• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

Milviz F-4J/S TacPack / ADV released

Dimus

Dimus

SOH-CM-2025
This extension to the Milviz F-4J/S combines TacPack functionality with the unique Milviz "ADV" features. More info and purchase links here:

http://milviz.com/flight/products/F4JSEXP/index.php

Some shots taken during testing:

Weapons:
VxgrBwM.jpg


TZo0onF.jpg


bDHJrkl.jpg


Result of bird ingestion:

VfY9LTU.jpg
 
Thanks Roger! I had the pleasure and privilege to test this extension. As a hardcore F-4 fan, I truly believe this is probably one of the best and complete simulations of a military aircraft. Combining the ADV and TacPack features lets you fly this plane exactly like the NATOPS say you should. This is definitely not an easy package. It will bite the uninformed, maybe just like the real one did.
 
Just one comment, if I may. I am certainly no expert, but: The Pilot radar scope in the second picture doesn't look like any LRU-9 I ever worked on. Aero-1A, AWG-10 A, B, or C.
It looks a lot more like the F-4S version. Maybe the Airforce version.
I got a short tour when I helped an AF squadron at Clark AB in the PI. I taught them the value of percussive troubleshooting. Give it a good solid thump :D

Anyway, I may well be mistaken. Luckily, we didn't get a lot of LRU-9's in. Pretty reliable. We did get one we had really rather not, though. Turns out the line ape who installed it hadn't tightened down the two bolts holding it in, and the QA missed it. When the plane took a cat shot, well, the pilot got a really close up look at his scope. Thankfully, the RIO punched them both, but it was a little late for the pilot...
We had to try an recover what we could after they brought the plane up. Rather not have seen the scope, though.

Good luck, and great flights, all!
Pat☺
 
Good observation Pat! Indeed the VC is for the S. The package includes both J and S models in terms of externals and FDE but the VC is that of the S version in all of them.
 
joe bob said:
Man this thing is a bear to handle in pitch.
Click to expand...

That was exactly my first response!:dread:

Apparently, one has to make sure the SAS switches are all to on and that you have dialed 2 to 3 units of forward trim depending on the loadout. Then after rotation one needs to continuously trim forward as speed increases. Retrimming with speed variation is necessary. It is a dream however when maneuvering in the 350 to 450 knot range with very precise control.
 
Yes, the takeoffs are much better with 3 units down trim. Not feeding the wing tanks drains the rear fuselage tank quickly, also helps.
The biggest challenge to me is cruising and there is a sudden pitch up. I have yet to figure out what has changed to cause that. I would have thought the changing CG would have been a little more subtle, perhaps it was speeding up or slowing.
Go arounds tend to be an airshow of porpoises with all the pitch gear flaps and airspeed changes. It will be a while before I start to work on my carrier quals
 
Yes, the takeoffs are much better with 3 units down trim.
Click to expand...
Just a little note on take-off's: The F-4J had a small problem with it's elevator's hydraulic actuator. If even a very small spec of dirt got into the hyd system (and dirt got in the hyd systems, believe me!), as soon as the WOW switches disengaged the elevators would program full up. The stick would slam back onto it's stop, too. It could interfere with the pilot's use of the lower ejection handle, which would suddenly become very important to the pilot. The plane would go from normal rotation attitude to 90° pitch very quickly. Naturally, even in full AB, the plane would bleed energy very rapidly in that attitude, stall, and start to tail slide. This would cause the engines to promptly flame out. Needless to say, ejection became the crew's only option, at that point, one they would need to excersize quickly.

I saw it happen in Yuma once. I was taking a break in the parking lot for AIMD Avionics to grab a quick smoke (I don't remember why I was there in daytime, I stayed on Mids most of the time), and I was watching the planes take-off and land. The lot is right on the flight-line where the wash-rack is, so I had a great view. I saw the plane take off, and suddenly do the pitch-up-tail-slide thing. I wondered what the HECK they were doing. Up until I saw the crew eject at the apex, just as the tail-slide started. As soon as the canopy blew I knew something was severely wrong. Thankfully, the plane was over the empty sand at the end of the runway, not over the main road leading into the base, which always has a tonne of traffic on it.

AIMD AVI Radar, WC 630 (me), were tasked with recovering what we could of the radar after the crash. Wasn't much, either, even though it hit last, obviously.
By the way, we called our shop members FOMDET, the Fraternal Order of Microwave Device Technicians, Local 630. Had T-Shirts made with a logo, and everything. We were a tight-knit shop. No other shop had anything like us :biggrin-new:

The crew was fine, although shaken. They had been briefed on the possibility of this happening, and thankfully the RIO had payed real good attention. Members of the Martin-Baker club :D

I doubt this plane has this possible failure mode modeled, but it would be real cool if it did. Keep you on your toes!

Pat☺
 
My first trap, took off from NAS Oceana flew out to the carrier and did some bump and goes then hook down and trapped!
Flew back to Oceana feeling very good about myself then promptly blew a tire trying to deal with a crosswind. Phantom and ego back on solid ground
 
Been there done that!:dizzy: In my case I had one engine after that bird strike in the first post pic. I overshot, broke the gear and it ended in a big fireball:

7AtRuMQ.jpg


You may have seen that you can adjust the types of damage as well as the intensity/likelihood of them happening in the ADV panel. You can also turn them off completely.
 
Dimus said:
Good observation Pat! Indeed the VC is for the S. The package includes both J and S models in terms of externals and FDE but the VC is that of the S version in all of them.
Click to expand...

The NATOPS says "Aircraft 158355at AND UP/ALL OTHERS AFTER AFC 506". The early F-4J's had "B" type cockpits. The late J models like that of the "S"

My take, and it being the lovely world of flight sim, it can be whatever we want!

If I am wrong, please feel free to correct me. I've been away and I can only read the NATOPS. Cant wait to get home and fly this thing. I just love the Phantom!

Tool
 
The early F-4J's had "B" type cockpits. The late J models like that of the "S"
Click to expand...
I can't speak for all the J models delivered, obviously. The one's at VMFAT-101, before they left for Miramar and their Hornets, and VMFA-333/232, when they transitioned over to F/A-18's near the end of '86, all still used the systems I knew. The AN/AWG-10C, by the end. I am not certain what the designator the S models had for their radar system, but the LRU-9 (pilot's scope) looks different than the one's I worked on.

I'm not saying the systems pictured in this plane (which looks fantastic, BTW), are in any way "wrong", or inaccurate. Just that it wasn't what I was used to seeing. And this was very considerately explained by Mr. Dimus for me.

You are absolutely correct. We can make it anything we choose, since it's a sim. They could have made it a J model cockpit like what I was used to, right down to the caked on dirt, scraped off paint, stains, and all the rest. The flight schedule was too intense for detailing things in those day. '101 had nearly 30 planes when I was with them, and still had trouble keeping up.
They chose the S model cockpit instead, which is fine. Probably a pretty fair improvement over what I was used to.

Enjoy this plane all! It looks amazing, and I am sure is modeled, and flies, as good as it looks :D
Pat☺
 
I’ll tell you straight, I borrowed a lot from the F-4E and B because there is next to nothing out there on the AWG-10 FCS or the rest of the F-4S weapon systems. On the other hand, I have -34s for the E and G and tac manuals for the B. Plus some white papers and anecdotes on the Honeywell VTAS. But otherwise I had to use some guesswork which I trust does not detract from the experience since I doubt you guys have flown one in reality :)
 
Ohhh, the VTAS. What a system.
The main unit sat under the RIO's seat, I think. In the A-4, obviously, only 1 seat, the pilot's.
Not very big, maybe 5 lbs. Almost invariably, the problems it had involved a burnt wire under the cards. The cards were surprizingly reliable. There were a few thousand wires, connecting everything to everything else on the bottom of the VTAS. Pull off the bottom plate, and there they all are. A couple dozen small, Phillip's head screws to pull the bottom plate. Small little things.
All of the wires were white. None of them marked in any way. Easy, huh? We would spend hours tracing the wires from point A to point B, making sure we had the right one. The white wire, naturally. A couple times the size of a hair. VERY easy to break. Very weak.
Pretty easy to see, usually, which wires burned through. No problem. It was the white wire :biggrin-new:
They even made them a wire-wrap setup, so they are pretty easy to replace. Little electric drill looking device, zip unwrap the old, zip, wrap on the new. Of course, you had to be careful. It seemed like the burnt wires were always on the bottom of the post, so you had to replace a couple wires along with the burnt wires. No unwrapping a wire and re-wrapping it. You take it off, you replace it. We had a few spools of the stuff laying around, and we would go through a 100' spool on a single unit. Make sure there is no tag end sticking out. It WILL contact another post, and FFFttt. Start over.
You know. The white wire :banghead:
And make absolutely sure the additional wires you replace go to the right place! One mistake, fffft! More burnt wires. The whole thing starts over.

A really fun system to work on. Is the sarcasm coming through ok?

Have fun all! It IS a truly great airplane. Extremely well done, inside and out, paint and systems.
Pat☺
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top