FLYING BOAT BASE SCENERY

[BendyFlyer]

Just a quick heads up recently discovered Instant Scenery and found that it really does what it said so have been having a go at the various flying boat bases used by TEAL etc in OZ and NZ. So far so good, not exactly 100% accurate but enough to satisfy this simmer.

So far I have done:

Rose Bay in Sydney Australia
Evans Bay Wellington NZ
Waitepe Bay Chatham Islands NZ
Aituki Cook Islands NZ
Laucal Bay Fiji

and working on Mechanics Bay Auckland.

Anyone think of any I may have missed?

Due to some copyright issues I may not be able to publish as some stuff probably belongs to others but given the way that Instant Scenery works I am not sure whose objects are free and whose are payware anymore so I might just do a a discreet link to you folks for upload and use.

Here is a a screenshot of Rose Bay:



I will post a few of the others tomorrow. Cheers

[gojozoom]

Funny, I've been doing something very similar with Instant Scenery: making seaplane bases around NZ: Porirua Harbour, Nelson Lakes, D'Urville Island, etc

Nice stuff man!

[NormNZ]

Love to see Laucala Bay but with a real aircraft (Sunderland) in the braby.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (NormNZ @ Oct 28 2014,11:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Love to see Laucala Bay but with a real aircraft (Sunderland) in the braby.

Norm, I was going to mention the Sunderland, again be good to get a real McCoy supremo model, ..... not that "hick hmm disscusting" what the hell do ya call that model by FCS.

[BendyFlyer]

QUOTE (NormNZ @ Oct 28 2014,8:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Love to see Laucala Bay but with a real aircraft (Sunderland) in the braby.

Norm, Adrian Band I converted the JBK Hythe into a Sunderland (check out the forum posts on this). Adrian has done the textures and fixed the contact points and I have reworked the aircraft data and sound etc. It performs really well just like the Sunderland would have according to all the accounts I have read but I have not uploaded it yet due to other comittments and the need to find a cheap or freeby site where I can upload large files for access, this is important as I live in rural OZ and have significant limits on my broadband data usage as we have to use a mobile connection and have no landline. I was also distracted by reworking the Sandringham and the Solent and it was doing some time in the Solent that led me to look at the scenery stuff, which is where I am at the moment.

As a side note I use ORBX scenery along with ORBX Global and Global Vector as the shorelines etc are quite accurate when compared to Google earth etc. The only issue I have had is elevations which I have had to fudge especially at Evans Bay. Mechanics Bay is interesting as there is now a marina and a fancy round building on the site where TEAL use to operate from and the cover up of those means you back in the 1960's and not 2000 for that part of Auckland, not that I mind!

I have tried to create an AI or scenery object model to use as a Static aircraft in these sceneries and while I could get the aircraft up I have not succeeded in getting one with the textures on it, so it is always a black ship which is odd. If anyone has any ideas or can recommend how this could be done I would appreciate it. I think the issue is that these are earlier models from MSFS that were redone for MS2004 and then a portover was done to get them to work in FSX. These issues have prevented any real work on the internal graphics and textures as the mapping is weird and you cant use GMAX either. I at last have laid my hands on some early style radios etc to put into the Navigator and Radio Operator positions (alas only 2D popups) which is great but with the need to work and keep a farm going into the third year of a diabolical drought here not much sim stuff gets done.

[deeknow]

Fantastic !!! yeah I'd be super keen on a sneaky copy

[NormNZ]

Sounds great and I have the two versions of Adrian's JBK Hythe conversion. Look forward to the scenery.


No not the concrete block FCS model Ian
and wonder why I came to mind

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (NormNZ @ Oct 28 2014,5:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No not the concrete block FCS model Ian
and wonder why I came to mind

I am very very surprised a super model has not been made covering all variants, Sunderland, Solent, I don't have the access to the Auckland flying boats, I had a real good crawl through them in the late 80s early 90s , be great to get an open invitation to shoot the hell out off it .

[BendyFlyer]

OK a few more:

First a couple of shots of Laucala Bay. The aerial shots I have of it show differences but I learnt that the place was hit by a Cyclone and then rebuilt. Anything I need to add, oh and I cannot get rid of the modern highrises as they are ORBX Autogen.



This one shows the seawall or braby better:



This Aituke Lagoon in the Cook Islands, apparently they used the old WWII refuelling station which was just a jetty and an office or house to refuel and disembark pax. They were then taken across to the main island where the aerodrome is today by boat.



Fly by to check out the mooring and jetty at Aiutuke



Chatam Island was interesting their is basically only a hut and that is all there was heres a couple of screenshots after departure back to Wellington.







Can't show the NZ stuff as I have a glitch with the scenery files (all my water has turned to land for some reason) another FSX glitch.

[NormNZ]

Almost like being back at the Bay but our accomodation was not that flash.

Norm

[gojozoom]

Hi BendyFlyer, you can get rid of autogen by using the Exclusion Rectangle feature of Instant Scenery.

[Adrian Brausch]

Nice work !,...any chance Hobsonville might be put on the list ?

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (NormNZ @ Oct 30 2014,8:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Almost like being back at the Bay but our accomodation was not that flash.

Not sure Norm , when I checked out the Sunderland in the late 1980s I thought I could fly in this for hours and hours ... but then I was only getting nostalgic.

[BendyFlyer]

QUOTE (Adrian Brausch @ Oct 30 2014,9:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice work !,...any chance Hobsonville might be put on the list ?

Hi Adrian, sure almost forgot about Hobsonville. I will have to hunt around for a better aerial shot of it, I have a lots with the remains today of hangar etc but the others are all close ups and dont give much detail. I have local Council report on its heritage value which describes the exact location, I will work on that one. Got Mechanics Bay to do first.

Adrian on another topic I have the last of old style radios so now working on completing the Sunderland. I will email you the config file with the changes to performance etc. You will need you will need the Garry Jones TW Sound package for the R1830 its the most authentic. The final panels are: engineer, navigator and radio operator they are all 2D popups. I have simulated the six tank per side setup for the Sunderland but not the fuel system I have added a number three tank and its location and quantity is right for where they had several tanks. I also discovered there is a big difference between operational load (max all up weight and all tanks full) which was used by the military and especially in WWII but normal fuel load is about 75% of what can be carried, at that fuel load the take off performance is much better. Oh in case in any one else is interested the take off distance is about 10,500 ft longitudinally or nearly 2 nm. I have put together a manual and will send that too for interest, still unfinished but based on official docs and ex Sunderland Pilots recollection of how they flew the aeroplane. One thing good about flight sim, no sliding off the wing on a cold and wet winters morning into the ocean doing a preflight and predeparture!!