Scenery and supporting AI for John's KC-390

[f4nutter]

Tim, I will go ahead with what I can and if they don't make the package release they can be an Add-on.

Joseph, I'm sure John will see this post and if he feel's like it might upgrade the FS9 model, or anyone wanting
to convert it for FSX/P3D with John's permission, if not we will have black hawks without the radar.

[John Young]

I can produce the Brazilian Black Hawk model for Ray to paint. Just give me a day or two.

John

[f4nutter]

fantastic thanks John.

[John Young]

Ray, you will find the new Brazil UH-60 model and a paint kit in my FTP folder. I built it from the base "L" model because, although the Austrian model, has the nose radar, it has parts not used by FAB, and FAB has parts not used in the Austrian model. I used a number of FAB photos for reference and I think what I have given you is accurate, including a new winch.

I took the opportunity to re-work the transparency settings in the model for the glass, so please use the alpha channel in the new paint kit rather than the one in the published kit.

We will need to publish the entire aircraft folder, so you will need to zip everything together, including the model, after you have completed the paints and aircraft.cfg entries.

I think everything is good, but let me know if you need anything.

John

[TimC340]

Work is ongoing. I'm refining some of the completed airfields, and working on the three that aren't yet beyond a simple AFCAD - SBYS, SBCZ and SBPV. I will be beginning the conversion of the P3D sceneries to FSX shortly, and I have to complete the traffic files for the T-27 at SBYS and the A-29 at the two airfields I haven't yet covered.

SBYS is actually a fascinating subject, and I'm having to force myself to not get into lots of new custom building. That said, I have started doing the Art Deco-style hangars, and I may do a couple of other flightline buildings. I'm aware that I've overrun my hoped-for timescale and I'm not going to make promises beyond 'it'll probably be done this month' - but the garden is now demanding attention as well, and I do like to get out on my bike from time to time, so 10-hour days on the project are unlikely from now on! Too many nights staying up till 0230 watching traffic hopefully doing what it's supposed to is wearing a bit thin, even with a good red...

I won't update the Changes document today as it's unlikely I'll have anything new to upload before tomorrow night.

[John Young]

Ray,

I've finished all my elements of the project and I want to help Tim out by creating the AFCAD overlays and flight plans for the helicopters. According to Scramble these are the types and numbers used by FAB:



Could you confirm what types you are painting and the number for each squadron please? There's no hurry to finish these; I can use fill-in helicopters to test what I can put together while you continue with your work.

Helicopters for the Brazilian Army and Navy are more of a can of worms and I can't find any serials on Scramble. Apart from the Navy Lynx, that we have done already, I think we give these a miss.

John

[Jorgen]

I don't know if this is relevant here, but just in case it might be:

On my system I have 2 flightplans for FAB Mi-35s, which I have taken the liberty to attach here.

And unfortunately, I cannot recall where I got them - ailing memory.

Jorgen

[Jorgen]

Hmmm... here's the other one.

Jorgen

[John Young]

Thanks Jorgen, but the 12 FAB Mi-35s were retired in March 2022 from what I have just read.

John

[f4nutter]

Hi John

what I have done so far is Air Force:

VH-35 were replaced with the VH-36 done.

H-36 Natal and Santa Cruz 6/7 are done.

Army:

HM-3
3°BAvEx Campo Grande (SBCG) x4 are done.
2°BAvEx Taubaté-Base de Aviação (SBTA) x4 are done.

Navy:

UH-15(A)
HU-41 Squad Belém-Val de Cães Intl (SBBE) x2 are done.
HU-2 Florianópolis-Hercilio Luz (SBFL) x4 are done.
HU-2 São Pedro da Aldeia (SBES) x4 are done.

the UH-14's are already done by Mark Griggs and can be found in the "MAIW MKAI Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma (P3D)" folder.
as you can see I've been busy, I can put them in your FTP John or just forget the Army Navy if you wish, the Blackhawk and Squirrels are all that's left to do.

[John Young]

Wow, you have been busy Ray! Well done.

Just carry on as you are and I'll keep going with the AFCAD overlays. I did Manaus yesterday ready for the Blackhawks. I'll do as many as I can, while Tim is finishing his elements.

I'll do the FAB AFCADs first and then have a look at the Army and Navy airfields. I'm not sure yet what it is I am working with Army and Navy airfield-wise, so I need to do some assessment.

John

[f4nutter]

John, thank you very much for the Blackhawk model.

John/Tim I have put all the helo's so far into your FTP folders I hope you don't mind.
I'm away this weekend but will paint the Blackhawks as soon as i'm back.

HM-3


UH-15


HM-4's will be painted also.

[TimC340]

Hi Ray, they look excellent - thank you.

I've recently updated all the FSX airfields to the latest state, and they're all in the FTP. I'm currently working on SBYS, SBPV and very soon, SBSC. I've mostly completed the traffic file for the SBYS T27s, but I have still to tackle the A29s at SBPV and SBNT. John is working on the traffic files and helo AFCADs for the H60 at several airfields.

I've also done a bit of EditVoicepack work for the T27s, so I'll upload a new aircraft.cfg for them in due course, and I should get the traffic file completed today or tomorrow.

With so many airfields, it's likely that I've missed details or made mistakes that others might pick up, so please do try them. I've tried, other than at SBAN, to use just a few MAIW libraries to populate the airfields and if you have the MAIW Global Custom/Generic collections you should be fine. For those who don't have those packages, you'll need ABO, EuroMil, JS Cars, JGSE, GGSE, and MAIW Cargo. If there are any others, I'll produce a full list and it'll be in the release notes which I should start prototyping soon!

Oh, if I didn't mention it earlier, as we still have the FTP I put my website to bed for now so as not to have more than one source to update!

[John Young]

Thanks Ray for the repaints that you left in my FTP folder. I have the Manaus, Campo Grande and Santa Maria Blackhawks all set up in an overlay and they are operating fine with the base paint that I gave you. Once you are ready, I can add in the full textures.

I have also done the same with the Natal Caracals, this time using the full paints:



They too are working fine.

Next task is the overlay for the Santa Cruz Caracals. Interesting airfield that one. I can see why Tim is making the airship hangar.

I'll keep going until I have as many helicopters operational as I can.

John

[TimC340]

Through a couple of observations that JY made, I know that there are a few anomalies with the airfields in the FTP. It's inevitable, I guess, with so many airfields within the project even though most of them are peripheral to the original brief, which was supporting John's KC-390s and (subsequently) R/E/C-99s. In fact the project has grown to enormous proportions and I can't think of any recent MAIW project of similar scope. That's quite intimidating, as I can't promise to deliver anything quite as good as MAIW has delivered in the past yet I am working several hours a day, every day, to try and do the best job I can. Please bear with me. I hope that what I deliver does justice to the efforts that John, Ray, Mark and Jon have contributed, Those who have downloaded from the FTP will know how much I've done, and how much still needs to be done. I am definitely feeling that I'm working uphill at the moment and I need to give myself time for the other necessities of life! Don't worry, I'm not backing out. I am just asking for some flexibility on the timing I promised (and revised).

I still hope that I can be more or less complete by the end of this month. I will make a decision soon on what I include in the initial release; it may not include everything I hoped after I accepted the expansion of the project to basically include the entirety of Brazilian military aviation, but it won't be far short.

Of course, as I deal with each airfield I realise that I could happily spend my life creating the buildings that make these places individual, and I know that's impracticable. It sometimes hurts that I just can't give the time to replace an MAIW generic building with something more appropriate - see the reference above to the Arc Deco hangars at SBYS for an example.

So. I know there's no pressure from you guys, but I feel it because I put it on myself. Forgive me!

[John Young]

As you say Tim, many of the airfields are peripheral to the original proposition. The primary component of what we do have is Anapolis, as the home to the KC-390s and E/R-99s. That meets our original objective and you have achieved that beautifully. I was surprised too, as to how far the project has expanded to include most of the Brazilian air force and a bit more too. That's for both FSX and P3D and that adds to the complexity, not just in the build but in the testing also.

The well known saying that, "the only way to eat an elephant is in small bites", applies here. You are quite right about the initial release and the need to think this through. I would certainly do that and break the releases into packages spaced so that you can get out and about in the spring and summer weather, which is the greater priority. Doing that will also enable us to assess how popular the packages are as we progress.

You are quite right too - there is absolutely no pressure from people here. It's a hobby and has to be treated as such, both in terms of enjoyment and time. If there is anything we can do to help you get that first package ready for release and in whatever timescale you prefer, just ask.

John

[Firebird]

From my non-building experience here you would need to break the project into smaller chunks for testing anyway. You couldn't test everything all at once.
What I would do is start with the core of the project. Test everything in that. You are then able to release that whenever you choose.
Once you have that done you can count that as part of the sim and leave it in and move on to another chunk and test that and so on.

Once you have taken the core chunk out of the project you will find that it is easier to spot the best way to break another chunk off the rest of the work.

Now I am not saying that you should release each chunk as you finish testing it. That is completely up to you. Just that the approach makes life easier and the project becomes smaller and smaller. The whole elephant bites thing.

[TimC340]

Thanks chaps. That was a bit of a 'cri de couer' after one wine too many last night!

You're quite right, the priority is Anapolis and really I need to pause everything else until that's done and out of the way. There's very little left to do on it now, anyway. I have a couple more traffic files to do and some tidying up on the other airfields, and really that's about it. I was getting a bit annoyed with myself that I can't do a better job with the other airfields in any kind of realistic timescale and wishing I had John Stinstrom's ability to churn out sceneries!

Today is bike fixing and singing and no flight sim work!

[Firebird]

The thing is Tim, that there is no timescale on the other airfields. If you want to take more time to get them to the level that satisfies you then do it.

The way to think of it is that you are actually doing 6(maybe more) packages all at the same time. If you think of it that way then you will automatically break the work into more manageable pieces.

It is only your mind that is telling you that everything has to be released in April.

[TimC340]

You’re right of course, Steve.

I’ve gone down with a bit of a lurgy today so very little of anything got done! And tomorrow isn’t likely to be very productive either, but I’ll have a good think about how I structure the remainder of the project and I’ll have a chat with John about timings.

Have we any idea how long it’ll be before the Hangar returns? That may well be the main determinant of my timings from now.