I also came across the Sikorsky S44 this was a surprise as well as it has a fully modeled interior including the FE, Radio Operator and Navigator Stations as well as the passenger cabin. I think the textures and paints could do with an experts touch but hard to ignore this one either.
Ah hah, thank you for that. I had looked on this page:
http://www.calclassic.com/scenery.htm#Oceania
... and they weren't there. I didn't go quite deep enough down the rabbit hole ;-).
Oh boy, looks like Lake Winnebago is going to get a little more crowded! Hopefully no one does a Hughes H-4...Oh wait, there's still room on Lake Butte des Morts!
Seahawk I do, I do, but alas that is beyond my capacity as a re-painter (the right program and skills), I call it a bit of a dark art getting metal textures right, there are a few folk who do it very well here at the Outhouse but I would not be so forward as to ask. And you can make stupid mistakes like the Shorts Empire, which I thought was polished metal but it turned out that they were not bare metal but were indeed painted with a sort of matt silver-white colour all over, so the original texture colouring was correct. Finding data or even a colour photograph of this era of aeroplane is nigh impossible but I came across a series colour shots taken by LIFE magazine in New York in the 1930's which was a real bonus.
Isn't that doping over canvas surfaces? Haven't seen the a/c in question but a silvery white is usually the sign of doping, especially in aircraft of that timeframe, IIRCwhich I thought was polished metal but it turned out that they were not bare metal but were indeed painted with a sort of matt silver-white colour all over
-building a new sig as you see this!-
Anyway after this digression onto flying boats generally. Having a look at the pre-release pictures at the web site, it certainly looks well advanced. One thing in particular caught my eye the fact that it seems they have modelled mooring buoys with ropes to the aircraft, that is a first I think. The interior is impressive. Another golden bird awaited with happy anticipation.
Just a note on George Diemer the maker of the Sikorskys, I have had a little correspondence with him and he is still about but has done no more modelling since 2011. Given the tools he had and the state of the sims back then, his S44 and S42 are very impressive indeed a lot of time and effort obviously went into them. His rendition of period working radios is amazing actually. In fact I would go so far as to say were they given a makeover texture wise these models would be the equal of modern releases in FSX.
Wonder what happened to a fall release? Anyone heard anything?
From their web site...
So, what is coming?
On the aircraft side we anticipate the B314 - The Clipper to be released this fall. We have started plans for a Martin Mars and target a late 2018 release.
I sent an email early last week and have heard nothing. Would be nice to know if development still going on.
I've sent them 2 emails over the past 2 months but haven't received replies to either, which is a shame. I'd like to think that they're still pressing on with the new B314 but it would have been useful to have more updates on their web site as there's been nothing new since the original announcement.
As they've now seriously missed the "fall 2017" release date, I sent them another email recently but, as with my previous emails, I've had no response. It may just be very poor customer relations but, with no updates on their web site for many months, it's starting to look a little dead-in-the-water (no pun intended). Still hoping...
Update to my last post. After emailing recently to find out if there was any update on the progress of the B314 v2, I received this today from Stefan Schaefer at PILOT'S:
"Unfortunately nothing than we work on it and proceed, though slower than anticipated. Definitely coming."
Great news.
Great news, thanks for the update!
No new updates that I have heard about.
I did find that GLCTextures has done some work on the 314. Sad that its dated but
still interesting to see.
https://www.facebook.com/glctextures/photos/ms.c.eJw9ycENADEIA7CNThQIIfsvVolr~_7QcwqKg9PJF~_2J MG0PHVSbvjvfxf12TELJx3DmfzzFPbfz4Ft8~-.bps.a.395179550928841.1073741837.395025714277558/395179594262170/?type=3&theater
Wow......great news!!!!!!!!!!!
CK
Flying Canada's "Left Coast"
Another update, this time from the Pilot's website: "On the aircraft side we anticipate the B314 - The Clipper to be released this fall. We have started plans for a Martin Mars and target a late 2018 release". Later than expected but, hopefully, worth the wait.
They did start their news update with "Well, that is new for us. We publish a Road Map for 2018 ..." which I don't think was there previously. It preceded the quote I gave above. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the info in my post on 11 Jan 18 is correct.
I fear this is another example of
1) Real world events/motivations pull them away from sim projects
2) They announce with great fanfare they are back and working on sim projects again.
3) Repeat step 1
Joe Cusick
San Francisco Bay Area, California.
I am serious, and stop calling me Shirley.
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