JA-37 Viggen

Anonymous Reader asked for a Viggen model, and while I don't have the time to work on one until perhaps March, I did find a model by Kazunori Ito, made for FS2002, that was convertible to AC3D format. It's a high-poly model with nice textures, but still needs a lot of work. If anyone would like to take a look, or start working on his own project, the model is available at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12562954/JA-37.tar.gz .

Note that I've removed the right wing and gear while doing some clean-up on the left side. Once the left side is cleaned up and cut into named objects, then I mirror it over to the right. License: Creative Commons, CC-BY-NC-SA.

P-47D With Chrome Shader

The chrome shader is going to look nice on this airplane. BTW, version 0.7 of the P-47D pre-release is posted (with the Bud Mahurin paint job almost done).

Aztec Eagles

Work on the P-47D continues. I would have posted the current project at the hangar in the "projects" section, but my ISP has once again crapped out. Maybe tomorrow they'll feed the squirrels. Here's a screenshot of another paint scheme I'm considering, the Mexican Air Force's 201st Squadron "Aztec Eagles", which was attached to the USAAF 5th Air Force, 58th Fighter Group, in 1944/45. It might look better with a chrome shader.

Refueling

Thanks to Jean, a.k.a. "jano", there is now a nasal script included in DavePack that allows JSBSim models to properly refuel. All the F-4 models have been updated to use this. I also moved the upper mirror in each F-4, flipping it to a stowed position, to give a better forward view. In order to refuel the following conditions must be met:

1) The refueling system must be activated, and the probe (or door) must be in the extended (or open) position.

2) You must be refueling from a tanker which has a matching type of connection; either "probe" or "boom" type.

3) You must be in "the box" behind the tanker.

When conditions are met you will start taking on fuel, and a small green light will illuminate on the fuel gauge. Fuel will go in to all tanks at an equal rate. If the fuel gauge only shows tank[0] quantity, then the tank[0] quantity will increase slowly until the other tanks are full.

The download rate is 6000 lb/min, which is hard-coded in JSBSim.

AI Models

I'm adding a section to the hangar for AI models. These are low poly-count models with no cockpit, no landing gear and minimal texture. These models are intended to be airborne, hence the removal of landing gear. My goal is to have AI models of support aircraft, such as tanker, cargo and surveillance types, which can be added to your simulation as objects of type AIAircraft.

The first AI model posted is an E-3 AWACS. Poly-count for this model is 1090, and the texture size is only 3 KB! It does have one animation - a rotating radome, spinning at 6 RPM. Getting this animation to work took a severe hack, since I couldn't figure out how to get the spin animation to accept a "value". It seems a "property" is required, so I found a property at "sim/session" that has (or usually will have?) a value of 1, which I could then multiply by 6.0. Ugly, but it works.

Lost airplane

Does anyone have a copy of my MC-205 model? I've lost the latest version of it (and several other airplanes). I have an older version, so I can restart the project at some time, but it would help a lot to have the latest version. Thanks!

P-47D

Working on an AlphaSim P-47D also. This one is going to be textured as Bud Mahurin's airplane, "Spirit of Atlantic City, NJ".

AI KC-10

I've just converted a very old, and very low-poly, MSFS2K KC-10 for use as an AI tanker, and I'll be posting it to the hangar soon. While testing it I tried for the umpteenth time to get refueling to work with my airplane models, and failed again. Is there anyone handy with nasal here who would like to get that working?

Rocket for scenery

"Alpha-J" has started a new hangar , and in it he's posted a Mercury Redstone rocket that can be installed as part of the Cape Canaveral scenery. When you click on the rocket it shoots into space. This is a scenery object, not an AI object per se , so it doesn't use the AIBallistic FDM. It uses a home brew FDM scripted in nasal.

Typhoon progress

Borrowing heavily from the AD-4 model, I've got the Tiffy flying. More model work and animations to go. Oh, and maybe a different engine and prop :)

Mirage-5COAM

In response to an inquiry, here is a Mirage-5COAM project that I had previously in my hangar. This is a conversion of a Denis and Daniel da Silva model, and carries my standard CC license. This project contains only an AC3D mesh and PNG textures. No FDM included. The project still needs a lot of work. I'll send this project to you if you want it. I may get around to finishing it some time in the future.

New project started

This is a conversion of the Alpha Sim Hawker Typhoon. Initial work goes pretty fast, but the rest will take about a month.

Hangar Reconstruction

The official Dave's Hangar is under reconstruction. I'm going through all the models and making some adjustments, as well as testing them against a FlightGear 2.0 build. As models are redone they will be added back to the hangar. The hangar URL is: http://members.cox.net/davidculp/hangar.html . This hangar is using Dropbox for the model FTP server.

One of the updates I'm making is converting all the SGI graphics to PNG format, which takes time, so it'll be a few days before the reconstruction is complete.

Hangar is back up

Well, sort of. A temporary version is up at:
http://members.cox.net/davidculp/hangar-temp.htm . The aircraft packages themselves are hosted at mediafire (thanks for the tip Zexe!). Eventually I'll get the nice-looking hangar back up. Please let me know if anything is broken or incomplete.

AFAIK all these aircraft work with FlightGear 2.0, and remember that you need DavePack.

New email address

The good news is I have a new POP3 account at: davidculp@cox.net
The bad news is Cox only gives me 20MB of web space. I can upload a partial hangar while I search for a solution.

Dave's Hangar off the air

I've moved to a new city, and my account with Comcast has been closed, so Dave's Hangar is closed until I can start up a new account. That may take a long time, as I'm living in temporary housing while I try to buy a house via the "short sale" process, which could take months.

I still have all the content, but it's sitting on a computer that's presently in storage.

Updated Sea Fury

Version 1.1 is compatible with FG 2.0+. It has a new prop, new seat position, and new trim settings.

Updated AD-6

I just posted an updated AD-6 that is meant to work with FlightGear post-2.0. I'm calling that "2.0+". This model incorporates the "simulation/sim-time-sec" change mentioned below. It also has a propwash feature that allows the horizontal tail to react to propwash. For example, if you gun the engine and apply nose down elevator you can lift the tail wheel off the ground. You can also flip the airplane up onto the nose, so be careful.

The propwash is not seen by the vertical tail yet. My first attempt at that resulted in a bad reaction between the tail forces and the tail wheel, which caused the airplane to hop and spin around.

sim/time/sec

The newer JSBSim code has moved the property "sim/time/sec" to "simulation/sim/time/sec". All my models use at least one system which relies on sim/time/sec, so this breaks all of them. The effected systems are: alpha_buffet, beacon, beacon2 and crash-detect, and there may be others. I'll leave models in the Hangar as they are, which should work with FG 2.0. If you build a newer version of FG you'll probably have to edit the above files, or else FG will abort.

Video of F-4N model

A video of the Dave's Hangar F-4N has been moved to a different location at YouTube. The new URL is here. Many thanks to "BlazeInfernoHD" for making this video!

F-4EJ Update

Fixed the drag 'chute. It now has the proper color, texture and ambient shading. Added a few degrees of flap travel. BTW, FlightGear user Zexe Onyo found a link to a nice YouTube video featuring the F-4EJ Kai of the 302 Sqdn.: here.

AD-6 propeller update

New code is in JSBSim now (but not yet in FlightGear) that allows you switch a prop into and out of constant speed mode. I've also added two optional tables that can be used to define compressibility effects on a prop. The AD-6 Skyraider prop has been updated. The AeroMatic values have been changed to suit the actual gear ratio of 2.28 (engine/prop). This results in a low-rpm prop. Great for cruising.

Some propeller changes

I've been working on a new prop configurator for AeroMatic. This one builds a more complete set of tables, from a beta of -10 to +90 degrees for constant speed props. All you have to tweak manually is the min and max prop angles. I've tested it the F7F model, where I set the blade angle limits to the range 18-50. The new model is version 1.4.

Some things to look out for when using the new prop configs:

1) If you set the min blade angle too large, the engine starter won't be strong enough to start the engine. In this case you have to either decrease the min angle, or decrease the engine idle speed. Your idle thrust will be higher than before.

2) There are no Mach effects in the prop code, so your dive speed will be a bit higher than you'd expect. I'm working on this.

3) I saw somewhere that the blade angle range for the P-51 was 20-55, so that should give a ballpark range for high-speed applications.

The Bone Yard

Kent Esbenshade has established a hangar for his fine models at: The Bone Yard. The F-104C, F-86F and F-100D entries at my hangar now redirect you to The Bone Yard.

Offline for a while

I'm going to be offline for a while. I may not be able to respond to email in a timely manner. I'll be traveling a lot. Return time unknown.

Chrome Shader on P-80

Playing around with the chrome shader. This one has some blue added on top and brown added below. It should look better in the new FlightGear release, which won't be adding as much additional blue from the sky. The P-80 really needs the chrome effect.

F-100D, Early '60's Livery

Kent Esbenshade turned the clock back on the F-100D, giving it a pre-Vietnam livery. The model includes many enhancements, including a very realistic panel. It's available now at the hangar.

Some flying advice for the F-100: Don't horse it off the ground. Climb shallow at first and let the speed build up. At slow speeds, or high AOA, use mostly rudder for turns. Using aileron could lead to a snap roll.

The Hun Shuffle

I've renamed the F-100 the F-100D, to distinguish it from Kent Esbenshade's new F-100 model, which is also a D model, but will be listed here as F-100. Kent's model will be here soon.

Michael Fader's Wings website

Here's a website recommended by Kent: Wings . It's a site with lots of information on military aircraft and squadrons. Scroll down to the Profiles button. In this section you'll find a great collection of profiles, especially for U.S. Navy airplanes!

Hawker Sea Fury

This model has been sitting around for years. A lot of things kept me from releasing it. First, the engine and prop weren't working right, which kept me from releasing any piston powered models for years. Then there was the "drifting in the direction of pitch angle" bug in the JSBSim gear code, which is now fixed, but kept me from releasing tail-draggers for a long time. Some things that still need work: better engine and prop configuration, better sound, and better gear animation. At least it's pretty! That's thanks to the original designers at AlphaSim.

Boeing's OV-10X proposal

Some details of Boeing's proposed new OV-10 are available in this 2-page PDF file: http://www.ov-10bronco.net/Technical/boeing_ov-10(x)_super_bronco_info_card_2009_01.pdf . I hope they go with P&W engines.

Chengdu F-7MG

Released version 1.0 of the Chengdu F-7MG. This airplane is equipped and painted for the August 1st aerial demonstration team. The airplane is not as polished as others in the Hangar, but I'm pressed for time these days. Besides, there are 1.3 billion people in China, and you'd figure one of them could do some work on it.

Kent's F-104C and F-86F

Kent Esbenshade's new F-104C and F-86F models are available at the hangar. You need to check these out!

RA-5C Spoiler-Deflectors

The Vigilante had an unusual set of spoilers and deflectors on each wing which provided roll control and speed braking. Even after buying a nice book on the Viggie, loaded with information and photos, I still only have the spoilers and deflectors about 75% figured out. I believe that when operated as speed brakes these control surfaces worked as shown in the above screen shot. The upper, outermost surface was hinged at the rear and rotated upwards. The lower, outermost surface was hinged at the front and rotated downwards. North American used a similar system in their F-107 project.

The blue tint

I've noticed a lot of blue being added to models lately by FlightGear's rendering system. It's especially troublesome when a shiny surface is painted white, like the wings on this F-104. Any idea how to get rid of the blue?

Kent's F-104C

Kent Esbenshade is working on an F-104 model (and several others). I've posted it in the Hangar in the Projects section as a beta release. The model is very nice and close to release. A complication here is that Kent is using the last stable FlightGear, and therefore can't see how it will render in the upcoming version. I'm helping out, but I'm not sure my newish build for linux renders the same as everyone else's newish build. Also, I don't have experience using the chrome shader, so I'm having to learn that at the same time. Can any of you please check out the F-104C and post feedback here? I'm especially interested in rendering/texturing/coloration/lighting issues. Thanks!

Good Reading

I recommend this book if you're in to cold war airplanes. This is a collection of articles written by pilots who flew these airplanes, about flying them. Most of the articles cover things such as training, check-out, starting procedures, airplane quirks, handling qualities, comparisons to similar airplanes, their typical missions, airplane history, etc. Amazon link here.

Bronco on the grass

Still pressed for time these days, so I'll post a photo of OV-10 number 825. This photo is from the Battle of Britain Airshow at RAF Abingdon in 1981. I brought this airplane from Germany and had a great time. The Brits introduced me to Flaming Drambuies. I did pretty well at first, but later lost half my mustache.

Vigilante at the Midway

The RA-5 is one of my favorites. I took a few photos hoping to find some areas where the model could be improved. The tail end is especially complicated. I STILL can't figure out where the speed brakes are. I guess some combination of wing spoilers was used for this. The current RA-5C model in the hangar has speed brakes aerodynamically but not visually. I may end up having to get the NATOPS flight manual to get the answer.

F9F body flaps

Of all the things I saw on the deck of the Midway, these "body flaps" on the F9F were the most interesting. I'd never thought of it before, but one of the problems with blended wing-body (BWB) airplanes is how do you make up for all the missing flap span? Grumman's answer was body flaps. I assume they were very draggy, which for a carrier airplane is not a bad thing.

Visit to Midway Museum

I'll post photos after I get them developed and digitized. The airplanes on deck are very well prepared. I was especially impressed by the ordnance loads on the airplanes. The A-6 was loaded with 30 Mk-82 bombs! I stupidly forgot to bring a camera along, so I bought a 27-shot throw away camera in the gift shop. I hope the photos turn out OK :)

USS Midway museum website