NZFF

Well I've had this one on my mind since long before the open day last weekend. That was really just the last straw that broke the camel's back for me. I live in Palmerston North, and the thought that just up the road is an airport long enough to land 747s, with the second strongest runway in NZ, Cat 1 ILS, with 2 runways, both sealed, all with approach lights.. etc etc really gets me. It is such an under-utilised airport at the moment, and really deserves a lot more traffic. There has been talk about turning it into a frieght hub for the lower NI. I'm actually liking the idea of it negating the need for NZPM to even exist. Apart from the distance and development costs of a terminal, it's actually a far better choice imho.

I'm getting off topic. Like I said, OH is way under-utilised and I like the idea of showing it some real traffic by modelling it accurately in FS. I'm talking photoreal buildings, hangars, pavement and 3d runway and taxiway lights. Something that models the airport as it looks in real life, rather than just how it looks in Google earth, or how AFCAD lets you build it.

Anyone else share my enthusiasm? It could be the wrong time to ask, of course, with WOW going on this weekend.

Do it! DO IT!

The active Military bases in NZ are lacking in terms of FS scenery (Ohakea was done a long time ago).....Id like to do Whenuapai but have to finish what im working on now first!

Timmo wrote:

QUOTE (Timmo @ Mar 25 2008, 01:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do it! DO IT!

The active Military bases in NZ are lacking in terms of FS scenery

Yeah aren't they? Strange how that is. For me, military aviation was a bit like helos. It was something I had to 'get' before I got into it. Maybe other people share this dilemma. Maybe its the lack of ability for AI to really enhance things in an authentic way?

Still waiting on a big enough show of hands to make this thing fly.

greaneyr wrote:

QUOTE (greaneyr @ Mar 25 2008, 12:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah aren't they? Strange how that is. For me, military aviation was a bit like helos. It was something I had to 'get' before I got into it. Maybe other people share this dilemma. Maybe its the lack of ability for AI to really enhance things in an authentic way?

Still waiting on a big enough show of hands to make this thing fly.

NZOH will be a good one to do, Deane B's scenery has soldiered on through 2.5 editions of FS, and could use a lift.
As to AI, it's all there for the taking at AVSIM, there's even a formation flypast or two...
Flight Simulator 2004 - AI Flight Plans
Royal New Zealand Air Force AI Package 1
Royal New Zealand Air Force AI Package 2: Ohakea

Part of the problem is of course access- With a civvi airfield anyone can walk on with a camera and snap away. Trying to get access to photograph every nook and cranny of the buildings at a military base might raise a few eyebrows ...in saying that, its far easier to get access to mil airfields here in NZ than it would be in, say, the USA ("Why are you taking those there photos boy? Are you one of those Terrorists?, I think you are so now I can lock you up for xx days with no trial or charge ) haha

Timmo wrote:

QUOTE (Timmo @ Mar 25 2008, 05:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Part of the problem is of course access- With a civvi airfield anyone can walk on with a camera and snap away. Trying to get access to photograph every nook and cranny of the buildings at a military base might raise a few eyebrows ...in saying that, its far easier to get access to mil airfields here in NZ than it would be in, say, the USA ("Why are you taking those there photos boy? Are you one of those Terrorists?, I think you are so now I can lock you up for xx days with no trial or charge ) haha

This is true. Military bases are both relaxed and tight when compared to civil. Relaxed as in 'security fences? Hello?' and tight in that they are NZDF property, with signs all around saying so, and guards on the gate, plus the obvious military undertones all the time. I mean, you could argue this is no tighter than a civil airport is to someone like myself in the cheap seats who doesn't fly and doesn't hold a security pass of any sort and for whom a crossing of the security boundary is a real 'event'. I think I've actually been airside at OH more times than I have been airside at PM (not including commercial flights). I guess the point is that these things are technically 'getable' whereas access to a military base is only available to the general public on open days.

Word on the street is that access to Ohakea isn't that hard if you know someone who works on the base. Not sure how far that could take you though.

I guess there's a few things we need to decide if how we're going to model this thing. Photoreal textures for buildings would be nice but may not be possible due to the reasons mentioned. Also, what to include, what not (in the way of buildings), photoreal ground yes/no. The big things dear to me on this at the moment are accurately placed 3d modelled runway and taxiway lights, realistic runway and taxiway markings, as well as changes in pavement surfaces as per reality. How we'd do this is another unknown. We could do it with GMax but there are issues there as Robin has discussed in earlier posts, plus the obvious problem again of where we'd source our origin data from.

Would love to see this one done myself.

Maybe we should go on a data hunt and see what we can all find? What we create depends almost entirely on what we have to base our work on.

Medium res aerial imagery isn't a problem, although possibly a little out of date even on Google Earth. To some extent, I know a few of the differences from having observed closely during the open day. From this, we can produce some crude dimensions, although there's a slight problem here since the threshold of RWY09 marks a seam between two images and they don't quite line up fully. Nothing super duper show stopping though.

There's a few videos featuring Ohakea at Youtube, there's the Airforce News magazine which is avbl in pdf format from their website, there's flickr and photobucket but neither of these were much use last time I looked.

Keep all updates in this thread.

So... how's everyone's data hunt going? I've had a pretty good scour of the web for images. Not a whole of that's of much use to be honest. A few photos of subjects AT Ohakea but none where Ohakea is the subject in it's own right.

I've also taken a few photos from the viewing area that give a reasonable feel for textures plus a few pointed at buildings. Nothing concrete to base a modelling on as yet.

How has everyone else gone?

Got this in 3megapixel res if you need it: