Bongodriver

The bottom picture was out of sequence, the top 2 show the beginnings of my pylons, but I like the sound of electro magnetic ones I don't know when exactly I will release the Hawk, I will probably do it before I get the pit ready. I have run into another problem again though! maybe someone can shed light on it? I have applyed decals and so far so good, but now I am trying to add a new decal and it is making my component turn see-through, is there a limit on how many decals can be applyed to a component? can they overlap? what the %!&* is going on?

A few more screens of my Hawk with a full coat of paint

Hi Chaps, Thanks for the kind words, I used the labels on my templates so I could get the control surfaces and other bits and bobs lined up, I came up with the idea myself but I am not surprised that other modders have used it before me, I created my templates using texporter plugin, it makes a cool paint job, when I finally release the Hawk I might include the templates. Russo, I have sat in a Hawk but it stayed on the ground sadly, I also hope to get the pit right but thats going to take some time I think

Thanks, yes at some point I intend to make a virtual pit.

Hi folks, Some screens of my Hawk model in the works, just learning how to skin and getting to grips with decals

Maybe a bit late to bring this in but has anyone tried a free paint programme called paint.net, its fairly usefull and handles layers etc.. but as I mentioned it is FREEEEEE!!!

Another problem solved, thanks guys for the swift input, turns out I wasn't a million miles out, I needed to remember to add the relevant systemtype entry for the relevant component, the ini file I am editing was slightly different in having a Nose component which carries the pilots and I am just using Fuselage, but Saganuays hint was spot on for getting my main problem sorted. Thanks again can't wait until I am the guy giving the answers :yes:

I am trying to get a pilot to show in my Hawk model but I don't know why I can't do it, I've copyed and pasted the ini entries from other models etc etc.... Strangely when I was first testing my model and was still using a borrowed ini file from the T-45 a single pilot would appear, I noticed he vanished when I changed the Nationality entry in the ini file. What am I missing here?

AHMEN!

I guess sometimes the answers to some problems have to be sorted out by yourself, I don't believe I could explain quite how I fixed it to the next guy trying to 3d model, in simple terms though you might agree always suspect the last thing you worked on, no matter how much you believe it is correct, in my case all I did was delete the last component I created (how it actually caused the problem I will never know)

Problem solved, looks like I keep my whiskey

Am I going to regret getting into 3d modeling? What could have possibly killed my canopy and landing gear shock animations when I did nothing to change them since they last worked, I have tried an earlyer backup model which still works but am loathe to go back to it as my progress on the latest has been extensive, I can see no obvious differences in the particular animations in question between the two models. I am using 3ds max 5.1 all animations are set as TCB, the keyframes are set correctly from 31 to 40 for animation 4 and 41 to 50 for animation 5 etc..... all other models with animations work correctly, it seems my user defined animations have been disabled for this model only, strange thing is my gear still animates propperly. Well thats all the info I can think of, if anyone can help I would give a bottle of finest single malt whiskey gladly

Thanks for the kind words so far chaps. I am making progress and have learned the basics of skinning now, it was easyer than I imagined although the hard part I think will be to create the skins, so far I have been using some skins from russos Hawk for things like the gear and small details (hope that's ok, I will eventually be trying to make my own skins) I have a question, what is a reasonable poly count for a model, I read the Third wire paper mentioning 5000 for SF, with WOE and WOV has that count gone up? my Hawk is on about 4200 and will probably end up around the 5000 when finished (I've spent hours nibbling small hidden polys off). Craig

I got the problem sorted, the ground handling is sweet, yes when objects are mirrored in max the pivots are mirrored too which is what led to the problem. Thanks for the pics russo, it was your hawk which inspired me to make another, not to sound critical of yours, I just wanted to get into 3D modelling and the hawk is one of my favourite aircraft, I want to make most of the variants including another T-45 with the proper USN nosegear and hook etc. as I mentioned I am new to modelling and havent developed the full range of skills, skinning is still something I have to learn.

Thanks, I'm just deciding wether to take the plunge and re-do the undercarriage from scratch at the moment, or salvage what I can, all that tweaking and rotating axes has put thing out of line. Boy all this work and I havent started on a virtual pit yet

some pics

Id love to add some pics but for some reason it just stays on the uploading message and no progress appears to happen. Am I just bad luck or what?

I am beginning to get to the root of the problem, one of the problems was the axis of my steerable nose wheel, it was upside down, which made the rudder and nosewheel work against each other, now my A/C dont all explode as the sudden bounce is much softer, the other factors are in my main gear leg axes, I wouldn't have found the problem so quick if it wasn't for the quick and helpfull response from you guys. Thanks

OK I semm not to be able to fix this problem and I cant find any of the posts on bouncing aircraft. HHHEEEELLLPPPPP!!!!

Yes now you mention it it makes sense, I did notice that the game has some trouble with orientation of the axis/pivots espetially when the objects are made with mirroring, they can look fine visually via animation but the game still thinks of them in reverse. Havent any pics yet but i will try to get some soon. Thanks for the speedy reply

Hi Chaps, I am new here and this is my first post, I am in the process of modelling a BAE Hawk which I will make available in due course (I noticed alot of posts from people anxious to have a HAWK) I have the 3D model 90% complete, no skins yet and the beginnings of the Data.ini file which is where I supect my problem is, During testing of my Model I let the autopilot do the take off so i can look around the external model for any required tweaking, 1st problem, on the roll just as it gets airborne the A/C pulls to the right slightly and wanders off runway heading, 2nd problem, the AI aircraft waiting in line all blow up on the taxyway after doing an aileron roll in unison (?????) all exept for my number 2 which gets airborne with no problems apart from the same pull to the right. Any Ideas? Regards Craig p.s for the Hawk fans, I intend on making a number of Hawk variants, the one nearly complete is a T1 and next I want to make the single seat 200 series