75th Anniversary of the MacRobertson London to Melbourne.

***Moses03*** · October 6th, 2009, 15:31

Thank you for the update Milton. Looking forward to it.

**Milton Shupe** · October 7th, 2009, 10:22

Damian has the basic textures done for the wings and fuselage ... still working details.

Will you guys require a visual of the 55 gal drums in the cockpit? Will not have time to treat fuel selections separately, just one big tank to the sim at 160 gallons.

***srgalahad*** · October 7th, 2009, 10:30

Milton, the chance to just have UQO to fly means more than details.

Ultimately it would be spectacular to have the visual tank but I'm sure the 'tech inspectors' will understand it's enroute from the factory.
Hopefully the team crew will be resourceful pilots ( with lots of advice in their notebooks) so I'm sure they will provide an abacus to calculate how much petrol to pour in the tanks on any leg.

Besides, you need some prep time to fly her yourself so you can 'grab a leg' during the run.

Rob

***Moses03*** · October 7th, 2009, 10:32

There she is. :mixedsmi:

Milton- It would be nice to see the extra tanks if at all possible. We understand if this needs to be omitted to speed things up on your end.

**salt_air** · October 7th, 2009, 12:11

Milton,

We could run some betas with what ever you have ready. There's still nearly two weeks intill the start of the race.

Perhaps you could use up some more of the free time before the race actually starts to put the finishing touches on a final edition for the race.

I'm quite sure it wouldn't bother any of us one bit to switch out a bmp file or two just before the flag drops.

Best,

**AussieMan** · October 7th, 2009, 13:49

Hi Milton,

Now that we have almost completed testing the DC-2 I am up for another challenge and would happily love to be on your beta team for the Puss Moth.

I would be one of those people who could be able to tell you howit works in FSX.

Cheers
Pat

**Milton Shupe** · October 7th, 2009, 15:19

Thanks for the comments everyone. I will make the early beta available to anyone here that wants it and we will continue to improve and refine until race day. The FM is done although Tom may wish to tweak it a bit for the 160 gallon tank(s). I'll post a link Friday on whatever we have ready.

**salt_air** · October 7th, 2009, 16:42

Feels just like a kid at Christmas.......

MM · October 7th, 2009, 18:19

Kudos to Damien.

Now, to give the pilot a shock of blond hair, freckles, and oodles of boyish charm...

**Milton Shupe** · October 7th, 2009, 18:49

Originally Posted by MM

Kudos to Damien.

Now, to give the pilot a shock of blond hair, freckles, and oodles of boyish charm...

Actually, he worked on that today. ;-)

**buzzbee** · October 8th, 2009, 17:50

Milton, you do nice work. I have enjoyed many hours with your models.

Thank you

**Milton Shupe** · October 8th, 2009, 18:25

Well thank you buzzbee. I assure you that it is the team that makes it what it is. I just provide the framework.

I am working on putting together a limited first beta package tonight for the Melrose version. I will upload tomorrow for the race team and staff.

***Dangerousdave26*** · October 8th, 2009, 18:38

I am waiting...

We have the paint team on stand by.

Dave

**Milton Shupe** · October 8th, 2009, 19:11

LOL Well, there will be no paint kit for a while yet. Still working on all the package paints including this one. For those who may be using FSX, she looks good so far in FSX SP2 Accel here as well.

I got the header pipes in but won;t have the tanks in this version. We are also trying to sort out the SFC with the stated mileage and tanks. Right now with 160 gallons at altitude I am getting over 2000 miles range ... a bit high. :-)

***Dangerousdave26*** · October 8th, 2009, 19:15

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

LOL Well, there will be no paint kit for a while yet.

Don't worry about that as long as there are textures we can shoot paint.

**MaddogK** · October 10th, 2009, 05:50

To ensure eligibilty of the Fairey Fox I'm completing I've attached flight model submitted to the race committee earlier this week for review, and it is written to replace the flight model from Ted Cook's Fury_v3 (fury_v03.zip) flight model (with his permission). The Fox visual model should be completed (as a working beta) by Sunday night once I build a basic texture set for it, and a cockpit. With a bit of luck the entire aircraft will be ready for download by Monday morning.

<edit> after a bit of thought I've decided to post a 'working' beta aircraft. Follow the the instructions in the 'readme' file.

***srgalahad*** · October 10th, 2009, 07:46

Just a note to, first of all, thank Mssrs Shupe, TF, Damian et al and MaddogK for their efforts to broaden the horizons of long distance racing!

For the rest of you out there that have dreams of increasing the flock, these are two good examples of the process - keep in touch with the Committee, keep users updated, try to stay true to the real aircraft and not try to build a 'hotshot' winner, and accept that not all things will happen magically! While, in this case, both aircraft are going to be close to deadline you can see that the committee is willing to work WITH you if you make the same effort.

On another line of thinking, when possible make an effort to model the other aspects (fuel, fuel consumption, weight, etc.) as accurately as the speed values - you never know when there might be another event that meters efficiency, cost, or ???

Historically we've had a lot of attention paid to the beautiful visual model, but as we are seeing, a great model also has a good/great airfile. It's a tricky subject but there are lots of people out there willing to help turn out a quality project that flies as "right" as it looks.

I'm looking forward to watching the 10,000 mile beta test

Rob

**MaddogK** · October 10th, 2009, 11:43

Originally Posted by srgalahad

I'm looking forward to watching the 10,000 mile beta test

Rob

Aye, the race organizers and regulating committee deserve our thanks (and MANY drinks) for their hard work, and patience. Thanks guys (and gals if applicable).
:ernae:
"10,000 mile beta test" ?
I think you overestimate your chances, or underestimate ours.

**MaddogK** · October 12th, 2009, 06:50

The complete Fairey Fox will be uploaded tonight.
:ernae:

**RFields** · October 12th, 2009, 15:56

Originally Posted by srgalahad

I'm looking forward to watching the 10,000 mile beta test

Not an unusual concept.

The DC-2 and B-247 flights were pretty much 10K beta tests in the real race, along with the Dh-88's.

**Milton Shupe** · October 12th, 2009, 16:49

LOL In our case, we will have working instruments and accurate flight model ... the beauty of the model is questionable in some eyes.

I will also add that the Puss Moth should be released this coming weekend if all continues to go well. Even if not, the Melrose version will be released if the other liveries are not ready.

**MaddogK** · October 13th, 2009, 06:22

I uploaded the complete Fox last night and tho she's NOT pretty (yet) it IS complete and flyable. I'll be the first to admit it's FAR from what I intended but it's the best I can do in 8 days. I hope she'll be race legal. I'll do a complete rework of the visual model after the race has concluded and build some textures but for now it's 'passable', and I fully intend on flying it for the race.

Best of luck to all the race participants.