BendyFlyer
Charter Member
I have always been an admirer of Jens (JBK) who produced an amazing collection of different and historical aircraft. He was a real master of the craft. I have no idea how any hours of research he would have undertaken before building some these sim models, they are all fine sim aircraft, just extraordinary. I have attempted numerous times to contact him and posts on various fora and sites have sparked no response. I have done a number of mods and changes to Jens models over time, some for myself and others I have released keeping to the spirit of Jens requirement that they be freeware but more importantly not changing the names etc.
I have been working on an upgrade and work over of his C-124 Globemaster (Old Shaky), I had been attempting to do a number of things and it is still a WIP but progressing nicely, however what struck we was this:
It was quite clear that Jens really liked this model and in his notes suggested it was one of his favourites and he really enjoyed flying it. I noted that he went to a great deal of trouble with the FSX-A version which was the final one released. There was a level of detail and modelling buried beneath the exterior that really surprised me and most of it is accessible and will be brought out in the work over I am doing. But I kept noting that it seemed unfinished in an odd way, folders and notes were not aligned or features mentioned etc. Some critical config files were actually missing some things which was also odd for anything done by JBK. It was a bit of mess in some aspects, all fixed now, so it seemed to me that something was going on with Jens in his personal life or health and that all of a sudden he rushed it all together uploaded it here and there and then that was it, nothing else since. A great deal of care had been taken to get it correct and the FDE is spot on.
This seemed to be not to the action of somebody abandoning the world of simulation, he had mastered all of the FSX stuff as the C-124 shows but somebody who had a major crisis of some sorts. I just have this nagging feeling that something bad happened to Jens and that is why he just basically disappeared from the world of simulation.
Anyhow just curious and thought I would share my thoughts on JBK.
I have been working on an upgrade and work over of his C-124 Globemaster (Old Shaky), I had been attempting to do a number of things and it is still a WIP but progressing nicely, however what struck we was this:
It was quite clear that Jens really liked this model and in his notes suggested it was one of his favourites and he really enjoyed flying it. I noted that he went to a great deal of trouble with the FSX-A version which was the final one released. There was a level of detail and modelling buried beneath the exterior that really surprised me and most of it is accessible and will be brought out in the work over I am doing. But I kept noting that it seemed unfinished in an odd way, folders and notes were not aligned or features mentioned etc. Some critical config files were actually missing some things which was also odd for anything done by JBK. It was a bit of mess in some aspects, all fixed now, so it seemed to me that something was going on with Jens in his personal life or health and that all of a sudden he rushed it all together uploaded it here and there and then that was it, nothing else since. A great deal of care had been taken to get it correct and the FDE is spot on.
This seemed to be not to the action of somebody abandoning the world of simulation, he had mastered all of the FSX stuff as the C-124 shows but somebody who had a major crisis of some sorts. I just have this nagging feeling that something bad happened to Jens and that is why he just basically disappeared from the world of simulation.
Anyhow just curious and thought I would share my thoughts on JBK.