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Northrop F-15A / RF-61C Reporter

warchild said:
Know what would be even better?? Too form a Virtual 428th NFS squadron, and find a way to put tac pack on these planes so they could be flown in combat.. Of course, the turret would have to be animated.. :)
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Apparently when the turret was functional it caused severe buffeting as it displaced airflow over the tail when it was rotated - this led to it either being fixed in the forward firing position or removed in the field..fyi
 
heywooood said:
Apparently when the turret was functional it caused severe buffeting as it displaced airflow over the tail when it was rotated - this led to it either being fixed in the forward firing position or removed in the field..fyi
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::chuckles:: Oh, I know.. Northrop worked for years trying to correct that buffeting. The tried at minimum five seperate designs including on which looked like it had an upside down wok on it. But i figure, this is FSX. We can do things in it that ask the question: What if? even with the turret in forward position, it was still one of the most nimble aircraft in the war. Five FW-190s learned the hard way that you didnt mess with a widow.. What no one could get around was how big it was, and since it was so big, it just had to fly big and clumsily like a bomber, but that was as far from the truth as it could get.. What kept it from becoming a superlative fighter, was not only its late entry into th war, but cost. It was expensive to operate and maintain. However, this is fsx. We dont have operational costs to contend with :)..
 
warchild said:
Know what would be even better?? Too form a Virtual 428th NFS squadron, and find a way to put tac pack on these planes so they could be flown in combat.. Of course, the turret would have to be animated.. :)
Click to expand...

It's relatively easy to add TacPack to an airplane in FSX / P3D, especially when you're only talking cannons. And animating the turret is child's play. The only limiting factor for me would be the extra time but we'll see :)
 
p-61c carried cannons, machine guns, rockets, bombs and gas, though not all at the same time of course :)..
 
It's not long now...

iPu0wVB.jpg
 
jankees said:
oh great, a P-61 too! I'd better start collecting images for inspiration...
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I'd better do a damned fine job of it then! :biggrin-new:

The P-61C sadly didn't do much as it entered the war so late, only I think serving briefly on one squadron plus the NACA test unit and Project Thunderstorm. I do have reference material for a bare metal P-61C that served as the XP-61D test airframe which will look nice. It's very lucky that I've ended up with two types that have never appeared in FSX / P3D before, which is pretty rare these days, but also a bit of a shame that neither type carried many colour schemes in their short service lives.

Robert's P-61B for Sim Outhouse is on its way though and that beauty has about a zillion colour schemes just waiting to go!
 
Super quick update - VC well on the way, very much enjoying working on this. FSDS 3.5.1 certainly has its animation quirks but thanks to Roy Holmes' advice animations are now all working well.

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More work done. Tough to get everything in one shot but hard at work on details and texturing, and general tidying up. All major surfaces and bezels now added, instruments will use either the default DC3 ( FSX ) or the C-69 Constellation ( P3D ). Just about ready to start adding all switches and animating them. Still on target for an April release, as long as nothing terrible occurs! The P-61C should follow a short while after that.

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If you can, try to make all associated controls or switches operational, even if they don't interact with any actual system. This will make it easier for third parties to beef up the systems, if desired.


And don't stick to fixed release dates too much. There's always stuff to get in the way.
 
Bjoern said:
If you can, try to make all associated controls or switches operational, even if they don't interact with any actual system. This will make it easier for third parties to beef up the systems, if desired.


And don't stick to fixed release dates too much. There's always stuff to get in the way.
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Great idea Bjoern, I'll do that with the switches.

I'm a thriller and sci-fi author by day, so deadlines are what keep me honest - and in a job :encouragement:
 
This airplane is beginning to "grow on me". I've always said I didn't like the look of the bubble-top P-61s, but this thread may change my attitude. As it were. Beautiful work. Love the VC!
 
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