Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:01 pmAs promised here are some pictures of my latest project - the Pacific Aerospace Cresco. I have not intentionally tried to keep this a secret, but as its been ticking along slowly (over 18 months) I had not made much progress in putting everything together, but over the last few months an extra burst has seen things come together well. I also did not want to start commiting to release dates and still can't due to my work commitments.
Just like the real thing this been pretty much a whole new build, with very little shared components from my earlier Flecthers. I have also increased the detail level and there are about 75% more polygons used in both the external and virtual cockpit models. Luckily I had some good pictures to rely on for the detail. I was also lucky to have Zac "Fletcher boy" Yates working at Wanganui Aero Work at the time and he provided some good reference pictures too. I'm designing using FSDS3.5 using the latest techniques, so this will be an FSX model only and won't be compatible with FS9. The screenshots below show about 90% completion, I still have to learn and complete bump mapping of the textures and add more custom features into the VC.
The aircraft depicted is John Hardings ZK-LTN based in Taihape. For those of you who don't know - John is in his mid 70's and has been an Ag pilot for over 50 years amassing a staggering 33,000 plus hours. I felt this is a fitting tribute to the highest houred pilot I know of in NZ and possibly the highest houred agpilot in the world. See this article. That was almost 4 years ago !!
I will, of course do other repaints and have a different pilot.
750 hp - two tonnes of fertilizer and plenty of nose up trim - airborne !!
Extra detailed landing gear and fully animated hopper gate levers and doors. Looking far too clean underneath - still have to add the mud, dirt and grime to the textures.
I have custom built or used standard MS gauges to represent the actual gauge types used by PAC in the Cresco. For anybody who has tried their hand at coding XML gauges, even by copying code from default gauges, they will know how frustrating this process can be !!
Opening cargo door and rear fuse interior is a new feature. Making the cutout and getting the surfaces to render smoothly was a total nightmare, but worth persisting with.
Man on a mission....another day another load...........
Will be a great machine to check out all the new farmstrips in Timmos VLC.... can't wait !!
Cheers Deane
Just like the real thing this been pretty much a whole new build, with very little shared components from my earlier Flecthers. I have also increased the detail level and there are about 75% more polygons used in both the external and virtual cockpit models. Luckily I had some good pictures to rely on for the detail. I was also lucky to have Zac "Fletcher boy" Yates working at Wanganui Aero Work at the time and he provided some good reference pictures too. I'm designing using FSDS3.5 using the latest techniques, so this will be an FSX model only and won't be compatible with FS9. The screenshots below show about 90% completion, I still have to learn and complete bump mapping of the textures and add more custom features into the VC.
The aircraft depicted is John Hardings ZK-LTN based in Taihape. For those of you who don't know - John is in his mid 70's and has been an Ag pilot for over 50 years amassing a staggering 33,000 plus hours. I felt this is a fitting tribute to the highest houred pilot I know of in NZ and possibly the highest houred agpilot in the world. See this article. That was almost 4 years ago !!
I will, of course do other repaints and have a different pilot.
750 hp - two tonnes of fertilizer and plenty of nose up trim - airborne !!
Extra detailed landing gear and fully animated hopper gate levers and doors. Looking far too clean underneath - still have to add the mud, dirt and grime to the textures.
I have custom built or used standard MS gauges to represent the actual gauge types used by PAC in the Cresco. For anybody who has tried their hand at coding XML gauges, even by copying code from default gauges, they will know how frustrating this process can be !!
Opening cargo door and rear fuse interior is a new feature. Making the cutout and getting the surfaces to render smoothly was a total nightmare, but worth persisting with.
Man on a mission....another day another load...........
Will be a great machine to check out all the new farmstrips in Timmos VLC.... can't wait !!
Cheers Deane
I'm not entirely sure why, but I've always enjoyed these little workhorses. Beauty in the eye of the beholder, I suspect!!! The current a/c is pretty amazing, so I'm dead keen to see what you managed to "improve"! 
WOW
..looking forward to it!