6 Attachment(s)
Curtiss H-16 Large America Flying Boat
Hello Folks,
There is a flying boat that has attracted my attention for some time now,
of which there is no CFS1 model available.
It is the 1917 Curtiss H-16 Large America Flying boat, the last, largest
and most powerful of the "H" Series by Glenn Curtiss, and heavily armed.
It also appears to have also been the most produced version.
I found this aircraft´s design very attractive, ( dig the sponsons!), and
although it looked complicated, with bleeds threatening everywhere I gave
it a go to see what would happen.
Surprisingly, with appropriate glue sequencing, bleeds are few and only
occur where too many elements come together, i.e. the engines, for example,
so the model seems viable. Surprisingly the fins and wires on the top wing
are fine too.
The flight model has two Liberty 12A engines, developing 400 Hp at 1800 RPM,
with two 4-bladed, 20-degree pitch (perhaps 18.5? I wonder...) wooden propellers,
11.25 ft in diameter, giving the plane a top speed of 95 mph, and the .air file seems
to be behaving itself.
The model upto now is at a modest 106.5% parts count, but despite intense
scrimping and saving, components have maxed out, and there only 6 structures
are left. Something will have to be done, as wing-floats, crew-heads, MG´s
and the disappearing hull for water landings are as yet missing, so we shall see!
Here are a few screenshots for eye candy! No textures yet, though...
Update: I just now corrected the keel at the nose, renewed the screenshots,
and put in the gunner´s wells.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
6 Attachment(s)
Curtiss H16 VC view progress
Hello Ivan, hello Folks,
Regarding the Tigercat, it´s a long time ago I uploaded it, and I didn´t know there were bugs.
After finishing this baby, I could try and fix the couple of Tigercat issues you mention. Thanks!
Anyway, here are some screenshots of the VC views now.
The forward view is fine, with the fore gunner and guns outside the cabin spars and windows.
The upward-left view shows the cockpit gun.
Note that I still have to fix gun-drum textures: The stripes are only supposed to show on the sides, not on top and bottom.
The strange thing in the side views is that the struts and wires show infront of the prop-blades although in the text the propblades are placed to show infront.
Also, there´s strangely a missing propblade, and when the prop-blur appears, the radiator block out parts of it. These issues had already appeared before adding the 5 MG´s, when file size was still under 65000. Now file size if 69,318 bytes.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
6 Attachment(s)
Further progress: Five SCASM-added MG´s
Hello again!
Here are some outside-view screenshots, showing the 5 gun structures.
The plane flies fine, and the model doesn´t seem to be corrupted, and elements display correctly
after a few glue sequences were corrected to eliminate some bleeds.
After the two nose-guns, there were a couple of Call32 instructions to substitute simple Call instructions, and after adding the cockpit gun, the model file couldn´t be updated any longer and a new one had to be saved. With the 2 dorsal guns, several more Call32 substitutions had to be done, but it all went well.
Here´s a WIP model, containing source files for anyone wishing to have a look-see inside
before it´s finished and uploaded.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
Corrections on Previous Models
Hello Ivan,
Of course there is no hurry for anything, be it Curtiss H-16, Tigercat or Havoc issues,
until you get your development machine back into working order.
The main problem with my CFS1 creations is the lack of a building team, and my "strong
point" is really only building the model itself. Textures, FD and Dp files are a bit more
complicated for me, although in some cases, they come out very well, but not always.
In the case of my FS98 planes, I do the building work, another in the team "The Last Mohicans"
does some very nice textures, and a third member helps with .air file issues.
For CFS2, I build hollowed out AF99 models with no crew or weapons, another in the team
"Westfront" does the Dp files, adding crew and weapons, a third member converts the AF99 models
to Gmax and adds several enhancements like virtual cockpits and gauges, and also does high-resolution extended bitmap textures. Then, a fourth member does extensive flight testing so that I can get the .air file right, and also undertakes the rather complicated CFS2 uploads.
For the Tigercat and Havocs, I´d have a suggestion: It would be nice if you could help me out with the different corrections - in fact it would be absolutely great, and I would appreciate it very much.
Perhaps, once your development machine is in order again, in the Tigercat and the Havoc threads, you could attach the corrected files (e-mails usually block aircraft .zip attachments), with some comments, and I could slip these corrections into the aircraft here, and then proceed with editing the aircraft uploaded in the CFS1 library with the corresponding updates, also adding corresponding acknowlegments to your efforts in the corrections.
How about that?
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
SCASM and the Curtiss H-16 .MDL file
Hello Ivan,
Thank you very much for your comments on SCASM.
In my case, once SCASM assembles the model correctly, I always use the
FSDS short format 133K option (I´ve never tried the Aircraft Animator 133K option,
or the FSDS long format 1029K one), and then I select update the .mdl file.
Furthermore, after the first .SCX saving, at the beginning of some SCASMing task,
I always use the "use existing file" option as I progress through the whole process.
If I have had to add parts to the model, it is normally by substituting a number
of simple 2D planar parts with 3D structures or components, in the same positions
in the SCASM listing. This ensures that correct glue-sequencing will be maintained.
If for re-assembly there are some Call commands that need to be substituted by
Call32 commands, it may happen that updating the .mdl file it gets refused, and
I re-name the old model file and let it make a new one. Upto now, this has worked
fine for me, without corrupting any models.
I am always amazed how SCASM or the MdlDisAs can correctly manipulate and
re-write .mdl files! Funnily enough, it is just the opposite to what you report! :untroubled:
On the Large America, today I have already fixed the orange base colour of the gun
structures to black, as it sometimes shone through the insignia-tagged gun muzzle.
Then, as I said yesterday, I´ll also adjust the texture bitmaps to eliminate the stripes
from the gun-drums.
Another thing I need to do is put the 4 propeller blades of each prop into a component,
which I couldn´t do for lack of components upto now. Maybe this will cure the interference
with the present SCASMed parts (blades struts and wires). It will be difficult to just substitute
the existing individual blades in the SCASM listing for prop components, and with maxed out
AF99 components maxed out, I´ll have to think of some strategy to do this.
I´ll see how it goes. I wonder...
I also have to add the new cockpit gun to the Dp files.
Incidentally, I forgot to include the extra Gun-structure AFX called "Parts", which went into the
SCASM listing. Here it is attached.
The guns are the items in the listing with 32 points and using textures. Restly stuff is the windows,
cabin canopy frame, and other stuff like struts and scarfrings.
Cheers for now ,
Aleatorylamp
2 Attachment(s)
VC view of prop animation
Hello Folks,
It´s going well with the corrected prop animation view from inside the VC, either with individual
blades or with prop components. Due to maxed out components and structures, I managed to
put propeller components in AF99 by substituting radiator components for provisional 2D planars.
These will be substituted for structures via SCASM later.
To find the correct call for prop animations from the VC, once the props (or blades) and problurs
are identified in the SCASM listing search was with "engine 2 speed" and "engine 1 speed", and after backtracking 2 or 3 steps, I arrived at at the labels for the beginning of the animation calls.
In the attached screenshots, radiators are still 2D, but the correct prop animation is shown to be
working very well.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
Control surface deflection angle
Hello Folks,
I am noticing something rather curious during the SCASMing process:
Having placed deflection angles for ailerons, elevators and rudder at 22 deg. in Aircraft animator,
I proceeded to correct the VC chase view with SCASM, and everything was fine.
Then I started to add the 3D elements (radiators and MG´s) for which there were insufficient
resources within AF99 alone, and of course, after substituting the 2D elements of the 2
radiators and the 2 nose-guns, there came the point where SCASM could no longer update
the existing .mdl file, and it had to create a new one.
Testing the new .mdl file, everything seemed to display perfectly in order, but the 22 deg.
control surface deflection angle was replaced by the default 45 deg. one.
This is all very well if one could tolerate watching control surfaces flapping wildly at
exaggerated angles, but this can be remedied!
Surprisingly enough, Aircraft Animator can identify the new model file written by SCASM,
and can correct and re-compile it, and the model functions and displays perfectly in the
simulator.
So far, so good... However, this has to be the last step in the model finalizing process, as
from this point on, SCASM rejects the model file, and reports an End Of File Error, and no
further SCASMing can be undertaken, even thogh the model performs flawlessly in the sim.
I thought it was rather curious, to say the least.
Anyway, I´ll be uploading the Curtiss H-16 soon.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
Angle of control in SCASM
Hi Ivan,
No, but I can try, thanks.
That way the model file will not be rendered useless for future SCASMing edits.
Also, perhaps I can increase the copilot´s turning head movement without having to
increase the rudder deflection angle...
Update: I´ve just tried to do it MYSELF in SCASM, but wasn´t successful.
I did a build just involving wings and copilot´s head, with 2 versions: One with a 22-degree rudder-turning angle, and another with a 45-degree angle. Each version had a separately named SCASM .scx file, but unfortunately they are identical, so I have not been trying to identify which part of the text refers to the turning angle.
Perhaps it is something elsewhere that defines the turning angle.
Now I´ll try and do it with ailerons and elevators, to see if they are the same as well.
I´ll also try some flaps. Perhaps it´s only those that are identifiable...
Results: Strangely enough, no difference is detected in the rudders.
However, the transformcall commands for flaps, elevator and ailerons, do have different values, although it only differes by 1.
Flaps: the second value is 1418 for a 45 degree deflection and 1419 for 90 degrees.
Elevators: the second value is 797 for 22 degrees and 798 for 45 degrees.
Ailerons: the third value is 499 for 22 degrees and 500 for 45 degrees.
(there is sometimes a + or - sign depending on whether it´s left or right).
Now I can try and see if the deflection angles of ailerons and elevators can be reduced...
The entries I found all seem to be hinge positions, not deflection angles, and seem to have
nothing to do with the difference of 1 in the values. So I´m getting nowhere fast, I´m afraid.
Anyway, as long as the plane works correctly in the sim, it doesn´t really matter to me if the .mdl file can´t be edited with SCASM after Aircraft Animator has put back correct deflection angles.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp