OK this I promise is not outa place, about a year ago I read somewhere on a forum that "The Lynx" fast ferry was wanted for the wellington area scenery and I thought I'd give it a go, so racing into action ... I started it and promptly forgot about it mainly due to the lack of reference material.

Anyway the other day I came across some .. well ok photos and thought I'd get back to the model again.. only to discover they seem to change the ship every year GRRR anyway this is the Nomandie Express - Lynx.

There is some errors around the bow outriggers ( they should slope) , and the stern area is a bit wrong , I'm hoping to fix these and then some textures should pull this togetter ok.

The model sits at about 350 face I still want to add the fences around the stair case and then clean up unused faces should finish around 300-340 when finished, please be a bit kind as this is built from some pretty crap photos but if anyone can point out any faults or better has some side and even better a front drawing ... err.. please say .

Hopfully I'll look at some of the others ferries depending on this one, maybe the DevCat , Arahura , Aratere and Wahine

oh and can someone please tell me if there is still a Lynx fast ferry service and if so what ship it is.

C'mon you Wellingtonians!
RealNZ Wellington is almost upon us - think about flying Cook Strait with no ferries?

Nice job, be great to add this to the Cook Straight ferry traffic!

Nice, and no there is no longer a fast ferry accross the strait. Stupid people in the sounds and their complaining about the wake.

They did have a speed restriction while in the sounds and could only hammer it once they got out into the straight,
It always only ran in the summer months and went back to Scandinavia I think in the off season.
When did they put the kibosh on it full stop?
BTW cool model Deane,even if the real one isn't running anymore let's have your one anyway,can you make it so we can land Helo's on it while it's going along?

Ok not really a update more a side bar, this is a quick look at the "Devcat - Lynx"

Not quite as far along as the Normandie but it shows the sloping sides and the Wide bridge stucture, currently does not have a stern area, I will model the "open " stern upper deck , part of which can just be seen be seen in the pic.

I was going to model the two tone structure diference in the upper and lower hull but this would be a waste of faces and I'll just do it in the texture.

Yes there are issues and error currently, mainly to do with proportions but it pretty close (again anyone with some drawings? ) also the area about the outriggers is a bit off.

At the moment this model is less than 200 faces and I dought it will ever be over 350 unless I can find a use for more crap on the boat





Again any thoughts and or issues just yell I'm open to suggestions

oh not to do with fast ferries ...... I forgot to grab it but I've started the ARAHURA I'm currently having a problem with the stern but should have a pic for next time, by the way does anyone think there is a point to building the Wahine, I like the boat but would anyone use it ?

The tracks are all set for these to run an AI shuttle across Cook Strait.
If I don't finish it, someone surely will.
Go for it, these are really welcome.
You might release an AI boat package actually...shout if you need encouragement or help with assembly.

Charl - I can build the models but I have no real ability to put them in to FS so any assitance in that area would be a real help

and any clearer pics or drawings can only improve the final models

No problem - if there's a model we'll make it dance.
Don't sweat the small stuff: less polys the better, these things are flown over at some altitude, and on the move. Framerates are everything in this instance.
How many LOD's will you do?

Charl - Sound good .. 350 faces will be the end LOD , and I can build as many as you feel you need, 3 LODs should do as there is not that much in the way of detail.

Because I've been busy with a First Aid course for the last week things have been a bit slow , so... there is not to much to show, instead I'll just post a demo test of part of the Arahura I'm working on, its only a side render test, no decking detail or stern section yet, plus the texture is only a demo , I've still got to paint the final texture set.

Looking good Postalvote
BTW I would love to see an AI Wahine going from Littleton to Wellington and back. Some cleverclogs might even have an option recreating the tragic event itself.
Probably the single best thing about FSX is the AI Ships etc...yet this is already happening in FS9 with the 'Dynamic Scenery'. When enabled in the Settings page it is pretty cool to have things like Peter Lohr's Queenstown and Mt Cook scenery packages.
Flying over a fully lit up Wahine at night going to and fro in all kinds of weather would definately be a blast!

If you look at the historical photos in Robins anouncement on his new soon to be released WELLINGTON scenery , the 1970's photo - look in the top left hand corner , u will see an island mid channel ? should have pointed that out ! The T.E.V Wahine .

I think would be a Brill addon .. get Major waterways working , maybe with other , dont need detailed models , unless have a landin spot , flightsim is name off program , ya wizz past and forget left behind till return .

Nice pic Warren, I have the DVD on the disaster,being relativelymodern (the DVD) you get to see those computer animations of it that they use to show what happened. Like on 'Seconds from Disaster'

Regarding LOD's, Robin has a pretty good tutorial on his website (Windowlight) about LOD's

Some pics of my updated model, just needs re -texturing with latest colour scheme.

Deane

They look great !,I thought u were AIR FORCE Deane , 'Cruzing on the interislander' ,
Just lookin for .. NO! .. not a heilpad , but deck chair to past little lite refreshment! COOL!

Nice ferry Deanes , I'm not sure if theres much point me posting this now but here is anyway, my current Arahura its currently about 210 faces, with only the side textured

the texture is about half finished, I might put this one on permanat hold with Deanes one is out there.

Things have been a bit slow because I'm a bit under the weather and I can't seem to concentrate to hard hopefully the doc got the meds right and I should be up and running again soon.

I'm up for the Wahine , don't care for sinking it but onces its done people can do as they please, infact any shipping I know there is a new large ferry running the straits nowdays, we can do that one, I did also intend to do the Earnslaw but I discovered the excellent Queenstown scenery most of us ... err .. should now have .. has it built in.

Yes you are right not to sink the Wahine. It would be great to see. On reflection of my earlier post i'm now thinking that if you can change history for the better then that is good.
Somebody with the right talent could clean up the Earnslaw too. It's good that people can keep improving things as time permits. If everything we see was 100% on release there wouldn't be much to see at all

Postalvote thanks for picking up on the ships and big of you to move on from Arahura's model.
I'm sure there is benefit in the exercise up to now, even if the final model might not see light of day. I had the same with an Islander repaint - sweated away learning stuff and at the end discovered Adrie had one long done!
But that's the huge benefit of these forums I reckon - it would be a crime if our excellent but limited resources in NZ were squandered on duplicate projects. The forums provide the means to share our intentions.
The end result is what counts for sure.
Perhaps Deane could use a little help with final textures, in return for a credit mention? What's your programme Deane?

I'm using FSDS. Model is just over 300 faces due to the modelling of the life boats and I've placed some very basic "tube" people around the ferry.
I'm not looking to duplicate or take away any other designers good modelling!!
I've had this model since the early Marlborough scenery days, so once I read the thread I thought it was timely to offer it up.
Trevor Golding had done an AI ferry package using this ferry, but I could never get it working and don't know what became of it.
I'm moving back to Blenheim later this year and will be in a good position to make the Awatere as well.
Meanwhile the Fast ferry is looking good.

I also have the Te Kaha and Te Mana from my original Auckland package and I've managed to get a few pics as I can from some of my Airforce mates who have worked on these frigates (serving the Sprite helo).

My problem now is time. Top priority is tidying up Mechs bay for the Westpac rescue Sim. I also have a Fletcher started, but the Ferry won't take long.

So much to do - so little time - I think this should be my Motto.

Deane

I'am more than happy to layup the the Arahura I just don't have the time and refs.

Deane I'm glad to listed the Te Kaha because I took a few refs yesterday to have a bash at some point.. ...

Right the Wahine it is

I know I keep banging on about this but .... PLEASE... please anyone with Lynx refs I'm at a bit of a impass at the moment in the dimention area so any info would help (mainly any front or side shots)

Thread revive!

Dean, do you still have these models? I've just written a little program which will take lines I've drawn on a map in GIS and spit out the routes and terminals dat files which compile into AI shipping traffic files for FSX. It all works OK in the sim with cargo, a couple of oil tankers and a couple of ferries charging their way around NZ which is pretty cool (especially when you don't expect to see it).

I've now thought about adding more custom models, specifically the Interislander ferries, as after a small test using a hurridly made model, it is now easy to add them in. What I don't have, are the models.

Cheers

This sounds great Timmo. I would love to see the Fullers ferries in Auckland, especially the Devonport run. I remember an early version of Auckland scenery had a reasonable model actually working in maybe FS2002, it was a long time ago now. I have the Cook Strait boats running well in FSX. They really add a great deal of realism.

Good work Timmo...

Paul

It is pretty cool- Especially seeing some of the rarely touched areas (Westport, Bluff etc) having ships running in and out.
Were the Cook Straight ferries you have a package for FSX or have you converted them?

I'm not sure what the deal was with FS2004, but my understanding is that it required an AFCAD file? In FSX you just tell the ships were to go as a series of waypoints and destinations. My script actually generates the destinations from my route lines so I can change things as much as I please, run the script and a few seconds later have a new bgl file

I should note that in my early tests, I just generated a waypoint file by hand and had one cargo ship running aground just off the coast of Tauranga. This was before the Rena grounded so I hope I didn't upset the cosmic balance somehow

That sounds really neat, so simple. I think you are right re the AFCAD in FS9. My Cook Strait ferries were converted over from FS9 as I remember.

to shine some light

Fsx is simple, all you need to do is use this program > http://lc0277.gratisim.fr/boat/

fs9 , yes all you need is an afcad for the route

both methods work flawlessly, ive done countless plans for both sims