Hell Kitty News.......?

[MudMarine]

Just wondering how she's coming along? And some new screenies might be nice.:d

[Chuck_Jodry-VJPL]

Dear Mr Mud Marine, the crew is going through the checklists and making refinements as suggested by the beta team, including pilots who flew this aircraft in service and their insight is a rare gift, not many gentlemen of their age are as well versed with computers and Flight Sim. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
A couple of gauges are still being debated , the rpm indicator was one that saw different models in use , the testers choice will be added today.<o:p></o:p>
The flight testing ( the fun part ) has moved to carrier ops, i chose to use the Nimitz from Accell because i could find it , it was faster for me to rewrite the carrier missions for use with the hellcat than to find one of these other carriers floating about FSX, it might take a little longer to replace the model itself with a vintage carrier, but that’s gotta be done.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
As to landing this on a deck in FSX i was surprised by two things , one was you can’t see squat, i use head tracking ( Vuzix920 ) and opened the canopy to get a bead on the deck , the other surprise was a good one ...<o:p></o:p>
with the forward speed of the ship added to the headwind and using full flaps i was only moving at about 20 knots faster relative to the deck , that trap felt like slow motion jump onto the deck when compared to doing it in the F18 at 130 knots

[EgoR64]

:wavey:

Now that is looking nice, carrier capable and all, Sweet !! :jump::ernae::jump:

Looking forward to it !!

Many Cheers !!

[N332DW]

USS Essex CV-8 , by Ron Jeffers at FS-Shipyards.. (AI/Landable/pilotable) w/ missions
Has a hard deck but no cables. I took the liberty of changing up the textures a bit. added lights ,a new 2d cockpit , a pry-fly viewpoint and smoother water / flight dynamics... but haven't posted these mods
58380

[EgoR64]

:wavey:

Sweet, and I nice little home that will be for the Hell Kitty !! :d :applause:

Many Cheers !

[Helldiver]

Chuck, you always land WWII aicraft on carriers with the canopy open. Not only for visibilty but also so they can get you out in case of an accident.
Landing about 20 to 30 miles per hour is just about right with a good head wind and 35 knots on the carrier.

[MudMarine]

Also don't forget to crank the seat all the way up! Just take a look at some of the carrier deck photo's of F4U's taking off. The pilots head is sticking way up compared to in flight when the seat is lowered.

[vstudios]

ok heres our latest work in progress :

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f1.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f2.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f3.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f4.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f5.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f6.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f7.png

http://www.realflight.co.uk/development/f6f/promo2/f6f8.png

Enjoy !

[Marlin]

Allright Dean!!!

:ernae::applause::ernae:

[vstudios]

Just to keep you informed, we're currently looking in to missions and also a scenery addon, but currently weight up development costs against sales. We will keep you updated on our final decision and hopefully there will be enough interests to go ahead with its development.

Missions: boat attacks, Bunker attacks, Strafing runs etc..
Scenery: conversion of Palau / Iwo Jima

[MudMarine]

Can't get the photo's so show? Iwo Jima scenery update and missions!!:applause: That would be very cool!:jump:

[Helldiver]

Dean - That blue is much too flat. The interior green is too dark. You've used exterior zinc chromate for the interior colors. It's supposed to be a baby s**t green. I'm still waiting for a sitting 3/4 view.

[Helldiver]

Oh, I just noticed. You never land with the bombs attached unless you want to piss off a bunch of people. Bombs are always jettisoned before landing.

[MudMarine]

Ya, piss'em off or kill'em and sink the ship!:costumes:

[Alexraptor]

Glorious, simply glorious, looking forward to adding this bird to my collection as the grumman hellcat is one of if not thee favorite aircraft of mine :d

[Moparmike]

Oh, I just noticed. You never land with the bombs attached unless you want to piss off a bunch of people. Bombs are always jettisoned before landing.

Aw heck...I heard the admiral was wanting to refinish that nice teakwood (so why is it steel grey and crooked? :redf: ) flight deck anyway! :costumes:


Excellent looking progress on the Grumman guys!

[Bomber_12th]

It seems that while one Navy squadron might keep their Hellcats very clean, another will not be so inclined to spend their time keeping their Hellcats pristine. From photos I have seen, the Marine and RAF aircraft were rather rough, but some of the mid-war Navy Hellcats even more so.

Your Hellcat looks excellent, my only criticism would be is that the exterior glass is far too transparent.

I hope these photos may help. Note the extensive exhaust staining, even on the early war 'factory fresh' Hellcats. Even the cleanest Hellcats don't look too overly shiny either.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-54271434VBF-3USSYorktown20MAR45.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/33382-1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-5USSCabot1949.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6FFasron117CVE-1161949.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-3VF-121943.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-3.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-322VF-5.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6Fcraned.jpg

[Bomber_12th]

And some more:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-5NVMFN-511USSBlockIsland5-45.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/FARF6F.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6FFAA.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-5PFlafdamagedGuam1945.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-332VF-16.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-3NVMFN-534Guam8-44.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/Bomber_12th/F6F-5NAlalopIs1945.jpg

[MudMarine]

The Marines planes were more "roughed" up. That's because the Navy's constant prejudice towards the Marine Corps!:d We, the USMC, had to fight to get any of our carrier pilots qualified. So they stuck us on land in the worst rat-holes in the PTO. Which is fine because the real job of Marine Aviation is ground support! and please hater's before you get started I do realize that supplies were hard to come by; so basically don't give me a history lesson I don't need!:costumes:

[Bomber_12th]

I can only imagine what flying in and out of coral and sand landing strips would do to the condition of the aircraft as well. If you look at the timeline of the photos, the tri-color schemes being mid-war, and the overall blue schemes rather late-war, you can see the change in overall wear and tear likely due to the changing course of the war, though that is only my theory. I am sure the gloss blue helped protect from a lot of stuff being collected in the paint like flat paint will do.

[Alexraptor]

Todays restored hellcats and are actually quite shiny though.
http://richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Gillespie2005/Highlights/BankingF6f10oClock.jpg

[stiz]

because they use gloss paint instead of mat, they also keep them in tip top "airshow shiny" condition :wavey:

[Helldiver]

Look, I worked on them and the dark blue airplanes were gloss painted. Some of the cowls in front of the windshields were painted flat black.
Carrier planes were kept clean and touched up where ever wear was spotted, because of corrosive properties of salt water.
The Marine planes were land based and were not too well supported.
As for the RNAF, what can I say. The British sailors were famous for their less than fastitious ways.
Any ship that was moored next to a British ship put out double rat guards.

[IanP]

You might like to rephrase that Helldiver... Something along the lines of "The Fleet Air Arm crews were constantly underfunded and underequipped".

The British Government love trying to run armed forces on a shoestring or slightly lower than that budget and boy does it show. :banghead:

Ian P.

[MudMarine]

You might like to rephrase that Helldiver... Something along the lines of "The Fleet Air Arm crews were constantly underfunded and underequipped".

The British Government love trying to run armed forces on a shoestring or slightly lower than that budget and boy does it show. :banghead:

Ian P.

Sounds like the Marine Corps. But we still shined and scrubbed every little thing the Navy would throuw our way! Every piece of equipment is/was used untilt it was unserviceable. This is a "shot" at the British Navy but a comment on the slim pickings the Navy hands us!:d:costumes:

[SkippyBing]

The next person to say Air Force or use the contraction AF when referring to the Fleet Air Arm is going to seriously piss me off! It's FAA or RN, we're nothing to do with the Crabs, and we're still underfunded and under equipped, although it turns out you really don't need to keep an aircraft shiny to be serviceable.....

[Helldiver]

I should have been more clear. The Marines had one plane captain for every four airplanes. He was responsible for every bit of maintenance for each one. In the Navy there was one plane captain for each airplane. Ocassionally he would have two. That is what I meant by lack of support.
During the war the British was given all they needed. The destroyer that tied up next to us in Panama was American in origin. It was a shambles with debris and rust everwhere. We were told it was a British tradition. They thought us taking a shower every day was overkill.

[SkippyBing]

During the war the British was given all they needed.

Actually you kindly sold it to us, we finally finished paying it off about five years ago.