Monday, December 21, 2009

F-35 Change to test plans


An unusually cold and snowy weather in Genoa forced me to stay at home for most of the weekend. "Unusually cold and snowy" means we are not used to see much snow, if any, and even a thin white layer is sufficient to paralyze the whole town.
On the good side, I've made some major steps foward with modeling of the cockpit. At present I'd say it is 60-70% done. Probably 15-20 work-hours away from the completion.

So, I've changed my mind for the testing... the test version will have the cockpit but no HMD and limited MFD functionality. This means that the Beta testers "draft" will not happen in the next few days as I planned.

Will post an update when the cockpit is about 90% complete.

P.S. My apologies to anyone who may have sent me e-mails in the past few days. I am having issues with the home internet connection and I cannot reply from my office. I always try to reply to each message - and will do it as soon as the home connection is restored.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

F-35A more screenshots and first cockpit image





Quick progress report: finally I've managed to make some significant progress to thc cockpit. The main display is not finished yet, but it is not far from completition. Side consoles need some more work - especially the right one. Outer model for AA-1 is complete, with the exception of some Easter eggs I would like to add - the additional models will be done as soon as AA-1 is complete. AF-1 and operational F-35 (with and without external loads) will be done for sure. I've been experimenting with -B and -C conversion with mixed results. I think it is better to debug AA-1 first.
Minor tweaks to flight modeling, but it is still prliminary. Flight performance and fine-tuning will be done during testing.

As for the beta test - I wish I had time to plan it properly. From previous experiences, I know it can add a lot of value to the finished project, but needs to be planned/coordinated with some care otherwise some of its benefist are lost. It is likely that a "cockpitless" alpha model will be released for testing before Christmas. I will make a post on how to apply for testing within a couple of days.