AS F8 Crusader panel

***Jafo*** · August 1st, 2014, 22:42

Thought it was 'timely' to post a new thread - specific to the Crusader I'm working on, rather than appending to the Voodoo one.

It's been a 'long road' and the reasons for it was the current FSX compatible panel didn't look to clever in a widescreen resolution [I'm at 1680x1050] and some of the gauges were NQR.

Here's what it was as originally loaded....

Attachment 10817

...and starting from a squillion odd images and my old F105 panel's canopy details...I ended up with this one below.

Attachment 10818

Today I've been convincing the gauges to show the right fuel quantities and got the dump and refuel switches to work.
Bit lost with the Oxy ones tho....faked them to the fuel as I've seen done with/by others.

Canopy eject handle just opens the canopy...mirrors 'work' as do the reflected ones in the glass. There's a leading slat droop warning 'strip' that I may yet set to display flap states...as that's sort of 'close'.
Oh, and that folded map is 'real'....it's March, 1968 EVC 500-1 [S.E.A.] Laos, Thailand, Vietnam..... how's that fer detail? ...

**henrystreet** · August 2nd, 2014, 06:20

Originally Posted by Jafo

Thought it was 'timely' to post a new thread - specific to the Crusader I'm working on, rather than appending to the Voodoo one.

Go for it Jafo! Your Demon VC has made that little bird one of my favorites to scoot around in.

***fsafranek*** · August 2nd, 2014, 11:20

"AS" is Alphasim, right?

**delta_lima** · August 2nd, 2014, 12:33

Yes Frank - that's definitely the Alphasim F-8 Crusader ...

***Jafo*** · August 2nd, 2014, 20:56

Frank, yep, it's the Alphasim F8.
By the time I rework it to widescreen it ends up a 'little different'.

Just about done with the 2D panel...although I'd never found a decent photo of the canopy side rails in the Thud to put into the AS 105 ...so likewise these ones look skungy [as they're the same ones]. It's the only bit of my 105 I'm not happy with.

Anyway...with the Crusader...I have a correctly located pitch trim indicator...some hud glass...gear lever and tailhook sw....flap indicator where the edge-droop indicator would be....
Next step is to see what I can do to make the VC look like the 2D...

Attachment 10849

**delta_lima** · August 3rd, 2014, 01:16

No HUD was present on F-8s .... Just sayin ....

Looking super !

***Jafo*** · August 3rd, 2014, 05:42

Yes....ah, the good old days....

Original panel had one so I left it in cos it looked 'trendy'...

Before I up this revision I'll pop in the gunsight reticle I've used in the other panels....keep the purists onside...

***Jafo*** · August 3rd, 2014, 07:00

Took out the hud and added a sight....got a bit dark so I turned the maplight on....

Attachment 10858

***Jafo*** · August 9th, 2014, 16:51

Fiddling with the F8 panel gave me new ideas re my Thud one....so I've been on a new tangent redoing bits of its ribbon gauges...removing the last of the 'digital numbers'....and instead barrels all the way...

Part of the reasoning was that to date all of the modding had been technically on a single-layer panel image bitmap....and now it's been 'split' to be a psp file of 22 layers ...so much easier to alter and improve on...

**Dumonceau** · August 9th, 2014, 23:02

Originally Posted by Jafo

Took out the hud and added a sight....got a bit dark so I turned the maplight on....

Attachment 10858

If you can make the VC look like that, I would be in heaven!!!

Dumonceau

***Jafo*** · August 10th, 2014, 06:39

The default VC has details that would remain at odds with the style of Panel I setup for the 2D. The latter is a blank canvas [literally] whilst the former is constrained by the modelling. The method used to create the VC in the first place dictates potential successes of any mods....but I'll be giving it a bit of a go...

***Jafo*** · August 12th, 2014, 07:53

Still off on a tangent....

This is for the olde 105 FS2004 AS....I was making it look like a 'B'...about 5 years ago...to do T'birds and Prototype paints...and needed a panel to suit....dug it out again to improve....

Attachment 11241

....so primitive compared with the 'D' ....

**dhazelgrove** · August 14th, 2014, 10:59

Want to add the Viggen to the list?

General data here.

Cockpit photos here.

Base aircraft? The Alphasim offering seems to be the only game in town.

Dave

**Stickshaker** · August 14th, 2014, 12:55

Abacus has one too. Don't know the quality.

***Jafo*** · August 14th, 2014, 13:50

Originally Posted by dhazelgrove

Want to add the Viggen to the list?

General data here.

Cockpit photos here.

Base aircraft? The Alphasim offering seems to be the only game in town.

Dave

You know....I suppose I 'should'....afterall, I currently own 2 cars ....one's a SAAB 2007 9.3 V6 Aero convertible and the other's a '91 9000 Turbo ....

***Jafo*** · August 21st, 2014, 06:26

Again with the distractions.....just redid all 20 Annunciator lights for the Thud....trying to get them to 'match' the true functions..... more xml ....gee I hate xml....

It'd be OK if it wasn't so 'trial-and-error' ...

***Jafo*** · August 21st, 2014, 18:05

Attachment 11655

Took several days to get the Annun looking 'right' .... clearly I have Ice issues and my C of G is off [got that to show up by dumping fuel...so it does work]. I started doing this cockpit in 2010.....here's how it started....

Attachment 11656
....kinda why it took so long....

**usafvet** · September 1st, 2014, 07:12

Jafo,

Any word on how soon these panels (F-8) will be completed? Just curious....

***Jafo*** · September 1st, 2014, 14:24

Originally Posted by usafvet

Jafo,

Any word on how soon these panels (F-8) will be completed? Just curious....

Once I get back from my infatuation with the F105 panel reworking....am still refining a LOT of it....and some of that will benefit the 8 as well...

***Jafo*** · September 4th, 2014, 07:12

Here's a recent....of the F105....working at night....getting illuminations 'right'.
I now have a 'floating' sight in the hud [as well as a static one]...and every single switch/knob/light/dial does 'something' [several just 'turn']...

Means I can incorporate a few new ideas into the F8 ...

Attachment 12055

***Jafo*** · September 8th, 2014, 18:22

Back into the fray with the 8...

Helps to 'do it at night' to get gauge illuminations sorted. Managed to simplify the 2D windows setup....reduced 4 layers so far, so it'll be lighter on resources.
The 'sight' in the hud is floating....probably not fair-dinkum but looks the part all the same. Bit more to do....then onto the VC ...

Attachment 12119

**expat** · September 9th, 2014, 00:21

That . . looks . . tremendous.

Bit more to do....then onto the VC .

Great news!

***Jafo*** · September 9th, 2014, 05:41

Had a 'fright' with the VC....looked for a while that there was some sort of conflict between the Radar [Dietmar's] and the VC ....flash/blanking of the 'windows'.
Looks like it was just a memory thing....too many reloads of the panel.
Anyway....here's a pic of the [mostly] reconfigured/relocated gauges...with just the lights, radar mask, etc to do. Have left the original panel bmp as is.....as it's not that far removed from what I ended up with on the 2D ...

Attachment 12125
Even the floating sight's working OK-ish ...