Thursday, February 14, 2013

Last Tomcat Demo repaint


I am still slowly debugging the Tomcat... very slowly, unfortunately. Most probably the new F-14D will be released by the end of the month. Not all the bugs will be fixed, not all the defects will be adjusted, and it will not be the perfect Tomcat rendition we are all dreaming for (Aerosoft's one, may be?)...still I am pretty happy with it.
I have made another repaint and it is 164601, VF-101 "Grim Reapers" Last Tomcat Demo, which is another of the very few "retro" schemes.
In doing so I have noticed that there UVW coordinates for texturing are misplaced rearby the edges of the crew access ladder steps... This may be a major incovenience for some repaints - sorry for that, but it is not an easy fix for this...

By the way, I have been evaluating the next projects for a while, now...decision has not been taken yet, but I am leaning towards the S-3 Viking, as I am not satisfied by the preliminary work I did for the MB.339. Will let you my decision soon.

18 comments:

TOMCATTERS said...

well this one seems very good paint where i can download that one Dino..
im just posting the pics with some real tomcat crew and i let u know the comments .. all are happy for the rendition are you making as well. so le me know where i can download that paint..

javier said...

WE definitely need a C2 or E2.....

Unknown said...

@Tomcatters

It is not available for download, at the moment. Will be part of the base package.

@Javier

I agree...but it is not coming from me, at least in the foreseeable future :-)

Jiri said...

Dino, I don't think Aerosoft is going to make something that will blow up our minds. They did some mediocre airplanes, they did some nice looking but poorly simulated ones (like F-16) and when I'm looking at their screenshots, I see the same model IRIS have. And I heard IRIS want to upgrade F-14 as well, but it depends on what they mean by upgrade. Their "A" model has more power than "D" should have and visuals are pretty FS9-ish (just as Aerosoft, not sure if coincidence or really the same model).

IRIS was supposed to develop "A" model for DCS and let me tell you, that would be the one ultimate tomcat. DCS has probably best flight dynamics available for simulators today and with all the weapons systems modeled, FSX/P3D or XPL can't even come close. But I fear they can't pull that off since Tomcat is very compley machine when you're aiming for such super realisitic dynamics and we haven't heard from them on the forums for some time. J.

Carss said...

Hey Dino Catteneo,

I have a suggestion, for your new projects how bout the Su-33, it will be your first Russian plane and also a naval one??

Growler Joe said...

Dino,
I'm sure if you have a Photoshop paint kit, there will be many repaints of your bird. It looks fun from here.

Unknown said...

@Jiri

Well, you are probably right, although I know some of the Aersoft's F-14 crew and they are more than qualified to make a good job - and they are not rushing the production.

IRIS's plans for DCS are extremely ambitious in general...and I tend to be skeptical for overly ambitious plans... Let's see.
Fact is that we are getting better and better renditions of the Tomcat and that is definitely good.

@Varun

As I said, developing a new aircraft is an extremely long process... at the moment, Sukhoi or Mig planes are not in my plans...

pitijm said...

Thank you for your amazing job. It gives a new interest for carrier operations.
Your T45 is well designed to learn and the F14 is a challenge to land.

Thank you another time.

JM

Anonymous said...

Dino. You are great. But paintkit share. Please.

Would be a handy paintkit to T-45 F-35 and F-14.

ESzczesniak said...

Off the topic of the F-14, but I sure would love to see the S-3 done to your standards.

Carss said...

Hey Dino, how are you able to add the wing's ability to swing back and forth on its own, and will it be possible to maybe add something similar to the canards of an Su-33/35/37?? Because when it pitches up, they automatically adjust themselves to the AOA of the plane at that point.

Jiri said...

Varun, if you're talking about manual wingsweep override, I would like to see that too. Dino, is it possible to implement that? If it's not too complicated to do so...

As for the canards, F-14 had something called "glove vanes" (and they work differently than canards, these are two very different things!) but they were operational only on early aircraft and then welded shut. Glove vanes on D model are removed and additional fuel cells are installed.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dino. I have seen your new Tomcat and I think that is amazing. Only one thing bothers me: this Tomcat doesn´t departure to out of control flight. Not the famous Tomca´s flat spin. In other words: in this Tomcat, Goose could survive :) Please, make if possible de flight physics more challenging for the pilot´s hands in high AOA manoeuvres, as in the real plane.

Carss said...

@Jiri

No I meant different, I mean to say that in the same way he applied the auto sweep to the wings, can the same thing be applied to a canard Flanker, cause I mostly will be making an Su-33 in the future, So I wanted to know

Jiri said...

Sorry, I misread you comment (glued eyes apparently). But manual override request is still valid :) J.

Unknown said...

Would love to see an S-3B Viking come out ! Hope things go in that direction !!!

Anonymous said...

ES-3B variant would me very welcome as well.

Rob said...

Manual wingsweep on it's way :)

As to remarks on "too much control": are you sure you have raised the flaps ? Because wingsweep (and therefore and control) is only active when flaps are raised.

Rob