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Sukhoi Su-7B for FS2000/FS2002. An FSDS design. (432 KB)

INSTALLATION
Just unzip to your FS2000 or FS2002 "aircraft" folder.

This document contains important information, especially for you re-painters/tinkerers. If you decide to crack this plane open in MS Flight Simulator Aircraft Editor which comes with FS2002, be SURE to back up the .air file and the aircraft.cfg. You'd be better off manually editing. FSAE will force changes in things like the Oswald Efficiency Rating that will screw up the flight dynamics. And yes, it does write to the .air file! I went to high school with Oswald and I know he wouldn't like it. Ha ha!
This aircraft is the first thing I made after purchasing Abacus Pubs' Flight Simulator Design Studio (other than the big, green water tower for Meigs Field, ha ha!) It was intended to be only a learning exercise, but turned out to be such a nice flyer, I decided to release it. It's very nice to fly, as they say the real thing is/was. I can't guarantee that everything on it is perfectly accurate to the real thing, but I got as close as I could with the ONE book available to me, and guessed at the rest. For example, the book talked about the speed brakes, but didn't show a picture, so I did what I could based on the description. Check out the speed brakes, they're interesting. (Hit "/" while flying). As far as the panel goes, I just made it up. It's not too great, but hey, you try building a good one for a military jet using only the default gauges! It does run good frame rates. Feel free to modify it, swap gauges, whatever. If you do a good panel, send me one. And if you know what the real thing looks like, build one and send me a copy right away! Ha ha! The sounds are aliased to the default 737. I'd suggest you replace them with your favorite military jet sounds. Whether you decide to add it to your collection or just play with it for awhile and get rid of it is, of course, up to you. Personally, I'm very picky as to what gets to stay permanently, though I play with a lot of planes. There are a few things I'm not too chuffed about on this one, but overall, it's a fun thing to play with for awhile. If I get enough interest, I may continue to improve it and do another release. We'll see. I'm still learning FSDS and now I've started with the gmax tutorials. If you haven't tried it, go to the gmax folder in FS2002 and install it and get it registered right now! It's looking pretty damn good. I've already built a test plane with it and I'm quite happy with it. Be sure to install the tutorials and use them. They're in the gmax folder (somewhere).
The Su-7B was developed around 1955 by Sukhoi as a dedicated ground attack aircraft. According to the book I read, the pilots who flew it loved it, although the flight controls have been decribed as being heavy to the extreme. The aircraft also has a very high stall speed.
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I would love to hear from anyone who has actually flown this aircraft in real life. My contact info is below. I would also like to hear comments and suggestions from ANYONE, especially aircraft developers. Especially aircraft developers with advice on creating dynamic virtual cockpits in either FSDS Pro or gmax. If you're kind enough to write with your comments, maybe I'll send you my next aircraft before it's released. Those of us creating aircraft for your enjoyment will do a better job if you take the time to give us some feedback and suggestions. Positive or negative, we just need info.
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REPAINTS, POSTING, and OTHER PERMISSIONS...
This aircraft has some parts which are not textured, making a repaint to, say, camoflage, not really possible in its present state. HOWEVER, if you really want to repaint it, let me know and I'll send you a fully textured .mdl that you can paint. Also, if anyone wants to tinker with the model, I've still got the .fsc file (you'll need FSDS Pro). Write and let me know what you have in mind, and maybe I'll zip it up and send it to you. I've also still got the Aircraft animator files, etc. You can post this on your website, but drop me an e-mail with the address. Being my first plane, I'd like to see if anyone pays any attention to it, and where it goes.
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LEGAL INFORMATION
This aircraft is protected by international copyright laws! It may be distributed freely and even modified/repainted, but you MUST note any changes you make in a readme file and take credit for them. If you screw it up, I don't want my reputation getting any worse than it already is. Also, you must notify me of where I can download your revision/update (Hey, I like a good repaint too!) The one thing YOU CANNOT DO is sell this aircraft for money. Nope, this is an eternal freebie!
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Anyway, I hope you enjoy playing with this for awhile. Let me know if you decide to keep it permanently and I'll send you any future updates. Happy flying!

Cheers!

Rick...
brown71@wol.co.za
JHB Aerospace
17 January 2002