Ivans Corsairs

[Ivan]

I recently put in several more hours of work on a F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair. The replacement fuel gauge seems to work reasonably well. I did the typical SCASM Virtual Cockpit thing and Collision Bubble modification and also switched all the textures to BMP files.

I still need to mess with the Check List a bit more and change the Read Me. Near as I can tell, this plane has been around in this appearance since about 2007 or so..... Some things are not going to get fixed in this pass: The plane is too fat, the Cowl opening is too wide and the cutouts for the quarter windows do not exist.

Still, I think it is fairly pretty.
- Ivan.

[minuteman10]

....Very nice Ivan!!!

[Dave Cumming]

I decided to reduce the range of default planes so that all my planes are consistent. 500 yds is more than enough for all of my guns, fighters and bombers.

I think that the 1% idea was correct in that the guns all have a consistent range of performance. I'm not an expert in calculating the relative destruction power of different rounds but some ranking can be made so that small calibre are less destructive than bigger rounds. Damage profiles then have to be consistent across all planes - I've seen an Italian bomber that I couldn't shoot down despite getting close and putting all my bullets into a wing.

I know that the 1% figure for .303 is very low - I really have to work at placing my shots to get enough hits to break the plane; a quick burst into a 109 engine slows it down a lot and I've managed to shoot down 5 109s with this low hitting power.


Dave

[Ivan]

Hi Minuteman10,

Thanks for the compliment. I like this plane too. It isn't the most agile, it isn't the fastest, but the combination isn't bad which I believe was true of the original as well.
The plane is a bit too fat, but that is because the drawings I used were not all that accurate. I have better drawings now (by Paul Matt) but don't have the wish to redo this airplane.


Hi Dave,

AI marksmanship is to a very high standard. Basically, if they shoot, you will get hit.

You are a shooter also, so you probably have thought of this a bit. If I was firing a rifle offhand at 200 yards, I am certain I could hit a car with every shot. If the car was moving and I was also, I am not sure I would hit it reliably even with a machine gun from offhand.

A swivel gun with a ring and bead sight seems to me to have the same ease of use. I give them a 200 to 300 yard range in the DP files. A powered turret often has a good reflector gunsight. I figure it should have a 500 yard range just as fighter armament does. The gun effectiveness is still too high, but at least this gives a fighter an even chance against something like a B-17.

- Ivan.

[No Dice]

Ivan,
I love it, BUT some 'black mail" is in order here,
If The Free Flight Site does not get the first release " I am going to email "Anna Honey" your post and how you exposed her age! Check and Check Mate !!

Love your work and hope that being Mr. MoM this week is not driving you up the walls. Happy belated
Mothers Day to " Anna Honey".

Signed,
One of your biggest fans

Dave

www.thefreeflightsite.com

[Ivan]

Hi No Dice,

That kind of blackmail won't work at all. The release notes with the P-40E even listed Anna Honey's Birthday. She isn't terribly concerned with her age.... She knows I love her and think she is beautiful.

The reason why the Corsair is being worked on at all is because of this thread you started. I just printed out a Pilots Manual for the beast to work on the Check List tonight. It should give some specifics for throttle settings, fuel pressure, etc. I have to fudge things a bit because the manual is from 1944 while the plane being modeled is late 1942 to early 1943.

I still don't have any idea how to do a standpipe reserve tank setup which is what this plane has. I guess it won't really have a reserve fuel setting.

- Ivan.

[No Dice]

Ivan, the " Black mail " would have worked on me. If my wife even thought I gave out her age she would have already taken a sledge hammer to my computers.

So as a last resort I will just ask " Please"

It is a real nice looking aircraft and I thank you for remaking it for all of us.

Dave www.thefreeflightsite.com

[Ivan]

Hi No Dice,

Actually the "Remaking" doesn't really apply to this plane. It has never been released. I did a F4U-1A version a long time ago. it was one of my first and to be honest, it wasn't very good. I used some poor drawings from a book by William Green. That is why the fuselage is still too fat. The cowl opening is too large and that remains as well. The wing has been seriously rebuilt because the wing bend was too far outboard on the first version. I also didn't have good drawings for this plane until fairly recently. (The ones by Paul Matt are excellent sources for dimensions, but even HE goofed up a couple details. The main gear doors are shaped wrong and the Pitot tube is too short.)

I can fix things a bit more, but don't really want to spend the time needed to fix everything because this is a fairly complicated model and fixing everything is probably harder than to build a whole new aeroplane. Besides, it is only a LITTLE bit too fat, and chubby or not, I still think it looks fairly good.

As I stated elsewhere, CFS folks really don't pay much attention to details. Consider how many Corsairs are out there based on a F4U-5 version with cheek pouches and a 4 blade propeller.

I spoke to Anna Honey just a few minutes before writing the last message. Shanghai is apparently very warm and humid. 30 degrees Centigrade.

- Ivan.

[No Dice]

The Plane is going to be great Ivan,
Be sure to tell "Anna Honey" hello for me, same temp here today but 86 F without hummidity does not last very long in south Mississippi. We will soon have walking thru butter conditions.

Dave

[Ivan]

Here is something closer to the original plane that was uploaded in two versions a bunch of years ago. I never really get tired of looking at a Corsair coming in for a landing with everything down and dirty.

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Here is another variation. I just can't seem to get the Radar working correctly on this plane, so I don't know if it will ever get released. To mount the radome, I had to cut a few pieces out from the oil cooler exhaust area. I KNOW there is a problem there as a result, but can't seem to find it now even when I am looking for it.

Note that this plane still shows an outboard gun port on the right wing, but the gun has been removed for weight reasons.

- Ivan.

[smilo]

ah, memories...
i remember drooling all over
those little sweeties.
i recall making quite a fuss
over the engine detail,
which came from another AC, right?
boy, did i feel stupid.
oh well, so it goes.

very nice work, Ivan.

================
sorry, but i can't help but chuckle at,
I KNOW there is a problem there as a result,
but can't seem to find it now even when I am looking for it.

[Ivan]

I think this is the first aircraft I actually tried to texture the engine face. I sure was uneducated back then. I never even thought to compare the size of the real engine with the size in the model. For me, this was the era in which I designed things pretty much by eyeball. These days, I won't even start cutting virtual metal until I have a fair number of drawings and plans laid out. That is why when you look at the frame of this plane, you will see discontinuities and just general spider webs. I would do things VERY differently today, but am too lazy to completely redo this plane. That is also the reason why I haven't tried to build a F4U-4 or a F2G or the Wasp Major version of this plane yet.

Then again, I enjoyed doing this more back then than I do now.
- Ivan.