F-100 Super Sabre

[skyblazer3]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has any plans to release an F-100 Super Sabre for FSX? I feel like this is an airplane which is truly lacking in our hangers. As the first supersonic front line fighter of the free world it has a special place in the hearts of many aviators.

I could not find any threads about the Super Sabre here on SOH. A few years ago I bought the donationware F-100 for 2004, but have had a hard time getting it to work in FSX... there seems to be a texture problem in the VC where the left side of the instrument panel is overlaying the gauges. Perhaps there is a fix for this. It would be great, however, to see a detailed and native fsx F-100 that had full systems functionality and could be flown without drop tanks and without a refueling probe.......... oh how I wish......

Garner

[falcon409]

Oh, kindred spirits, lol. The F-100 was the first Fighter I worked on after Tech School in the mid 60's. 2yrs at Wheelus AFB, Tripoli , Libya and all the F-100's I could handle, lol. I've been harping on this point for several years now and it simply falls on deaf ears. It's like, yea the F-100 was the first of the Century Series. . . .but. . .I like the 102, I like the 104, oooh how about the 106 or the 101. . . .lol. Yea, ok. . .so could we get back to the one that started it all instead? lol.:isadizzy:

[skyblazer3]

It is criminal that we don't have a great F-100...... they don't make them like they used to, bare shiny metal, a one stage afterburner, no flaps, and a handful to fly. I wonder if FSX could even come close to simulating the challenging nature of landing the bird.

Speaking of Tripoli, you've probably seen this video montage of the base:


It reminds me of the way that F-100 driver James Salter ended his book GODS OF TIN:

Never another sunburned face in Tripoli looking up at you as you taxi to a stop, the expression asking, ship OK? A thumb raised, OK. And the dying whine, like a great sigh, of the engine shutting down, the needles on the gauges collapsing. It is over.

Garner

[falcon409]

Wow, I'm a little speechless right now. . .that video caught me by surprise. I have a lot of wonderful memories of Wheelus and that was an emotional trip back for me. Thank you very much. . .I'd never seen that video before this evening.

There is a lot of history to the base, things that happened in history while I was stationed there that will always be a part of me. It was a great 2 years and the F-100 has always been my single favorite Fighter, despite having worked on many others over the years, including the F-16, which was my last.

You probably know this, but Mitiga (HLLM) in FSX is Wheelus AFB. You can find it on Google Earth and get a pretty good idea of the size of the base, the barracks and many other structures from the original base are still visible.:salute::salute:

[skyblazer3]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. My father used to take F-100s there for gunnery practice when he was in the 22nd squadron, 36th wing at Bitburg.

Yes, I know Mitiga.... aside from the F-100, i've also wanted someone to do a nice cold-war scenery for Wheelus, complete with static aircraft. If you look hard enough on the internet you can find some good maps of the layout of the base, combined with many photos from servicemen and their families. I think it would be possible for a scenery developer to put something together.... I've dabbled with the idea of re-making the field into Wheelus, but I don't have the ability to model the necessary static aircraft.

[krazycolin]

I may be wrong but I believe that Michael Davies great model of the F-100 was "given" over to Razbam.... Anyone remember this?

[falcon409]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. My father used to take F-100s there for gunnery practice when he was in the 22nd squadron, 36th wing at Bitburg.

Yes, I know Mitiga.... aside from the F-100, i've also wanted someone to do a nice cold-war scenery for Wheelus, complete with static aircraft. If you look hard enough on the internet you can find some good maps of the layout of the base, combined with many photos from servicemen and their families. I think it would be possible for a scenery developer to put something together.... I've dabbled with the idea of re-making the field into Wheelus, but I don't have the ability to model the necessary static aircraft.

I was there from 1966 to 1968 so we probably crossed paths in some form or fashion. He would have been flying on the Range called "El Huatia" (sp) in the Sahara. I had only been at the base a week or two when I volunteered to go with a recovery crew to pick up the pieces of an F-4 that had crashed on the range. The pilot got "target lock" and dove his aircraft right into the ground. There wasn't much left.

I've been working off and on with the scenery at Wheelus. I have the photoscenery in place and some of the barracks and school buildings, but haven't progressed much in quite a while. I sent to the National Archives and they sent me copies of all the pics they had of the Base. I've got a lot that can't be accessed just through the internet.

[falcon409]

I may be wrong but I believe that Michael Davies great model of the F-100 was "given" over to Razbam.... Anyone remember this?

Yep, I remember hearing that Michael was working on one, but like many "coming soon" projects I hear about, I let it go in one ear and out the other. I doubt we'll see that particular model anytime in the near future.:salute:

[Prowler1111]

Yup, we got it, it´s on the pipeline..

Prowler

[falcon409]

Looks like it might be time to reload the "Donationware" Super Saber. I was working on one repaint a long time ago and had done some mods to the gauge arrangements and VC interior colors. I need to pull all that out again if I can find it and see what's what.

[michael davies]

The project was a joint venture with Razbam, thus when it became clear I could not keep my end of the deal I felt it only fair to hand over the whole project complete with source files in good faith, so that Razbam may continue if they chose to. This failure was no reflection on Ron, Razbam or any associates there in, the default was mine and mine alone and I take full responsibility for failing to complete said tasks.

Apologies

Michael

[Bjoern]

I feel like this is an airplane which is truly lacking in our hangers.

Well, so is a native 737-200, DC-8, MiG-23, Do-728, Dash 8, etc...

The best was to make sure to get one into FSX (in case some developer isn't working on one already) is learning GMax and doing the job yourself.

[skyblazer3]

Yup, we got it, it´s on the pipeline..

Prowler

Glad to hear it..... Can't wait to go down to the North American factory and pick mine up.

In the meantime..... Falcon, if you ever get that VC in the donationware F-100 sorted out, let us know. I struggled with getting the left side of the VC to function properly, but the texture seems to be superimposed over the gauges and I couldn't resolve the problem by adjusting the alpha channel. If you have a solution, I would love to hear it. I would fly that aircraft a lot more if I could replace the default gauges and fly it IFR..... but having the left 1/3 of the panel inoperative means that I have 1/3 less space to place my gauges.

[peter12213]

I'd love a super sabre but would like an A4 Scooter more!!!

[falcon409]

. . . . . .In the meantime..... Falcon, if you ever get that VC in the donationware F-100 sorted out, let us know. I struggled with getting the left side of the VC to function properly, but the texture seems to be superimposed over the gauges and I couldn't resolve the problem by adjusting the alpha channel. . . .

Yep, I remember this now. . .lol. It took me awhile, but here's what I had to do. Loaded FSPanel Studio and pulled up the VC windows one at a time to see what gauges were where. Then I loaded FSX, went into the VC and got a handle on how it was laid out. . .there is one VC window with most of the gauges on it. . .the other two only have one or two. I had to duplicate the gauges, reposition them on the blank VC windows and move them around until the portion showing on the panel in the VC matched up with the rest of the gauge on the left side. Not sure why this happened, but basically the gauges that are supposed to show in that blank area on the left in the VC were left out, so I just have to put them back in. It sounds tedious, but I can place several gauges, save the panel.cfg and then reload the aircraft and see the results. The whole process won't take much more than about 15 minutes once I start.:salute:

The F-100 had a unique sound, kinda like a huge vacuum cleaner on steroids, lol. It was unmistakable. No matter where I was during the late 60's and early 70's, if there was a Super Saber in the air, I didn't even have to look up to know. In the interim, I'm using the F/A-18 sounds.

[falcon409]

This is what I have right now: "Before and After". . . .because of the way the "windows" in FSPanel Studio are arranged (actually it's really the way the original VC modeling was done and how the vc_windows were arranged to take the gauges), there's very little extra leeway for placing gauges. There are places I could add gauges, but there's no way to get them to completely show up because they would be cut off partially. That's why setting up the panel to look a bit more spread out but "gauged" correctly is pretty much impossible. What you see in the second shot (with a few more tweaks) is about as good as it's gonna get.

[falcon409]

One additional pic after redoing the VC textures to a bit darker gray. . .more in keeping with the actual aircraft, at least as I remember it.

[hschuit]

Falcon409, that looks very much better in FSX than the original ! I made some attempts myself to get it fixed but got stuck. Then I made a new 2D panel, which was much easier to do...

I also did other modifications for FSX (new gauges, updates in aircraft.cfg, .air file, MDL LOD colours, textures). Only thing is I am not sure if it is OK copyright wise to upload my FSX mod's - does anyone know?

[falcon409]

Nice job on the "weathered camo" scheme. Since the original work was done through the SOH Donationware Dept. I would think someone here on the Staff could answer any questions about mods and copyright status.

[hschuit]

Nice job on the "weathered camo" scheme. Since the original work was done through the SOH Donationware Dept. I would think someone here on the Staff could answer any questions about mods and copyright status.

Thank you falcon409 - I did send them a PM. The best ever repaint for the Hun is done by Jason Sparkes (UKMIL), it depicts F-100D 56-3206 from 8th TFS/49th TFW based at Toul-Rosieres AB c. 1959:

[falcon409]

Great, just downloaded that one. I was working on one last year that I never finished and apparently has been lost forever. Man I had been laboring over it for quite a while, just getting the rear fuselage heat effects right. . .that's an area most don't bother enough with. The engine and AB heat turns that area many different colors and done correctly, it can add a whole lot of realism to the rest of the aircraft. I'll continue to look for it, but I don't hold out much hope, lol.

[skyblazer3]

Falcon409 and hschuit,

Great work on this Sabre... some really nice work in the interior and exterior.

I've got my fingers crossed that someone can give hschuit a straight and clear answer on his model and FDE improvements for FSX. Perhaps the moderators here have a list of those people who purchased the Sabre and could release the new package as a patch.

Otherwise, I would be willing to pay another $10 or whatever it was to get this Sabre working in FSX.... sounds like a good fundraising opportunity for these great forums.

Chris

[riptide]

I flew the Hun out of Luke AFB for two years in the late '60s. She was a great plane. At the time, the primary mission was ground attack.

The plane had several unusual characteristics. The first was "adverse yaw". If the pilot entered a turn without using rudder, the aircraft would immediately enter a high rate of roll turn in the opposite direction!

The other characteristic was a tendency for a compressor stall. This occurred at high angles of attack and was accompanied by a violent explosion (of air) and sometime flames out of the intake! However, this seldom damaged the engine or the aircraft but it did get the pilot's attention.

I'm hoping that a F-100 project will be carried forward! I'd be happy to lend technical assistance to anyone involved in such a project. Additionally, I'm a member of the Super Sabre Society, whose membership possesses a wealth of information about this great aircraft.

[falcon409]

Welcome Riptide, great to have you as part of the SOH family. Your first hand knowledge of the Super Saber will no doubt be of great assistance to whomever picks up the baton on this long overdue Aircraft. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 years I spent at Wheelus working on this airplane and it has stayed with me some 42yrs later, lol.:salute:

[riptide]

Thanks, Falcon. My wife visited Wheelus AFB in 1967. She was following my ship around the Med at the time, and the ship she was using to go to the next port stopped in Tripoli. The wives went out to the BX for shopping.

I did a little video tribute to the Hun, which may be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsFccIXwlDU