F-111 cockpit

[Lexx_Luthor]

FC, you may like this with Open Cockpit for B-70, and if not, I made a neat little .ini discovery although it may not be new (...Wrench??).

 

I finally decided to tackle the meshes in NormanKnight's F-111 cockpit, something I have avoided for 4 years. Almost all of the meshes are independent, so it took some time, 48 minutes to be exact. I timed it for the challenge, and that's before I debugged it all, which included figuring out any parent/child mesh relationships. There are some. They need knowing. I know them.

 

I can poast the Moves if anybody is interested. I dropped the entire cockpit out of view, and Moved *everything* else back up, needle by needle, knob by knob. I made 165 mesh Moves in F-111 COCKPIT.ini, but I pared some back -- things I don't need. I'm leaving those in though in case others may want those things, like mirrors, hud, canopyglass, for examples.

 

I also did some repainting with B-70 cockpit photos in mind, but I can't share that w/o permission. I did some lite grey~ing around, and copied over the pilot's main display in place of the co-pilot's 3D radar boot. For B-70, I doubt I'll need the gunsight control panel right in front, but I'll figure out something to do with it.

 

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OPEN COCKPIT with FC's B-70 model. F-111 cockpit chopped to fit inside the model is the best I can think of for B-70. I faked a moving map in place of the radar, because with multi-crew aircraft, I prefer the game's radar pop-up display, and so allowing more cockpits without radar screens available for radar equipped multi-crew aircraft in general.

 

 

 

 

...FC, nice clam ejection capsules...

 

Most of the cockpit sits far below, out of normal sight. I'd like to get the side panels back, but they are fixed to the canopy frame.

 

 

 

---

 

In a desperate Move of my own to keep things from getting too messy in .ini, I tried this to save "space..."

 

:

:

[Move164]

Type=AIRSPEED_INDICATOR

NodeName=needle_climb

MovementType=POSITION_Z

Set[01].Position=9

 

[Move165]

Type=AIRSPEED_INDICATOR

NodeName=radar_screen

MovementType=POSITION_Z

Set[01].Position=9

:

:

 

That's it! If you need only re-position and no animation, just the first SET line is needed. The game sees this as enough information for fixed position.

 

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In addition to CombatAce F-111 section, Mike Werner hosts F-111 cockpit for SF ~> http://www.schmidtwerner.de/products/f-111_pit.html

[FastCargo]

Lexx,

 

Though interesting, I'm not sure why you did that.

 

I experimented with using the F-111 cockpit and found the pilots had to sit much too close together for it to look correct.

 

The B-1B cockpit included with the B-70 download is a much better fit for several reasons:

 

1. Size - the spacing between pilots and overall size of the cockpit is a much closer representation to the actual B-70 cockpit.

2. Layout - The B-1B cockpit is a derivative of the B-1A cockpit, itself a follow on from the XB-70...all developed by the same maker (North American Aviation then Rockwell). Take a look at the family genes:

 

XB-70

 

B-1A

 

B-1B

 

Note that the primary instrument layout are all very similar, as well as the locations of things like the fuel panel, engine gauges, etc. One thing that isn't shown here was that there was a proposal for the Valkyrie (noted in the XB-70 book I mentioned in another thread) of using tape for engine gauges instead of round dials...you can see that was carried over into the B-1.

 

3. Functionality - Engine monitoring (4 instead of 2), fuel usage, and weapon stations are closer to correct displays using the B-1B cockpit vs the F-111.

 

In addition, I recolored the interior of the Valkyrie to match the B-1B pit, as well as redid the Mach tape and calibrated it so that it shows an accurate Mach number.

 

Though I can appreciate the work you did, I'm just surprised you did it...the B-1B pit is better fit overall. Heck, if you wanted to remove the radar displays, you can go to the B-1B pit OUT file and find the radar screen nodes and move them yourself.

 

FC

[Lexx_Luthor]

Good thinking FC.

 

For the B-70 "A" version, I think I'll stay with F-111 pit, if only because it more closely matches what we saw from the XB-70.

 

Now, on the other hand, for the "B" version, or some later version, you made me think a bit more clear here. B-1 pit would be better. I'm thinking, if you transition from B-70A to B-70B, or whatever newer version, you get a new cockpit with many new visual distinctions -- something that screams loudly "playing B or C..." in addition to FM or avionics differences.

 

Thanks man!

[JediMaster]

Well, personally, I just think a plane with 6 engines fits better with 4 gauges in the pit than 2! Granted of course in both cases it's a fudge...