Goran_M

Landing a floats version DC-3 on a runway is easier than the tail dragger DC-3. (As long as the gear is down) 4 wheels and no crazy engine management to keep it straight. The up-tapered floats leading to the rear allows for a bit of a flare on touchdown as well.

Of course, you could always land at an airport or grass strip.

Plug-in to limit wave height??? C'mon Andy. Those waves a little too rough for ya? Can't maintain a 5ft/min descent rate for a nice smooth landing? :P In all seriousness, I'll see...based on testers feedback.

First water test with the floats. (Obviously this is JUST the flight model. Objects will be added later.)

Thanks. It shouldn't take long actually as there are very basic systems. There will be Gizmo systems involved but they are very easy things to code. First revision of the flight model was finished last night and it's now being fine tuned by Lukasz. According to him, the first revision was actually VERY nice to fly and he only has to fine tune the very smallest things. Fuel consumption, phase out. friction co-efficient. Maybe a few other small things. I can say one thing. Taxiing a tail dragger is a royal pain in the butt but it is definitely a lot of fun to fly. Landing an aircraft that big at just over 70 kts feels very strange.

Depends on the owner. They do joyflights around Sydney, but whether or not I'll get in the cockpit remains to be seen. The CFO at my old flying school has a few connections where the DC-3 is based and I might be able to get him to pull a few strings.

I know. I've been called insane, crazy, nuts, "theo's censored word". I take it all as a compliment. That's what we're trying to shoot for. Fingers crossed. Nah. Just want them to "struggle" a bit. Use their full potential. Thanks Perry. More to come. Split pins were just the start. Linkages, cables, wires, it's all coming. If I can stay under my 350 000 polygon budget, I'll be adding it all. So far, with the whole exterior, cockpit walls and cabin interior walls, panel, half the overhead, control columns and throttle console, it's at 119 000 polygons. PLENTY of room to grow. Now you got me started again.

Between getting the Saab finished, making some Rolls Royce engines and trying to deal with a ridiculous case of hayfever, I finally got my hands on some nice photos of a DC-3. This weekend, I try to get access to it at the airport. Theo called me a name again and Cameron thinks I've gone completely nuts. Definitely looking at a Pre-Christmas finish.

It wouldn't be the first time Microsoft has done something like this. Remember Windows Longhorn? But as was said, let's wait and see.

Subsurf should be used VERY carefully, if at all, for someone who is just beginning. Avoid it if you can. When you subsurf, you need to add extra loops to lock the shape. Start modelling the window first and then extrude the fuselage from that. With regards to the wingbox, it will take you a while to get that done properly. It's probably one of the hardest things to model on the exterior. My first wingbox took me 11 tries and 2 weeks. My most recent one took 4 tries and 3 days. Just have patience and don't be afraid to delete it if you don't like it. Even after spending hours making it.

Going by people's feedback, and our dedication to stick to as much realism as is in our control, we have decided against the GPS for now. Many more people have said they would prefer NO GPS. The textures have been made with a possibility to add the GPS at a later date if the circumstances arise, but for now, no GPS. The FMC will not be added to the 340A. To upgrade the A to work with an FMC would require a complete rewrite of the autopilot and I think Cameron has seen enough of that autopilot to make him an expert. We'd just as soon prefer to make the B variant with the autopilot and FMC rather than change the A variants autopilot code, however, don't expect to see the B for at least another year.

If you're not sure about it, get your navigation flying down. Otherwise, learn the overhead and where everything is. Learn the CTOT system. Learn about the autopilot. Particularly CLIMB mode. Other than that, you should be fine.

Well, we'd certainly like to think so.

Anything new? A big fat YES! Any new info I can share with you? Not quite yet. Well, nothing I haven't already posted. We don't really want to post anything until we are 100% certain of it. When the time comes, Cameron will make an official post. But I will say, start reading up on Saab operations.

Never occurred to me to make one of those. I grew up on that show. Every weekday at 6am, then they moved to Saturday mornings at 6am. Channel 9 repeated the whole series several times over. Definitely one of my fave shows growing up! Time to model that thing.

If ever a plane breaks with an update, Ben Supnik and Austin Meyer always want people to let them know. Send them a log and they will fix it asap.

Best to contact Cameron for things like this.

I'm all for it, even without the competition side of it. How about a new thread that shows ONLY photoshop enhanced screenshots? Might be some nice desktop wallpaper in there.

Don't tempt me! Theo has already called me a name I don't wish to repeat in an open forum after he saw those engines.

Fair question. A few people have asked me that. We have a few ideas we plan to use that I don't really want to elaborate on at the moment that involves the extra objects. Also It's always better and easier (imho) to make MORE than you need and then cut back if it's not needed rather than make less now and then add more later.

Few more of the panel and center console. These were done quite a while ago.

Cheers, guys. Appreciated. Theo's going to have fun.

The initial aircraft we will put up is the the Rolls Royce Engine variant. We will make available the PW and GE variants AFTER we release the RR version. Seeing as there is quite a lot of work involved with the programming for each variant, these will be payware upgrades. During the week is DC-3/Saab and "other" related work duties. Weekends are Boeing work. A nearly completed Rolls Royce RB211 Engine...

Just as I thought. Your CG is off. Your default (center) figure should be less than your forward figure and greater than your aft figure. Set your center figure (6.000) to zero and the aft figure to -5.000. Leave the forward figure at 5.000. Then adjust as necessary but don't adjust the default figure (the one you changed to zero). This is just to start you off and stop the aircraft flipping. You can fine tune later.

I'll try to find some time to go to the chat section in the forums and I might be able to help out a LITTLE bit with the animations. No promises though. I'm in the middle of a development maze right now but I'll PM you with a time and date if it's at all possible for me to do so. With regards to the CoG, in Planemaker, press the SPACEBAR to go into wireframe view and look for a very dark dot (there will be a few) but the CoG dot is usually (depending on how you made the flight model) in the center of the aircraft or at the tip of the nose. That's your aircraft center and the middle figure in the CoG section of the weight and balance represents that dot. The other figures will move the aircraft either back and forth or up and down. There are no dots to represent those figures. I honestly cannot think of anything else that will be causing the aircraft to flip like that. Yes, the Saab will be sold at XA...VERY soon.