Alpha Bleu Ciel F8F Bearcat upgrade pack
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Thread: Alpha Bleu Ciel F8F Bearcat upgrade pack

  1. #1

    Alpha Bleu Ciel F8F Bearcat upgrade pack

    New incoming project with usual MDL tweaks to ajust spec. shine as well as a full bare metal livery still under work in progress
    I would like to cover the South East Asian bearcats (South Vietnam and Thailand in 60's) as well as civilian racer and maybe What if liveries.

    A few pics :





    Keep in touch

    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1.jpg   2.jpg   3.jpg  

  2. #2
    That bare metal scheme looks superb so far, l'iguane. The Alpha Bleu Bearcat is an excellent model to begin with. Milton did an upgrade on the 2D and VC as well as the ground handling and flight dynamics. With your brushwork on the Bearcat, it will be a real treat. Not really sure about a "Bare Bear", as it were, but I think there were a few bare metal F8F's stationed at Quantico in the late 50's..... a Bare Bear? lol!!!

    Cheers -- BB686
    "El gato que camina como hombre" -- The cat that walks like a man

  3. #3
    Hello Blackbird,
    I use the upgrade model revisited by Milton and Cie as they provide a great improvement. The "clean model" as shown up there has the pilot positioned a bit rearward in my opinion. However, the second MDL (with a belly tank) has this issue corrected with a proper pilot position. Both will be included !

    I would be really interested by doing a few scheme of bare F8F's (Quantico ?) but I have not found references or profiles yet. if someone has material about them, feel free to share


    Quote Originally Posted by Blackbird686 View Post
    That bare metal scheme looks superb so far, l'iguane. The Alpha Bleu Bearcat is an excellent model to begin with. Milton did an upgrade on the 2D and VC as well as the ground handling and flight dynamics. With your brushwork on the Bearcat, it will be a real treat. Not really sure about a "Bare Bear", as it were, but I think there were a few bare metal F8F's stationed at Quantico in the late 50's..... a Bare Bear? lol!!!

    Cheers -- BB686

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Blackbird686 View Post
    Milton did an upgrade on the 2D and VC as well as the ground handling and flight dynamics.

    Cheers -- BB686

    Hi, can this upgrade still be found? Thanks!
    Sascha

  5. #5
    At the SOH library, search for bearcat or F8F and you should find it


    Quote Originally Posted by Sascha66 View Post
    Hi, can this upgrade still be found? Thanks!
    Sascha

  6. #6
    Continuing, canopy mount are finished, still have to go for the bottom of the wings, as well as all the Gear/door/bay stuff. I might rework also the VC textures to make it look better.

    As no paintkit were released for this bird and only navy blue overall livery provided, some parts as elevators were hidden into the blue..took some time to dig them out and layer them properly.



    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 5.jpg  

  7. #7
    SOH-CM-2019
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    Looks like a new silver dollar. Beautiful.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Sascha66 View Post
    Hi, can this upgrade still be found? Thanks!
    Sascha
    OT: Here are both the FSX port over and FS9 versions:

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...rid=249&page=2
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

  9. #9
    Pilot have been fully re-textured and looks now better, with modern helmet
    Still struggling on the bay and innner gear door.


    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 7.jpg  

  10. #10
    Also, I have been tweaking the "long range" model with belly tank with the same set up than the clean version. Still have to skin the belly tank, which could be done soon.

    To illustrate my previous observation, notice here the difference of scale of the pilot on the long range model. To my humble opinion, I think this model is the more realistic one compare to the clean one.



    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 8.jpg  

  11. #11
    SOH-CM-2019
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    Agree w/you about the pilot scale in the LR version, l'iguane. Everything I've read about this bird - and chats I used to have with a former F8F pilot - indicated your shoulders could be rubbing the canopy rails in this cockpit. Remember it was supposed to be the smallest possible airframe wrapped around the huskiest engine they could find at the time. That further supports your scaling efforts.

  12. #12
    Belly tank now has texture

    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 12.jpg  

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by l'iguane View Post
    Belly tank now has texture

    L'iguane
    ... Really very nice skin l'iguane...

    Is the tank dropable ?

  14. #14
    Member gaucho_59's Avatar
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    Fantastique!!!

    Very realistic bare metal texture... will make a rather striking effect with Thai liveries....
    Can't wait to see it finished... Kudos!
    I see a faint US Star on the fuselage... is that on purpose?

    G.

  15. #15
    Hello,

    Solobo, As far as I know the tank is not droppable. This model was released about 10 years ago.

    Gaucho, yes I look forward painting Thai liveries, the result could be pretty nice
    I added faint stars on the bare livery, as if the plane had been polished from the overall navy blue livery. The original idea comes from 000Rick000 which did an amazing bare metal work on the vertigo F8F for fsx. My idea was to paint something similar but from my own, for the alpha bleu ciel fs9 bird.

    I prepared also a quite worn overall blue livery for French and blue S. Vietnamese F8F's. Here with french colors.



    Cheers
    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 14.jpg  

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by l'iguane View Post
    Hello,

    Solobo, As far as I know the tank is not droppable. This model was released about 10 years ago.

    Gaucho, yes I look forward painting Thai liveries, the result could be pretty nice
    I added faint stars on the bare livery, as if the plane had been polished from the overall navy blue livery. The original idea comes from 000Rick000 which did an amazing bare metal work on the vertigo F8F for fsx. My idea was to paint something similar but from my own, for the alpha bleu ciel fs9 bird.

    I prepared also a quite worn overall blue livery for French and blue S. Vietnamese F8F's. Here with french colors.


    Cheers
    L'iguane
    Ok, thank you... I suppose you use the modified MDL from the reworked pack by Milton Shupe (2014), but the original MDL by Michel Migaud has no droptank... I think maybe Milton reworked the suspension of main gears... I'm doing tests with original MDL, to try to adjust the contact_points...

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by SOLOBO View Post
    Ok, thank you... I suppose you use the modified MDL from the reworked pack by Milton Shupe (2014), but the original MDL by Michel Migaud has no droptank... I think maybe Milton reworked the suspension of main gears... I'm doing tests with original MDL, to try to adjust the contact_points...



    SOLOBO,

    Although I did not modify the F8F-1 (no tank version) I did rework the F8F-2 suspension and a lot more:

    Summary of changes to the F8F-2 with Tank
    ------------------
    Main and Tail gear animations to lengthen oleos for better ground ops
    Changed tail gear to castoring
    Changed braking strength to compensate for differential braking
    Made blurred prop more transparent
    Decreased P-Factor and Torque effect on roll out
    Decreased yaw moments due to rudder
    Added exterior cockpit night lighting
    Decreased "glossiness" of main exterior body parts
    Redid main VC panel gauge display for higher resolution
    Added VC gauge night lighting to all vc gauges to eliminate the VClight Light effects on night time cockpit windows and display anomalies in FSX
    Corrected elevator trim wheel animation to be clickable
    Re-textured VC interior
    Added landing light and switch
    Modified Mag switch to add pointer
    Modified Fuel selector switch base texture
    Other miscellaneous VC adjustments
    Added a second panel/virtual cockpit panel folder for Olive Drab interior

    NOTE: No changes were made to gauges, aircraft performance or fuel consumption. Only changes made to .air file were for yaw moments.

    @ L'iguane,

    The drop tank is not droppable in this version although that could be done with a model and panel.cfg change.

    You can find the modified F8F-2 FSX Port over version and the FS9 version here:

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...rid=249&page=2
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

  18. #18
    Here is a nice shot if zoomed in show the size of the pilot in the cockpit.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Grumman-F8F-Bearcat-WWII-Navy-Fighter-Title.jpg  
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

  19. #19

    Rtaf 2300

    First livery just out of the paintshop





    Cheers
    L'iguane
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 16.5.jpg   18.jpg   19.jpg  

  20. #20
    That is hot looking L'iguane!

    Joel

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by HorusJ View Post
    That is hot looking L'iguane!

    Joel
    I agree; that looks great!

    BTW, I am toying with the external tank version to be "hideable" and it is testing out just fine.

    Not sure it will be released as I must consult with Oldliner52 before even considering that.

    I will not do that until I see if there are other things that can be improved to make a release worthwhile.

    ABC did such a nice job on this aircraft for its time, there really isn't much to improve on now while keeping it close to original.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails HOMEUNIT-2016-feb-9-002.jpg   HOMEUNIT-2016-feb-9-001.jpg  
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

  22. #22
    SOH-CM-2023
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    This is simply amazing. Just great work. Beautiful textures. looking forward to flying this bird.

    Sean

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Milton Shupe View Post
    SOLOBO,

    Although I did not modify the F8F-1 (no tank version) I did rework the F8F-2 suspension and a lot more:

    Summary of changes to the F8F-2 with Tank
    ------------------
    Main and Tail gear animations to lengthen oleos for better ground ops
    Changed tail gear to castoring
    Changed braking strength to compensate for differential braking
    Made blurred prop more transparent
    Decreased P-Factor and Torque effect on roll out
    Decreased yaw moments due to rudder
    Added exterior cockpit night lighting
    Decreased "glossiness" of main exterior body parts
    Redid main VC panel gauge display for higher resolution
    Added VC gauge night lighting to all vc gauges to eliminate the VClight Light effects on night time cockpit windows and display anomalies in FSX
    Corrected elevator trim wheel animation to be clickable
    Re-textured VC interior
    Added landing light and switch
    Modified Mag switch to add pointer
    Modified Fuel selector switch base texture
    Other miscellaneous VC adjustments
    Added a second panel/virtual cockpit panel folder for Olive Drab interior

    NOTE: No changes were made to gauges, aircraft performance or fuel consumption. Only changes made to .air file were for yaw moments.

    @ L'iguane,

    The drop tank is not droppable in this version although that could be done with a model and panel.cfg change.

    You can find the modified F8F-2 FSX Port over version and the FS9 version here:

    http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...rid=249&page=2
    Thank you very much Milton, already installed, she flies very well... And indeed, I have not checked the panel...
    ...

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by l'iguane View Post
    first livery just out of the paintshop





    cheers
    l'iguane
    ouch ! Amazing ! Fantastique !!!

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Milton Shupe View Post
    I will not do that until I see if there are other things that can be improved to make a release worthwhile.

    ABC did such a nice job on this aircraft for its time, there really isn't much to improve on now while keeping it close to original.
    Sounds great !
    If I may, I would have a few suggestion :

    The model itself doesn't need to be reworked as it is already top quality, especially after the upgrade Milton and Cie did. In another word, the liveries I did are like the glass containing the finest vine (the model itself !)

    The potential improvements, as well as the droppable tank which look promising could be :
    - Additional weapons (fixed or droppable) might be an interesting addition (Napalm, 1000lbs bombs and HVAR) but I do not have the Gmax and coding proficiency to do that on my own...

    Provided off course we get permission from oldiner and Milton is willing spending time on it (I do believe he is already pretty busy on incoming projects and his time is precious)

    - A thing I would love to do is create a setting for using Real Engine with this bearcat's R-2800 power settings and limitations, in the same spirit than "accurate//realistic" market models but free After completing the liveries, I'll dig into this direction definitely.

    Cheers
    L'iguane

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