Military AI Works

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.























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

as andy gray said about steven gerrard "OH YA BEAUTY!!!!! WHAT A HIT SON!! WHAT A HIT!!!

Very cool!

Wow !! Another great projet and super work from John !! Thanks a lot

OMG

Never expected that

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

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!

So glad to be part of this project John!
Dave

Unbelievable - this is another proof of AI art. Well done job....and well surprise!

Tops, super, great!

Wow,
Great looking wildcat John. I just realised that more than 60 are in service in UK alone.

What a beast....

Link to foto

Wonderful, John!

From mobile hence short

Giorgio

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

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.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_M-15_ ... o_pic1.JPG

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:



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



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



The new ATC building in it's new location:



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

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

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:



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