Bullethead

Who says you can't play fighter in a 2-seater?

Hannover News: 1. Uploaded a new version of the 2-tone skin that minimizes the effects of the underwing distortion problem. Also did some minor other tweaks here and there. 2. Uploaded a mottled camo skin for the Hannover, as shown here.

Damn, that's a nice, dirty bird :).

The bug isn't all that noticeable with the stock skins because they're all pink lozenge underneath. Although the center section (wood) and outer panels (fabric) have different patterns, they blend together well enough that you probably won't see the problem if you're looking at other planes or the ground. But if you look at your own plane, like to see how badly your wingtip's been shot up, you'll see it. That's how I noticed it. With my skin, the high contrast between the dark wood center and unpainted fabric outers makes it extremely obvious. I guess I'll have to do something to tone this down some, like painting the center section with the yellow paint used in the camo pattern. So hold off on downloading this skin until I can post a revised version. This is a really strange problem I've not seen in any other plane or sim. It's not a conventional texture mapping problem that gives us fits making parts line up. The Hannover has plenty of those in the tail area. It's somehow related to how the skin is drawn when you're in virtual cockpit mode.

Sounds good, Lou. I wasn't aware Stumpy's Hanriot was flyable. If it is, we could probably do some more skins for it.

HPW, it would definitely be worthwhile to have some FMs and DMs for planes we don't have, to make their "stunt doubles" more believable. Besides the OeFFAG Albatri, we also need something for the most common KuK fighter, the Aviatik D.I. As with most KuK planes, there were several versions of this with varying performance due to using different types of engines. We also need something tweaked to fly like a Hanriot. That's just off the top of my head.

@Olham I've never gotten an answer to that question, nor do I even know how to start the MB to find out for myself. However, I'd think it should be possible so you could set up duel scenarios where both guys are flying identical planes and it's just a question of skill. That's been a staple of flightsims since the beginning. Anyway, as to making additional skins, here's what I've got in mind, in the order I'm planning on doing them, provided nobody objects or has other things they'd rather have me do. 1. Hannover: Mottled camo. 2. DFW: Totally unpainted. Neither of these will take very long to finish because I've already done most of the work on both of them. When I get these done, IMHO we'll have enough KuK 2-seater skins because these will finish off the set as follows: DFW: Substitute for Brandenburg C.I and contemporaries that looked like normal planes. Unpainted: Most common scheme 1916-1917, still abundant 1918 Random Hex: Uncommon 1917, rare 1918 2-tone Messy Spray: Most common scheme 1918 [*]Hannover: Substitute for Aviatik C.I, Phoenix C.I, UFFAG C.I, etc, all relatively late-war planes with characteristic KuK slab-sided fuselage and small rudder. 2-tone hex-edged: Most common scheme for UFFAG C.I 1918 Mottled: Most common scheme for Phoenix and Aviatik 1918 -------------- After this, I'm open to suggestions. If I get none, I'll just do what I think we need based on what other folks have done and are doing. Some ideas I have right now are: Late-series Aviatik D.I skins (hex and/or mottled in whole or in part) for the Fokker D.VII. This would be the quickest and easiest thing for me to do because I've got a D.VII template. Italian skins for various types of Nupes (11, 16, 17, 24). The project definitely needs a lot of these and so far I know of nobody doing them. There are plenty to go around. I'd have to make all these from scratch. The quickest and easiest thing for me to do would be Fokker D.VII skins but we'd have to decide what this plane would be impersonating, such as a late-model Aviatik D.I. Or I could start making Itali

In all this time, you've NEVER flown the Hannoever?!?!?!?!? Geez, you really need to get out of your Albatros more often. Variety is the spice of life! And if you don't fly all the wonderful (and un-wonderful) planes of OFF at least a little, you're not getting your money's worth :). The Hannover's not too bad a ride for a 2-seater. It's reasonably fast, very stable, and solidly built. It also has a phenomenal turn rate and very short turn radius that no scout can match. At least once you get it turning. That's the trick--the roll rate is very low so it takes a while to get into (or out of) a turn and even longer to reverse turn directions during a dogfight. This means you have to plan your passes in advance and make slashing attacks on targets chasing somebody else because you'll never be able to stay on an enemy's tail unless he stupidly keeps turning in the same direction or flying straight. This is a fun challenge.

On the subject of divvying up skins to do, splitting on pure Entente (Lou and Widowmaker) / Central Powers (me and Olham) lines might not cut it. For instance, we lack 2 of the 3 main Austrian figthers, the Aviatik D.I and the Phoenix D.I. Stumpy has made non-flyable versions of these but if we want missions where we can fly these planes, then we'll have to substitute some stock OFF planes for them, as I've been doing for the Austrian 2-seaters. As I understand things, the later Phoenix types were very fast and unbreakable, so perhaps the best substitute is the SPAD XIII. In such case, perhaps somebody could do a Phoenix D.I or D.II skin for it? Likewise, the Aviatik D.I was very maneuverable and climbed quite well but not as fast as the Phoenix. So, do we use a Fokker D.VII or an SE5 (non-Viper) for it? If the latter, we'll need somebody whose done an SE5 skin to do an Aviatik skin for it. OTOH, I could gin out some Berg skins for the D.VII very quickly. There's also the question of Entente 2-seaters. As I understand things, the Eye-Ties had a bunch of Farman and Caudron pushers, which of course aren't in OFF. However, we do have the Fee. Both me and Lou have made skins for that plane before. But we'd also need somebody who can do Strutters, which I've never touched. Finally, we definitely need some Italian Nupes, to be both themselves and (flyable) Hanriots. Say use the N.16 as the Hanriot? I've never done a Nupe but they don't look TOO difficult from looking at the OBD skins.

Damn,Quack, that is a fine job of work on the "candy cane" Alb!

One thing I forgot to mention about the Hannover.... I haven't flown it in a long time so I'd forgotten this, but it's got a nasty bug on the underside of the upper wing. Basically, the texture of the center part of the lower side of the upper wing spreads out and goes all along the trailing edge out to the wingtips. You can ONLY see this when you're flying it, however. From the outside it looks perfect. But when you're flying it, just ignore the underside of the upper wing, regardless of what skin you're using. They all have this problem. Below are 2 pics illustrating this problem. From outside, as you can see, all looks fine. But from the cockpit, YUCK!

Rather than start yet another thread about skins for the Italian Front, I'm just going to add on to this one from now on because it's got a good title :). Anyway, I bashed out a KuK hex-edged, 2-tone skin for the Hannover. This is based on, and is intended to be used as, an UFFAG C.I, mid-late 1918. I've made better skins but I was in a hurry this time.

BH_Hannover_KuK_2-Tone v2.zip View File A quick and dirty Austro-Hungarian skin for the Hannover. This is a 2-tone, hex-edged scheme based on UFFAG C.Is from mid-1918. v2: Changed color of upper wing center section, lower side. Also some general minor tweaks. Submitter Bullethead Submitted 09/10/2012 Category Aircraft Skins

Very nice!

Thanks for the info.

Schweet! On the SPAD XIII, will you also convert the absinthe dispenser to serve chianti or marsalla?

Very nice work, Olham!

Thanks HPW. On that red print warning label on your FM and AI EW mod about ace skins not showing up, is the replaying the mission thing something you have to do every flight or just the 1st time?

Damn, Olham, that hand-painted swirl job must have taken you a while to do!

Pretty cool. He must have been off away from where the main lines stood and died in heaps, so was missed when they came around picking up the bodies a few days later.

I'm quite flattered. Glad you like it. But please don't scratch the paint. That took me a couple of days to do :)

View File BH_DFW_CV_KuK_2-Tone_Hex.zip Another KuK skin for the DFW C.V. I made this for House Hobbit's Italian mission pack. Fuselage factory painted with 2-tone hex-edged bands. Rest of plane hastily sprayed in field. Based on a UFFAG-made Brandenburg C.I from 1918. Submitter Bullethead Submitted 09/06/2012 Category Aircraft Skins

Looking good, HH and Olham! Here's a contribution from me, another KuK-style DFW skin. This one ain't pretty but it's fairly typical of late-war paintjobs. It's based on late-series Brandenburg C.I built by UFFAG (not to be confused with OeFFAG) in mid-1918. The fuselage sides seem to have been neatly painted at the factory with the hex-edged 2-tone scheme common at the time. However, the wings and tail surfaces seem to have arrived at the front unpainted except for the insignia. Or maybe they were taken from another plane that wasn't painted at all. In any case, somebody at the Flik went crazy on it with a spray gun, not taking much care to blend out his spray passes and not caring that the crosses were in the way.