields and having to take right off again to get over to the correct runway- sometimes crashing in the confusion. Especially there seemed to be quite a bit of confusion between North Field, Tinian and Isley- planes being directed to runways at Isley but landing at Tinian by mistake- sometimes fatal.

MR

[Captain Kurt]

Great Stuff MR. Keep it coming.

[MaskRider]

Kobler, Kagman and Isley are in the can!

Here is a screenie showing the four airfield cluster: North Field, Tininan; Kobler, Isley and Kagman, Saipan.

18667

On to Marpi Point!
MR

[Jagdflieger]

Even has the reef on the west shore of Saipan. Nice!

[bearcat241]

...Bear in mind that there were 4 major airfields with 8 runways all clustered together in a relativly small area. Needless to say there was a noticeable amount of confusion about which airfield was which and furthermore which runway was which...

So much B-29-supporting infrastructure in such a small area said a lot about how committed the US war planners were about getting the Jap homeland bombing campaign into high gear. Guess they didn't want to gamble on future conquests like bloody Iwo and Okinawa getting the B-29's closer to target Japan, which would have been the case after much delay.

[MaskRider]

So much B-29-supporting infrastructure in such a small area

The airfields I am making, along with the harbor facilities make up just a tiny portion of the total Mariana ground area that was taken up with support facilites, major PTO HQ facilities, and mile upon mile of supply and ordnance storage areas all of which had to be surveyed, laid out and constructed.

The shear overwhelming weight and might of the American war machine was staring the Japanese starkly in the face.

[Jean Bomber]

Very nice sceneries Chris http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/icons/icon23.gifhttp://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/icons/icon14.gif that's in progress ,this area with a hight density of airfields is not a piece of cake to do the gsl layer,each object must be thinked checked before to place it ,by its impact on the fps ,they must be multi lod etc ...not easy ,it's to choice between the visual effect (to make a screenshot at a 5fps level http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/icons/icon10.gif ) or to let a door opened ,to keep the scenery playable ,to add some layouts for some missions using many planes with a lighted gsl layer like in the default style cfs2 airbases.

Don't know what I will do to amuse myself after finishing up Tinian.
It could be cool to do a japanase/pré invasion version of the islands http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/icons/icon10.gif .

JP

[MaskRider]

Hi JP!

Your suggestion about pre-US invasion Marianas is a good one. I have everything I need- research-wise to do so.

Yes, indeed,the dilemma of having to choose between scenery that is eye candy intense or FPS friendly is very frustrating. A "light" and "regular" version of the scenery layouts is certainly an option. Its too bad that we can't set a scenery complexity level for each GSL object as we could for API Macros.

Any volunteers for making same? I can supply the layouts as they currently stand and someone can whittle them down to a mission friendly size- doing frame rate checks etc., and turn them into GSLs ready to be loaded using GSLMan.exe? I am serious! I would welcome the effort and the help! I think its a great idea.

I have been thinking lately that I could really use a collaborator or two- particularly someone with skills making self installing scenery with options for custom tailoring the install to fit individual preferences and being able to quickly go back and re-tailor the install to suit changing needs and preferences: (1) how the scenery is to be used- FF tourism or combat intense missions or (2) when- pre-US occupation post US occupation for example.

[Blue Devil]

Endeavor to persevere, aye. :salute:

Yep, Saipan-Tinian area coming along nicely- I mean it really does look cool at around 10K feet with those 3 huge airfields down below.

Can't wait to get Marpi Point, harbor facilities and roads for Saipan completed.

Don't know what I will do to amuse myself after finishing up Tinian.

I use Saipan-Tinian for my missions for TF-52.1.3 MCVG-1: VMF-511,VMTB-233, ...flying off CVE-106 Block Island in support of the Okinawa campaign, ...works great.

(along w/ the Saipan-Tinian missions, of course...)

Done Okinawa yet...? (been in hack for a cruse or two, ...so I'm not current...)


As for rest, "...idle hands are the tools of the devil..."

And have no fear...

"...the beating will continue, ...until moral improves..."


Thanks again Chris, ...stellar work.

[MaskRider]

I use Saipan-Tinian for my missions for TF-52.1.3 MCVG-1: VMF-511,VMTB-233, ...flying off CVE-106 Block Island in support of the Okinawa campaign, ...works great.

(along w/ the Saipan-Tinian missions, of course...)

Done Okinawa yet...? (been in hack for a cruse or two, ...so I'm not current...)


As for rest, "...idle hands are the tools of the devil..."

And have no fear...

"...the beating will continue, ...until moral improves..."


Thanks again Chris, ...stellar work.

Hiya BD,

Glad to hear that these Mariana sceneries are working well for you. That is encouraging!

WRT Okinawa, the only Okinawa I have is the old API Macro version from way back when- biggest problem with it being that it is built entirely on stock CFS2 shorelines and mesh.

But I have been thinking that the next logical direction to go would be west to Okinawa, then south to Formosa and then- finally- the Philippines and rework all of the old MR API Macro style scenery in those three places. Hehe- work enough for a life time!

[kdriver]

Hi Chris,

Personally, I think all your old airfields are great. Some of them only need to have the flatten section amended so as to fit the new mesh.

If you prefer the challenge of something new in the Pacific, rather than going over old ground, there are the Aleutians. It was known as the forgotten campaign, although the US took a year to eject the Japanese invaders. The scenery is quite spectacular and, unique to the PTO, winter textures can be utilised.

Looking forward to the Saipan airfields.

Cheers,
Kevin

[alpha_1]

I would second KDriver on that, MR......I think somebody somewhere did missions on this, did they not?.....maybe I was havin' a bad dream but I thought I saw something somewhere (lotta help that is.....!@#$%^&*).

I know nothing about scenery, but I DO know it's pretty spectacular up that way.