CAL CLASSIC DC-6 for P3D

[BendyFlyer]

Tom Gibson and others have worked hard to rebuild the Cal Classic DC-6s for P3D (Greg Peppers etc). The downloads for the files are at the Cal Classic Website:

Douglas DC-6's (calclassic.com)
Douglas DC-6A's (calclassic.com)
Douglas DC-6B's (calclassic.com)
You need to download via the links on those pages for the packages and a few more are linked there.

When you have downloaded them all you should have these:



which will in turn once extracted give you all these:



When you open or extract these you will find these installers:



You need to run the FSX installation first because it contains all the needed files for the models/sound etc. So running this will install all the relevant files such as effects, sim objects and the panel folder together
Then run the P3D installer which will overwrite a couple of files in the same installation but nothing else as all the main files are in the FSX installation.

You need to point the installer to a dummy folder - I just created a P3DV5TEMP folder on my alternate drive so I could create an xml addon folder for them all and pointed the installer to that folder it will do the rest.

Do this for all the packages one by one.

IF you have it right you will see them all in that folder nicely grouped. I simply created a new folder called CAL CLASSIC DC-6 and created an xml addon file for that folder then put all the directories created together there using the standard P3D logic on this so they can go in the P3DV5 Documents as an addon.

World of warning - they only provide a single basic paint most of the old paints will work, I have not found one which does not, in fact they all look great even the full aluminium skin ones. Some of the older models refer to the DC-6 as a specific model but the DC-6 basic now has its model as a DC-6b, then the next is the DC6A-16, DC-6B-16, then there is the DC-6B-17. Some of the repaints are clear which is required that is CB-16 or CB-17 but some of the older paints were for the DC-6 model which no longer exists and has been replaced by the DC-6 (which actually has a 6b air file). if you look at the readme for a paint you will be able to work out which is which because of the model they say the texture refers to - spinner, no spinner, radar no radar etc. There is a large number of combinations but once you get that sorted the paint should go in that particular directory for that DC-6. The only hitch I had was for the earlier DC-6 only ones which will work providing you change the sim reference to dc-6b and it is in the right DC-6 that is DC-6 DC6A-CB16, DC6B-16 or DC6B-17.

If a paint does not show and you get an all aluminium look that repaint is not in the correct model folder and you may have to move them around to get it to show. A few needed several attempts but were also obvious because the model parts appeared broken on the select vehicle window in P3D. They all work now and well.

Thats about all a lot of fiddling to start but for nothing but the respect and thank you to the folk who did it - great value and worthwhile - glad to see them up and running again in P3DV5.

[BendyFlyer]

I neglected to mention that some older paints do not have VC textures. To fix this simply copy the cockpit and VC texture files from a later model into the paint of your choice. And the full interior will be there. You may also need to copy across a glass and the blurred prop texture as well. 3 different models in P3DV5

International DC-6


Cargo DC-6


Early DC-6

[BendyFlyer]

This is how the VC will look with the textures correct:



And even this old paint from 2004 comes across very nicely and no PBR either.

[expat]

Funny, I was doing a cargo run from Bogata to La Paz in the DC-6A when I saw this post.

Been flying these great propliners in P3Dv4.5 since Tom a year or so ago kindly converted these Douglas and also Connie airliners to native FSX models. Tom has to be one of these most considerate and generous people in flightsimming. It is shameful the amount of payware that sits collecting dust in my hangar vs these freeware timeless gems. Get some good shaders e.g. Tomatoshade and Active Sky and these old birds look just fantastic in P3Dv4.

Here's a screenie of an earlier cargo run in SA . .

[expat]

Hangin in La Paz ..

[BendyFlyer]

Expat - I could not agree more. Tom and his helpers have done a great job. Yep I have two pay ware versions that will remain in the hangar for good. One is so busted it is not worth it the other worked fine in FSX but just is a busted no show in P3D and the other one despite claiming to be a P3D version is a bust as well and the developer is frankly so arrogantly idiotic and devoid of customer consideration I wonder why they are even in business (no names we can all figure out who is who in the zoo these days).

The systems simulation in these oldies is first class and it is great that they work so well. I am constantly impressed by how well the older paints come up in P3D as well not what I expected at all - I had more problems between 2004 and FSX but not a single glitch in P3D. Maybe the cockpit is not perfect visually but it is pretty damn close and most importantly it all does what it is supposed to.

And a very nice shot of the PanAm Cargo in flight.