never thought I'd be doing *this* again...

**dcc** · October 3rd, 2016, 20:04

Just sharing a little here, mostly for those old timers who remember my P-38s.

You know the old saying, never say never... In 2008 I retired from FS development and then from simming altogether not long thereafter. Two months ago, I decided to get back into it a little, at least the flying part. But now, as of today, I've come out from development retirement a little bit.

A few days after re-installing FS9 I spent some time getting reacquainted with my each of my P-38s. Visually primitive by today's standards, I think they've held up rather well. Then..., as I panned around the exterior of my favorite (the M) I noticed that it was missing two rather obvious external features. I couldn't believe it! I examined each sub-variant in the M package an d each was missing the same features.

I then found that my L, J and F-5 were each missing the same features. THese were developed over a span of about 14 months, and In all the times I tested and flew them in 2007 and early 2008 I never caught it.
Major face palm.

Tracing back through my development history I figured out how the omission likely occurred. Very embarrassing, especially since it's gone unnoticed all these years.

This started nagging at me, and I found myself avoiding those models. Well, last week I forked over a tidy sum to a computer repair shop and had them recover what they could off my old, dead PC's hard drive that had all my FS files. Fortunately the P-38 files were all still intact, along with lots of family photos that I also really wanted to recover.

This evening I finally got FSDS 3.51 up and running, pulled up the old models and within a few hours had fixed the first of many. Now I can enjoy the models again.

First one to identify what is missing gets a prize. Not sure what that will be, other than being the first one

At some point I'll post the fixes if anyone is interested. I may tinker with the models a bit while I'm at it.

- dcc

**mrogers** · October 4th, 2016, 01:37

That is great. Yes, I would be interested in an updated DCC P-38!

***Willy*** · October 4th, 2016, 04:36

Count me in! Although don't be surprised if I try to port it over to FSX.

***Mick*** · October 4th, 2016, 04:41

I'd like the updates too!

**Blackbird686** · October 4th, 2016, 05:01

Goes without saying, Dave. I've always been a big fan of your P-38's. Count me in, mate!

BB686

**dhazelgrove** · October 4th, 2016, 05:14

It's an addiction - but you can give it up any time you like.....

Welcome home.

Dave

**rgatkinson** · October 4th, 2016, 11:58

Count me in on the updates, please :-)

As for what's missing. Darned if I know but as a wild guess - the radio wires leading from rear of the canopy to each tail fin?

Taff

***Tom Clayton*** · October 4th, 2016, 15:33

Not having fired up any of the Lightnings in quite a while, the only thing I can think that might be missing would be the radiator coils in the rear cooling pods.

**dcc** · October 4th, 2016, 15:40

thanks for the interest guys.

Here's a before/after -- the missing features were the turbo ram air intake under the wings. I still can't believe I missed these and it took 8+ years before I realized it. They were in previous versions, but got overlooked when I worked on the last revisions.

- dcc

PS Willy, you're more than welcome to port them to FSX!

**txnetcop** · October 4th, 2016, 18:24

Great to have you hard at it again DCC!
Ted

**rgatkinson** · October 4th, 2016, 23:01

That's strange, the ram air pods are present on the version I downloaded yesterday?!?

Taff

**Sascha66** · October 5th, 2016, 02:30

I still have all of them installed, an updated version would be most welcome. I prefer them over the payware version (I think I have about 3), just a better feeling all round.

**gandalf** · October 5th, 2016, 05:47

Good to see you back, David. I spent many a happy hour (or more!) repainting your various models.

Regards,

Gil (formerly known as cobrauk).

**dcc** · October 5th, 2016, 09:36

Originally Posted by rgatkinson

That's strange, the ram air pods are present on the version I downloaded yesterday?!?

If you d/l'd the XP-38 Prototype or the F/G/H Triple Play package, they have their intakes. If you d/l'd the J/F-5, L or M that has them, then it's an earlier version of the model.

All the latest models (without this fix) are on my site http://www.kazoku.org/xp-38n

- dcc

**rgatkinson** · October 5th, 2016, 12:03

Originally Posted by dcc

If you d/l'd the XP-38 Prototype or the F/G/H Triple Play package, they have their intakes. If you d/l'd the J/F-5, L or M that has them, then it's an earlier version of the model.

All the latest models (without this fix) are on my site http://www.kazoku.org/xp-38n

- dcc

Ah, that explains it. I look forward to your updated versions ;-)

Thanks

Taff

***Tom Clayton*** · October 5th, 2016, 13:46

Which is the one that has the fuel tank caps modeled as opposed to only in the textures? I need to get that one again.

**dcc** · October 5th, 2016, 16:07

Originally Posted by Tom Clayton

Which is the one that has the fuel tank caps modeled as opposed to only in the textures? I need to get that one again.

I believe the last release versions of each variant had the fuel caps modeled instead of as part of the textures.

- dcc

***PRB*** · October 5th, 2016, 17:24

Dang, where were the beta testers on this?? What a bunch of losers!! Oh wait, that was me (oops) ... Interesting that we spend hours looking for the tiny details, and sometimes miss the big stuff! Semi big stuff anyway...

**normb** · October 6th, 2016, 05:57

DCC,

Thanks for sharing all your previous model work with the community. I've personnally enjoyed them all. And thanks for bringing up the info on the model details.

Norm

**dcc** · October 6th, 2016, 06:10

Originally Posted by PRB

Interesting that we spend hours looking for the tiny details, and sometimes miss the big stuff! Semi big stuff anyway...

I was thinking the same thing. I really appreciate all your beta testing over the years. You caught tons of things I missed.

What was interesting about these missing intakes is that I missed them years ago, but noticed them almost immediately when I got FS9 running again !

Guys -- I really appreciate the kind words from everyone. It's great to be back.

- dcc

**normb** · October 6th, 2016, 06:40

DCC,

Your XP-38N website is quite a service in its self. Lots of great pics and info on the real bird. A rivet counters paradise!

I've referred to it a bunch of times over the years when I had a question about these great birds.

Norm

**sixstrings5859** · November 10th, 2016, 11:08

What would be great is a P-38M for CFS3 . Very much needed. Is it possible to do this ? Thanks,Scott

**dcc** · November 11th, 2016, 15:49

It's been a long time, but I seem to recall peculiarities with CFS3 that made it next to impossible to get my models working in it. I think I would have to start from scratch.

- dcc