Made a start on Hood Aerodrome

[toprob]

Charl's screenshot over Masterton reminded me that I have a lot of photos from the airport, so I'm taking another look at it. The idea is to include AI versions of a lot of vintage collection. Today I installed a recent aerial background, which actually includes all the aircraft on display outside. I've also been experimenting with AI models, but these are just placeholders until I can take some photos. I'm pretty sure the museum is closed until summer, though.



I'm aware that there's a big development going on at Hood at the moment, so it might be a while until it is tidy enough to model. But I can make a start in the meantime, it'll probably take a while at my current pace anyway.

Hood Aerodrome would be a great antidote to my current lack of interest in completing NZPP, as it's a much more vibrant airport, very much a growing concern. NZPP seems to be contracting, they recently had to consider a plan to turn it all into housing, ala Wigram, but now there's an offer to buy with the goal of keeping it an airfield.

I will finish NZPP at some stage, but it is an ugly airfield, and there's not a lot I can do about that.

[Charl]

Would be great to have Hood in the sim, and hoping a 2020 version could be hived off, as I know you favour MSFS2024.
I will beta test at a moment's notice, too.

Does anyone know the current state of the aircraft collection, the museum, and the various companies involved with the replica fleet?
I've never been to Hood and wonder if that would be an interesting trip.

[K5054NZ]

This is an exciting prospect Rob and I look forward to following your progress.

As far as I'm aware the museum closed several years ago and the space is now used by Legend Aviation for event hire. I heard rumours of a new and separate museum/heritage centre some time ago but have no clue whether it's actively in the works.

TVAL has pilot training weekends at Hood at the last weekend of each month during the summer-autumn flying season. They're not necessarily publicised but the public can hang over the fence and watch. There are opportunities to tour one of the hangars but it tends to be on an invite-only or specific group basis.

TVAL recently completed a new, quite large hangar on the field. If they're working on any projects you're unlikely to hear anything until they're up and about due to the secrecy the team works under. It may not be like the glory days of the 2010s but the company is still doing stuff.

[deeknow]

I was in the "hood" last year w the missus, we were on a wee wine tasting weekend as you do and I thought I'd pop up to Masterton aerodrome and have a squiz .. the place was as dead as a doormouse sadly .. missus was not impressed w the detour

[toprob]

I should really visit again before I commit to too much work. Luckily it's just over an hour to get there, only trouble is the weather at this time of year.
Yesterday I got a warning that my Tripo subscription would renew overnight, and I'd lose most of my credits, so I went mad trying various images to figure out what works and what doesn't with old aircraft models. Most are not useable, but it does give me an idea of what I'd need to get useful models.



Tripo is better with vehicles than aircraft, that's for sure. I found one nice clean photo on TVA's facebook page, in the air, but as the prop was blurry I had Photoshop remove it. The AI still insisted on adding a tiny prop to the model, just not in the right place.

Started working on the aeroclub office, but as it's been a while since I took the photos I can't quite get the shape right -- I have photos front/back/left/right, but still can't make sense of some of the angles. But it's great to have a project which excites me. No AI here, though, the buildings are done the old-fashioned way.

[Splitpin]

Go for it Rob

[K5054NZ]

Hear hear, even if the AI makes a (fairly expected) bunch of mistakes to fix.

[cowpatz]

Great news. I've never been to Hood Aerodrome so I'm looking forward to this masterpiece.
Rob, I hope that you can spare the time to do regular updates highlighting both the challenges and progress of the project.
My only dabble with scenery was with Instant Scenery in P3D and Scruffy Ducks ADE, which I many used for correcting AFCADs.
Scenery building is an art form.

[deaneb]

I have been playing around in Blender and started modelling some buildings for Omaka. Next step is to import them into MSFS. Its a lot more complicated these days. I may be picking your brains if I get too stuck Rob!

[toprob]

I have been playing around in Blender and started modelling some buildings for Omaka. Next step is to import them into MSFS. Its a lot more complicated these days. I may be picking your brains if I get too stuck Rob!

Ah, Omaka would be a great project to start with, enough of a challenge without being overwhelmingly huge. Have fun!
Setting up a project for MSFS still takes a lot of trial and error for me if I start within the sim, as I tend to forget a lot between projects. In the early days I'd start with a sample project, edit it to fit the airport, and then load it in the SDK. Once there, it's a lot simpler, I do like working entirely within the sim to build an airport, and recent versions of MSFS2024 have ironed out a lot of the bugs.