home	projects	downloads	about me
news	links	X-Combat

15/6/05

Good lord, is that the time? Apologies for the delay in updating this (again!). I haven't had much time for the actual website due to small distractions like splitting up with my wife, moving out etc. I now spend most of my time on oil rigs, so it is a little difficult to access this stuff! I'm writing this sat in a control room, waiting to do a test on the control system. Hopefully (!) I'll be able to upload this at some point. We'll see...

Anyway, what's happened in my X-Plane stuff? I've released the SU-27 and the A-4C. Several months were put into building a model of Buck Roger's Starfighter, but a hard disc crash killed it. I did manage to build an object, which hopefully will be used as part of the new 'Azurland' scenery project. It is an 1800ft tall tower, with a runway and hotel on top! I no longer have the file (due to the hd crash), so I will try to download it from the org and put it up here for anyone who's interested. At the moment I am still trying to get my head around all the new features in X-Plane V8, as they make it much more difficult to build a plane!

I have had discussions with Austin (the guy who writes X-Plane) about some of the quirks with X-Plane's handling of moving wings. I am intending to do a new version of the XB-70, but at the moment it is on hold till I can get the wingtips to move the way I want them to without the plane ripping itself to bits !

3/9/04

Well, that was another long break from updates for this page!

unfortunately quite a lot has happened over the last few months. I have split up from my wife, and am about to start a new job which may well not leave me much time for this. Also my computer ate itself, causing me to lose all the work I had done updating this website. Guess which was the only folder on my hard-disc I hadn't backed up? Obviously it has taken some time to recover everything (and get a house, and an internet connection, and upload software etc...)

I hope to continue building as best I can, especially with the news about the expanded capabilities of X-Plane V8.0 which should be out in a couple of months. However, as I say, things will be slower now. I should be releasing an interim update of the F-16XL for X-Plane 7.61, and hopefully soon a version of the F-16 itself. There is a team doing some work on the F-16, hopefully including a new 3D cockpit and all colour schemes used by all client nations. Should be good! Go to

http://www.x-plane.tk

for more info on that..

I'll try to update this page with more news as I find out what's going on.

Keep the blue side up. Cheers, and thanks for all the support.

Andy

9/3/04

Well, this hasn't been updated for quite a while, has it? Various reasons for that, not least the fact that the web authoring software I was using has decided it won't work anymore, so I have had to get new stuff. Oh, well.

On the X-Plane front, more has happened. The A-4 Skyhawk was released, and seemed to go well. I then had a call from a guy in America who used to fly the Skyhawk in Vietnam. He asked if I could do a model of his plane. I figured it was worth a go, so I got hold of the POH for the A-4C and set about modifying the plane. I now have it flying quite close to the numbers in the manual, although it is a bit fast. I was waiting for the release of the next version of X-Plane, but I may release it now. Version 7.40 of X-Plane is expected to completely change the way instrument panels are done, but I think it will take me a bit of time to get used to the new system before producing any panels. In the meantime, I have started work on an Su-27. The geometry took quite a few lunch breaks to perfect, as it is heavily edited in acf-2-txt. But now it looks great. Unfortunately my scanner doesn't work any more, I was going to scan a couple of pictures to get some colour samples for the texture, but no such luck. Anyway, we'll see. I also have a rough model of the Antonov An-225, and have been checking out my Mig 29. You may notice a Russian theme here, so it's a shame that the RussianWings website is kaput. Still, I think I'm getting the hang of this X-Plane lark now!

25/9/03

Sorry I haven't updated this for a while, been kind of busy (and had my computer crash on me in work, so I couldn't do any work on this in my lunchbreaks for quite a while).

So what's happened? The F16 is finished. I believe the USAF briefings went very well. I hope to hear more news soon.The KA-50 has also been released.

I have just joined a design group called Russian Wings. It is dedicated to Russian aircraft, which are rather under-represented in X-Plane in my view. I have done some more work on my Tu-160, and have now got it flying well. It even breaks the sound barrier now - only took about a year to fix!

Most work just recently has gone into the A4 Skyhawk. I am trying to do a panel for it now, so that I can release it and start proper work on the Tu-160 again. Hopefully it will be finished soon.

2/7/03

I've been working on the F-16 for Chris recently, as a guy called Will Wobbe has volunteered to do a complete new cockpit for it. It looks really good so far. Look for it soon (Apparently the first round of briefings went very well. The next round is mid July some time).

I also received a request to do a conversion of the Ka-52 into the Ka-50 Hokum. A chap called Steve Downing has come over to X-Plane from MSFS. I dont know what work he did for MSFS, but judging by the cockpit he's built for the Hokum, his work must have been pretty special! This one is also nearly ready for release.

Hopefully I will get all this sorted out in the next two weeks, as I am away for quite a while after that. I have a couple of weeks training, and then a weeks holiday (to recover?)

28/5/03

I've released the Ka-52, which got some very good reviews on X-Plane.org. I have started work on a Sukhoi Su-17, with a view to improving the flight model on my old Tu-160 (fairly similar layout). I have found that the flight model in the betas of version 7 is quite different, especially at very low speed (and possibly at very high speed too - the XB70 needs some more test flights in V7 to check it's ok)

. I received an e-mail from a chap in America called Chris Mihok, who works at Viper-Pits. He is doing a demo of simulation software for the USAF and Royal Netherlands Air Forces, and he is using my F-16 model to show off X-Plane. Hope it goes OK!

6/5/03

It's been two months since I updated this page! Naughty naughty!

The F-16 was released with the usual airfoil cock-up (I must remember to set up the directories differently next time...). I have done quite a bit of work on the Lockheed Switchblade (see projects), although I have been having severe problems with the flight model (the X-Plane artificial stability is not really up to the job...). It has taken a back seat while I think about this, so step forward the Kamov KA-52 Alligator. This amazing helicopter is near release, the flight model is as good as I can get it, I am building a 3D model of the cockpit in Cinema4D to make a control panel. I also did a quick bit of work on the old XB-70. With the release of the first beta of X-Plane 7.0, I was able to make a version of the plane with correct elevons for the first time. Unfortunately the wing fold was completely screwed, still you can't have everything. I also wasted some time on the X-Plane competition to build a Viggen for version 7. Planemaker proceeded to eat my plane after a weeks work or so. Not good, so I've gone back to version 6.6 for now.

6/3/03

I've been fairly busy recently, although the website doesn't show it! The F-16 is now very near release, I'm tidying up the cockpit at the moment. Another plane is in very good shape, but I won't release details just yet - I'm sorting out a geometry problem. The flight model is impressive though - anything Sukhoi can do, Lockheed can do better!

I'm also working on a rebuild of the Valkyrie, using weapon files for some of the small structural details that can't be done properly in the normal format. Should be good. Oh, and I'm working 12 hours a day too.

29/1/03

It's been a little bit quiet on the XP front just recently. I tried building a Dehavilland Mosquito, but like my 38 lightning it handles abysmally. I have wasted quite some time on this, but now I've given up. I shall go back to the planes I know how to do - fast ones! A few days ago I found an old NACA paper which gave me a much better idea of the airfoil characteristics of a Delta wing. I used this to go back to the XB-70 (again!), and I find it has much more of a 'Delta' feel to it. I have scratchbuilt a model of the Mirage 2000 as a test bed for the new airfoil approach, so progress is now being made. At last I have some enthusiasm again! It seems that XP6.51 has several bugs in, ref weapons and autopilot, so some aspects of development will have to wait. Never mind, I'll keep working on it.

26/12/02

Well, I had been planning to get some work done over the hols, but no chance. Still, a couple of weapons are pretty much up together. I have contacted Austin about a bug in the wing bitmap mapping, so any further weapons are waiting his response.

11/12/02

The Valkyrie has been released at version 4 with the now traditional cock-up. I will be changing the way I produce the .sit files in future...Since the release I have been mostly going back over my weapons collection, and producing a new skin and flight model for the F-16. I hope to have a screenshot soon, as it looks pretty good so far. Unfortunately my computer at home is a little indisposed at present, partly because Win98 is a little sick and partly because a builder is (as I type this) knocking a large hole in the wall roughly where my desk used to be.

Future plans now are:

Get the weapons up together with proper bitmaps

Get the F-16 up together with a proper bitmap

Start work on version 5 of the Valkyrie. To include the Skybolt missile, the weapons controls for it, and a couple of geometry improvements that I will disclose shortly.

Carry on with the Blackjack, and it's cockpit.

25/11/02

Andy Orr is having a lot of trouble with his version of the cockpit, as some little thing called college work keeps getting in the way. I have taken a beta version that he sent me and adapted it into a new panel of my own. So, I hope to have a version for downloading soon.

14/11/02

Version 4 of the Valkyrie is essentially done. I am now working with Andy Orr to re-do the instrument panel. He is trying to produce a full custom cockpit, laidas per the original Valkyrie. This is rather a tall order, especially as we are trying to leave space for the weapons controls we will need for the skybolt missile it will eventually be armed with. Things have been fairly quiet on the X-Plane front for a little while, as I was kidnapped and sent to Norway for a couple of weeks, and since coming back I've been sorting out this new website. I hope to get hold of a couple of photos of the work we were doing in Norway, as it was quite interesting.

Anyway, in other news, I have been flight testing my Tu160, and improved it immensely. It still has trouble with breaking the sound barrier, but I'm working on it. I have also built a 3d cockpit for it, which will allow a full 360 degree view from the pilot's seat.