Stieglitz, no probs!

Hope you get to grips with it and if you need any help, then just ask.

Btw, the up and coming Aeroplane Heaven/Just Flight Spitfire pack will have the FM’s made using the FDWB – all done by Jerry himself. 🙂

Dean, if you read my initial post you would have learned that the Flight Model engine of the FS series of sims is actually very good if you give it the opportunity! :rolleyes:

The problem with most of the FM’s out there, including the default ones, is that they are very poor to start with and a lot of add-on aircraft use these as a basis so it’s no surprise they are turn out no good and give the impression that the FS FM engine is poor!

And I have to confess that I used to think it was the FM engine that was the problem.

How wrong was I! 😮

The reason people say that X-Plane FM engine is better could be that it’s because the default FM’s are very good to start with in comparison with the MS ones which aren’t. Granted, X-Plane & IL2 use a physics based model for the FM’s against MS’s table based one, but I’m sure that you can still make a screwy FM if you don’t know what you’re doing!

When the first incarnation of IL2 came out a few years ago, the son of a well known display pilot posted his dad’s comments on the differences in the FM’s of IL2 and SDOE (Screaming Demons Over Europe) which were both physics based. He remarked that the aircraft in IL2 departed far to easily for his liking and that the planes in SDOE were quite good but felt a little bit on the light side (not the controls) IIRC.

Now having had a lot of experience with SDOE, the default FM’s were way off the mark and like the MS sims, it took people from the community to take a good look at them and how they worked with the FM engine and then try and sort them out.

When I tried IL2, I was unimpressed with the FM’s and my first impression when I took a BF109 up was that it was far to keen to depart and enter a spin – very unlike the real ME109 which was renowned for it’s good manners at low speed.

Now, my ramblings aside, the point I’m trying to make is that no matter how good the FM engine is be it physics or table based, if you feed naff data into it, you’ll get a naff FM out of it!

Cheers

Paul

Contrary to popular belief, the MS Flight Model engine is actually very good if you feed it the right data and accurate, high fidelity FM’s are possible! 😉

The only area it does not do well is supersonic stuff. 🙁

If your serious about getting the best out of the FS serious of sims, then I suggest you head over to http://www.mudpond.us/ and download the wonderful Flight Dynamics Workbook (FDWB) and associated tools by Jerry Beckwith.

You’ll need MS Excel but it’s free and the best way to create FM’s for the MS Sims IMHO. 🙂 And you don’t have to be an aeronautical engineer to use it as it does all the hard stuff for you. 🙂

It uses data taken from the NACA database and standard stuff from aeronautical textbooks. All you need is just the basic data (weight, HP, section etc) to create the flight model.

I’ve made over 100 FM’s from Warbirds to GA aircraft for FS2002/4 using it and have had very pleasing results. The aircraft will stall, spin and side slip properly (no hacked or doctored stuff like some FM’s) and handle and perform as close as possible to their real world counterparts.

It’s truly a work of art! 😀

Cheers

Paul

Well thanks to all those who posted the pics although it’s sad to see it’s gradual distruction. 🙁

I had seen some pics before of it after the developers moved in but that first one Eric posted bought home just how much of a mess the airfield looks today. 😡

As for the other airfields, well I guess we’ve got a big fight on our hands. :diablo:

I can see the point of some that they have served their purpose and that some have more of a history and importance than others. But I really hate the idea of seeing them turned into massive and tastless housing, shopping and industrial estates by some cash hungry overseas developer. 😡

Of course, I’d much prefer it if they remained, but if they are going to be made use of, I’d rather see them returned to farmers fields. At least then they still bare some sort of resemblence to how the were.

Going back to some of the sites listed, it seems Dunsfold’s future seems reasonable at present. Apart from BBC filming Top Gear there, I believe it is a popular place for business’s to hold corporate events and other functions and there was rumour in the local press a while back of turning it into a civil airport although many locals started to kick up a fuss as you’d expect. :rolleyes:

I’m alarmed to hear about Cambridge’s days being numbered. I’ll look out for your thread Mike.

Btw, with all this talk of West Malling, it’s reminded me that I have some video footage of the 1984 show (pics in earlier posts) which I’ve been meaning to transfer on to DV and then the PC.

When I get some space freed up on my Hard Drive, I’ll have a crack at doing it and see about uplaoding it.

Cheers

Paul

The advert is for the up & coming Just Flight Spitfire add on pack for FS2004.

I don’t know about the sailors :confused: but the photo sure is a mock up.

Shuttleworth’s AR501 is the Spitfire used in the picture.

Cheers

Paul

Couldn’t agree more with you Daz.

That’s one of the great things about FS, you can fly those rare machines that you’ll probably never see for real and those that you’ll never see again. 🙂

Looking forward the Spitfire pack and of course the day TFC’s machine takes to the skies! 😀

Cheers

Paul

Thanks for the link Stieglitz.

Nice collection of other video clips also! 🙂

Cheers

Paul

So where do those like artists, flightsim developers, RC & plastic modellers and those who paint their Warbirds in RAF schemes stand?

Will have to pay a royalty for using it?

All seems a bit daft to me. 🙁

Maybe they have a special exemption and it’s aimed at preventing commercial organisations from using it like Steve says. :confused:

Cheers

Paul