Geezer

Heh - so do I. I have six biplanes planned, plus some early monoplanes.

Got it flying - temporarily using Wrench's CR42 files. Still a bunch things to tweak, such as the pilot.

Working on completion of the model so it can be flown ingame. Thinking about damage modeling. The model will have two fuel tanks, one oil tank/two oil coolers, and a hydraulic pack that can be damaged by enemy bullets. That got me thinking about structural damage, and the unique nature of the 1940 desert mod. It would be unrealistic to continue using the standard FE concept of battle damage causing portions of wooden wings or fuselage to break off when hit by large numbers of bullets. The stars of the show may be biplanes, but - unlike WW1 aircraft - they all had metal structures which resisted rifle caliber bullets. While rifle caliber bullets fired by all of the combatants might strike fuel tanks, etc statistically most of the bullets would hit the metal structures. Rifle caliber bullets were largely ineffective against metal aircraft structures, which is why air forces transitioned to auto cannons that COULD destroy aircraft structures. So....when hit by bullets, I'm thinking about just having the fabric skin peel off the wings, exposing the metal structure. EDIT: Yes, I know that Japanese aircraft were highly vulnerable to machine gun fire, but there were two factors that made this situation unusual. Japanese aircraft had very light weight structures that were more easily damaged, and they were being hit by .50 cal bullets that were more powerful than "normal" machine gun bullets. Because the Browning .50 cal machine gun was unusually powerful, the US continued using it long after other countries had switched to auto canons.

Good job, looks very convincing.

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Did some ini work and resumed work on the 3-color camo art. While far from complete, it is far enough along to demonstrate how the graphics pack will work. Modders will be able to paint new markings (provided in the graphics pack) into the camo artwork - as shown below - and also make new camo using color swatches. First shot shows standard African markings for most of 1940. Around the end of 1940, the white fuselage band gradually grew into widespread use, while the white wingtips were retained and the black Xs were discontinued. When the Germans arrived in the spring of 1941, both the Regia Aeronautica and Luftwaffe briefly used yellow cowlings as a common recognition aid. In 1942, the Italians gradually discontinued the white wing tips - the yellow cowlings were discontinued in late 1941. As newer monoplanes arrived in North Africa, the Italians gradually converted CR42s to ground attack duties by installing bomb racks as field mods - late production CR42s had the racks installed at the factory and were usually painted in late war camo/markings. Modders will be able to produce their own versions, with or without sand filters or bomb racks, and apply a wide variety of markings provided in the graphics pack.

Thanks for understanding my desire to get phase 1 finished before working on phase 2. I can always make the landing gear later, when focused on 1942-43.

Below is shot from the CR42 parts manual. In addition to making a new landing gear strut, I'd have to make a new, better wheel. That takes time, so testing of the CR42 would be delayed - for a version that lies outside the scope of the 1940 desert war theme. A classic example of mission creep. EDIT: This is not a matter of one of us being "right" and the other being "wrong." We're both right. Expanding the CR42 coverage is a helluva good idea, as the models and skins could be used in most any future mod. It also adds time and complication to the CR42 development process, to the detriment of the 1940 desert war effort.

I'm currently reviewing the entire model for mistakes/omissions prior to finalizing it to run ingame. To make the LW version, I would have to add the U-shaped landing gear legs, exposed by removal of the spats. We'll see....

The time consuming parts are done. Now, its time to get the thing flying and start the cockpit.