Geezer

Another shot of the Gauntlet's 1940 desert skins.

Steve and I are going slowly, but still making progress. Shots below show a problem with the CR32 - note no shadow for most of the fuselage. I've also started new skins for Steve's excellent I-15.

You're probably right. My HD is full of half finished skins and models.

As usual, I am over committed to too many mod projects. What the hell, I may as well add a set of Finnish skins to the pile of things to do.

Viper63 has released a large number of new screen formats for various sized monitors - one example below. You might try contacting him if you continue to have problems, as he seems to understand what is required. http://combatace.com/files/file/15398-sf2-aces-over-north-africa-photoshop-1024x768-menu-templates/

Shot below will interest Golden Age enthusiasts. Shown is the Finnish Gauntlet, and how fabric balloons upward in flight, due to lift.

Got some work done on the Gauntlet. Baffmeister is usually busy during the summer months so my target is to have a mostly complete Gauntlet ready for him by Autumn. This is my first TW model to use .dds format for skins - as can be seen, it works fine in FE2.

I've occasionally had that shadow problem with other aircraft in FE2. It rarely happens and occurs while testing 1930s aircraft.

A couple of more shots. I realize building a new map from scratch is EXTREMELY time consuming. However, most maps so far suffer from a lack of clutter - the real world is messy, not stark and simple. So to reduce the map making workload a bit, I hope to make clutter an integral part of the models.

The small one-arch bridge is from another mod - I'll play with it to see if it will work in SF/FE. The buildings concept I am playing with right now is to have two classes of building models - one class simple and one class more complex. Dunno if it will work, but I'm gonna try it. Basically, the more complex buildings will be used for individual farms or small villages, while the simpler buildings will be used for larger towns where more buildings (and thus more polys) are needed. Samples below are the complex building models - only the church is anywhere near finished.

Slow but steady progress on Spanish ground objects.. About half the skins are done on this batch of stuff. Future plans include many new buildings that - gasp! - actually look like buildings instead of cubes.

Daniel gave me permission to do whatever was needed to improve his Ar68. To make his model, he used a bad drawing - something that happens to all of us. I've significantly revised his fuselage and landing gear, and will probably add my own flying surfaces.

A few historical notes. Many flight simmers don't realize the sexy-looking Heinkel 51 was a dog, which is why it was replaced so quickly. My references cite two different occasions when He51s sought shelter from Republican fighters by hiding INSIDE Nationalist bomber formations! "Ernst Udet, the Inspector of Fighter and Dive-Bomber Pilots, tired of the official vacillation over the Ar-68. He scheduled a flight competition between himself in the Ar-68 Jumo-powered prototype and an experienced Luftwaffe pilot in an He-51. shortly after takeoff the outcome became pre-ordained. Udet out-maneuvered, out-climbed, out-turned and out-fought the he-51 decisively. The future of the Ar-68 was assured and it entered production in 1936. However, a shortage of Jumo engines caused the Luftwaffe to order that the Ar-68F variant, powered by the old BMW VI engine, be initially produced. The AR-68F entered service with I/JG134 "Horst Wessel" in the late summer of 1936, followed shortly by I/JG131 at Jessau in East Prussia. Shortly thereafter, the BMW VI-powered He-51 was found to be completely outclassed by the Polikarpov I-15 when they met in combat over Spain. The Luftwaffe responded by changing the production priority and bringing the Jumo-powered Ar-68E into service as quickly as possible. Between early 1937 and the spring of 1938, the Ar-68E would become the most widely-used fighter in the Luftwaffe, until Bf-109 production allowed the majority of the Jagdgeschwadern to equip with the more modern fighter. " DIMENSIONS: Ar 68E-1 Wing span: 11m (36 ft. 1 in.) Length: 9.5m (31 ft. 2 in.) Height: 3.28m (10 ft. 9 in.) Wing Surface Area: 27.30² cocas: If you are too busy to rework your 3D model, contact me by PM. Are you willing to send me your model so I can rework it?

Yes! Please upload it when you have finished it - it would be a valuable addition.

A couple of shots showing the start of the SCW aircraft fleet.