A Lockheed "Rounder"

**Milton Shupe** · September 19th, 2015, 05:55

Good day my Friends; I hope your weekend is going well so far. :-)

Sorry I have been silent this week but I had real world community obligations with United Way's annual campaign drive.

I have completed changes for all known issues for the Lodestar series. If you have any more discoveries, now is the time to post them here.

I am ready to export the changes for testing and release this (hopefully) final fix this weekend.

Meanwhile Andre's beautiful paint scheme is my test subject and I show here all the available antennas (from which I select for the variants), a Ham Radio operator's dream come true.

**Blackbird686** · September 19th, 2015, 08:09

I've been into amateur radio for years and THAT could be my "Flying Radio Platform". Just imagine the signal you'd get at 10,000 feet....

lol!

BB686

***srgalahad*** · September 19th, 2015, 14:57

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

Meanwhile Andre's beautiful paint scheme is my test subject and I show here all the available antennas (from which I select for the variants), a Ham Radio operator's dream come true.

Hey Milton, I think you missed this one (see the nose) .. hehe (No, I DO remember the conversation we had all those months ago about whether it was worth it

)

For those who are wondering, it's an ADF loop antenna on a bracket behind a plexi nose cap. (I have yet to find a definitive explanation but it appears to be a uniquely-Canadian variant that probably came about to avoid freezing problems with the loop's rotation mechanism). As far as I have found it only appeared on some TCA birds. CF-TCV http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Postca...eron/2028L.jpg and BAO (ex CF-TDE) http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac4/CF-BAO.html

Blackbird, when I was young one of the bits of "junk" I fooled with was a reel of wire from a trailing-wire HF antenna that my dad retrieved from the TCA parts bin. Some of the wire ended up as part of his 20meter antenna.

A rather attractive corporate paint scheme. BA was taken over by Gulf Oil Canada in the 1960's http://www.britishamericanoil.ca/history.html

**Maarten -** · September 20th, 2015, 07:45

Hi there,

Available now at SOH Warbirds Library, AvSim.com and FlightSim.com only repaints feat. Portuguese Air Force and Royal Netherlands Navy liveries for the PV-2 Harpoon. Enjoy.

Cheers,
Maarten

P.S. A spinprop.dds texture has been added in the zip files for the FSX Poons. (see folder "spinprop for FSX Harpoon" also the extension of the thumbnail in the texture folders has been changed from png to jpg)

***huub vink*** · September 20th, 2015, 10:17

Thanks Maarten

Huub

**Maarten -** · September 20th, 2015, 12:13

Graag gedaan Huub!

**Milton Shupe** · September 20th, 2015, 14:06

Originally Posted by srgalahad

Hey Milton, I think you missed this one (see the nose) .. hehe (No, I DO remember the conversation we had all those months ago about whether it was worth it

)

For those who are wondering, it's an ADF loop antenna on a bracket behind a plexi nose cap. (I have yet to find a definitive explanation but it appears to be a uniquely-Canadian variant that probably came about to avoid freezing problems with the loop's rotation mechanism). As far as I have found it only appeared on some TCA birds. CF-TCV http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Postca...eron/2028L.jpg and BAO (ex CF-TDE) http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac4/CF-BAO.html

Blackbird, when I was young one of the bits of "junk" I fooled with was a reel of wire from a trailing-wire HF antenna that my dad retrieved from the TCA parts bin. Some of the wire ended up as part of his 20meter antenna.

A rather attractive corporate paint scheme. BA was taken over by Gulf Oil Canada in the 1960's http://www.britishamericanoil.ca/history.html

LOL Rob, actually there are several other types representing 50's that I have seen but one can only do so much. :-) I also have several other pics of Canadian types with that same antenna setup.

**Milton Shupe** · September 20th, 2015, 14:07

Originally Posted by Maarten

Hi there,

Available now at SOH Warbirds Library, AvSim.com and FlightSim.com only repaints feat. Portuguese Air Force and Royal Netherlands Navy liveries for the PV-2 Harpoon. Enjoy.

Cheers,
Maarten

P.S. A spinprop.dds texture has been added in the zip files for the FSX Poons. (see folder "spinprop for FSX Harpoon" also the extension of the thumbnail in the texture folders has been changed from png to jpg)

Ahhh, thank you Sir; I have been awaiting these paints.

**Milton Shupe** · September 20th, 2015, 14:38

Well, invested the last 12 hours getting a lot of little things changed on the Lodestars. No amount of testing seems to catch them all. :-/ Just too many things to look at in too many situations. LOL

The exports are done and final testing is in progress. Sooo, you can now tell me all the things that are wrong so I can start over again. :-)
Just kidding; I am done with it. Any further changes you must do. :-)

Will try to package it all and have it uploaded Monday.

***manfredc3*** · September 20th, 2015, 17:42

Took the Goodtime Girl for a spin last night

It was starting to get dark, and the weather wasn't the greatest, but I had a lot of fun flying this bird.

**Andre19** · September 21st, 2015, 07:19

Working on some SAAF Lodestars.
They were used on the South Africa-Egypt “shuttle” from 8 July 1941. The shuttle service had been initiated by the East African Campaign and transported troops and supplies to the war front (Cairo and beyond) and brought back wounded.
I also used the Setting the Specular with MDLMat document from Martial Feron (thanks) to create a non-reflective PW Lodestar

**Milton Shupe** · September 21st, 2015, 07:57

That looks great Andre! I look forward to this one.

Please ensure to name the model folder differently than existing models so we can retain all the model options.

Thank you

EDIT: By the way, new revised models are coming so you may wish to redo the mdlmat change on the new one before you release this.

**Milton Shupe** · September 21st, 2015, 17:19

Real world had me involved in other things today so maybe Tuesday will be the day for the Lodestar upgrade upload. Sorry.

**Bill Kestell** · September 21st, 2015, 17:34

Hi, Milton!

I've done a ton of flying with the Lodestars and can't thank you enough for all of them.

One thing I would have like to have seen would have been a CARGO version with a door arrangement like that of the Beech D18 or a C-47 and just the bare military interior cabin without benches or seating (unless the benches could be keyed to fold up and go away. A cargo load like that on the Beech would have been nice too.

I know "you're done" ... is there a chance that one of our flock who knows how to do it could get permission and help from you on that kind of modification?

I just can't see trying to load and unload "cargo" through that little, skinny passenger door!

**Milton Shupe** · September 21st, 2015, 18:26

Originally Posted by Bill Kestell

Hi, Milton!

I've done a ton of flying with the Lodestars and can't thank you enough for all of them.

One thing I would have like to have seen would have been a CARGO version with a door arrangement like that of the Beech D18 or a C-47 and just the bare military interior cabin without benches or seating (unless the benches could be keyed to fold up and go away. A cargo load like that on the Beech would have been nice too.

I know "you're done" ... is there a chance that one of our flock who knows how to do it could get permission and help from you on that kind of modification?

I just can't see trying to load and unload "cargo" through that little, skinny passenger door!

Hi Bill,

I really do appreciate your interest in the Lodestars Bill, and would like to honor your request somehow.

I guess it's not obvious with 4 variants for FS9, and the differences for FSX in FM and textures, that there are really 8 variants excluding AI and MP versions that require management and testing for both sims. I try to do this for all the aircraft and that's why number of variants can really get out of hand in terms of workload. I had 14-15 Grumman Trackers/Traders/Tracers radials and TurboProps for each sim and that killed me. LOL Never do that again. :-)

But you know, it's interesting in that of the many pics I have of the Lodestars, I do not have a single picture of a cargo unit; I do not recall seeing one. If you have any, please post.

I will definitely share the gmax source for any sufficiently talented individual who can take on the complexities of this gmax source and its variants to make a cargo unit. If it weren't for the added grief of cutting in those doors and the effect on the fuselage textures mapping, and the need for added textures inside and outside, I would be happy to do it. Probably would only take another week or so to get the basics done and add the time required to get someone to do textures, plus testing and release- probably a a few weeks in total at a minimum. Sorry, I have no textures artist on-board at the moment.

I also have the Vega Ventura interior nose to wrap up as the exterior textures are getting done, the F7F series to release, and the Grumman Mallard awaiting final changes as its interior textures are being done. That is, I have other people waiting for me to get stuff done.

Hope you understand that for now, I am just swamped but maybe I can revisit this at a later date.

**Maarten -** · September 21st, 2015, 23:54

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

Real world had me involved in other things today so maybe Tuesday will be the day for the Lodestar upgrade upload. Sorry.

No worries mate!

**Andre19** · September 21st, 2015, 23:55

Thanks Milton. I wasn't going to release the non-reflective PW model, but if it's ok with you I will. I'll make sure it's in a new model folder with a different name to the original. It will also only be after you release the updated models, still some work to do.

Bill, I am able to create a bare military interior cabin without benches or seating or curtains by using black textures in the alpha channel. This effectively makes the seats transparent. I've added some stretchers on the floor for my SAAF Air Ambulance with 1 Air Ambulance Unit RAAF.

For anyone who would like the bare military interior cabin (without the stretchers) it can be download from https://app.box.com/s/59o28410the0r3myojr2vz4o3codd7rc
Just replace your cabinseats.bmp with this one.

**Milton Shupe** · September 22nd, 2015, 04:32

Originally Posted by Andre19

Thanks Milton. I wasn't going to release the non-reflective PW model, but if it's ok with you I will. I'll make sure it's in a new model folder with a different name to the original. It will also only be after you release the updated models, still some work to do.

Bill, I am able to create a bare military interior cabin without benches or seating or curtains by using black textures in the alpha channel. This effectively makes the seats transparent. I've added some stretchers on the floor for my SAAF Air Ambulance with 1 Air Ambulance Unit RAAF.

For anyone who would like the bare military interior cabin (without the stretchers) it can be download from https://app.box.com/s/59o28410the0r3myojr2vz4o3codd7rc
Just replace your cabinseats.bmp with this one.

That looks great Andre

No problem with your model variant; thank you for your contributions :-)

**Milton Shupe** · September 22nd, 2015, 06:51

Lodestar v1.2 Upgrades for the FSX and FS9 versions uploaded. They require the original releases - i.e. NOT a full package.

Includes replacement models, panel, flight model and one texture for all your texture folders.

Corrects a lot of small texture/mapping issues, adds a rudimentary 2D electrical panel, and improves the flight model.
See the "Cruising chart" in the "Lodestar Operations" folder of your original download.

I corrected everything I could; some minor irritants exist if you look hard enough.

EDIT: For those of you who have mod'ed the models for less specular shine, you will need to do that again.

**Maarten -** · September 22nd, 2015, 07:54

Hi Milton,

Thank you so much!

I'm downloading right now. After diner this happy chappy will install the lot and start flying!

Cheers,
Maarten

**Terry** · September 22nd, 2015, 09:58

After applying the update all is well except Good Time Gal has no textures. The only difference in this skin is it's all .DDS and one BMP of landinglight.bmp. All the other skins are straight BMP.

**Milton Shupe** · September 22nd, 2015, 10:18

Originally Posted by Terry

After applying the update all is well except Good Time Gal has no textures. The only difference in this skin is it's all .DDS and one BMP of landinglight.bmp. All the other skins are straight BMP.

Are you running it in FSX or FS9? The upgrade supplied no textures other than the one landinglight.bmp.

Only the FSX original download version has DDS textures, and all liveries are DDS.

**Terry** · September 22nd, 2015, 10:23

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

Are you running it in FSX or FS9? The upgrade supplied no textures other than the one landinglight.bmp.

Only the FSX original download version has DDS textures, and all liveries are DDS.

That was FS9, and I added the single landinglight texture to everything as per the instructions. Oh well, it was working before. I'll find it eventually.

**Milton Shupe** · September 22nd, 2015, 10:37

Originally Posted by Terry

That was FS9, and I added the single landinglight texture to everything as per the instructions. Oh well, it was working before. I'll find it eventually.

Is it possible you installed Martial Feron's GoodTime Gal in FS9? That would explain the DDS textures as I think his release was only for FSX.