PLEASE MAXIMIZE THIS WINDOW AND TURN WORD WRAP ON
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"COPPERHEAD II VTOL" by Clint K. Campbell
From the movie "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within"
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I am sharing this FSDS Pro model in an unfinished condition so that others can experiment and have some fun with it.
As it is, the model does fly in FS2000 and FS2002... but you will need to get it into the air using skew mode, since the landing gear/scrape points aren't well defined in the .AIR file. I am currently using the .AIR file from Jonathan Ostrower's Boeing X-32B Joint Strike Fighter, which is also a VTOL craft, and shares flight characteristics that are very similar to what I desired for this model.
I have included a few texture files for your use, if you care to use them, or you can make your own. My textures files are digital images of an 8" plastic Toys-R-Us model, and I haven't taken the time to edit them for uniform properties. In fact, the textures used on the model are very rough at this point. (Have fun fixing them!)
Because Abacus has not come out with proper updates to make "FSDS Pro" and "Flight Dynamics Editor" 100% compatible with FS2002, I am having to tweak the landing gear and scrape points for this .AIR file manually. I am BY NO MEANS talented at tweaking .AIR files, so pardon my mess. (Some day I'll take the time to learn "gMax", and hopefully that will take care of the problem.)
MODEL FEATURES:
--Animated (90-degree rotating) twin engine pods
--Animated ailerons
--Animated elevators and canards
--Animated "tail spine" rudder
--Animated retracting tail wheel
--Animated nose cannon (stays level with the horizon when craft pitches)
--Flashing red beacon on tail boom navigation antenna
--Default FS200X jetliner instrument panel
--Default FS200X jetliner SOUND.CFG
--Canopy opens when engines shut down
MODEL FEATURES INTENDED BUT NOT FINISHED:
--Many details (air intakes, radio antennas, fuselage parts, etc.)
--Animated main landing gear covers (open only when engine pods are 90-degrees and landing gear are lowered)
--Animated belly cargo door
--Custom instrument panel to resemble the one in the film
CURRENT PROBLEMS WITH THE MODEL AND/oR .AIR FILE:
--Rough textures/not completely textured
--Transparent canopy textures need fixed
--Landing gear points not defined (model sinks into ground, tips, then crashes)
--Scrape points not defined (model crashes in strange positions)
--Yaw instability at various cruise speeds
--Model gains 200~300 feet of altitude very quickly when transitioning from 0-degree thrust (flaps) to any other thrust (flaps) position
--Basic flight characteristics are okay, especially in 90-degrees thrust mode (a lot of fun to fly), but needs a little bit of work
I would greatly appreciate proper credit for my work on this model. Have fun with it... make it better... do whatever you want to it... but please give me some credit. If you come up with a good paint job and/or .AIR file for this model, by all means, PLEASE send me a copy!
