SECTION F8 - Is it still alive?

[menef]

Hi mates!
I was wondering if Section F8 team is still in activity.
The web site is still there with all dwnl links but all the projects
planned/in development really seem to have been forgotten since years. It's a pity, because they have done a nice job with their first
product....!

[MrZippy]

Nobody active on their forum site. Last post was sometime in 2016. I use their F-86, which I downloaded about a
year and a half ago. They did produce a fine product so it's a shame if they gave up on their new projects.

[speedy70]

I think you will find that section F8 was Jan Visser.

Cheers Chris

[Javis]

I think you will find that section F8 was Jan Visser.

Cheers Chris

Correct, Chris. I set it up and did the model work but a few other people were involved just as much, not to say even more. First and foremost my good friend and brilliant programmer Hansjoerg Naegle who sadly disappeared during the first work round of the C-47 Vintage Virtual Cockpit and my good friend and brilliant flightdynamics guru Rob Young (who has sadly left our virtual flying world as well ). And more good friends like Cliff Presley and Dudley Henriques. Cliff used to be well known around this premises but has also left to discover other horizons. Like Dudley he used to fly jet fighters for real. He did the F-86 Flight Manual and together with Dudley assisted Rob to create the flight dynamics. Cliff never flew the F-86 but Dudley did. Later on he became a well known display pilot mostly flying the P-51. Dudley works with A2A now.

It's clear that my original plan, to create the F-86E/F and most of its derivatives like the D, K, H, and seagoing Fury sisters FJ-2, 3 and 4 was a little too far fetched, not to say totally impossible but such can happen due to over-enthusiasm. Sorry about that.

We keep the site alive because there are still simmers flying FS-9 that might have an interest in our F-86 model.

I'd still love to get to work on atleast the Sabre Dog (and K) and atleast one of the Furies but without Hansi and Rob to work with that's very unlikely to ever going to happen.

Turn our FS-9 Sabre into native FSX/P3Dv4 and mod it into an FJ-2 or 3 you say ? Not possible because its a totally different animal. Only the wings would've come in handy.

I suppose i'm not the only one thinking that both the Sabre Dog (and K) and Fury FJ-2 or -3 and -4 are blatantly missing in FSX and P3Dv4 for certain so Milviz how about it ?... ( Colin kindly asked me not to develop our F-86 into native FSX and we didn't so i think a favor in return would be pretty cool.. )

( and btw, if needed, i have a CD loaded with the best HR photos of the F-86K cockpit that sits here in the Mil.Aviation Museum at Soesterberg)



So, that's the SectionF8 story, folks. In a nutshell, believe me..

Cheers,
Jan

[Bjoern]

Wonder why nobody tried to run the F-86 through MCX yet.


(My fifth or quarter finished GMax conversion seems to have vanished into the great, blue yonder.)

Scratch that; found it. Volunteers? (With a working GMax and XML skills.)

[menef]

Thank you Jan for this explanation
I think that an F86 D/K for FSX/P3D should be a best seller

[Javis]

Wonder why nobody tried to run the F-86 through MCX yet.

What would that do, Bjoern ?... Instant FSX conversion ?...

It does get a bit long in the tooth, doesn't it..

[Bjoern]

What would that do, Bjoern ?... Instant FSX conversion ?...

Yes and no. Compared to a conversion from the source file, you won't have to worry about having to create new materials. Drawbacks include not being able to edit or add animation keyframes and potentially voiding the effort by running into one or two MCX bugs.

But, in light of GMax' mild incompatibility to Windows 10, it might actually be the preferable solution.

It does get a bit long in the tooth, doesn't it..

Are you f'n kidding me?

Let people work the exterior materials a bit and this thing is going to be as good as new. The 2D appearance of the VC panels would even permit a relatively easy adaption to one of the later models without having to change the entire model.
And if you can get a hold of Roy Holmes, you won't even have to worry about the FDE.

[Mach3DS]

Javis,

I would just love to see a FJ4 and Saberdog. Those are very much no shows in our hobby. New native versions would be fantastic. We really need good VC's to go along with them too....ah, such is the life of the FSX/P3D wishlist lover! Remember first seeing and flying the SF8 Saber in FS9....it was incredible. Great job! I remember Gary Smith did many paints for it.

[Bjoern]

We really need good VC's to go along with them too....ah, such is the life of the FSX/P3D wishlist lover!

Didn't you want to take up modeling?


Regardless, and again: The 2D aspect of the VC is only advantageous for quick configuration changes. Managing panel configurations when 3D gauges are involved is a nightmare.
Upping the polycount and texture resolution on some elements, however, can't hurt.

[Aircanuck]

Always thought this Saber gave the Milviz cat a run for the money starting with the VC !! Have had both and continue to pull this ole girl out to stretch it's legs on a regular basis.

Cheers

[Snurdley]

Would love to see a native version of the F-86. Had one of the best pilot figures ever, added so much realism. Could help with textures, but sadly not a Gmax'er.

[mib]

New link of SectionF8?

[falcon409]

My recollection is that a Native FSX version was discussed but never done and the website was still up for quite awhile even though no updates were forthcoming. I don't think the original website is still around but the airplane and all the various tweaks, fixes and 3rd party updates can be found at various download sites. Start searching.

[vonstroheim]

Wonder why nobody tried to run the F-86 through MCX yet...

Well I did try that, with the very latest version of ModelConverterX, and it works somewhat, but with opaque glass, always-on landing lights, funky landing gear doors, etc.. I don't know how to fix that, but I suspect it's not that complicated:



It's a pity because the original FS9 portover works quite fine in FSX/DX10 (with simple alpha channel tweak). Nice VC and beautiful liveries, payware quality...