ConradB

Heres's a couple pics of the struts. The landing gear for some reason, gave me a fit tryin' to get it attached. Nothing wanted to line up. Very odd.

Also of note on the user view, it does some odd things to the plane perspectively so that may also play into the oddities noted. It appears in some respects to distort the shape, like shrinking things that are closer and enlrging things further away. Kinda the same way photographs of planes will distort depending on how close you are to the subject you're photographing. I like the regular perspective view for after I'm done with a part of the plane. It is a good way to get a proper view perspectively of the plane with the additions.

BH, it's basically an Eindecker with a second wing attached. They were popular with the Austro-Hungarian A.S. Accept for a few changes like a deeper fuselage, it looks almost identical, and similar in construction. At least as far as the real plane went. They even chopped holes in the front of the cowl like your MS A1. But it looks like the same or very similar fairing into the box fuselage like the E-I thru E-III. Some compound curves, but not too many. Lookin' good there RedDog! Check with Shredward if you need more info on the type you are working on. He gave me a ton of info on the Halberstadt 2 seater I'm working on, to where I scrapped my 2nd incarnation of the type, and have a much nicer 3rd version now well in the process. I am adding struts here tonight and will mount the top wing to the struts, and start the rigging. I don't have very good details of the landing gear where the axle mounts, so I will have to punt a little to make it look right. Aside from the ellastic cord used for shock absorbing purposes. That will be interestiing to work out. I may just use a basic box structure to simulate it.

They have two? I have the one with a painting of Voss' DIII on the cover. What does the other one look like? Also, what other info does have that is different?

It would be nice to have a mix of variations for scrambles. Every scramble is the same with the E/A right overhead, and before you get airborne, it is like the Army pilots trying to take off at Hickam, Wheeler or Bellows during the Japanese attack. A good deal of airfield raids were done from low altitude to confound the observers that used very high powered optics to spot incoming planes at altitude. At tree top level that is more difficult to see incoming planes. But if they are at their ceiling, you should have lots of warning and be able to get airborne real quick, before they can pounce. This lets you tactically form up, and get out of the immediate area, to gain some height, and properly defend you base. As it sits, the entire flight(s) of defenders are knocked off in 5 to 10 minutes max. You'ld be better off staying on the ground and manning a machine gun or ack ack gun instead. Or just stay in the trenches. Plus there shouldn't be any stupid waypoints on a scramble. The majority of the squadron gets shot down circling the damn airfield, so for the time being I just hit Esc when I get one. Besides, unless you've had advance warning, you're a fool to try and get airborne during an air raid. You're low and slow, and on the deck. Does the word "sittin' duck" mean anything?

That looks fantastic! Great job! Have a big v-mug of stout on me bro! You've earned it man!

Olham, for a good all around snippet of the squadrons, the Aircraft of the Aces Series from Osprey is also a good. The Fokker DVII for instance had to be done in 2 volumes. The Albatros book is also quite good.

The hinges are actually really easy to make. Just make a small box, that has 5 or 6 segments on the same plain as the surface, i.e.: you'll want them on the horizontal for ailerons, and the elevator, and of course on the vertical for the rudder. The other 2 settings will be "1". Once made, just zoom in close and line it up on the center mark for the surface, then just line the rest up with the blue dots. Once that's done, just work the rounded part to what looks good to you. Just clone however many you need for your plane, and just use the boolean cuts to notch out the surface, then do another for the excess on the hinge. Delete those polys, clean up the vertices, and attach and weld. Here's how they look with the rudder and elevator:

Thanks for that little save option there Hairyspin! A new piece of info! Yeah........ Now to make a note of it.

Thanks BH! But again, pat yourself on the back! Working with the goemetric shapes is easy enough for me. It was the initial setup that was kickin' my @$$. Workin' quick, is from lots of intial experimenting, and figuring out that part had to be waded through. The fuselage is an interesting combination of flat surfaces, and and gradually changing curved areas, like the top decking, and metal engine coverings up front. One of things I've learned along the way though, is to make sure you take enough time cleaning up extra vetices from boolean cuts, or mating surfaces to form a whole unit. That really speeds things up in the end, so you're not tearing your hair out afterwards. So the best way to put it, is to have the least ammount of vertices possible, so that the welding of two of them is to a minimum. It really makes a big difference. Like the old model construction days, "use the glue sparingly", that will leave more for later extra-curricular use. Thanks on the hinging points! They are actually very easy to make. Just make them the same thickness as the control surface and with the same segment heights so you can cuvre the back part of it, then just do a boolean cut to attach the hinge point. Cut the tail or wing surface, to make a notch, then do a cut to then hinge to clear un-needed polys. Clean uo the extra vertices real quick, slide the hinge in to place and use the attaching list to attach it, then wld the vertices where needed. Once you do one, they only take about 10 to 15 minutes to knock out each. Just remember to save often. It allieviates a lot of headaches.

Catfish, With the ram you're putting in, your onboard sound should be minimal in what it uses as far as power. It's definitely not like the old days of onboard sound and compatability issues. Also I was reading somewhere recently that people are staying away from add-on soundcards due to software issues that cause problems with games. So it has in a sense gone full corcle now. But you could istead pump up the video with the extra cash, or maybe the ram power if you want. Just a couple ideas is all.

Very sobering. Using Napoleoic tactics in the face of machine guns, and rapid fire artillery was just insane with the benefit of hindsight. But they used the tactics that were in vogue for 100 years.

The widescreen dvd is excellent! Added it to the collection a couple years ago. First time I saw it was with dad at the movie theater when I was 6 years old. Still one of the best WWI films made. Even with all the inaccuracies, it is still a good story.

Hey BH, To create the cowl as a seperate object is fine. Just attach it to the fuselage when you're done. That should help avoid the issues you mentioned. The difference between editable mesh and editable poly, technically speaking, I can not explain. But I am finding that if there are issues with deleting things while in poly, if I convert it, I can delete it. Same thing happens with vertices sometimes. They won't weld while in editable poly, but they will in editable mesh. I'm sure there is a more detailed explanation as to why it will work in one and not the other sometimes. But like you, I'm on the "discovery trail". And all the little details the guys with experience have been passing on, open up mores to experiment with.

Hey BH! Lookin' good there dude! Something to play with and will sometimes help with those odd shadows 1 In the window , set up so you can see the edge lines like your picks show. 2 In the little window to the right, where it says Editable Poly. Right click on the editable poly in the window, and convert it to an editable mesh. 3 While in Editable Mesh, select edge. 4 With the arrow tool chosen, left click and hold, then draw out an area over the fuselage. Be careful not to be directly on the fuselage when you do this, or you will distort your polys. Oops! Don't forget to check the ignore backfacing box! 5 Once the area is highlighted, you will see little dotted lines running across your poly. Go back to the window on the right, and under edit geometry, press the "Turn" button. It will highlight, then just move your cursor over the dotted lines and left click to change it's position. As for your cowling, you can try a different technique. By creating your outside cowling, cut the holes, then clone the cowling, convert it to an editmesh, then down above the smoothing groups there is a button to "flip the normals". This will make an inside mirror of your cowl. That last one was a trick I learned from Hairyspin. Give a holler if you need a bit more help with that. Conrad

What kind of throttle do you use?

Cool info sitting duck! I never messed much with the over rides, as it always ended up a muddy mess. The only things I have checked now are to disable things like the target cone, and the warning and info text stuff. Kicked up the detail in the terrain and scenery stuff and have between 40 to 55 solid in the air now. And with ground details upped a notch, I still hover in the 30 to 35 range at the field suring takeoff.

I see you don't watch enough British films! There are many, and good ones too like Zulu, The Battle of Britain, The Dam Busters, The Cruel Sea, Sink The Bismark, and a whole host of them. Plus anything from the Python boys will get you up to speed.

A little combat wisdom. 1 Make sure you're the leader. 2 It takes a bit, but get used to assigning targets to your flight. 3 Stay with your own target until the duel is done. The only time to break form this is if you are under attack yourself, or have damaged your opponent to where they are no longer a threat to you. Gain some altitude, and survey the situation. Find you own flight and how they are doing. 4 If your wingie is under attack, go to their aid (provided you have followed the rules in 3) and damage the E/A attacking your guy. This is the only time I break from the close in shooting. A few rounds "across the bow" will make the enemy disengage and go on the defensive. 5 If your squadmate isn't too heavily damaged, let them finish off the target. It's a team effort up there. 6 Lastly. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go after the same target as your wingies! Only help them if they are getting bettered. Once the enemy is damaged, let your guy finish it off, as they will go after their assigned target whether you are in the way or not. With that said, you won't get tons of kills per mission, but you will see the same faces in the mess hall without a revoling door of new faces all the time.

Yes Olham, but it was also noted that the German pilots were, until close to the end of the war, better trained. So in that respect, they should handle those heavier mounts a little better evasively than they do. Plus Germany was fighting a "fire-brigade" style airwar. Send the planes where they are needed the most. So there was a need for better training on the part of the GAS.

Can't beat Uncle Ted for attitude, and hunting fun! Here's one of his first hits from the old days. Dig the girls in the minis (woof woof) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2VNFpiGWo

Cool Motown rockin' tune Bullethead. Learned that one when I was 15 or 16. Definitely gets a crowd gassed man!

That's an understatement!

Having added the struts, I've been messing with the rigging, but it isn't working too well. So I was just curious of the methods others use for them. Here's a couple more pics with struts added.

I remember reading about this back in 77 or 78, as it was part of my SA for history class as an extra credit assignment.