ICON A5 up at Avsim. [Archive]

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Paul Anderson

May 23rd, 2011, 07:07

Good looking little seaplane.
Can't wait until I get my graphics problems sorted out to fully appreciate it.

Daube

May 23rd, 2011, 07:10

The VC looks really good on that giant toy !
Thanks a lot for the information, I'm downloading right now :ernae:

falcon409

May 23rd, 2011, 09:45

Downloaded, installed and flown (Icon is one I would love to see done to it's actual beauty and native FSX). Much improved over the only other Icon that I've seen done. Better VC (no 2d available), better exterior modeling, which is an accomplishment due to the complex fuselage design and fun to fly and land. Water landings are strange because of the "scrape" wave that activates when you touch down on water. . . .it sounds like you're doing a belly landing on concrete, lol.

I was at first anxious to give the moving map a good look, but then discovered that I lost about 14fps instantly upon pulling the moving map up on screen. . . . .go back to a setup screen or turn it off and the fps are back. Looks like I'll pull that module out and insert the GPS 500 in it's place. Too bad, it was pretty nicely done.

Paul Anderson

May 23rd, 2011, 09:53

OleBoy

May 23rd, 2011, 09:56

Ed, did the developer include paint templates? Never mind. It's small enough. I'll download and have a look.

falcon409

May 23rd, 2011, 10:00

Ed, did the developer include paint templates? Never mind. It's small enough. I'll download and have a look.
No, but the textures look pretty simple really and since there are no panel lines or rivets. . . .makes it a lot simpler to just add paint and go.:salute:

falcon409

May 23rd, 2011, 10:05

Well, after taking a quick look at the VC via FSPanel Studio, it appears that nothing is accessible. all the gauges must be coded within the mdl file, so the fancy moving map is useless unless you have the ability to spare 14fps, lol. Too bad.

OleBoy

May 23rd, 2011, 10:30

The Icon 5 is rather unique. I don't recall ever seeing one anyway. It's not bad for what it is. No issues with the map for me. I like the way it shows all the water bodies, or, you can switch to see where the airports are. Real handy for pond hopping!

I tried to figure out the scrape noise. I deleted the effect off the config in hopes that would get rid of the sound. No such luck :kilroy:

Nice little plane actually.
After looking on Google I notice there's a shot where the wings are folded. Other pictures also. And ONLY $139.000.00!!!
http://www.loqu.com/worth-139000-usd-flying-car-2010-will-be-listed-in-the-usa/blogs/cddifouk-1448

Ferry_vO

May 23rd, 2011, 13:47

Thanks for the heads-up, it's a really nice aircraft! :ernae:

Bruce Thompson

May 23rd, 2011, 14:46

Just had a look on Icons website, http://www.iconaircraft.com/ some great video's of the aircraft flying, water takeoff's & landings, trailer launch and recovery etc.

What a super model this is, thanks for the HU, try the wing folding and watch it from above the wing.

Apart from the problem with the moving map eating FPS, I also leave it switched off, the only other minor and it is only minor is that the pilot looks a bit pale in the face.
A real fun airplane I wish I had $139,000, will have to be a Lottery win.

Daube

May 23rd, 2011, 14:59

Finally tried it, and I had a lot of fun with it.
I confirm the map eats a lot of FPS. When displaying in black and blue, it's still flyable with a lot of stuttering. When displaying the topography however, it becomes unflyable.

Paul Anderson

May 23rd, 2011, 15:51

I copied Mooney sound folder to this plane's folder, then edited sound.cfg.
Commented out left/right wing scrape sections figuring couldn't hurt and changed fusilage scrape filename to waterloop.

falcon409

May 23rd, 2011, 16:39

I copied Mooney sound folder to this plane's folder, then edited sound.cfg.
Commented out left/right wing scrape sections figuring couldn't hurt and changed fusilage scrape filename to waterloop.
Perfect Paul, thanks!:salute:

Reddog

May 24th, 2011, 08:13

This is a classic in the making ... good stuff - will suit Alpine, Caribbean, PNW, etc. flying.
Liking very much (used RADITOR program at radius 6 - like my wings to almost fit screen width).
Many thanks to the author.
please more info on that program. I remember something like that for an earlier FS version didn't know there was one for FSX. Besides this a/c the Cirrus sr22 needs it too. In the display screen they are so small u can hardly see them and in the outside view in the sim they are the same way.

falcon409

May 24th, 2011, 09:41

Here ya go Reddog:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=RADItor

Reddog

May 24th, 2011, 10:46

Here ya go Reddog:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=RADItor

Thank you:salute: I'm a pain I know but can some tell how this works, whats the X,Y,Z stand for? also the radius?

n4gix

May 24th, 2011, 11:03

X = left/right
Y = fore/aft
Z = up/down

Radius = technically 1/2 wingspan, but more useful to think of it as "viewing distance."

Using RADitor, you'll no doubt see some very odd values, such as 6.2893892 or some such...

...but, simply replace values between 5 and 10 until the viewing distance is satisfactory to your tastes.

falcon409

May 24th, 2011, 19:07

Still trying to figure out the interior textures for this one (if there are any), but in the meantime, just for a switch, I did a quick color change to give me a second Icon to fly. I also redid these textures to 4096x4096 (no mips), redrew all the logos, text, etc. to allow for the higher res skins, so if anyone needs those for future repaints, let me know.

Bruce Thompson

May 25th, 2011, 00:36

falcon409

May 25th, 2011, 15:24

That looks teriffic Falcon 409:applause::applause:, are you going to upload it? It would be nice to have a second choice on this aircraft.
I flew it last night for three hours around PNW it's a real treat, would love a go in the full size.
Regards
Bruce.
Yea Bruce, just as soon as I win the lottery, pay off my bills, give some to the church and take care of my family, the first purchase I would make would be the Icon A-5 with my name on the canopy frame, lol. A light Sport Aircraft, limited below 10,000, day flights only and I'm about a 10 minute drive from one of the largest man-made lakes in North America. . . .sounds like a plan to me, lol.

Oh, yes I will be uploading what I have in a day or so.:salute:

ryanbatc

May 25th, 2011, 18:10

falcon409

May 25th, 2011, 19:11

It's a cool plane... the VC textures need some work (are they even textures?)

But it appears the GPS is home made... rather built from scratch with a bit of a default overlay so kudos to the author for that.
On the textures, there aren't any other than the main panel, the remainder of the interior (side panels, floor, seats, etc., are just color swatches.

As for the GPS, I e-mailed the author to see if there was any fix for the fps hit caused when you turn on the "topo" mode. . . .he told me the Moving map only contains elements from the standard GPS500 (done in xml). Not sure why it hits my system so hard but it drops my fps by about 14fps. I replaced the moving map with the GPS500 and no more framerate hits.

ryanbatc

May 25th, 2011, 19:16

Yeah I have a beefy system and the topo map destroys my fps lol. I noticed the topo map seems to be very high resolution... higher than default. Maybe that's why.

Bruce Thompson

May 25th, 2011, 21:31

Yea Bruce, just as soon as I win the lottery, pay off my bills, give some to the church and take care of my family, the first purchase I would make would be the Icon A-5 with my name on the canopy frame, lol. A light Sport Aircraft, limited below 10,000, day flights only and I'm about a 10 minute drive from one of the largest man-made lakes in North America. . . .sounds like a plan to me, lol.

Oh, yes I will be uploading what I have in a day or so.:salute:

You mean of the 500+ they have orders for one of e'm ain't yours!!! Euro lottery is £27 million
this week i'll give it ago:icon_lol:.

falcon409

May 25th, 2011, 22:13

You mean of the 500+ they have orders for one of e'm ain't yours!!! Euro lottery is £27 million
this week i'll give it ago:icon_lol:.
I wish, lol. . . .really nice all purpose little airplane though. . . .it's nice to dream!:sleep:

Maury2008

May 26th, 2011, 07:14

On the textures, there aren't any other than the main panel, the remainder of the interior (side panels, floor, seats, etc., are just color swatches.

As for the GPS, I e-mailed the author to see if there was any fix for the fps hit caused when you turn on the "topo" mode. . . .he told me the Moving map only contains elements from the standard GPS500 (done in xml). Not sure why it hits my system so hard but it drops my fps by about 14fps. I replaced the moving map with the GPS500 and no more framerate hits.

how do you replaced the moving map with the GPS500?, i can't see any gauge in the vc section of the panel config

falcon409

May 26th, 2011, 07:28

how do you replaced the moving map with the GPS500?, i can't see any gauge in the vc section of the panel config
I'm on my Blackberry right now, but in a few hours I'll be at my PC and I can give you the info you need.

Reddog

May 26th, 2011, 08:25

how do you replaced the moving map with the GPS500?, i can't see any gauge in the vc section of the panel config
Panel cfg, VCockpit08 part, like this:

[VCockpit08]
//Moving Map
file=A5_SkyMap_C.bmp
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=1
ident=GPS_PANEL
pixel_size=1024,768
texture=$A5_SkyMap_C
gauge00=fs9gps!gps_500, 0,0,1024,768
//gauge00=A5!SkyMap,0,0,1024,768

Maury2008

May 26th, 2011, 08:47

Panel cfg, VCockpit08 part, like this:

[VCockpit08]
//Moving Map
file=A5_SkyMap_C.bmp
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=1
ident=GPS_PANEL
pixel_size=1024,768
texture=$A5_SkyMap_C
gauge00=fs9gps!gps_500, 0,0,1024,768
//gauge00=A5!SkyMap,0,0,1024,768

Thank i try it

falcon409

May 26th, 2011, 09:15

. . . .also do this:

[Window01]
Background_color=0,0,0
//size_mm=1024,768
size_mm=512,384
position=2
visible=1
ident=SkyMap
window_size=0.3,0.4
//gauge00=A5!SkyMap
gauge00=fs9gps!gps_500, 0,0

falcon409

May 26th, 2011, 09:20

After looking at Reddogs version, what I got from the author is a bit different and it works ok, so I'll add it here just as an alternative:

[VCockpit08]
//Moving Map
fle=A5_SkyMap_C.bmp
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=512,512
//size_mm=1024,1024
visible=1
ident=GPS_PANEL
pixel_size=1024,768
texture=$A5_SkyMap_C
//gauge00=A5!SkyMap,0,0
gauge00=fs9gps!gps_500
:salute:

falcon409

May 27th, 2011, 11:48

Just some shots of the A5:

Bruce Thompson

May 27th, 2011, 12:06

They all look great falcon409, but that Black one is "the dogs wotsits"!!:applause::applause::applause:

GaryGB

May 27th, 2011, 16:40

Thanks for the heads up on this great freeware aircraft ! :applause:

This reminds me of my real world flying for years in a Lake Amphibian LA4-200 EP (with bat-wing fillet option). :cool:

BTW: The ICON-A5's default wide MDL zoom level (which some may wish to adjust with RADItor as described by Ed and Bill above) actually makes for interesting sight-seeing flights at other variable "+ / - key" zoom levels. :icon_eek:

Although I hadn't flown in the Mooney for years, I liked using that aliased FSX default sound set with the ICON-A5 aircraft, even though I knew it was nearly 3x overpowered for the ICON-A5.

FYI: One can use an authentic Rotax 912-S 4 CYL 100 hp (75 kw) engine sound set for the ICON-A5's Rotax 912-ULS flat-four engine, 100 hp (74.6 kW).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotax_912

A Rotax 912-S 4 CYL 100 hp (75 kw) engine sound set is available via another fine freeware aircraft:

Flight Design CTsw for FSX at http://www.premaircraft.com/ctsw_FSX/index.html

* Wheeled VFR - Day-Night version: http://www.premaircraft.com/ctsw_FSX/xctsw_ij.zip

* Float VFR - Day-Night version: http://www.premaircraft.com/ctsw_FSX/xctsw_ij.zip

NOTE: The CTX aircrafts' sound files install to:

[FSX install path]\SimObjects\Airplanes\fsfsconv\Rotax_Snd\

The ICON-A5 Sound.cfg can be ZIP-ped into a backup file, then edited so it aliases to the above Rotax_Snd folder.

After installing the Flight Design CTsw for FSX, by editing the current ICON-A5 Sound.cfg at:

[FSX install path]\SimObjects\Airplanes\ICON_A5\sound\sound.cfg

...so it contains only this text:

[fltsim]
alias=fsfsconv\Rotax_Snd

...one will use the Rotax 912-S 4 CYL 100 hp (75 kw) engine sound set instead of the previous alias to the Mooney_Bravo's 270 hp engine sounds.

PS: I'm looking forward to trying out Ed's new repaints on this fine little bird ASAP. :salute:

Happy Flying ! :)

GaryGB

falcon409

May 27th, 2011, 17:29

GaryGB,

Many thanks for HU on the soundset. I also fly the CTsw from Premier Aircraft Design, but never knew specifically what soundset they used.

As for the repaints, I'm doing some fine tuning of the colors right now and will upload them within the next day or so.:salute:

Killbilly

May 28th, 2011, 05:59

Thanks for the tips on replacing the moving map with the gps500. That works a treat. Also, those repaints look great.

One question, though: is it just me, or is the throttle animation in the VC backward? Is that the way it really works in the A5? If so, that would seem like some pilots are going to be confused.

falcon409

May 28th, 2011, 08:24

. . . . . .One question, though: is it just me, or is the throttle animation in the VC backward? Is that the way it really works in the A5? If so, that would seem like some pilots are going to be confused.
Actually I never paid much attention to it since I use a CH Throttle and always have my eyes outside. . . .but you're right, it does move opposite of the way you would think it should. Seems like that would take a bit of getting used to if it actually works that way.

The liveries are tweaked and I'll post them as one package later today. There are only three textures that change for each of the liveries. I'm not familiar enough with FSX repainting to know how to shortcut this, so maybe someone else can explain. Right now, each livery contains all of the original textures plus the three that change. I've seen that most FSX repaints have a "common" folder, then a cfg file in each texture folder which apparently eliminates the need to have all textures in all folders. . . .but in the words of a friend of mine. . . ."no comprende". lol:wiggle:

falcon409

May 28th, 2011, 09:26

It doesn't look like anyone else is doing any repaints on the Icon, but just in case, I took the time to do an overlay indicating what each little block of color on the fuselage texture corresponds to on the model. It can be a bit confusing and unfortunately some colors cross over to several different areas of the airplane so for instance, if you add red to the handle on the tail it also adds that color to the wheel wells (as an example). I'll add that overlay to the upload so it's available if anyone actually has any interest in it.:salute:

falcon409

May 28th, 2011, 21:37

OK, the three liveries are uploaded here. I have also uploaded it to my "Box" account here:
http://www.box.net/shared/e1xlbabxc1
:salute:

Maury2008

May 29th, 2011, 01:15

Actually I never paid much attention to it since I use a CH Throttle and always have my eyes outside. . . .but you're right, it does move opposite of the way you would think it should. Seems like that would take a bit of getting used to if it actually works that way.

The liveries are tweaked and I'll post them as one package later today. There are only three textures that change for each of the liveries. I'm not familiar enough with FSX repainting to know how to shortcut this, so maybe someone else can explain. Right now, each livery contains all of the original textures plus the three that change. I've seen that most FSX repaints have a "common" folder, then a cfg file in each texture folder which apparently eliminates the need to have all textures in all folders. . . .but in the words of a friend of mine. . . ."no comprende". lol:wiggle:

It is possible to make the window glass more clear?

falcon409

May 29th, 2011, 05:39

It is possible to make the window glass more clear?
I don't think so, not unless someone else knows of a way. If I had my way, I'd do my repaints in 32bit "bmp" textures rather than dds. All this "specular", "bump map" texturing, especially on an airplane like this that has nothing to "bump" seems unnecessary. If that were the case, I'd say just darkening the alpha for that area on the texture would clear it up, but with this dds stuff I have no idea really.:salute:

OleBoy

May 29th, 2011, 16:49

I've got a lot of interest in this fun little plane. Only problem, other repaints and models are on fire currently that I can't seem to put out.

From the sounds of things this isn't very paintalicious :kilroy:

DennyA

September 7th, 2011, 18:38

Nice article on the Icon A5 from FlightGlobal.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/07/361693/creating-a-light-sport-icon.html

Made me pull the plane out and fly it some more. A beauty! Did any cool repaints ever appear?