jocko417

Hi guys, just coming off a very busy period at work, but things are starting to cool off now. Should be able to get back at it seriously over the next couple of weeks. My apologies for the silent treatment ;)

COOL!!! Reminds me to get my nose back to the grindstone. Very busy over the holidays but things are quiet now. Lots of U.S. National Guard schemes I'd like to try.

Yes, interested in this too. Some modern day airshow Spits have extra fuel tanks in the ammo/gun compartments in the wing, is the developer modelling MH434 as she is configured today? Real Air's Spit XIV for MSFS had those ammo compartment tanks modelled, complete with multiple filler caps on the wings, something that always drove me nuts as it wasn't authentic to the WW2 period. Also, what is that black round thing above the gear selector on the right side? Wobble pump for the wing tanks if the electrics fail?

The nose wheel steering system on the F-86 takes a bit of getting used to... Make sure when you line up on the runway for takeoff that the nose wheel is perfectly centered, or you're in for a nasty surprise when you start rolling, so when lining up, let the airplane roll forward down the runway a bit before gently bringing it to a stop with even braking. Use nose wheel steering to keep the airplane straight during the initial part of the takeoff roll. This is quite sensitive at any speed faster than taxi speed. You'll only need minimal pedal deflection to keep the airplane tracking straight. Above fifty knots release the NWS switch and just use rudder alone. You will find you'll suddenly need a lot more pedal deflection initially, as the rudder is not very effective at low speeds.

VERY nice!

On it already ;)

F-86! :)

UPDATE: Normal Maps Still W.I.P, adjusting how heavy rivets vs lines are, etc. Finally got around to changing the fuselage panels to match the Orenda-powered Sabre 5 and 6. I don't think I'll bother changing the wing panels as the pylons, etc. wouldn't line up properly due to Canadair using the single hard point wing (F-86F-20 and earlier I believe). Also finally got around to improving my intake shading. New: Old: Older version intake metal was darker than outside, shading too abrupt and too far back. Both shots taken in 1.5 with new self shadowing active.

Thanks George, I'll give thay a try. Finally installed the nVidia plug-in so I thought I'd try making my own normal maps. So to confirm, uncompressed dds file, with or without mips?

Hi guys, finally doing some NM files for my Canadair Sabres (different panel lines than NA) and I'm getting some weird artifacts in game, what format are the NM files saved in for DCS? Thanks!

Something new, Sabre 23315 of No. 401 "City of Westmount" (Rams) Squadron, RCAF Aux., based at Montreal, Canada, circa 1950s. Just have to add the blue fuselage stripe:

Yeah, I always figured the area between the wing spars was skinned with a different alloy or something. Or maybe it was painted like the P-51 wings. There's a boat load of early Sabre Mk.2 skins I could do if we ignore the fact the wing is wrong for that type. The RCAF had some pretty elaborate squadron art in the early NATO days, just before the Mk.5 arrived the powers that be decided to tone things down a bit and went for a more standardized look. 427 "Lion" squadron Mk.2: Have started to do proper helmet art now, as much as I can due to the mapping of the helmet (side is mirrored so no words or numbers...). Also, it's difficult to find examples of all helmets, and squadron helmet art sometimes changed, usually mimicking aircraft paint scheme changes. While I try to be as accurate as I can be sometimes you have to compromise :) 439 Squadron used red stripes running fore and aft to denote pilot 'job title'... Squadron Commander had three stripes, Flight Commanders had two, ordinary fighter jocks had a single stripe. 421 Squadron: 427 Squadron: Lion rampant was actually at the back of the helmet (with pilot nickname) but this won't work due to the center seam of the mirrored mapping. 434 and 444 Squadrons both used this style, which is going to give me fits...;)

And I though the Portuguese ones I did were headache-inducing enough... Nice job :thumbup:

Depends on which photo... :devil_2: Now, truth be told, I have thought about changing it because you do see both styles in photos, and the above is a Sabre Mk.2, equivalent to an F-86E. Note the different walkway stripes due to the slatted leading edge. Not sure if the F model always appeared like in your photo or not, most period Sabre pics were taken on the ground so you rarely see the wing in plan view... Maybe I'll leave my Canadian schemes as is and change the North American-built ones :) If I could keep my nerd hat on a bit longer, the drop tanks on this bird never look right to my Canadian eyes, the later model F-86Fs like this one used a dual hard point wing whereas Canadair kept the single pylon wing on all variants produced... so the BST Sabre has a choice of 120 gal tanks too close together or 200 gal ones too far apart: Canadair Mk.5: Green lines are the main wheel strut and wing fence. Single tank at halfway, either 100 Imp. gal or 167 Imp. gal in the parlance of the times (120/200 U.S. gal) :) North American F-86F-30: See the difference? First time I saw Hawk One perform I remember thinking "There's something not right about that Sabre"... turns out it's a bit of a hybrid... Canadair Mk.5 fuselage, Orenda 14 engine (from the Mk.6), but an American -40 wing, with the 12" tip extensions. So, to me, the wing always looks too long and the drops look way too close together ;) BTW, the Sabres above are from 410 (Cougar) squadron, circa 1951. Early style Vee windscreen and all-fiberglass nose with aluminum gun cam panel at 6 o'clock. Would be cool to have an A and E model for the early Korea days. /nerd hat OFF

ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!! Oh. My. GOD... If I'd only had these UVW layers months ago... Still, for a lot of trial and error I did pretty good, didn't I? Only a couple of major over-compensations in the WAG department (like where the interior wing and tail structure is located), the bare metal colour below the left wing obviously wasn't needed :) I know you probably aren't allowed to release them yet Skate but could you kindly ask BST to let us have the UVWs for the pilot texture, and especially the helmet? It would be much easier to do squadron helmet art if we knew how things were mapped in advance. Thanks again!

Okay... I think I've got my Spec files tweaked to take advantage of the new shine/reflection effects in DCS World 1.5. First one updated is Pete Fernandez's F-86F. I may tweak the weathering a bit but you get the idea: I've tried to make the metal appear shiny and reflective, but without losing the point that my textures depict "operational" aircraft and therefore will have dirt, scratches, scuffs, etc., ie: not airshow polish :) Pics obviously don't show the full effect, you have to see it in motion as the sunlight plays across the surface of the model. Try it out: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/1447127/ Comments always welcome, nothing is ever finished ;)

Haha, I had just done that before checking the forums Quax, seems to have fixed it! Thanks for the reply, would have eventually solved this thanks to you. :)

Help! Open beta will no longer start properly for me. Stalls at 10% loaded and just sits there. 1.26xxx loads fine. Any ideas? Have run DCS Updater repair and update, and re-installed twice. Thanks

Would be cool to have a GPU appear plugged into aircraft with appropriate noise for engine starts, and have it disappear when telling the ground crew chief to "turn off the ground power"... Has been done in other sims.

Thanks again SkateZilla :)

Me too please. With a DH Vamp on the way I'd like to see a Chipmunk, Harvard, and a T-33 too! Early cold war goodness, and so many RCAF paint schemes I could do... <drool>

Ha, what we (I) need is a Korean war-era carrier fighter. The RCAF issue helmet in the 1950s was the Gentex H-4-1, a modified version of the USN H-4. Bring on the Panther :)

Sabre Sabre Sabre Sabre Sabre Sabre Sabre Sabre! :)

Working on it. :) Should have everything updated in the next couple of weeks.

Top notch, Bo!