Vultee XP-54 - Texture Artist Needed

[magoo]

Merc Air.

Hmmmmmmm.......

You know, Milton sent me this variant with all the guns removed. Nice and clean, with a lot of empty cubic feet up front. For a truck, it'll be quite fast....smooth.....

.....Thinking of an outfit that specializes in fast, discreet overnight delivery.......the XP-54 could certainly augment the fleet......

Pressurized cockpit....turbocharging.....nitrous......

Maybe for the twenty first century she could get a turboprop. Looking at the "in and out" ducting.....we wouldn't have to change a thing in the mdl.......

I think M.Shupe Aerolab may need some volunteer test pilots in a short while....

.................

[Milton Shupe]

Merc Air.

Hmmmmmmm.......

You know, Milton sent me this variant with all the guns removed. Nice and clean, with a lot of empty cubic feet up front. For a truck, it'll be quite fast....smooth.....

.....Thinking of an outfit that specializes in fast, discreet overnight delivery.......the XP-54 could certainly augment the fleet......

Pressurized cockpit....turbocharging.....nitrous......

Maybe for the twenty first century she could get a turboprop. Looking at the "in and out" ducting.....we wouldn't have to change a thing in the mdl.......

I think M.Shupe Aerolab may need some volunteer test pilots in a short while....

.................

Hmmmmmm, very interesting ...

[ksw1375]

As a filler project, and intended for a quick finish, I wanted something basic and quick, but fortunately I found one in my inventory that matched perfectly.
I borrowed the cockpit from the xp-72. The VC is textured by Nigel. It's not representative of the real world Vultee xp-54. I know this not because there are any pictures or drawings available for the aircraft but because we do know it had an inverted U control arm upon which the "steering wheel" was mounted.

Such is life. If I had pictures and drawings of the XP-54 cockpit, I would have tried to be more realistic. So, this is what you get.

good cockpit XP-54!!

[ksw1375]

Any news on the XP-54?

[huub vink]

Its done when it is done.................

When there is something to report, I'm sure Milton will share it with us immediately. Creating a paintkit is time consuming. Especially when you need a lot of research and when there are a limited amount of sources.

Its an exiting project, so I can imagine you get impatient, but please wait for the things to come.

Cheers,
Huub

[Blackbird686]

The real XP-54 when all of the design features were incorporated, and the guns and armor were added (Except for the P&W H Block engine that was planned) turned out to be a heavy craft. The XP-54 model currently being developed here at SOH, models the characteristics of the real plane to that extent.... it's heavy. The model has a very "heavy aircraft" feel on the stick. Despite its sleek design and fast look, the XP-54 climbs a little slower, and attention to the trim must be followed as per spec in order to pilot her properly. She's definitely not a 'hot rod', but if proper technique and attention to detail are followed, she's a performer in her own right. And landings are pretty easy, here again... follow specs and you can't go wrong.

The "racing version", currently under development will be faster and a lot lighter for you armchair Reno Racer fans. Like Huub said, this is currently an 'active' project and as more info is released, you folks will be the first to know.

BB686

[Milton Shupe]

Mike Kelley is doing the paint kit. He said on January 19th he was about wrapped up on the details and was putting a "real look" on it. That's the status on the paint kit.

Tom Falley has been improving the FSX flight model and we are testing that as we speak.

I am happy with the FS9 flight model as is.
The aircraft.cfg still needs some tweaks to radios, lights, etc. and verifying all other systems are working correctly.

Thanks BB for the update there on your tests.

It'll be a couple months before some paints are ready and therefore the beta release, I suspect.

I would post some screenshots but nothing has changed visually since my last display post.

EDIT: Well, I went back to look and I guess I have not posted any pics of the OD temporary paint.

[Sundog]

That looks great with some paint thrown on it. Thanks for the previews.

[Milton Shupe]

Attached is performance data used for flight model development.

[magoo]

After the war, it was thought that both XP-54 prototypes had been scrapped.

In late nineteen forty six, rumours began to circulate about a strange looking plane seen only in the twilight of the Mojave evenings, it's unearthly sound echoing from the distant mountains surrounding the dry lake beds.

Another story overheard at an airport cafe described an aviation contractor purchasing a boxcar load of Allison V-3420's from a scrap dealer for a few hundred bucks.

It was all in passing and without detail or specifics. Folks were easily distracted by the reports of a flying saucer sighting, or the new air race circuit developing up north in Reno....

[Blackbird686]

That guy didn't buy that boxcar load of Allison V-3420 engines, Magoo... he STOLE them (for that price)!

BB686

[magoo]

About twenty years ago I was having coffee and a sandwich with a fellow who was chief pilot of an aerial water-tanker concern. He told me a story of how the consortium sent one of their purchasing agents down to a USN auction in California to bid on a decommissioned navy plane. Four planes were on the block, and his task was to win bidding on the best one, and arrange it's return to British Columbia for conversion to a water bomber.

Well....the competition was light, and he won the bid in a great anti-climax, at a much lower price than expected. As he was walking around the plane contemplating the next set of logistics, he was approached by some navy officers. They informed him that there was a tightly knit schedule to remove the planes before the next auction inventory could be arranged for viewing.

....Planes..??

He had mistakenly believed that he was bidding on one aircraft, when in fact, the bid was for all four, plus a warehouse of parts. Pricing based on the value of scrap metal by the ton.

A flurry of inquiries quickly produced a crew for each aircraft, each of which was loaded to the gunwales with spare parts before taking off en route to their new home in Canada.

What sort of plane would take only four of, to empty a warehouse in 1959?

That would be the Martin Mars.....purchased price based on the value of scrap metals by the ton.

[Blackbird686]

THAT was a GOOD story! What a deal...! Thanks for sharing that...

BB686

[magoo]

The fictional premise of the "last XP-54" comes down to the idea that after the war, number two Swoose was bought by a friendly sub-contractor to Consolidated-Vultee just as she was signed off for scrap.

The goal was Reno. The missing nose was re-fabricated, about 5000 lbs of military weight was removed, and she ran in the first year, with P-38s, P-39s, what-all.

Without the weight, the plane's performance picked up noticeably, but not enough to place high in the pack. Beyond the sheer size of the craft, the Lycoming engine was a real real problem. It was an underdeveloped prototype mill with a host of issues, no spare parts, and no replacements.

Looking for alternative power, history shows us that between 100 & 150 Allison V-3420 were built. (I believe 100 were standardized, and 20 to 50 were variation for different applications and specs. Accounts vary widely.)

An odd engine that would fit nothing, but had a lot of components interchangeable with the regular Allison V-12. In this fictional account, we'll imagine that some V-3420s were intercepted from the recycling industry, and thus, create a fictional premise for a postwar life of a ghostly and little known warbird prototype.

Some racing in the forties, perhaps some aerial surveying in the fifties, errr....a little clandestine work in Central America in the late sixties....and a return to Reno in the seventies for a full blown run at the track.

Currently polishing off flight models that deal with the Swoose's post war configurations, plus two sound packs that will feature Lycoming H-2470 and Allison V-3420. ( Very different sounding!!)

Most work for FSX Acceleration is done, particularly the audio which really take advantage of sound cones. The main task in the next week is to thin out all this stuff to work FS9, before handing back to the master creator for inspection.

Two questions I'm dealing with:

1- Is anybody running a non-acceleration version of FSX. If so, does the Control Options show a keyboard entry for War Emergency Power (WEP)?

2- I'm about to start casting about for a crafts-person who has the time and skill to convert Milton's Swoose Goose into an FSX dedicated model. Certainly the FS9 model will port over (as usual) with a few tweaks.....but the idea of native shadows in the cockpit, (among other benefits) is intriguing.
This last part I'm quite pragmatic about. I know very little about fabricating mesh, and can only assume that an FSX conversion would be a complex and time consuming task. For that part, I can make no promises, and hope for the best. Once I've got the presentation together, I'll start making calls....

[Milton Shupe]

Mike Kelley is still crankin' on the paint kit and seems to have the really tough stuff done. Doing a little experimentation now.

This screenshot was taken in FSX by Mike and received by me today.

Looking great Mike!

[Blackbird686]

Great News! I was getting ready to give this thread a ... Looking superb at this stage of the game.

BB686

[Moses03]

Any updates on the XP-54 project? Curious minds would like to know.

[Milton Shupe]

Any updates on the XP-54 project? Curious minds would like to know.

Hi Kevin,

Mike Kelley is near wrapping up the paint kit portion of his work and has two liveries in progress.

He sent these three pics yesterday as he was taking a break from the paint work.

No date as to when things will be available.

[falcon409]

Don't spend a lot of time over here any more (actually none except for some recent Marauder interest) so I completely missed this beauty. I did find the basic design of the Vultee similar in many aspects to the "Akita" that Kazunori Ito released recently:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...m-Kazunori-Ito

[Milton Shupe]

This aircraft would have been a screamer had the USAAF not changed the role for which it was originally designed.

But, maybe Magoo will address that; have not heard from him lately.

[Moses03]

Thanks Milton. This will be a fun one to fly for sure.

[Milton Shupe]

Mike sent this over this morning in classic Richard Petty style :-)

[ksw1375]

Mike sent this over this morning in classic Richard Petty style :-)

wow!!! beautiful paint style!!

[Sundog]

Very cool! I can see my favorite Gulf and Western scheme appearing on it someday as well.

[jrbirdman]

(Drools) I can't wait to have these and their variants in my FS9 and FSX hangars!!! Great work to wall involved and thank you for making them!! Kind regards, Jeremy