Freeware Grumman Duck

[RobH]

This was posted in the FS9 forum. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...hp?52095-Duck-! Thanks to Full for the heads up.

It is for both FS9 and FSX. For FSX you have to swap out the included aircraft.cfg file and the air file.

I just flew around the Solomon Islands for about 20 minutes and had no issues. I am guessing its probably a port over, but if so, with my lousy computer, I got real good frame rates.

[heywooood]

Well I went and got it - along with OBIO's adjusted .cfg and airfiles and it is very nice in FSX

except for the slightly FS9ish spinning prop texture as was noted in the Avsim thread

[OBIO]

The spinning prop blur is actually modeled in...it is not, or at least as far as I could tell after looking at the texture sheets, the result of an alpha channel. There are no files for the prop blur...just a section on one of the sheets for the prop blades. As such, it looks like what we see is what we will have to see for as long as we have this model installed....no way to change it.....unless someone spends some time with a material editor and finds the material for the prop blur and increases the transparency on it....hmmmm....sounds like I just found a chore for tomorrow evening.

OBIO

[heywooood]

well listen OBIO - I really appreciate the fixes you have provided already and if you can adjust the prop in any way, that would be sauce for the errrm Duck....

This is a very fine model, and free

[OBIO]

I have the prop blur materials pretty pin pointed.....so tomorrow I will begin the trial and error material editing session until I come up with something that looks better.

Zoom in on the crew members.....probably the best modeled crew members I have ever seen.....and if you really want to see the quality of this model, go into one of the texture folders, create a new folder and move all the texture files into that new folder. Fire up the sim, select the Duck with no texturing....look at how smooth the mesh is, look at the details that jump out at you when you aren't looking at colors. The crew member's faces are superb! The radio antenna wires are superb!

If this is Swingman's first effort...can't wait to see his second!

OBIO

[heywooood]

maybe this freeware gem should get stickied ?

OBIO - I will be watching this thread closely - not that the existing prop texture is a show stopper...its just that this model deserves a better one than it has, if possible.:salute:

[big-mike]

This is a very,very nice Duck,thanks to the developer!
I have an issue when landing on water it`s sitting very deep and will not stop.
But the rest,also the sounds---lovely.
Michael

[OBIO]

I have the prop blur on the J2F4 adjusted to about 1/2 the solidity of the stock settings. It looks better...isn't great, but better. Have the three J2F6 models to do the prop blur adjustments to. And I have the prop animation ratio bumped up to help improve the prop blur a bit more. Before I upload the tweaked MDLs, I will make sure that they are all ready to receive reflective texturing..maybe 4 minutes work per MDL file involved there. Right now, it's in the mid-70s, just a gentle breeze blowing....I am heading down to the pond to see if I can coax a Bass or two to come out and play.

OBIO

[OBIO]

I just threw some hasty alpha channels onto the J2F6 Duck...and it is reflective already. I would assume that the rest of the MDL files are also reflective ready.

I also zipped up a set of UV Maps for both Ducks so that painters can see how all the parts are layed out on the texture sheets. Will upload it to FS2004 Other section in just a few shakes of a Duck's feathers.

OBIO

[RobH]

Thanks for all your hard work OBIO!

[Hurricane91]

Thanks to Swingman of Tver, Russia for this great model, and to Obio for the tweaks.
On the same note, I liked this from the Ducks "readme";

"Special thanks to:
Microsoft and Discreet - for opened sourses
Elvis Aaron Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Django Reinhardt and Marilyn Monroe - for good mood :-)
Mister Leroy Grumman - for interesting plane".

[OBIO]

I have the prop blur tweaks done. They still aren't the prettiest prop blurs going...but they are better. I tried various settings in the MDL material, and this is the best look of the numberous tests. I will upload the package, along with the tweaked air and config files I posted over in the FS2004 forum thread, to the FS2004 Other section.

I will also drop this bird into FSX and see how the FSX air and config files behave...if the same issues manifest with the attitude and direction gauges and the J2F6 tipping over, I will tweak the FSX files to correct them.

OBIO

[big-mike]

Thank you--OBIO.
For me it`s ok now with FSX+ACC,
Michael

[heywooood]

ok - after some flying it does need a tweak to the throttle in some way...

it wants to taxi off at about 25 mph while at idle

it will not bleed airspeed on final unless the engine is OFF

at least - these are my findings on my rig

[big-mike]

ok - after some flying it does need a tweak to the throttle in some way...

it wants to taxi off at about 25 mph while at idle

it will not bleed airspeed on final unless the engine is OFF

at least - these are my findings on my rig

That´s right--the same here.
I meant the prop blur above.
Michael

[Bruce Thompson]

Thanks for the HU Rob, this is a nice package with the two versions and repaints.

Thanks also to OBIO for his tweaks and Heywooood mine also does about 25mph with the throttle closed,
but this is turning out to be another great aircraft for FSX.

Thanks to all the developers.

[mal998]

There are definately issues with the flight model. As has been stated she does not bleed airspeed on the ground or in the water. There seems to be a problem with the drag coefficients that petain to the hull in the water and wheels on the ground.

I think it may have to do with the airfile being used which appears to be from a N3N-1 Canary. I am not familiar with that aircraft.

Hopefully, the author will provide a fix. Otherwise it may be possible to adapt another airfile and modified aircraft.cfg in order to affect the changes.

We'll see how it plays out.

[falcon409]

There are definately issues with the flight model. As has been stated she does not bleed airspeed on the ground or in the water. There seems to be a problem with the drag coefficients that petain to the hull in the water and wheels on the ground.

I think it may have to do with the airfile being used which appears to be from a N3N-1 Canary. I am not familiar with that aircraft.

Hopefully, the author will provide a fix. Otherwise it may be possible to adapt another airfile and modified aircraft.cfg in order to affect the changes.

We'll see how it plays out.

Mal, check all the posts on this, both here and over on the FS9 forums as everything you just mentioned has been tweaked by OBIO.:salute:

[OBIO]

I haven't tweaked the FDE fully....just enough to fix a couple non-working gauges and an issue with the J2F6 tipping over and crashing when on water. I really haven't flown the bird that much...but on my last short hop, coming in for a landing at a land strip...I did notice that the plane had mega-hang time and will not slow down. Drag coefficient is way low most likely. I will see what I can do....but my FDE skills are very limited.

I just remembered....PutPut (Paul Clawson) did a Duck for FS2004....I will see about swapping out the FDE from that bird into this one.

SCOOOOOOORRRRRRE! That was the trick. PutPut's FDE in the new Duck...and the bird slows right down for landing. No more hang time. Now, I have not tried it in FSX, so don't go getting all excited. I am a FS9er and do my work in that sim....I have FSX installed (and a system that will chew it up and spit it out) so will test it in FSX as well. I will get both birds set up for use in FS9, then will see what I can do for FSX.

OBIO

[mal998]

Thanks for that OBIO!

[OBIO]

Ooops! I didn't test the J2F6 before attaching the improved FDE files. I will get them packaged up PROPERLY tomorrow and uploaded to the library. I deleted the tweaks I had attached to my posts in this thread as I want to clear the clutter. Tomorrow...when I upload the full tweak package, it will consist of the tweaked MDL files for both planes, a set of FDE files for FS9 and FSX. Now, I don't know how good the FDE sets are.....but I do know they are improvements over the ones that came with the planes. I may even throw in my FS9 panel set up with the Engine Control, Fuel Management, Radio Stack and GPS pop up windows.

For the Ducks in FSX, you will see the following improvements:

The plane does not roll at idle. The plane bleeds airspeed when the throttle is pulled back. The plane takes off and lands very nicely on water and land. On land, the tail lifts up at around 44KIAS, and will rotate at around 77KIAS with a bit of back stick. On water, the tail lifts around 48KIAS and the plane rotates around 77KIAS with a bit of back stick. Landing speed is between 65 and 70KIAS. Max speed and cruise speed are pretty close to published numbers of 190mph and 155mph...not spot on, but close enough. I haven't tested for range.

OBIO

[falcon409]

Great job OBIO. Thanks for all your efforts, it's really put the finishing touches on an excellent model.:salute:

[dvj]

This model is just Killer! Happy happy, Joy joyAttachment 34945

[OBIO]

I just uploaded the "final" improvement package for these Ducks. "Final" because I can go no further with the FDE improvements...I have reached the end of my limited abilities. I present the best that I can do with the hope that someone with real skills can take over and make them even better.

Take off runs are much more realistic, with speeds that are real close to real worlds performance specs.

Tail lifts off the ground at around 44KIAS, plane rotates around 77KIAS with a bit of back pressure on the stick. Water take offs are about the same.

The plane now bleeds airspeed much more realistically.

Landings are smooth and easy at 65 to 70KIAS.

Top speed and cruise speeds are pretty darn close to the reported real world specs of 190mph and 155mph.

Now that I am done working to improve these birds, I am going to go FLY them...and crash them since that is what I am best at.

OBIO

[heywooood]

uploaded to which site?

Thank you for taking the time to make these modifications and for making them available :salute: