Bell 212 / 412 Fire Fighting Versions

[Scorch00]

This is my first public entrance into model conversions. Many know a ways back Hovercontrol shutdown and we lost a lot of great rotary wing aircraft and resources in the process. Last week I unearthed a hard drive of mine that had a number of aircraft on it, but importantly were Jordan Moore's Bell 212 and Bell 412 versions along with various components that had been modeled for other aircraft back in early FSX I had downloaded. Well for those that don't know Jordan in his rotary wing guru-ness released his 212 and 412 as open source and people began modifying it and uploading different versions. I have those versions and with some self taught lessons in MCX over the last few months I started in on these. I started reviving these helos for P3D v4+. As P3D itself lacks any freeware Huey Variant really. The Cera Sim 212 and 412 are really the only options. ( own the Cera 212 and it's a great aircraft. But, back on topic, those are basic versions. I wanted fire fighting versions. I've been in contact with a few past modelers of the open source birds, one of them has a bambi bucket version I am also converting. But our consensus was since these were open source we thought it would be a great project to revive. As of this current moment I have both successfully integrated into P3D v4.5. However, bugs exist and some I'm sure are outside of my expertise and some I've managed to fix. But I'm probably at the limit of MCX's ability. I've been in brief contact with a few others about this project and I thought it was time to make the project more public to hopefully get these great helos working as close as possible as they were in FSX.

Some photos below of the 412 as a WIP in P3D v4.5


212 and 412 in SDFD liveries

[Victory103]

Agree about the data loss from HC, so many great models over the years and I always kept Jordan's 412 in the hangar, only purchased the Cera 212. I've watched a few tutorials for MCX and P3D conversion, taking a step at a time.

[Scorch00]

I have been able to work on these a bit the last few days. I solved the window transparency issues on all the models due to missing alpha channels. All animations seem to work now that I can see. There still are some texture issues with both aircraft. Mainly the 212. I've worked through half of them so far. The 412 is going much smoother than the 212. The cockpit clicks and button assignments for those animations I have no idea how to fix or reassign. I believe that is above my know how and MCX's ability. Also, trying to figure out how to get rid of the black box that appears around the top of the VC, I'm sure it's another transparency thing to work out. Both models I also cannot restart once shutdown, I assume this has to do with the older xml gauges and the different assignments for things in P3D vs FS9 and FSX. Again, something I may not be able to fix with just messing with the aircraft.cfg. But they sure do look and fly nice still in P3D. Who knows, maybe these can get done and uploaded before the end of the year? Perhaps that's too ambitious, but progress is being made on bringing these birds to P3D v4+.

[Scorch00]

I have what I'd consider most of the bugs taken care of. Aside from the major ones I may not be able to fix. Like the clickable buttons in the 2D windows acting strangely, VC still has a weird box around the top of the instrument panel I can't seem to solve. Also, the auto shutdown works at least. Problem is you can't restart either the 212 or 412. After auto shutdown in any configuration of commands I've tried do not work to get those turbines to spool past 20% in startup. I think this may be due to how it was coded by Jordan for FS9 and FSX. I'm not a gauge/panel builder so that's out of my area, if that's the problem. Interestingly though, upon investigating the aircraft.cfg file closer for both aircraft (since they are based on one another) the engines on these were actually modeled in FS2004/FSX around a turboprop engine and not a typical helo turbine. But that aside, I did some more texture fixes and did one of LA County Fire since I had all my repaint stuff up tonight.

[RoughLandings]

Wonderful! Thanks for taking the project on! I loved those birds back in the day!

[Scorch00]

Wonderful! Thanks for taking the project on! I loved those birds back in the day!

Absolutely! As I was saying these were great models in FSX. P3D lacks any freeware Huey variants. Let alone the fire fighting versions. To my knowledge, there are only payware versions of any of them. Aerosoft Huey X, Cera Sim 212 and 412. Are the ones that come to mind. They Huey X I believe is also the only one of those that has a fire fighting version. Which is surprising compared to what you pay for the 212s for example. You just have a single version.

I've spent more time on the models and their accessories. Now have a few different equipped versions. My only thing is how far I'm willing to go down that rabbit hole. The 212 has proven a much larger headache which is why I'm focusing on the 412 more for the time being.

Work in progress on what will be one of LA County's Bell 412EPs.

[jeansy]

Absolutely! As I was saying these were great models in FSX. P3D lacks any freeware Huey variants. Let alone the fire fighting versions. To my knowledge, there are only payware versions of any of them. Aerosoft Huey X, Cera Sim 212 and 412. Are the ones that come to mind. They Huey X I believe is also the only one of those that has a fire fighting version. Which is surprising compared to what you pay for the 212s for example. You just have a single version.

I've spent more time on the models and their accessories. Now have a few different equipped versions. My only thing is how far I'm willing to go down that rabbit hole. The 212 has proven a much larger headache which is why I'm focusing on the 412 more for the time being.

Work in progress on what will be one of LA County's Bell 412EPs.

The fs2004 cera 412 is the only payware model that comes with a tank as standard

The cera 212 and 412, Aerosoft huey, ND/Mv huey and the MV huey redux does not come with any tanks unless using the firefighterX addon by Lorby

[Scorch00]

The fs2004 cera 412 is the only payware model that comes with a tank as standard

The cera 212 and 412, Aerosoft huey, ND/Mv huey and the MV huey redux does not come with any tanks unless using the firefighterX addon by Lorby

Ahh, okay. Thank you for the info! I've yet to buy FirefighterX, which may be an easier non-permanent option to the above mentioned helos. I own the Cera 212 and it's great. My understanding is with FFX is it essentially can turn any aircraft you happen to be flying into an airtanker / helitanker. I find it heavily ironic that I'm an admin/developer on a group that does aerial firefighting related mods for the sims and I don't even own Firefighter X yet.

[Scorch00]

Thought I'd give an update to this thread as well as there's been a lot of work done on them in the last several weeks. The issues I've had with the cockpits and some texture issues have been fixed on both the HC412 and the 212. I have also been contacted by George Arana, the original author of the 212 (of which I mistakenly thought was done by Jordan Moore) to which he has xml gauge fixes to fix the engine start issues obviously due to the xml gauges being 32-bit and mostly coded for FS9. He has also offered me his assistance to continue converting the 212s. I've also been in contact with Shawn Lund, a creator that originally released the Bambi Bucket mods for the HC412. So these conversion projects are in fact moving forward. This is the plan for both projects.

Bell 212: Release the bambi bucket and fire attack (tanked) and my modded versions, with their stock repaints done by the original authors of the pack. Repaint packs will be done later Fire attack version at this point has Ventura County Sheriff, San Diego City Fire, Wildcat Helicopters (green livery), and TAF Helicopters (Australia). I haven't converted or looked at the Bambi Bucket versions yet.

Bell 412: Release my tank/hoist mod of the HC412, convert the Bambi Bucket version. Complete repaints for the fire attack (tanked) versions. More repaint packs will be done later. Bambi Bucket version hasn't been converted yet. The tanked version has textures I've either created or modified from the original authors to be more accurate. So far that is Los Angeles City Fire I modified from the original bambi bucket texture, Los Angeles County Fire, San Diego Fire Dept I modified from the 212's stock repaints to work on the 412, and lastly Orange County Fire Authority. The stock repaints that came with it I've yet to look at as creating fire fighting versions was my main concern. I have plans to do a few other operator liveries Wildcat and a couple Australian operators are on the list to add before release. Same goes for the Bambi Bucket versions when I get to those.

[Kekelekou]

Hello Scorch00!

I too am a air tanker (and heli tanker) fan, and was considering modelling a belly tank to the Cerasim's 412EP I fly in FSX. So discovering your hard work on both choppers and DC-6/-7 is a blessing for me (and the other virtual tanker pilots of course).
Would you be interested in sharing the tank and hose models with me, so that I can focus on the VC display and control units? I would share them back with you, of course.

I am looking forward to working with you,

Kekelekou

[Scorch00]

Hello Scorch00!

I too am a air tanker (and heli tanker) fan, and was considering modelling a belly tank to the Cerasim's 412EP I fly in FSX. So discovering your hard work on both choppers and DC-6/-7 is a blessing for me (and the other virtual tanker pilots of course).
Would you be interested in sharing the tank and hose models with me, so that I can focus on the VC display and control units? I would share them back with you, of course.

I am looking forward to working with you,

Kekelekou

Thank you for the support! I've actually been doing the aircraft modifications using MCX and taking parts off of other aircraft to use (with the author's permission) as I'm not a traditional modeler. In the case of the 412s they are actually from George Arana's Bell 212. I've merely adapted it to the sim and the 412. Originally when I started. I thought the tanks were part of the open source files that were made for the 412 and 212. Come to find out that was an error on my part. George actually contacted me that the 212s were his work, not Jordan Moore's (Hovercontrol). He's offered his assistance in getting the 212s working. I think he's on the forum here (eurostar350 I believe). I'd direct the request to him as they are his design. If he's okay with that I can send you the .mdl file of the separated tank/hose. I'll just have to convert it to FSX before hand.

[Kekelekou]

Very good!
Please send me the model as is. I'll convert them myself.
Besides, I forgot to tell you that I aim at interfacing the model with FireFighterX. All required variables are given in FFX manual, so this shouldn't be too complicated.

[Scorch00]

Oh awesome. Using the placeable objects option? Probably makes things a lot easier as you don't technically modify the original aircraft. Correct? As soon as I get a PM/Confirmation from George it's okay to give the tank out, I'll PM the details. I just want to make sure I'm not distributing other creators work without their permission and all.

[Kekelekou]

Well well well, Cerasim's 412 looks pretty low on its skids compared to Eurostar350's one. I can not compare the models yet, I hope the tank will still fit under the chopper's belly.
Anyway, I could still help with the freeware ones.

[Scorch00]

Well well well, Cerasim's 412 looks pretty low on its skids compared to Eurostar350's one. I can not compare the models yet, I hope the tank will still fit under the chopper's belly.
Anyway, I could still help with the freeware ones.

I know that a lot of the helos that have the tanks installed have to have extended skids installed in order to clear tanks like the simplex ones from the ground. The Hovercontrol 412s and Geroge's 212's have that option available in modeling luckily, or I'd have that same issue.

[Scorch00]

It's been awhile since I updated this thread. Progress is being made on the tanked Bell 412s. With the assistance of George Arana. These models hopefully will be done soon. I have included some of my repaints along with some of the originals that came in the package that I had. I modified the Los Angeles Fire Dept livery a bit to correct some inaccuracies. But left Carson's and Alpine's liveries alone (even though I don't believe either operator has the 412). I did additional liveries for Los Angeles County Fire, Wildcat Helicopters in NSW contract markings, San Diego Fire Dept, and Orange County Fire Authority. I am looking at adding a few others when I get around to working on these between the other projects I'm working on. The tanked Bell 212s are also coming along slowly. They will be released some time after the 412s I imagine. With Bambi Bucket versions coming a little later on as well.

[Scorch00]

I've created a youtube channel for our group specifically for development updates and the like. I have uploaded several videos from the Facebook page to there. This video of the 412 is the first development video posted.

https://youtu.be/kmZT7McTxjo

[Invader26BMS]

[QUOTE=Scorch00;1204803] I've been in brief contact with a few others about this project and I thought it was time to make the project more public to hopefully get these great helos working as close as possible as they were in FSX.

Where are the FSX 412s with belly tank and 212s for FSX?

[Scorch00]

[QUOTE=Invader26BMS;1328914]

I've been in brief contact with a few others about this project and I thought it was time to make the project more public to hopefully get these great helos working as close as possible as they were in FSX.

Where are the FSX 412s with belly tank and 212s for FSX?

They are sadly lost to the internet. The ones that were available were all housed on Hovercontrol. Which as many know has long since shutdown. Unfortunately, it being the largest source of rotary wing assets for the sims, it's loss hit with a heavy price. The 212s I think you may be able to find for FS9/FSX if you look around places. But the 412 versions I couldn't find anywhere. Hence my versions of them for P3D. My updated versions aren't available for FSX unfortunately.

[rohan]

FWIW, I have copies of the Hovercontrol 412 Personal Edition version 1.0 for FS9 and FSX by Jordan Moore as posted on that site on 19 Nov 2005. I would love to upload them here but the license prohibits this, as well as any re-distribution. However, I would be happy to provide a copy for individual personal use only as these files can no longer be supported after the demise of the Hovercontrol website.

If anyone here is interested in my offer, please send me a PM,
Ro

[SgtT]

Wow, great work, thank you!

Rob