RAF_Louvert

. Olham wrote: I saved it to my computer then opened it with my image editor, enlarged it, enhanced the image, and the tail number got quite a bit more decipherable. It's still an educated guess, but I have had some experience at "reading" photographs for information so I am fairly confident it is one of the two numbers I noted. .

. Very cool Olham, and quite serendipitous. Also, thanks to you and Burning Beard for the kudos on Larsson's kite. This one however, belonging to another of my virtual pilots, 2nd Lt. S. Trevor Ravenscroft, is still my personal favorite Nieuport. .

. Olham, the tail number appears to be either W 6367 or W 6767. That could help a lot trying to narrow it down to a jasta. .

. And yet again pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Or to put it into another perhaps more familiar vernacular, "I'm invincible!" .

. BB, apart from a bit of tweaking on the wings due to the issues you mentioned, I found the N17 to be one of the more forgiving OFF planes to paint. Here is one I did for my pilot Nels Larsson, flying with the Lafayette Escadrille: Maybe I just got lucky though on this Nieup. For me, the worst plane I've had to skin has been the Strutter. I lost count how many adjustments I had to make to overcome the wrap issues and missing bits on that kite! .

. The Camel has similar missing bits and I found most of them working on Lt. Jan Olieslagers' bird. It does get interesting trying to sort them out. .

. Olham, I wouldn't say that because the Brisfit fuselage is square that it is easy, just slightly less a pain in the arse. And if you think about, all the planes in OFF have a "square" fuselage when it comes to skinning. It's just harder to know where the edges are on the round bodies. As to your Alb, I would bet anything that the real aircraft had continuous lines running around the body just as you are showing in your work. The fellow swinging the paint brush 90 years ago would have pulled the stripe right round from the top and down both sides, IMHO. .

. nbryant, some more nice skins you have going there Sir. In particular I like the Spad you posted on September 29. Olham, lining up those stripes on your new kite reminds me of Bristol F2b #D8084, (flown by Capt Sydney Dalrymple of 139 Squadron RAF), which I did about a year-and-a-half ago: I was swearing at the walls on more than one occasion with that one myself. .

. They are excellent for other water sports as well, Olham. BTW, your new "barber pole" Alb is a beauty Sir. I feel your pain trying to line up all those stripes. Well done. .

. CD...DVD...all I know Over50 is that it's small, shiny, and round, with a hole in the middle, and when I drop it into the tray it makes my computer go all goochie goochie. .

Over50, it's likely the 2007 Microsoft release I have of CFS3 is already updated to 3.1. All I can tell you is, I have done it both ways: with the full CFS3 install; or allowing OFF to install the 2 or 3 files it needs from the CFS3 disc; it's worked the same either way and OFF has run just as it should. .

. A very nice locale Olham, but I think Habsheim flugplatz in the Alsace region is prettier, what with the mountains, river, and lake. However, to each their own. .

. Cobra427so, welcome to OFF. New guys buy the drinks. I'm afraid you are going to have to uninstall CFS3 and OFF and then reinstall each, paying careful attention to updating each as you go. I had a similar issue after installing new hard drives and had to do as noted. Also, you do not need to install CFS3 at all if you don't want to. Just have the disc ready to pop into the drive when OFF asks for it during install. Nice system, BTW. Now then, I think a nice pinta' red should do me this evening, thank you very much. Cheers! Lou .

. SIGGI ! Good to see you about mate. And that's a fun read you've linked to. Also, I assume most folks here know that "War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator" was in fact written by Elliot White Springs, (not anonymous). He also wrote "Above The Bright Blue Sky" and "Nocturne Militaire", both excellent reads as well. .

. Keep in mind, the front lines change as the war progresses and the in-sim maps reflect this with 13 different front line periods represented in OFF, (the devs did their homework and then some). The way I handle this with my flying maps is to grab a pic of the in-sim map for the period and AO I am flying in, (I use HyperSnap for this). Then I open up Paint.NET and take that pic and drop it on top of my Western Front map in it's own layer, and stretch it to fit and line up by using the towns as guide points. Once I have that I create another new layer and draw the front lines in by tracing over the in-sim map image, afterwhich I delete the layer with the in-sim map and I am left with my large Western Front map with the front lines where they belong for that period of the War. Easy Peasy. .

Very nice Olham. Are you leaving that map I built full size? It's monsterously big and would take up the better portion of a wall if you did, (which would be fine with me and my tired old eyes). .

. Very cool. I wonder how much history they dug up, (and covered up), when they built that factory complex right on top of the old trenches. .

. SWEET! I'll take a dozen of them Olham. They'll make wonderful Christmas gifts. .

. Oh criminy! I'm in the same spot on the hierarchy as you Si, except my pilot is flying a Walfisch and is pushing 80 hours. This does not bode well for either of our flyers. Better throw the good mojo down and quick...OOOOOO WA WA OOO WA, OOO WA WA OOOOOOOOO. .

. HEE HAW! .

Agreed Si, it does fit but it's still relative, as are all needs. Using Maslow's Hierarchy as mentioned, self-actualization only becomes a "need" when those in the lower levels of the hierarchy have been fulfilled. If they have not, something such as self-actualization isn't even a consideration, much less a "need". .

. Outstanding, WInston. Congratulations again Sir, and thank you for your service above and beyond. Salute! Lou .

. "need" is a relative term, (good old Maslow). We don't actually need this sim, but it's damned entertaining and I'm glad we have it. .

. I would also like to see the early war better filled out, and my first two choices there would be the Morane-Saulnier L and the Voisin Type III. But then we really do need heavy bombers, so the Gotha and HP 0/400 would be very good to have as well. I'm torn. Of course, I'll take whatever new aircraft our busy team of devs sends our way. .

. Greetings All, Late last night I was flying a campaign mission with my current pilot, and as I was trying to remember for the umpteenth time just what day of the week it was back in 1916, I had an epiphany, (or maybe it was an apostrophe). Why not make a template in my Paint.NET program so that I could create a calendar for any given month during the Great War and personalize it to the air service I am currently flying for, then I could print it out and keep it handy. I found a nice old calendar to use as a guide and in about an hour had the framework of the template built. Here is a sample to give you an idea of what you could do yourselves. You could drop in any art or old ad you might like at the top of the page, and change the dates, month, year, font, and language accordingly. Then print it out and keep it next to your flying rig for easy reference and ambiance. You all get the idea. Have fun. Cheers! Lou .