Tonker

@Woogey Awesome!

I had a little lol at that, thanks It'd be great to see, but not whilst the business model is flogging modules...

I hope so, would love to see a version in SEA camo...

Yo party people, how are we? Back soon from a spell away, looking forward to getting back Into the Jungle! What's new?

Yet another example of someone having an absolute blast with the Loach:

Tornado and Lanc = Germany a-go-go! @Scoobyon, those are just gorgeous

Looking forward to getting to try the new FM this weekend. Nice one @Leviathan0815 and co!

Thanks for the response Yup, fair enough all round and I appreciate an off-the-cuff comment being taken seriously. Quite right that IL-2:1946 has long been effectively abandoned, and I completely understand that DCS is only part of a much wider portfolio. I'm just a layman looking at the lie of the land and thinking he spies gold in them thar hills! Especially in a world with increased competition from Pacific WW2 and Korean combat sims, more hotly contested online arenas and the technological leaps of MSFS (even if their flight dynamics are still rubbish in comparison!). I think we're actually looking at the best example: ED get nothing for what is currently the best public rotary-wing aircraft simulation available. It's kinda awesome, but it's also kind of nuts! It makes more sense to me to monetise DCS World and encourage the community than vice versa. There's a strong historic track record of communities keeping games they love alive; FTP business models not so much... Anyway, if there's even a discussion to be had then it's not by me, and it's not here. Good to see you @NineLine Also! But yup, I've just checked back in for the first time in years and see activity in almost every sub-forum in the past 24hrs: https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php (...and the last major modpack update was just 4 months ago. I dread to think what size those modpack downloads are nowadays!) EDIT: Annnnyhoo, where were we... The gunner of a Hughes OH-6 Cayuse light observation helicopter (LOH and called a “Loach”) stands on a skid as the helo, flying at treetop level, reconnoiters the situation on Route 1, north of Hue in northern South Vietnam on May 28, 1972. / AP Photo/Richard Blystone

Tricky cos it moves us into a broader issue... ... at this point, for all sorts of reasons, I'd be looking to shift the business model where DCS World is valued ($10ish annually?), that money spent funding ED for core development, and the SDK kit released to give modders the tools they need to keep the base game attractive to simmers. It wouldn't do any harm to keep commercial developer's sharp either... Il-2:1946 is still selling copies entirely on the back of an exceptional modding effort lasting decades - it's astonishing what that community achieved even without significant official support. If ED were able to charge for DCS World, they could do the same, rather than rushing yet another half-baked waste of hangar space out of the door to try to maintain a revenue stream...

@Raffi75 side note: on your earlier versions do the wheelbrakes operate the side they're animated on? For me, left toe = left brake animation = swing to the right, which is...unusual... @Devil 505 have you noticed this, or is it a me problem?!

@Devil 505 Not much to stir: there was a message from the dev about 6 months ago to say that life had moved on since project inception (a period of several years), and so SK60 development (along with the WIP Drakken IIRC) was being shelved. All in good humour, acknowledging that other things were becoming the focus. Since many mod creators are in their late teens and early twenties, it's no surprise that other things come along to capture their attention! I've come across it a couple of times, so if that happens again I'll copy it here.

@Raffi75 What I think was the latest/last - away from DCS atm, but v 1.2.2 IIRC. This was the update which added the new seats and pilot models...but maybe killed the control surface animations! [Shift] + [P] works to toggle pilot models (the default binding). All flight controls work, but the aileron, rudder and elevators are not animated. Everything else is animated. NWS binding: "Nose Gear Maneuvering Range". There are two (in yellow for some reason?) - one is default bound to [S] and the other is bindable, and the one I have bound to a button on my stick. The SK60 was clearly a labour of love, and what has been completed is to a very high standard. Sadly for us the dev's life moved on before every modelled system was finished. However, what's there is already great and has surprising amount of functionality and depth worth digging in to. HTH

Downloaded the training mission set from User Files, all seem to work as advertised. Correction: airbrakes work, are bindable, and animated. Correction: NWS is bindable, just need to use the right option! Now assigned to a press-and-hold on my HOTAS. Ideal. Still working through this, but things are better than I first thought. As there's a bit of a stir around the SK-60 again I thought it worth correcting some of my mistakes.

Oh hell yeah! snap! The only downside is it messes with my OH6 muscle memory on the pedals! Hoping the new Polychop give it another round of love as they work on the Osprey, as they did when doing the Kiowa to spruce up the textures etc, but it's my only paid module for a reason! The SK60 avionics are cool, bloody impressive to have coded GPS navigation but that's neither here nor there for the settings we're interested in. The important thing for me was how it felt in the cockpit...and it feels pretty 'king good! Must be awesome in VR too

On the lookout for some too, no joy yet. Template looks good, so fingers x'd someone's had the same idea... Hope you enjoy it! Most of the issues I was having were user error, and tho I've not been flying it loads it was a good time. No expert, but give a shout if there's anything I can (try to) help with.

Bravo! Thanks for the update

Hard to tell in the dark...

I just got back - downloaded the latest Hercules, as per the links above, and did the cold start tutorial by way of a test; then downloaded the latest ITJ, as per the links above. Spawned in the OH-6, first S. Jungle slot. I noted that the Loach was now offset from the fore/aft line (if you know what I mean?!) of the FARP pad, but no damage or other weirdness. Took off, tooled around, overstressed the engine and crashed - so far so good Spawned in the A4 (first Andersen slot), all good there too. Haven't got time just yet to hop in with intent, but it's good to be back 'in country' EDIT: FWIW I also had another crack at the SK-60-as-an-A-37-stand-in for interest. Some animation and keybind issues aside, it's pretty damn good. Visuals, sound and lighting are all proper gorgeous. An absolute blast to fly and with 12 x 13.5cm/5"+ rockets and/or a pair of mighty gunpods it packs enough of a punch to be worth bringing to the party. Need to do some more testing for systems and avionics, but it's looking promising... Ah, I see there's a recent vid by way of a demo, here. Not perfect as a Dragonfly, but no worse than, say, having a Super Hercules instead of the 'real' thing!

Lol, is the answer ever not RTFM?

Now that's more like it!

Wonder what rotor disk ground clearance is on both types - wouldn't like to work under either!

Ah. Thanks for the update, gents!

That's useful to know, thanks - I haven't managed to do this in the Loach. Might flying with doors removed mess up the 'open canopy' requirement? I have tried to spoof it with the keybind, but no joy. I'm away atm so can't test, but good to know it's operator error. Saves a good chunk of time for when the AO's hot!