Geezer

Been scaling the objects up and down to get a reasonable looking fit with Google Earth shots of Monfalcone - across the bay from Trieste. Tile size is 500m First Eagles tile. The small and medium sized structures look about right but will have to tinker with the large ones a bit more. One reason I chose this port to experiment with is because it still has a coal yard, located at the right hand edge of shot. Note the current Google stuff looks much cleaner than the early 1900s stuff I am making for the FE map makers. Aluminum had just become available in industrial quantities by WW1, and was still expensive. Consequently, most roofing was either ceramic tile or sheet iron, which rusted in climates with frequent rain.

Thanks. After the CR42? The Gladiator.

Looks like you are probably right about the downward pointing guns. I did find my copy of Woodman's Early Aircraft Armament, and it shows a test rig of SIX downward pointing guns! They would not have tested something that heavy/complex for no good reason, so downward firing guns must have been effective. Perhaps each gun was mounted at a slightly different angle; the result would have covered a large area to partially compensate for aiming difficulties? I'm willing to put the Junkers in my stack of things to do, but it won't be anytime soon - I'm busy with 1940 desert war stuff at the moment.

I have that publication, and the more recent Windsock Datafile for the J1. I recently moved and the Datafile is still out in the garage, but IIRC the multi-gun batteries were tested but not used operationally on the J1. The Germans could not devise a way to aim the guns with any accuracy. My memory could be faulty so I'll see if I can find the pub. Not being able to aim the guns seems counter-intuitive, but makes sense when you think about it. The pilot's vision along the aircraft center line was blocked by the engine, so he could only see what was ahead and to the side of the aircraft, not what was underneath it.

I'm not ignoring them, I'm just phasing in the 1930s stuff I like. I'll get around to finishing the Halberstadt sometime, and maybe the Junkers. I'm still a little lukewarm about the J.1 because - to be ACCURATE - it carried no forward gun or bombs. Just grenades and a rear gun. I can tell you have been thinking about strafing trenches from your recent post. Your terrain looks really good, so I can't blame you for wanting to fly low over it.

All-metal structure and sheet metal cowlings. But, in good ol' First Eagles tradition, it had fabric covered wings, control surfaces, and aft fuselage.

Making good progress - the cowling, dust filter, and part of the belly are done, plus I'm starting to make some extra goodies for the planned graphics pack. In addition to squadron insignia and codes, stuff like yellow fuselage bands, German insignia, and variously colored spinners will be included so enterprising modders can make skins for different aircraft.

A good looking plane over good looking terrain.

This is a really interesting thread. You guys have raised the bar.....again.

Well done!

Progress shots of weathering and details - access panels, seams, louvers, etc.

I have 3dsMax 9 and can't export bitmap or specular maps for TW models. IIRC, the first TW export module with these features was for Max 2008, maybe 2009?

I like your concept of a small map that is focused on just one campaign. With a few exceptions - such as the Zero - early WW2 aircraft generally had an operational radius of only a few hundred miles, so a large map really isn't necessary. The smaller map was less work, so you were probably able to make it faster than a large map? Sometimes, less is more.

Tidied up some loose ends, plus mapped/textured the night exhaust pipes.

Good job! The camo colors are nicely subdued. EDIT: A handful of Sea Gladiators, stored by the FAA in Alexandria as spares, were "borrowed" by the RAF during the 1940 desert war. While I've modeled the arrestor hook in my Gladiator model, I hadn't planned on painting Sea Gladiator skins. Maybe you would be interested?