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Agusta Westland Wildcat

Previews, discussions and support for projects by John Young.
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John Young
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Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by John Young »

Time to let the cat out of the bag.

This package (FS9 and FSX/P3D) will feature the Agusta/Westland Wildcat used by the Army Air Corp and the Royal Navy in the UK. 8 models will be included (not all load-outs are in operational service yet) and there are also two overseas users, that I might include too. I may also morph a Lynx or two as a separate project, but I’m not committing to that at the moment.

My thanks to Dave (Merlin 101) for his assistance with all things Wildcat – he works on them at Yeovilton. So that people don’t remark on something that caught me out - the main rotor blades are rigid, there is no droop. The torsion links that connect the top and bottom Oleo legs face in different directions on the left and right sides of the aircraft. I’ve not seen that before.

Please ignore the serial numbers in the screen shots – I have yet to number up the aircraft.

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I managed to do something new this time. I have animated all of the gear leg components, including the torsion links and using a slightly delayed vertical lift xml code, the helicopter springs off the runway rather than lifts suddenly. It then lands with a nice spongy action. Unfortunately it only works in FS9. The animation is really tricky and involves placing 200 key frame positions on each moving component. It does work in FSX and P3D, but it is not smooth and wheels tend to bounce up and down 3 times before they settle in the uncompressed state at the top of the lift. I have deleted it in those two versions sadly.

The Wildcats are destined for Brian Clarke’s scenery of RNAS Yeovilton that works in all 3 sim versions. Brian has already removed a small number of buildings that are no longer there for me and I will be providing him with some new ones, so the scenery can be brought up to date.

John
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petebramley
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by petebramley »

❤️
Pete B
Retired and busier than ever !!
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by Fin »

as andy gray said about steven gerrard "OH YA BEAUTY!!!!! WHAT A HIT SON!! WHAT A HIT!!!
Joseph29
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by Joseph29 »

Very cool!
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by TheFoufure »

Wow !! Another great projet and super work from John !! Thanks a lot
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by fex »

:smt007 :smt007 :smt007 OMG
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Garysb
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by Garysb »

Never expected that :lol:
I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.
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tango234
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by tango234 »

Brilliant. They're flying over me all the time, so it will be great to get them in-sim!
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by TimC340 »

If ever a helicopter reinforced the principle that 'they only fly because the earth rejects them', the Wildcat is it. Aesthetically, it has all the appeal of a pavement pizza. However, this is a great rendition, John, and it's good to see it included in the modern military lineup. Shame the animations didn't work for FSX/P3D - I'll have to check it out in FS9 to see what we're missing!
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by merlin101 »

So glad to be part of this project John!
Dave
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Manschy
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by Manschy »

Unbelievable - this is another proof of AI art. Well done job....and well surprise!
Regards, Manfred.
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by Joecoastie »

Tops, super, great! :smt007
Service to my Country 9/61 - 2/03
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by miljan »

Wow,
Great looking wildcat John. I just realised that more than 60 are in service in UK alone.
VIVA LA VIDA
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Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by gsnde »

What a beast....

Link to foto

Wonderful, John!

From mobile hence short
Cheers,
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bismarck
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by bismarck »

:shock: :shock: :shock:
:smt023

Giorgio
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VulcanDriver
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by VulcanDriver »

Wow I see them nearly everyday at RM Hamworthy great work and a lovely surprise
John

"That is the biggest fool thing we have ever done. The A-bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives." - Admiral William Leahy
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by mage »

TimC340 wrote: 19 Mar 2021, 13:19 If ever a helicopter reinforced the principle that 'they only fly because the earth rejects them', the Wildcat is it.
Saves ammunition, the enemy dies laughing!

We used to get these around my patch until the nearby airfield lost its license, indemnity etc, and finally the ATC. Now not even the Wiltshire Air Ambulance trains here at Tumbleweed International.

The Wildcat makes even the jet PZL Belphegor crop-sprayer look handsome. That probably killed the bugs in pretty much the same way. Throw a bunch of parts into the air and, if they take longer than usual to fall back to earth, call them an aircraft.

Image

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_M-15_ ... o_pic1.JPG
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John Young
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by John Young »

Just so the "most ugly" aircraft competition doesn't get out of hand in this thread, here's a few shots of some work I have been doing, working with Brian, to bring his RNAS Yeovilton scenery (home of the Wildcats) up to date. Thanks also to Dave for some information that has helped me do that:

The Museum complex:

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The T2 Hangar complex on the reverse side of the museum:

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New buildings in the central area along with a more realistic water tower and a replacement fire station:

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The new ATC building in it's new location:

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There's till a few stray objects that will need deleting by Brian, including the green shed on the far right of the T2 hangars, but I think we are about there.

Back to the Wildcat next. Before I start numbering up and programming them into the scenery, Dave has pointed out another unusual feature of the Wildcat that I want to try and incorporate. The bottom tubes of the main undercarriage legs (with the wheels attached) protrude upwards through the sponsons when the aircraft is on the ground. When the Wildcat lifts and the gear decompresses, the tubes drop downwards below the upper level of the sponsons.

I think I can do that in FS9, because I have the animated compression in the gear. I don't have that in the FSX/P3D versions, but I'll try a fudge or two. I am not hopefull that I can do it smoothly, but we will see.........

John
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John Young
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by John Young »

Just a quick update.

The gear leg animation has worked really well. I was able to simplify the keyframes and now I have the movement through the sponsons and compression that gives a nice springy take-off and landing in conjunction with the animated lift, not just in FS9, but in FSX and P3D too.

I'm now setting up the AFCAD helicopter overlays at Yeovilton. That will tell me how many Wildcats to paint, depending on the number of parking spots I use.

John
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John Young
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Re: Agusta Westland Wildcat

Post by John Young »

The helicopter overlays are all done for Yeovilton and working well. I'm grateful to Brian who is modifying the scenery to bring it up to date. I decided also to make the nearby scenery of RNAS Merryfield which is a satellite to Yeovilton and used for training flights. There's not a lot to it, but it does provide the opportunity to give a bit more variety to the flight plans:

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Not far off now. I'm just in the process of numbering up the textures and creating the aircraft.cfg entries ready for flight planning.

John
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