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Attention all DC-3 fans !

Javis

Javis

SOH Staff
Staff member
Manfred's DC-3 gets authentic VVC !

That rhymes. What doesn't rhyme, atleast not in my dedicated DC-3 fan book, is Manfred's superb external rendition of a vintage DC-3/C-47 model fitted with a modern VC derived from his equally superb Basler BT67 Turboprop model. No doubt like many DC-3 aficionado's here at the SOH FSX forum i have been waiting for either Manfred or any other FS aircraft developer to sort out this shortcoming.

Sofar nobody applied for the job. No wonder really because it involves a lot of hard work spanning several months atleast.

As a retired FS aircraft designer myself my hands have been itching, believe me! ( i worked on several FS DC-3 iterations on and off just about trough my whole 'FS design career' ). After Manfred released v2 of his gorgeous DC-3 model and Ted (Tufun) released his amazing DC-3 sound suite on top of that ( listen carefully to the enchanting idle sound of the engines and you might hear a repeating whisper : "DC3 needs VVC, DC3 needs VVC, DC3 needs VVC..." ) it was just too much for me to hold off any longer, forget my retirement for a while and get to work.

No sooner said than done. Both Manfred and Hansi ( who will be doing the programming) liked the idea and for a couple weeks now i've got the DC-3 VVC (Vintage Virtual Cockpit) show on the road. Manfred thought it would be a good idea to not only update him and Hansi on the development progress but deal all DC-3 fans here at SOH in as well.

The first way point to navigate to was to figure out what setup of the panel/instruments to choose for our VVC. As you know there's a plethora of setups to choose from, no DC-3 cockpit is alike. One thing clear: no modern instruments, vintage is vintage. (maybe a selectable GPS for people who like that sort of thing). After checking out a few candidates we decided to go with a DC-3 panel that is being restored in orginal vintage condition. Mostly because the panel does not sit inside the cockpit and features seperate, good photos of all instruments. Wonderful job by a gentleman called Bart Nopper from the Netherlands. (he also works on an amazing superscale model of a C-47).On top of that the setup also features an original 1937 Sperry Type A-3 'Gyropilot' which we like very much to be available in our DC-3 VVC.

So, lets start with the panel and instruments then. As we say here in Holland "de eerste klap is 'n daalder waard" (the first blow is half the battle).

To get an idea of what the virtual panel would look like i glued two photo's of the restoration panel together, cleaned it up and matched the bitmap to the panel that sits in the current VC. It was needed to make the panel a bit higher. Here's what it looked like :

dc3_panel01.jpg


We all agreed that we could go with this so i started cutting out the gauge holes, create the first gauge bodies and bezels and the pitch control part of the 3D Sperry Gyro :

dc3_panel03.jpg


All gauge faceplates will be handdrawn by Hansi. He sent me a first MP test plate to work with so for the moment that's all there is to see.

Here's a close up of the 3D Sperry Pitch instrument in the works (no texture yet, naturally) :

dc3_panel03sp.jpg


Every gauge will get its own 'glass plate' to which a unique reflection texture will be mapped. A first test trial here (only the right gauge has glass and reflection applied here ) :

dc3_panel03gl.jpg


Seems i'm allowed to only post 4 images so i'll continue in a follow up post.

Cheers,
Jan
 
DC-3 VVC update continued.

The panel sofar as it sits inside the VC. The modern throttle quadrant still there for reference and the modern, two windows, windscreen has got to go too :

dc3_vvc1214.jpg



Further 3D instruments applied and first work on the vintage windscreen setup:

vvc1220c.jpg



Still empty gauge holes because i am awaiting the arrival of Hansi's faceplates. 3D needles will be added then too. It's only the Fuel Tank Selector gauge that isn't setup in 3D yet.


Moving on, here's a screenie of the last work. The 'naked' VVC sofar :

vvc1223n.jpg


With some more texuring done :

vvc1223b.jpg





So that's where we are at present. Hope you like what you see. I intend to update this thread every coming weekend with screenies and info for everybody that has an interest in keeping track of the process.


In ending i'd like to say that i find it a great honour to work with Manfred's extraordinairy beautiful DC-3 model. Together with the DC-6 and Connie the DC-3 is my favourite aeroplane so for me it's a great pleasure to be back working on it again. The Maam-Sim native FSX DC-3 never materialised because i opted for a smaller plane to get acquainted with working with 3dsmax and it would've been needed to start a new DC-3 model from scratch because the external model got a bit long in the tooth as well.


I hope my work on this 'DC-3 VVC' to complement Manfred's superb external model will compensate enough for the Maam-Sim native FSX DC-3 that never was...


Cheers and talk to you later,
Jan
 
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This looks fantastic! It appears you and your team have the expertise to complement the MJ team's fine work on the C47_V2. Since the Basler cockpit was a provisional one anyway to expedite the production of the V2, this should please the multitude of enthusiasts clamouring for a Vintage VC. The Basler is a wonderful creation and this should complete the C-47 and C-117a.

As a photographer I am very sensitive to perspective and viewpoint. Something was always wacky about the default DC-3 that felt very uncomfortable. As much I loved the Gooney Bird, I just didn't enjoy flying her.

Kudos to all the talented and dedicated people who have contributed to these projects.

Obie
 
I hope you can put some 3d gages in there or some High rez gages atlest.. as most of use have HD screens.. and it would go nice with his external model to have a good high rez VC
 
Sir:

Yes, that was an important item that was definitely missing from the v2 model. I am certainly glad to see that you are addressing it. Kudos to you and your associates.
 
You're making good progress, Jan, fantastic, the amount of work done since my visit, 2 weeks back!
Merry Christmas, happy New year, and lotsa modelling!
It's going to be great!

R.
 
Santa certainly has been good this Christmas!

Looks fantastic so far. This will undoubtedly make the C -47 the single best freeware in the history of FSX...

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk
 
The panel looks already great, but the best news is that you found a reason good enough to make your (temporarily) return out of retirement!

Thanks for keeping us updated!

Cheers,
Huub
 
Now that's what I would call a Christmas miracle :santahat:

Wonderful work as usual, Jan! I'm really looking forward to it :applause:

Greetings
Tim
 
The quality of what becomes available from all you hard workers simply astounds me!

Thank you ALL so much for your dedication

A grateful user;-)
 
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