Virtavia AJ-2 Savage is out!

[Cees Donker]

I love the repaints you guys are doing. I'll definitely be adding them to my Savage once they're released. Thanks.

I've never been adressed in the plural before! Well, there's a first for everything!



Cees

[Sundog]

I've never been adressed in the plural before! Well, there's a first for everything!



Cees

I mistakenly thought Frank was making some textures as well.

[Cees Donker]

I mistakenly thought Frank was making some textures as well.

Not yet.

Cees

[gman5250]

I did some snooping and found resource photos of the airplane in Sea Blue, which was a glossy lacquer finish at this period. There is also a very nice selection of source art over at Wings Palette, one in particular that really blew my skirt up.

IMHO
Overall, this is an extremely nice model, well suited for P3Dv3.1 with it's dynamic reflections, but waaaayyyy to clean for me and looking very much like an FS9 portover until one looks closely for the occasional panel line on the expansive wing, jet like fuselage and beautifully sculpted nacelles. I found it slightly distressing when such a fine model was offered with no alpha layers, or detailed bump map applied. It seems like such a pitty get so close, then omit details that would make this a truly magnificent airplane. I'm not meaning to be dis-respectful to the fine people over at Virtavia, so don't take me wrong. My observations are meant to be a constructive analysis.

I've thrown together a very preliminary alpha layer set, and to my joy, the airplane responds well to the P3Dv3.1 light engine. I also remembered I had a very nice Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp sound set laying around, which livened things up considerably....heh...heh.

All she needs now are some rivets, panels and bumps to bring out the life in these exquisite contours.
I was not able to locate the "supplied" paint kit. If someone could point me in that direction, I'd be eternally grateful.

[Cees Donker]

Should the tips of the tail be orange as well?

Yes, you're right! Overlooked that one.



Thanks Frank.

Cees

[Cees Donker]

I did some snooping and found resource photos of the airplane in Sea Blue, which was a glossy lacquer finish at this period. There is also a very nice selection of source art over at Wings Palette, one in particular that really blew my skirt up.

IMHO
Overall, this is an extremely nice model, well suited for P3Dv3.1 with it's dynamic reflections, but waaaayyyy to clean for me and looking very much like an FS9 portover until one looks closely for the occasional panel line on the expansive wing, jet like fuselage and beautifully sculpted nacelles. I found it slightly distressing when such a fine model was offered with no alpha layers, or detailed bump map applied. It seems like such a pitty get so close, then omit details that would make this a truly magnificent airplane. I'm not meaning to be dis-respectful to the fine people over at Virtavia, so don't take me wrong. My observations are meant to be a constructive analysis.

I've thrown together a very preliminary alpha layer set, and to my joy, the airplane responds well to the light engine. I also remembered I had a very nice Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp sound set laying around, which livened things up considerably....heh...heh.

All she needs now are some rivets, panels and bumps to bring out the life in these exquisite contours.
I was not able to locate the "supplied" paint kit. If someone could point me in that direction, I'd be eternally grateful.

It's on the Virtavia site?
Good looking shine btw!


Cees

[Cees Donker]

Agreed. Needs some dirtying up. The paintkit is available here: http://www.virtavia.com/Freeware/ind...=/Paint%20Kits

This is the place Frank gave!

Cees

[dvj]

I did some snooping and found resource photos of the airplane in Sea Blue, which was a glossy lacquer finish at this period. There is also a very nice selection of source art over at Wings Palette, one in particular that really blew my skirt up.

IMHO
Overall, this is an extremely nice model, well suited for P3Dv3.1 with it's dynamic reflections, but waaaayyyy to clean for me and looking very much like an FS9 portover until one looks closely for the occasional panel line on the expansive wing, jet like fuselage and beautifully sculpted nacelles. I found it slightly distressing when such a fine model was offered with no alpha layers, or detailed bump map applied. It seems like such a pitty get so close, then omit details that would make this a truly magnificent airplane. I'm not meaning to be dis-respectful to the fine people over at Virtavia, so don't take me wrong. My observations are meant to be a constructive analysis.

I've thrown together a very preliminary alpha layer set, and to my joy, the airplane responds well to the light engine. I also remembered I had a very nice Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp sound set laying around, which livened things up considerably....heh...heh.

All she needs now are some rivets, panels and bumps to bring out the life in these exquisite contours.
I was not able to locate the "supplied" paint kit. If someone could point me in that direction, I'd be eternally grateful.

If anyone could add a bit of external reflection to the canopy glass, I think that would finish it off with the recommendations you suggest. Looks pretty cool in that high gloss.
-d

[gman5250]

Okie Dokie...I got the PK from the freeware site. Really a nice PK too...Thanks.

From what I can ascertain, the model is set up using more or less conventional settings, so the canopy glass and all of the other bits should respond to alpha very nicely.

Cees, I think I got the shine a bit deep, but it's a first rough. I also noticed that the bomb bay inner doors are white, and the landing gear doors are zinc. I'll have to dig a bit and find some dates, but the spec would probably call for all white at the time the airplane saw service. White was for identifying hydraulic fluid leaks easily. After the aircraft had been in service, there will surely have been maintenance paint work done as specs changed. Later aircraft would have white wheel wells.

The cockpit paint spec is another thing I'll dig in to. At this period the spec may have been green lower, with flat black from the bottom of the panel up. Not sure on this 'till I do some checking.

FYI to the other painters. The anti glare panel, if any, would have been a clear anti specular paint (matte) over the blue, rather than flat black.

[StormILM]

Working on putting together a video of this model in action on an old Essex Carrier but I somehow managed to screw up half my clips and will need to redo a good bit to get everything organized right. Then the fun and time consuming part comes, compressing and editing! Actually, compressing FRAPS clips are the biggest pain, editing is not that big of a deal. Will post as soon as I get it all ready in a day or two.

[gman5250]

I took the day and put together a fundamental set of bumps and a gloss Sea Blue skin. I don't have the data yet for accurate rivet placements, but even the basic set is a significant improvement for a great plane. I've got some other big projects on the fire, but I'll be picking away at a set of detailed bumps and specs for this one.

[Cees Donker]

Great work and indeed a great improvement.





Cees

[LE151]

Just thought I'd chime in here on the Savage. The Virtavia Model looks great. I did however have the opportunity to hear a lecture from a former Navy pilot about the peculiar aircraft. They have a static Savage on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida. The fellow giving us the tour used to fly many Navy aircraft during his military career, to include the Skyraider during Vietnam. So, I'd assumed he had been in the "s**t" at least a few times. According to him the Savage was a piece of trash. He stated that it had been hastily designed, for reasons I can't remember, at the beginning of the nuclear age. He told us the story of his conversations with Savage pilots who simply stated to him that if they had gotten a bogie on their six, they would just push to full throttle and so many parts would come flying off of the Savage, that it would knock the bogie out of the sky!. We all laughed. It was a great tour and at the end my son and I thanked him for his service.

P.S. - I have been thinking of purchasing the Virtavia Savage. Would you great folks recommend it??

[Cees Donker]

Just thought I'd chime in here on the Savage. The Virtavia Model looks great. I did however have the opportunity to hear a lecture from a former Navy pilot about the peculiar aircraft. They have a static Savage on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida. The fellow giving us the tour used to fly many Navy aircraft during his military career, to include the Skyraider during Vietnam. So, I'd assumed he had been in the "s**t" at least a few times. According to him the Savage was a piece of trash. He stated that it had been hastily designed, for reasons I can't remember, at the beginning of the nuclear age. He told us the story of his conversations with Savage pilots who simply stated to him that if they had gotten a bogie on their six, they would just push to full throttle and so many parts would come flying off of the Savage, that it would knock the bogie out of the sky!. We all laughed. It was a great tour and at the end my son and I thanked him for his service.

P.S. - I have been thinking of purchasing the Virtavia Savage. Would you great folks recommend it??

I'm biased cause I'm having a lot of fun with this one repainting it, but it's a great plane to put on a deck.


Cees

[LE151]

I'm biased cause I'm having a lot of fun with this one repainting it, but it's a great plane to put on a deck.


Cees

Thanks Cees,
I may purchase it in the near future. Thanks for all the work you do on repaints. I have just about all the repaints you've done for the A2A 109....great work!!........cheers!!!

[StormILM]

There's no question that the Savage had significant issues, largely due to rushing it into service so quickly without getting all the bugs out. North American was/is known for their unrelenting craftsmanship but even the best companies can suffer low QC during any rushed projects (ie: the B-29 among many other types). It ended up becoming a good aircraft but by then, it was clearly outperformed by the incoming A-3.

[StormILM]

Here's my freshly put together video of the Savage. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjV...yvKVsqDv2-5blQ

[Peacemaker]

According to him the Savage was a piece of trash.

In one of Bob Hoovers books he talks about a particular incident where a NAA flight test savage was covered in flies on the ramp from a near by fertilizer plant (I think) or such. Another test pilot remarked that the flies couldn't tell one piece of sh*t from the other.

[Cees Donker]

I came across a site where someone built a model of the Savage. Got a better picture of how it should be!



Cees

[Cees Donker]

Thanks Cees,
I may purchase it in the near future. Thanks for all the work you do on repaints. I have just about all the repaints you've done for the A2A 109....great work!!........cheers!!!

I still fly that 109.



Cees

[tommieboy]

Here's my freshly put together video of the Savage. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjV...yvKVsqDv2-5blQ

Thanks for the effort to put this together! Much appreciated.

Tommy

[gman5250]

Cees, if you want a set of the preliminary bumps, PM me. I did the panel lines from some good line drawings, so those are relatively accurate. The rivets are an estimation, based on the panel lines, but I need some good drawings with structural placements to really dial in the correct placements.

[Cees Donker]

I have uploaded five repaints to dropbox
I'll leave these there for a day. If you're interested?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/drc9upwv9g...aints.zip?dl=0

Cees

[Cees Donker]

Cees, if you want a set of the preliminary bumps, PM me. I did the panel lines from some good line drawings, so those are relatively accurate. The rivets are an estimation, based on the panel lines, but I need some good drawings with structural placements to really dial in the correct placements.

I've got the Steve Ginter book on the AJ-2, but there's not a lot of detail in the drawings.

Cees

[mal998]

Many thanks to you gents for putting in the time and effort to bring the AJ up to pro status. It's very much appreciated. The paints are terrific and I love that deep gloss blue. It just screams 1950s NavAir.