A Request to RealAir

[DaveQ]

Despite being over 5 years old the RealAir Spitfire IX/XIV is a gem. The paint kit, specular files and bump maps can give a very realistic look to the Spit and she flies beautifully. A friend of mine asked me to do a couple of paints of photo-reconnaisance Spitfires active in the UK (which I've done) but, although the PRXIX with the Griffon engine can be modelled well using the civil version of the plane, the PRXI is a bit of a dog. Basically all you can do is paint a IX in XI's clothes. So, RealAir (if you're with us), is there any hope we could have a proper XI model with deeper nose (for the larger oil bath), no cannon and a one-piece windscreen?

If so here are a couple of American skins for it, both of PA892, assigned to the 7th Photo-Reconnaisance Group, firstly at Mounts Farm in 1944 and later au naturel at Chalgrove in 1945.


93889


93890


93891

I've already removed the 8" oblique F24 camera mount from the fuselage on the earlier scheme, though the XI could carry it if needed, and I guess it was probably used on low-level missions after D-Day.

I'm a bit reluctant to post these because of the glaring inaccuracies though the paint kit and bump maps have enabled a very realistic finish on the metal one (though I would say that wouldn't I!!). But if the model appears....

DaveQ

[Bradburger]

Very nice Dave!

I think a proper PR.XI in FSX would be nice - maybe RealAir will oblige some day, or Plane Design will give us an all new FSX version (they had one under development).

I must admit, I was always puzzled though why RA never did a true MKVIII as well, since they included MKVIII schemes for the IX model.

But having done the XIV with it's retractable tailwheel, surely it would have been straightforward to add this to the IX model, and make a true MKVIII. (For some reason, they decided to keep the inner leading edge tanks as per the VIII/XIV, on the the MKIX model!) :confused:

Anyway, I agree that the textures and bump maps are superb, and do find it hard to believe that this is a 5 year old model!

Cheers

Paul

[pilottj]

Rob mentioned a little while ago at Avsim that they hope to bring their older releases (Tubine Duke, Scout, SF-260) up to their Legacy standards, as with Duke 2.0. This might include the Spitfire too, time will tell.

Cheers
TJ

[skyhawka4m]

or Plane Design will give us an all new FSX version (they had one under development).




I once had a long discussion via PM with Ed Wilson who was doing the design work on the spits and they long ago dropped all modeling. He was more than happy to send me the WIP Spits they were doing for FS9 and I must say....even though the complete paint kit wasn't done.....I loved flying them in overall gray. I would love for someone to try and contact Plane Design to see if they could take the models they had completed to convert them over to FSX. Some very nice modeling went into those planes. One thing I remembered about them was when you idled back on the throttle they had the popping sound of the engine exhaust.......something no one has modeled even in the Mustangs.......so authentic.

[Bradburger]

I once had a long discussion via PM with Ed Wilson who was doing the design work on the spits and they long ago dropped all modeling. He was more than happy to send me the WIP Spits they were doing for FS9 and I must say....even though the complete paint kit wasn't done.....I loved flying them in overall gray. I would love for someone to try and contact Plane Design to see if they could take the models they had completed to convert them over to FSX. Some very nice modeling went into those planes. One thing I remembered about them was when you idled back on the throttle they had the popping sound of the engine exhaust.......something no one has modeled even in the Mustangs.......so authentic.

Yes, the PD Spits were, and still are the most visually accurate Spitfires ever done for a Flight Sim (Ed used original Supermarine drawings) and had some nice features for the time, like the engine popping backas you mention , and also the prop turning animation during startup.

I was lucky enough for Ed to send me the WIP Spits too, and I always encouraged him to keep going with them if he had the time. (The PD website says that there "are serveral projects in the works", but it also says that "none will be imminently released)". I think if they were updated to FSX standards, they would be a fantastic and welcome addition.

Just glad we have the RA MK.IX for FSX, and it would be nice if there was at some point an updated version released with improvements, and maybe the MK.VIII & a PR.XI too! (I like the use of the MDL code system that they use - ideal for the various differences seen between Spitfires).

Cheers

Paul