Friday, May 15, 2009

Coooool....

This screenshot by TopDollar is the best I've seen of the plane(s) so far and puts my roster shot below to shame. It's both very strange and very inspiring to see such artwork done by another using my creation. :) My new desktop. Thanks TopDollar.

(click to enlarge)

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's one hell of a formation, and a nice screenshot to match.

Anonymous said...

This is missing soul in my opinion. The original, "The Roster", one that you took was better.

I've looked at the other screenshots "TopDollar" posted, via Picasa Web Albums, and quite honestly, didn't enjoy looking through them as they seem to have no meaning, they're too mechanical.

P.S. I can see the plane you're making is finally in its last few production stages. I can't wait for the release!

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Oh well, to each their own. I like a lot of his shots, and movies, but then I see a lot of beauty in the 'mechanical'. Grew up on Kraftwerk and love Bauhaus and spartan teutonic imagery, so it works for me hehe.

Glad you're looking forward to it.

BlackFalkin said...

The top dollar pic is pretty cool, but the original pic lotus made was a little better imo. But who cares man, this is a great add on and I am pumped that it's close to being released! Nice Breitling paint Lotus, I am going to enjoy flying it, now if I could just get one of those watches and the Quattroporte to match I'll be set!:) I was hoping you made the all black "Patriots" fry's electronics paint, but I'll have to make that and a special "BlackFalkin" paint myself. ;) no worries though. I'm very interested in these "cool new features" you mention earlier, I think I can guess one of them based on something I would LOVE to see in FSX, but other than that, I'm totally clueless lol. Is the L39 going to be 3d light compatable? I recently added it and its a cool addon, It makes spotting traffic a little easier(which is harder than one might think in real life). Speaking of Top Dollar's 11-man formation screenshot, achieving that in multi wouldn't be a bad idea.... challenging, but fun! Heres a link to the patriots jet team L-39 if anyone hasnt seen it already.


patriotsjetteam.com

http://www.airshowsamerica.com/pix/media_files/4JET-MASTER-FLAT.jpg

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Heya Falkin. Hmm.. Fry's... where do I start? ;)

I lived next to a Fry's electronics store for 3 years and I have *never* had a good experience there. Not one of the employees knows anything about anything that they sell, their service is a joke, their return policy is all but useless and they make you wait in line for 3 days...

I also find it kinda ridiculous that this team calls themselves the "Patriots" while flying Czech made jets... ;) If they were flying T-38s then fine. I won't go on.

All that is to say that I'll leave that paint to you, I'm going nowhere near it! :) If I do one more formation team paint then it'll be a fictional Snowbirds one. They really need a new ride. Yeah I'm a pain the ass I know, sorry. Hehe.

Yup you could add those 3d light effects if you wanted to I guess. I can't stand them myself, I think they're *way* overdone and only look correct in very heavy fog, but it shouldn't be a problem.

Glad you're pumped for the release. At this point I just want it done! :)

Cheers Falkin.

Dougie said...

You think the L-39 is exciting, wait 'til you see this.
Lame

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

I'm not sure what's more frightening... that someone actually made a bus driver sim... or that someone felt the need to compete with it by making another.

BlackFalkin said...

Hahaha! Fry's customer service IS a joke! I can't speak for their employees but the customer service is horrible at best. I switched to a place called Micro Center for my computer needs.

"Patriots" was probably selected to stir up some "hometown pride" or something. However, despite the name & the sponsor (with a bad business model), the design is one of my favorites. I also like the bumble bee paint from the enthusiasts site, its a very unique and fun design.

http://l39.com/pictures/Hun_AF001.jpg

The 3d lights are cool to me, however, I will admit that they have some faults, most notably, they show up in the daytime! Lets not for get Rex, the sky sometimes looks like I'm flying around in Hell, with Satan as my co-pilot! lol The other Rex features are great though, one of my favorite addons & worth money.

As for being ready to be done... I dont blame you, man. Are you burned out or what? I know I would be! One complete year and still working 8-12 hour days?! Let's just say you have got some INTENSE intrinsic motivation! :)

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Thanks Falkin. No, not burnt out, actually quite the opposite, I'm really pleased with how it's coming along, but I am looking forward to putting this project to bed... and getting very very drunk. ;)

I don't dislike the look of the patriot's scheme, I just think the name is a bit silly and of course their sponsor can go to REX hell.

Completely agreed on REX btw, both good and bad. I stick with FEX skies.

As for the Hungarians (of which I am 1/4 by descent) I really think they need to put down the paint can and walk away slowly. Their schemes are just insane, especially that shark one.

Brand0 said...

This thing is looking really good. Can't wait to try it out.

I have a random question, maybe somebody here can point me in the right direction...

I have a saitek flight control system with a throttle. I need to know if it is possible to reverse the direction of the throttle to simulate the direction of the collective lever in a heli setup. I tried reversing the axis in FSX, but, unlike with the throttle of a fixed wing, it doesnt reverse; just stays in the same backwards direction (forward increases collective)

I am trying to get comfortable with the controls so I can fly my uncle's r22 if I get the chance.

I apologize for such an off-topic post, but I cant find any info on this.

Thanks alot

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Heya Brando. If you reverse the axis for your throttle it should work as a proper collective. If it isn't then just double check that you're reversing the axis on the correct controller in the drop down list. The X52 often isn't the first in the list.

Failing that I highly recommend purchasing FSUIPC 4 for fsx. It will allow you to calibrate or reverse any control you have on an aircraft specific basis. It offers an insane range of calibration settings and allows you to adjust the response curves for just about anything. In fact you can have different control settings for different paints of the same plane/helo. You can get it from simmarket and Pete Dowson's support forum is here:

http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html

There is a free version but you need the payware one to get all the good joystick stuff.

I find it absolutely indispensable for flight sim, just a brilliant utility. Does a lot more than just controller fine tuning as well.

Hope that helps.

Brand0 said...

Mike

Thanks alot, man. Looks like I need to get that software, I'm pretty sure I had it set up for the right hardware.

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

No worries. I think you'll find it amazingly useful. It also allows you to add cyclic trim to helicopters, mega useful if you like doing cross country flights in them.

Anonymous said...

I'm so excited for this bird! Only thing missing now is a CT-114...(A good one)

Anonymous said...

Don't mean to add preasure about the expected release date but, would you say June, July, or August?

Anonymous said...

June I'd bet

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

I really don't know yet, sorry, so I'm not going to try and predict a date at all. Such is the price of developing the first airplane I guess.

I've likened it to running full speed through a pitch black room full of walls, with only a keychain light for guidance haha. You only know the walls are there when you smash in to them. If I make another plane after this... it'll be a *lot* smoother and more predictable.

Cody said...

That's a really cool picture. The other day I was at a Civil Air Patrol meeting and a few people got promoted blah blah blah, so we had cake and one of the younger not so senior seniors came over to the cadets and he showed us pictures of his 2 L-39ZA's that he and his uncle own. He had some awesome pictures on his iPhone of the plans in formation doing rolls from the cockpit POV. In uhh July he said he was going to take them up to Arlington air show in July.

Anonymous said...

annnnnd ....? Go on with the story. Are you going to get to ride sotgun or what?

Cody said...

I'd like too, but I don't even know the guy for his name. I mean, I could have read it... on the name.. tape.... Anyway. That's about it. But this weekend a B-17 is coming into Boeing field and theres a possibility I can ride on that.

Anonymous said...

Oh Okay, nice. Yea I would love to ride along in an L-39, or any military plane for that matter. San Diego A&S mueseum has a VERY basic f-18 simulator that I had a change to jump in. I know what these guys mean when they say the stick "runs" away from them...in the sim u get to feel some G's so i can only imagine what its like for real!

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

The part they don't tell you about G force, the real stuff, is that your butt hurts for a few days afterwards haha. The seats in an L-39 aren't exactly lazy-boy quality in the padding department, and when your torso weighs 600lb... ;)

I was sore all over after an hour of flying with Tyson, regularly hitting 4 - 5G, and I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything. :)

Hope you get the ride in the B-17, that would be a blast. Damn loud I bet too.

Anonymous said...

Wow, how perfect was that, getting to fly in a l-39 for free just like that! You got some first had ref pics i bet, probably tons of them! Are there any places where I can pay for a ride in a l-39?

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Yep, it was the best hour of my life and a gift I am very grateful for. I'm not sure on buying rides in L-39s in North America. I know you can do so in eastern Europe and Russia, and also in Australia, but I would imagine there are at least a few places in the US that sell them. You'll have to do some searching. The cost is probably around $2-3K per hour. An L-39 chews through about $1500-$1800 an hour in fuel alone at today's rates.

I figured out the other day actually that if I were building a real L-39, in all my test flying hours this past year I would have burned through about $850,000 in fuel, or roughly twice the value of the plane, haha.

BlackFalkin said...

Isn't the L-39 slightly under powered? Introduced 40 years ago but wow thats a large bill! Anyone know any comparable jets' comsumption/hour?

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Heya Falkin. I'm not sure on the consumption of other jet trainers, but I bet they're probably a bit better hehe. The L-39 uses a russian engine, and those were usually built with an eye to durability rather than efficiency.

If you want to know a bit more about its performance:

It burns about 480 gallons per hour at full power at sea level (which gives you about 30 mins flying time hehe). By 22000 feet that drops to about 140 gph.

At low level and high power settings you have about 200-250 nm range, in the flight levels you can stretch it to about 450nm on internal fuel. Thrust to weight ratio is not good, only about 0.4, so loops from level flight without a dive to pick up some speed are very marginal and not always possible. In the L-39 you have to play the energy management game very carefully when doing aerobatics, but that's part of its charm. You also have to watch the G load vs airspeed carefully. Try to pull more than 4G at less than 400 kph and she'll hitch up and stall mid pull, turning you into a brick basically.

BlackFalkin said...

Really!! I can't wait to fly this thing. :) I love planes that have a little kick to 'em. Keep up the good work.

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Cheers man. There will be quite a bit of manual space devoted to its operating limitations and performance, to keep you out of trouble hopefully hehe. It's actually a very docile and generally forgiving airplane but its limits are set in stone; overshoot them and it will bite you. Call it the thinking person's fighter. I always say that it's an easy plane to fly, but a hard one to fly really well. ;)

Anonymous said...

Lotus. know of a good payware a-10 thunderbolt?

Lotus / Ramasurinen said...

Nope, I don't know of any. The only decent payware A-10 I'm aware of was an Aerosoft one for FS9. I think it was made by the same guy that modeled the new F-16.