West Indies 1974 birds

[mercure]

Hi,
I recently worked on a project I had for long. That is to try to make liveries for a few birds I have seen as a kid in Fort de France airport in 1974 (Le Lamentin).
Some planes were already accessible but it has appeared for most they have few glitches the maniac in me has decided to correct.
I get clearance from the artists like Ted Giana who did 99% of the job to adjust where needed.
In some other cases I had to do the job myself, which definitely confirmed me this is really for talented guys, I am not. But with time it comes not that bad.

So I am going to try upload in the coming days the following ones with a few more in the near future:


Next will be CV440 and DC4, maybe Noratlas, DC8, 747, 727
Finally if there is some interest I might propose my photosceney of Martinica, that is pretty cool with the autogen.
Cheers

[vonstroheim]

...Finally if there is some interest I might propose my photosceney of Martinica, that is pretty cool with the autogen...

Oh yes I would definitely be interested in your West Indies and Martinique photoscenery... I really love island-hoping in FSX, and photoreal is just perfect for islands, no weird transition from photo to default scenery...

And with some Air Antilles DC-3 and such, that would be just perfect...


Air Antilles DC-3 (actual aircraft) courtesy Ted Giana


Curtiss C46 Commando of Latin Carga by Mercure

Is there an FSX native version of Guzman/Pepper/Gibson's Curtiss C-46?

[tgycgijoes]

I honestly thought you were talking about these...I have seagulls flying around my ports in FSX(A). None of these are flying around the West Indies though, bummer.



​

[mercure]

I love real birds too but not sure FSX is the best flying sim for these species
Hopefully they have survived the 70's, probably struggling against extinction for many now.

C47 Air Antilles is the next in the list. Exactly this one F-OGFJ.
This one's different but the model is closer, so...:

[tgycgijoes]

I do NOT have any skills to recreate these, I wish I did because they WOULD be cool to have flying around. I found two downloads for FSX: birdvol5 and wildlife_v2 which I am going to checkout and see what they have to offer. There is an albatross; crane; heron; owl; 2 kinds of gulls. They are ai. Interesting additions. Since there are a dozen or so shore birds like the sandpiper which I know well from here in coastal Carolina in the USA, there is also a willet which has a long curved bill but neither is in this collection. birdvol5 is for ELIZA Island only and is not selectable to place elsewhere so no use here. OK now move onto the beautiful DC-3s. I am looking forward to flying.

[vonstroheim]

C47 Air Antilles is the next in the list...

It's released! Merci beaucoup!



I like very much the "see/no see" swtich in the VC...

Finally if there is some interest I might propose my photosceney of Martinica, that is pretty cool with the autogen....

How big is your Martinique photoreal scenery? Can you upload it here? Can't wait!

[mercure]

Hi Erich,
Pleased you like see/no see, you know... kind of joke from this side of the ocean. You maybe going into trouble with that now, what a pity, not yet here ;0)
Martinique scenery is heavy, its more than an island, 2.6Go. I will likely do a light version no more that 800Mo/1Go. Still good nevertheless.
BTW I see your screens are 'standard' FSX, I will propose some shaders that bring colours and light as it should be.
Cheers

[mercure]

Hello,
This is the next one, based on Jens Kristensen model revised FSX native. With a quite difficult nose to paint:

An airplane with an interesting history and unusual doors. In 1974 it was used to transport army people and freight in the area, with three Noratlas (ETAG58).


Note: pictures are WIP, some later pics show wings were painted white, but flaps and ailerons. TBC. Plus nbr on stabilizer was not immat but serial, 10409

[vonstroheim]

...based on Jens Kristensen model revised FSX native....

Very nice ! Merci ! Released here. CalClassic FSX native version DC-4/C-54 by JBK is here.



Too bad prop shadows are showing. I tried this fix with McX, sometimes it works just fine (like for the Ju52) but in this case, it doesn't work at all (it breaks gears and other stuff)... Help!

[mercure]

Many thanks Eric.
I tried too to get rid of this unpleasant shadow with MCX but in vain.
It would be a very nice detail to fix, is there a guru to do some magic?

BTW I am considering now Convair CV440 Air Calypso (there is already a nice livery with some possible optimization), BN Islander, Aero and Thrush Commander. For the last one would you now about a no-turbo version?
BWIA 707, Eastern 727, LIAT HS exist already, very good, but no freeware DC8-61 with vc to do the TAI livery. Too bad.

[mercure]

CV 440 Air Calypso is really well painted, no real changes are needed, superb job.
However the VC is not terrific, might be visually improved, we'll see.
So next one coming is this one;

Really an excellent model with a magnificent VC.
It's really in the same class as Manfred C47 (better than some payware) but for a plane with obviously no comparison in history, numbers, importance, etc...
Just waiting another couple of days for the agreement of one painter of whom I used a base.

[mercure]

Finished, will upload over the WE.



Original documentation is in french, that we know is not as famous as chinese, so it may be a barrier for some to enjoy the plane.
Moreover there is no obvious quickstart, another problem for many of us.
I will try to explain how to use this excellent model, which is very easy in fact.
The builder (JP Martin) was probably not expecting his model can be interesting for people not speaking la langue de Moliere (Moliere's tongue, a very famous author and actor who played theater at Louis XIV palace of Versailles in the 17th century)

[vonstroheim]

Thanks for new Nord Noratlas repaint. Noratlas base pack and patches can be found here.



Layout is very similar to the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar.

Aeroplane Heaven have a nice and free FSX version, but only available with ORBX Central. So if you don't have ORBX, this Noratlas is a must have!





Nice VC. There's a "quick start" feature somewhat hidden. This screenshot by Jean-Marie is quite helpful. Merci !

[mercure]

Thanks Erich!

Next one, with VC!
Not yet ready ;0)

[mercure]

Hi, I have this VC in my stuff but don't remember where I get it.
Do you know? -tape gauges is a mod-

[mercure]

Hi, I have this VC in my stuff but don't remember where I get it.
Do you know? -tape gauges is a mod-

Nobody knows this VC model?
Do you know if there is restriction to add the corresponding model to the upload?
It is named 'pax', that doesn't help me.

[vonstroheim]

Hi, I have this VC in my stuff but don't remember where I get it.
Do you know? -tape gauges is a mod-

More pictures would help. Is there an engineer station? How many engines/throttles levers? It looks to me like a modified Tom Ruth/Eric Cantu L-1011, with some Concorde gauges... Or maybe the "747-200 Ready for Pushback" (former payware?). So it is indeed subject to copyrights... It's best to use default 747 VC, even if it is not period correct...

[mercure]

Thanks Erich. Not RFP unless somebody put it in a 747-200 package I found somewhere.
I will try to investigate further.
It is not terrific, has 4 throttles usables and gauges should be changed.
But more convenient for a B747-100 as you said, so I use it (tape gauges are not accurate, but I have done the needles ones).
It has the engineer station, I don't think it was initially done for another plane.

It is coming slowly but I found some good old pictures, even though she was repainted OC at least once with variations.

[mercure]

Just for fun

[mercure]

Almost finished.
Surprisingly none of the F-BV.. where painted exactly the same.
(By Boeing at Seattle factory, so don't know why such small but visible differences)

[mercure]

VCs are not my expertise and I have an issue I cannot fix:
The vc light effect is the standard one, and sometimes when viewing at some angles, variable, I can see light on the nose of the plane (at night, please follow) while the vc is adequatly lighten.

Moving a little and no more light, back to the previous position light again, but sometimes not...
I guess it may be the positionning of the effect but after numerous tries I do not see progress. Because when I move significantly the effect position there is no light at all, even in the vc.
So any clue to solve this issue would be nice, thanks in advance to the experts.

[mercure]

Finished, at last!
Get very recently a 1973 picture showing belly was aluminium essentially. Grey is 1975. So changed it and few other things like doors painting, quite funny. The lowest line is dummy, as the real door open lower. Just a detail but you know...
Th VC effect, even modified, is not 100% satisfying but at least no light on the fuselage.
BTW I am surprised nobody knows. Probably little interest but no prob, I manage :0)
So it will be uploaded soon, just pondering with or w/o the VC. I found no trace of its origin.

[mercure]

I apologize...

[vonstroheim]

I tried too to get rid of this unpleasant shadow with MCX but in vain.

Gavin from the P3D forum found a fix for this prop shadow bug. It's actually a McX bug, but there is a work-around: Re-import and re-export, et voilà !