S-46 FD Testing Aircraft

[Xpand]

Here's a new one:
S-46A Flight Dynamics testing aircraft.
I started this three days ago, although I drew it in september.





It's in its primordial state. Next pictures will have the landing gear and TVN exhaust.

 

[learjunkie]

See!

See, you were waiting to pull this one out of your hat! It looks great and it is your own design...and it only took you a few days? wow..

 

[Xpand]

Ah, thanks! But it won't be as good as yours. I somehow got used to work with an average-low polycount so the detail will have to be balanced between texture work and model.
Most of the planes I did are my own criations. I like to make these radical designs.

 

[khaos_56k]

That is awesome! Everytime I try to draw something like that I get "brain-lock" and stare at the paper for hours.

Can't wait to see where you go with it...

 

[Xpand]

Thanks!
New pics!
There will be two similar models: one with canards (S-46S) and another without them (S-46A).

 

[Xpand]

First time ever I made one of my aircraft for FSX... And I like it!

One of the three paintschemes:



I still need to tweak the FDs. The plane has a tendency to slightly pitch up when I throttle up...
Exterior model almost complete. Starting the VC in a couple of weeks..

It's quite an interesting plane to fly.
The roll speed is imense! I have got to add some weight on those wings to prevent it from spining out of control.
Very good pitching operation.
Has a little problem with horizontal tailslide when you end a tight turn.

Also I came up with a nickname for it: S-46 Delphin (lack of originality ). I was thinking about calling it Orca, but...

 

[Southwest]

Great work mate!

Orca sounds like a good name.

 

[Xpand]

Thanks!
Orca it is!
Wallpaperinos for everyone!

 

[Xpand]

Sneak Peak video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NeGgHJb2z0

 

[Xpand]

Managed to make the landing lights work! Thanks to n4gix!

 

[n4gix]

Managed to make the landing lights work! Thanks to n4gix!

Nicely done!

 

[Xpand]

Thanks!

I encountered a problem:
I wanted the landing lights be visible following this code:

<PartInfo>
<Name>light_land</Name>
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>
(A:Gear Center Position, percent) 90 &gt;
(A:LIGHT LANDING, bool) 1;
and
if{ 1 }
els{ 0 }
</Code>  
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</PartInfo>

This appears on the animation manager but on FSX nothing happens!

 

[n4gix]

Already answered in your other thread...

In short, remove the erroneous "1;" from the script!

 

[Xpand]

Saw it! Thanks!

Video:
Takeoff + Afterburner FX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUN20uI9MvM

 

[Xpand]

Update:
Two new skins. Exterior textured.
Starting the VC!

 

[Xpand]

Exterior update:
Bump map and bloom:

 

[Xpand]

Video update:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC4MjIilcc8

 

[Xpand]

Hey!
Made the first gauge for the plane:
It's a graphic G force indicator:
Positive G

1G

Negative G


This was made by separating the faces of an extruded eliptic line and link them all to each other. The animation is very basic: just add a slight rotation to each one (aprox: 2 to 3 degrees).

 

[Heretic]

The view from the cockpit could be straight from a sail plane. But in this case, the sailplane has turbofans and afterburners!



P.S:
Not sure if it can be done easily, but the cockpit would be the perfect setup for a transparent, semicircular panel with displays and transparent buttons.

 

[Xpand]

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do: Instead of filling the cockpit with switches, I'll make some buttons that make windows appear in front of you with all the needed switches and levers (virtually). Kinda like those buttons on the 2D panel that make the radio stack and gps pop up.