TA-4J Skyhawk Work-In-Progress

[YoYo]

Nice pictures Dave!

[FlyingsCool]

It looks amazing, Dino, and I'll wager it flies the same!

The only livery missing is VMFAT-102, MCAS Yuma. I'd wager almost every Marine A-4 driver went through that squadron during their introduction, up through advanced training, to the A-4. We had a lot of them on base, at least while I was there. Probably 20, or more.

I do know for a fact, though, that they were 1 less early 1980, late '79. Right around there. I had to go out to the Range to dig it's remains out of a smoking hole in the ground. He got "target fixation" during a strafing run. Got so low he shot himself down! Thank goodness the IP had the presence of mind to eject them both before it was too late. Wound up digging the wing guns out of 20' of sand, with the engine another 10' down. Thankfully, the debris field was relatively small, given his angle of descent.
We did have a very nice funeral for the several small creatures, lizards, snakes, and so on, that were killed by the burning fuel that fanned out from the impact. Little graves, nice crosses for each one, etc.
I did get in a bit of trouble, during, though. We had a very green Lieutenant in charge of the recovery, and he didn't keep his eyes open for poisonous reptiles. During the funeral, a rattle snake (sidewinder) decided to try and sneak up between the Lt's legs, so I shot it in the head. Sadly, he hadn't noticed that I was armed. Wearing the pistol under my cammies, I can see why...
He yelled at me for a good 20 minutes. Very silly, really. We WERE out in the desert, miles from any form of civilisation, so it was perfectly legal to go armed. And I'd really rather listen to him whine, than try to suck poison out of his leg...
I must mention that I was a rifle/pistol instructor just prior to this, and had qualed expert with the pistol. He was in no danger from me!

Ahhhh, the memories of the "good ol' days".
Looking forward to the release of this wonderful plane!

Pat☺

Thanks for the story! Brightened my day Not that it needed any brightening, but now it's just that much brighter

[FlyingsCool]

My Paypal account is already giddy with excitement! Or maybe it's me?

Oh, no, you were right, PayPal is giddy, too...

[Dino Cattaneo]

....just a HU as we are approaching the release. Not sure why I cannot post pictures today, but (fingers crossed) the TA-4J project will be released during the next weekend.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Picture upload is back on my browser...so above are screenshots from the Release Candidate Build...

[Sundog]

Nice pictures. I might have to limit how many add on repaints I use for this one. Because, there are so many excellent schemes it will be difficult to choose which to fly.

Looks great Dino.

[Dino Cattaneo]

The Scooter had some of the best liveries of any jet ever! Deciding which ones I should do and which ones to leave out was not easy...

[Dino Cattaneo]

TA-4 Package is now available on SimMarket LINK:https://secure.simmarket.com/indiafo...r3d-v4.4.phtml

[cavaricooper]

Tante bella cosa Dino!

C

[Sundog]

Thanks Dino and everyone else who contributed to this release!

[YoYo]

TA-4 Package is now available on SimMarket LINK:https://secure.simmarket.com/indiafo...r3d-v4.4.phtml

thanks !

[rsgunner]

Does PBR technology automatically work when a designed aircraft is loaded or does there need to be a graphics setting.
I am aware it only works with P3D version 4.4 and 4.5.

Russ

[Mach3DS]

PBR is the rendering method. It's automatic.

[rsgunner]

PBR is the rendering method. It's automatic.

Thanks for the information.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Correct... HOWEVER I highly suggest to turn the Dynamic Reflections ON with PBR models... this enhances the effect (in a subtle way).

[jeansy]

its a beautiful package Dino, huge immersion with the model and PBR and night flying makes it a stunner, I have to say one of the best 2019 packages out there.

Please, i cant stress enough, finish off the single seater, if it will be anything like this, you are going to be the king of naval aviation at this rate with all your releases

[rsgunner]

Dino

This is an outstanding product.

Your contributions to USN flight sim cannot be matched.

I look forward to your releases.

Russ

[Victory103]

Patiently waiting on this one and weird how my September edition of Combat Aircraft Magazine had an article on the TA-4J! Thanks for all the hard work on your models Dino.

[docjohnson]

Wonderful work Dino, I purchased this and love it. I did find a problem with the aircraft.cfg in the weight and balance section that prevented selecting armament properly versus the wing tanks. One other thing that I keep seeing is that I get a fuel transfer light coming on intermittently and a fuel warning (pilot tips are turned on) and to remedy it with CNTRL > X. I do that but it keeps happening. Not able to fix that one. I couldn't find a place to report these so I posted here. Apologies in advance if this isn't the place to report this.

[Dino Cattaneo]

@docjohnsonThe TA-4J implements a quite realistic simulation of the real TA-4 fuel system, custom coded to reflect the flight manualThe FUEL TRANSFER light is not a problem... it will turn on whenever the transfer pump does not trasfer enough fuel from the main tank to the feed tank. It will turn on at low RPMs and in maneuvers with high acceleration. It is a problem only if it is continuously lit for some time (as the risk is to deplete the feed tank and cause an engine stop) -> that is whenever the FUEL LOW light comes on.You should disable pilot tips as they may report a false warning for the TA-4J. The FUEL LOW warning light in the cockpit is the one that you keep your eyes on. See the manual in the DOCS folder.

[Sundog]

I finally got a chance to fly it last night. I can tell I'm going to be spending a lot of time in this bird. The cockpit looks amazing and is easy on the frame rates. I flew it from Iwakuni MCAS to Futenma MCAS in Japan and the way the Radar works is awesome. BTW, I highly recommend the MAIW Matrix program for their military air base scenery and AI.

I did get the fuel light in the landing pattern and I knew it was because I just hopped in and went flying. I am going to read the manual about that before my next flight. I like all of Dino's birds and have been taking more time to figure out the systems in the Typhoon, but the TA-4J is just a lot of fun to fly. Once I learn it's systems I'll begin learning ordnance delivery in it. This is easily one of my favorites, so far. Great work Dino and team!

[docjohnson]

Dino, thanks for the info, already done. Great work again!