B-24 Liberator

[John Young]

That's a huge amount of work unfortunately at this stage. It would mean lengthening the fuselage - internal and external, cutting out new windows, adding transparent blisters, replacing the engines, patching the bottom turret aperture and making the new tail and load-out. It would entail a re-design of a full texture sheet to accommodate the new fuselage length and tail and re-map of the textures. That would have to be done now for 7 LODs for both the FS9 and FSX versions. My guess would be something like 50-80 hours of work.

On top of that, I think the PB4Y-2 is one of the ugliest aircraft I have ever seen. The national insignia far forward on the nose, like the Javelin, looks out of place and that single tail looks totally disproportionate. I think I would rather concentrate on the beauty of the conventional two-tail Liberator models and then use that potential 50-80 hours on the next project.

Sorry about that.

John

[ronniegj]

Hey, no problem! As I said, I really hated to mention, just couldn't resist, but never really expected you to do anything about it. Looking forward to the B-24's. Really appreciate all of the work you do! Ron

[Garysb]

John
nice bit of video here shows gear retract speed also gear extend sequence and ball turret animation

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-art ... -b-24.html


Cheers

Gary

[John Young]

Excellent video Gary, thank you. In fact, that's just how my animation works. The ball turret is actually coded as a reverse undercarriage (gear) so when the main gear is down the ball turret is up. When the gear retracts, the ball turret comes down. Works a dream.

The Liberators are all done and packaged, but I've been pre-occupied getting the RAF Wattisham scenery and AI packages ready for release after the intensive testing period. More importantly, Brian Clarke is working on some scenery for RAF Pickenham in the UK as it was in 1944. That will provide a nice home for Liberators of the 491st Bombardment Group. I'm going to make some period custom buildings and vehicles for him once Wattisham is uploaded. Here's the first 10 aircraft ready and waiting at my test airfield:



Here are the two formation "Assembly" ships:





These are 2 of the Liberators for Pyote AAF in Texas circa 1942-44 being modelled by some enthusiasts on the other side of the Pond from me:





John

[mikewmac]

Those look fantastic John. You really do great work.

[John Young]

Thanks Mike, but I couldn't do it without good teachers and the AI learning from here.

[Don H]

Fantastic, John. Eagerly awaiting their release.

[Garysb]

looking good John

Gary

[merlin101]

Any update John?
Dave

[John Young]

Hi Dave,

Yes indeed, your post is very timely because today I finished a major component of the packages.

The B-24s (FS9 and FSX) are all done, but rather than just provide the AI on it's own, I was keen to work with others who could use the aircraft in their scenery. Hence Brian Clarke and North pickenham in England and the Pyote project in the USA.

I've been making some period vehicle objects to go in the scenery, including an AI Jeep with driver than roams around:





Brian was also keen to make some scenery of Earls Colne, also in England. He was going to use my B-25 Mitchell as AI, which would actually be out of place, but I have managed to build 20 B-26 Marauders of the 323rd BG for him, that were stationed there during WWII. Here's two of the 20:







The projects are coming together and we are gradually creating the right period "feel":





I have a lot on at the moment, including some work revamping the MAIW Sea King helicopter and some bits for Ian's Lakenheath, so I'm spreading my time over the various projects. The milestone today is that I completed the 20 B-26s for FS9, but I still have to do the FSX conversion.

If you would like the B-24 assorted schemes to have a play with without the scenery at this point Dave, I'll gladly package them up for you and upload them to my Cloud server and give you the link. Just let me know whether you want FS9 or FSX?

John

[mikewmac]

Great work as always John.

[bismarck]

[clickclickdoh]

Where is the bow down emoticon again?

[Flightlead13]

Speechless!!

[phantomfreak]

I got to see the Collings Foundation B-24, B-17, and a P-51C this weekend.

[mins]

wow~~ Great job!! ^ ^b...

[merlin101]

totally awesome John! Look forward to its release!
Dave

[f4nutter]

W W !

[hobby]

I have been waiting to see a bofors AA gun and tractor for years. John, can this be used in "own make" scenery, with acknowledgements?

Perhaps in RAF Blue for the RAF Rgt crews. I seem to recall that many National Servicemen in the RAF Rgt were trained on this weapon post war.

[John Young]

I've made 2 models of the Bofors AA gun, hobby. The first is a deployed single gun and the second is a folded gun towed by a GMC US Army 2.5 ton truck, which is probably not appropriate to RAF airfields. You are welcome to use the models so long as you place them as model objects in ADE and not from a library file. I haven't done the FSX conversion yet, but if you would like to drop me a PM with your current e-mail address, I can send you the FS9 models and textures.

I haven't made any RAF crews unfortunately.

John