NACA duct still glows and possible model innacuracy

[LanceCriminal86]

I feel like the art guys might shank me at this point, but a few more things a fellow skinner and myself found while discussing the F-14B

 

First, it appears the NACA duct issue persists as of this patch despite the patch notes:

 

 

Secondly and mainly, it appears the existing model is incorrect for both the B model and forthcoming A model as well. After looking at the textures on the EXT 3 and 4, we noticed the black headstone shaped port where the landing gear locks into the fuselage when deployed, but noticed it seemed the black port was not aligned with the nacelle texture where that port should be. So, I booted it up in the model viewer and was surprised to see that the port does align with the landing gear locking bar, but does not seem to line up with the textures.

 

I don't know if this was an issue of the model not aligning to textures first, or the textures made from photos not matching the model, but here's my screenshots and reference pics of some 14Bs, and a 14A to see if corrections to that panel need to be made.

 

And before I get into the screenshots, the 3rd thing is that there appears to be no NACA duct on the right engine nacelle on the F-14A, B, or D models. While my current sample size is small, I looked at photos taken of a VF-74 B model, VF-11 B model, VF-2 D model, and an A model in a museum and none of them show a NACA duct on the right behind the landing gear port. All of them however did show the left engine having one, almost directly behind the landing gear locking port thing. I also did notice the fire panel location looked to be different on the A model versus the B and D, for reference for the upcoming A model release:

 

Onto the screenshots and photos, I'll provide the links to where they were posted as they are naturally the property of their photographers respectively:

 

This is the EXT_3 texture, so the right engine nacelle:

 

We first noticed how that black shape seems to have an exactly shaped area below it, so I assumed it was an accidental bump in the base texture folder. However, the model viewer showed that was not the case:

 

 

There's the gear fitting into that black shape.

 

So, naturally I went looking for real F-14B gear area pics, and here's what I found. These are first a B model from VF-74, and then some from a VF-11 B model (BuNO 162911) at what looks like an airshow, and also a VF-101 B model:

 

And just for cross reference, here's an A model in a museum, BuNO 161134:

 

And additional cross reference, a F-14D from VF-2:

 

Notice that with all of those being right landing gear, I didn't see any NACA ducts on the panel behind the gear locking doohickey.

 

Now, here are some pics of the left gear side, same general order of reference pics:

 

VF-74

 

VF-11

 

F-14A from museum:

 

VF-2 F-14D

 

Left side on all models clearly shows the NACA duct, B/D sharing the same fire panel spot while the A's is different.

 

Basically, the right engine nacelle's NACA duct should go away, and the textures may need to be re-adjusted so the landing gear locking port thing aligns correctly with the panels on the engine.

 

Please don't stab me.

 

 

References:

 

Squadron Walk Around F-14 Tomcat, by Lou Drendel (VF-2 F-14D photos)

Lock On No 18 Grumman F-14A/B Tomcat, by Willy Peeters (VF-74 B model)

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle2/f-14b_162911/

https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-14/f-14b_walk2.shtml

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle2/f-14b_163218/

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason/f-14a_161134/index.php?Page=3

[ensamvarg]

I feel like the art guys might shank me at this point, but a few more things a fellow skinner and myself found while discussing the F-14B

 

First, it appears the NACA duct issue persists as of this patch despite the patch notes:

 

 

Secondly and mainly, it appears the existing model is incorrect for both the B model and forthcoming A model as well. After looking at the textures on the EXT 3 and 4, we noticed the black headstone shaped port where the landing gear locks into the fuselage when deployed, but noticed it seemed the black port was not aligned with the nacelle texture where that port should be. So, I booted it up in the model viewer and was surprised to see that the port does align with the landing gear locking bar, but does not seem to line up with the textures.

 

I don't know if this was an issue of the model not aligning to textures first, or the textures made from photos not matching the model, but here's my screenshots and reference pics of some 14Bs, and a 14A to see if corrections to that panel need to be made.

 

And before I get into the screenshots, the 3rd thing is that there appears to be no NACA duct on the right engine nacelle on the F-14A, B, or D models. While my current sample size is small, I looked at photos taken of a VF-74 B model, VF-11 B model, VF-2 D model, and an A model in a museum and none of them show a NACA duct on the right behind the landing gear port. All of them however did show the left engine having one, almost directly behind the landing gear locking port thing. I also did notice the fire panel location looked to be different on the A model versus the B and D, for reference for the upcoming A model release:

 

Onto the screenshots and photos, I'll provide the links to where they were posted as they are naturally the property of their photographers respectively:

 

This is the EXT_3 texture, so the right engine nacelle:

 

We first noticed how that black shape seems to have an exactly shaped area below it, so I assumed it was an accidental bump in the base texture folder. However, the model viewer showed that was not the case:

 

 

There's the gear fitting into that black shape.

 

So, naturally I went looking for real F-14B gear area pics, and here's what I found. These are first a B model from VF-74, and then some from a VF-11 B model (BuNO 162911) at what looks like an airshow, and also a VF-101 B model:

 

And just for cross reference, here's an A model in a museum, BuNO 161134:

 

And additional cross reference, a F-14D from VF-2:

 

Notice that with all of those being right landing gear, I didn't see any NACA ducts on the panel behind the gear locking doohickey.

 

Now, here are some pics of the left gear side, same general order of reference pics:

 

VF-74

 

VF-11

 

F-14A from museum:

 

VF-2 F-14D

 

Left side on all models clearly shows the NACA duct, B/D sharing the same fire panel spot while the A's is different.

 

Basically, the right engine nacelle's NACA duct should go away, and the textures may need to be re-adjusted so the landing gear locking port thing aligns correctly with the panels on the engine.

 

Please don't stab me.

 

 

References:

 

Squadron Walk Around F-14 Tomcat, by Lou Drendel (VF-2 F-14D photos)

Lock On No 18 Grumman F-14A/B Tomcat, by Willy Peeters (VF-74 B model)

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle2/f-14b_162911/

https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-14/f-14b_walk2.shtml

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle2/f-14b_163218/

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason/f-14a_161134/index.php?Page=3

 

Hahaha. Thanks for the report. We believe that the bug has been ID'ed and should be fixed soon. I'll take a look at the vent.

[LanceCriminal86]

As we were discussing it, I figured maybe somewhere in the laser scanning or building up photo based textures something got misaligned or stretched, resulting in that locking port being off, and the simple fix being just to move the port texture.

 

And seeing that none of them have a right side NACA, I figure better to point it out now before the A model ships so base textures and templates wouldn't have to be redone, right?

[Airhunter]

There's also a bump-map mismatch on the same black-ish port where the gear locks into. The "cutout" in the bump map doesnt align with the said spot and is offset on the fuselage if you look at it at an angle. Obviously only livery makers would notice this :P

 

EDIT: Nevermind, you already mentioned it. :D