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The exterior does look nice! :D

I have the Alphasim PBY as well and I flew all the available freeware PBY’s on the sim since fs98, (and there were a lot I tell you :? ), so I do have some experience with the Flight Simulator Catalina. Also I have (and read) loads of books on it. So here is what I really feel it should have, otherwise it won’t have a thing to compete with the Alphasim one. I reckon. And to be honest, it has nothing to do with the amount of liveries. If the plane is good, the liveries will be made by the buyers. But good old 'n weathered exterior and interior panels and surfaces is without any question mandatory. One 2D panel seems to be far to less by the way, read on and you see what I mean.

Something needs to be done with the interior.

It has sooo many possibilities there, just think of the views from the bubble, or sit at the flight engineers station in the wing pylon, or check out the bunks, where they also made coffee I believe (in the tiny little ''kitchen'') on those 20h patrol trips, or a nice nose turret view, like this nice b-25 payware add-on has got, forgot the brand. Think of all the hatches you can open and close. The best is a virtual cabin, but I wonder if that works, because this plane has the cockpit on one level, the FE station even higher, and the hull itself is far from level from front to back, so it will be difficult to move through all that even with Active Camera since this has no vertical control. Still this is what I dream about, this would surely make a real neat Cat. Also part of the interior is of course a immaculate VC, that is what Alphasim didn't do quite right as well. Mainly all the switches on the large control column are all not functional. And the textures are not that stunning to my opinion, large areas are just plain grey.

A few minor things on exterior.

You should be able to open up some more hatches and stuff. There are a few. Also, older Cats in the FS98 era had the neat feature that if you were in the water and selected parking brake you got a line with some mooring equipment in the water. Nice detail that was. There is even a ladder build in some Cats, from the empennage it extended down so passengers could embark more ‘easy’.

On instruments.

Very important is proper and separately placed gauges for the manifold pressure and rpm. Not like the Alphasim cat has, with a button it shows manifold on top of the rpm, and that is cra#, excuse the language. How on earth can you control the engines properly this way. Put in some old looking ADF's. And check out the Bill Lyon's Sikorsky S-43, where you can actually aim the circular ADF antenna on the roof. Mind you, the ADF is an important one for the PBY. The ADF is received for hundreds of miles over the seas if the NDB is placed along the shoreline. Actually I didn’t like the panel at all really. I believe they had a Sperry Pilot in it as well in the past, not sure about this. But the PBY is of the same era as the Dakota, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Then some proper fuel gauges and fuel selector switches. Make sure you can also feather the engines, would be a waste if not.

Cowl flaps of course, and with some instruments to check on temps, like CHT. And EGT obviously for leaning. Here is the FE station again. The pilot did have control over the engines with throttle and rpm, but the FE had the mixture controls. And I believe he also fine tuned the rpm from upstairs.

And obviously perfect flight dynamics, I see you are a Dutchman, so you could have all the info you need through the PH-PBY, the Neptune Association right? Also I have the little booklet Pilots Notes on the PBY, but that doesn’t incorporate the amphibian, just the flying boats but it has some good info. I wonder if there is no proper POH available somewhere. I mean, Consolidated is long gone and the design and ops are far from secret nowadays. I myself live in Amsterdam, so if there is anyway I can help, I surely would like to. I am a real life pilot (Cessna’s and Pipers still) and aircraft mechanic as well, so I should :wink: know a thing or two. I hope you guys also are able to create some good water splash effects. Not just for the main hull, but also for the wing tip floats, if they hit the water. That would be a good detail too.

You'll find me at Emma, besides Amsterdam, a lot too. I have loads of pictures gathered, will be glad to send you them all. There are plenty of sites too.

I hope this creates a lot of reactions. I like to hear it all. Shoot people! Bring it on! This bird is worth it!!

Ps, check out the nice details that Bill Lyon does in his planes, like the pinups, barking dogs when you poke them in the eyes, good tunes on the radio. Don’t copy it of course, think of something alike, this brings these aircraft really to life. This man knows how to make good and fun stuff for the sim.

8)

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Hey pby5a, not to distract from this beauty (which it is), but you can fix the alpha while waiting for this one by using the default DC3 guages for MP and RPM. They fit in nicely. I was not too happy with the VC set-up either. Mathjis, make sure the vc is accurate on this baby, please. Also, some nice custom sounds would be appreciated.

LouP

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It's an interesting comparison. And AlphaSim will tell you that they don't go for hard core realism, their approach is more "fly and buy" without huge manuals.

That being said, Mathijs has stated that the Aersoft version will be like the Seahawk in terms of framerates - something to keep in mind....

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Hi LouP,

I didn't know that but I should have. I did some panels adjustment in the past on the older pby's. But nowadays I really prefer to fly VC, got a 19" CRT flatscreen and with Active Camera this is absolutely great. In the Alphasim even the VC has that strange arrangement, no man pres gauge. So this would not make me happy either.

And Kofi,

As you may have seen that was my first post in this forum/thread :-) and too be honest this is also the first time I visit the Aerosoft Forum at all. Therefore I haven't seen Mathijs his statement of that it would be comparable with the Seahawk's framerates. But then still this doensn't mean to me much, I don't have and know the Seahawk. I only have the Aerosoft Beaver and this is a good aircraft, a lot of animanitions and more. But there a a few little things on that a/c too. But this is about the PBY. I just hope they'll do this one right, I love this plane.

And what they did with the Beaver, a modern panel and a vintage panel is a good idea too with the Cat. I would like to be able to fly it all the time, also IFR when my real wx becomes bad.

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Hi PBY,

You know that you can put these guages in the VC also, right... Anyway, if you have made adjustments to panels in the past, you should not have any issue with this one. Just scroll down to the VC section of the panel.cfg file and swap out the instruments and you'll be ggod to go. I made a lot of adjustments to my PBYs and am very happy with all of them.

Kofi,

Yes you are correct in how Alpha operates. I look at it as a base to start from and make adjustments as needed, then wind up with a really good add-on. For example, I really spruced up the vc and 2d cockpits on the Osprey. Then added new sounds and added in the hover guage so it actually hovers. That aircraft is now awesome but I wonder how many other people do this to their Alpha craft.

LouP

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Looks fantastic, and a definite must have addition to anyone's aircraft folder if they like float planes...like me :D

(just make sure it has disappearing pilots when the parking brake is engaged, or if in water the tie downs are in place) - Yeah Im odd

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Very nice Matthijs. This preview has been a long time in coming since those early "tease" shots.

Thoughts:

- Paint Kit

- A rubber dinghy or Zodiac as an extra for the Cousteau version (as a tender?)

- Visible buoys and floating lights for a water landing strip. (Water landings can be so haphazard with no "pointers" as to where the wet runway has its limits.)

- a dedicated "Wet-strip" for the Cat as a "goody". Near Emma would be good. Oh, and on the subject of Emma (weren't you involved with that during your "L" days?) - how about an update that can handle MaxTerrainVertexlevel 21? (The waterfalls have a land bridge on the second cascade at 21)

- in line with the Seahawk/Boxer combo thinking, hows about a "Calypso" boat as well? With choppers and Zodiacs... and divers :wink:

- again in line with the Seahawk/Boxer combo thinking, how about some missions, i.e. WW2 type "Rescue the downed pilot" and "Hunt the sub"

OK, that's enough for now. :wink:

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Hi Matthijs!

You asked for an idea? Here's one:

Please make a bundle with some nice small airfields as shown in freight dogs for example. You don't know where? What about the area of Vancouver - and continue dreamin' - compatible to the Vancouver+ Scenery from FSAddon (Holger Sandmann).

Please think about ;-)

Kind regards,

Frank

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Hi Mathijs,

another Idea;

put the "Cat" together with a few "Pacific Islands" like the Fiji Islands, or Marshall or Truk.

The Cat played a major role during WWII in this area and FS2004 sceneries of that reagion are not wide spread. Bundle that with FSCargo World Files. That would be something really new.

Just an idea.

P.S. regarding this site ( http://walhalla.mine.nu/fs2004.php ) there are only two sceneries, one mesh, one with airstrips)

P.P.S. Send Sascha for "Holidays" there, he can take the pictures. :oops: :lol:

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Hi,

Looking real good there, good thing I got a super-PC on the way :-D

Any screenshots of the blistered/radar-equipped/turreted model yet?

Best

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Super Matthijs. That is a fantastic job. I can do scenery but have no idea how you geniuses come up with such beautiful aircraft models. Of course, like others, the Catalina has always been one of my favorites.

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  • Aerosoft
Super Matthijs. That is a fantastic job. I can do scenery but have no idea how you geniuses come up with such beautiful aircraft models. Of course, like others, the Catalina has always been one of my favorites.

Well basically the whole series of Aerosoft internal aircraft is just a list of the aircraft I love best. But don't tell my boss. If you look at all aircraft you will see the share a few things, they are tough, they are cool and they got rotary engines (okay, not the Super Cub). But it is a unspoken rule that I focuss on the VFR stuff a bit.

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Well basically the whole series of Aerosoft internal aircraft is just a list of the aircraft I love best. But don't tell my boss. If you look at all aircraft you will see the share a few things, they are tough, they are cool and they got rotary engines (okay, not the Super Cub). But it is a unspoken rule that I focuss on the VFR stuff a bit.

As they say "Low and slow" VFR is the best

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Hi Mathjis

First of all congratulations to nice flightsim model of the Catalina.

Just some details I noticed:

1. The left propeller is shaped like it would rotate counter-clockwise (looking from aft). This would be wrong as the Catalina didn't have engines with opposite turning direction (like the P-38 for example).

Both engines should rotate clockwise.

Microsoft did a similar mistake with their DC-3. There the left propeller is as well incorrectly shaped.

2. The labels of "Hamilton Standard" on the propellerblades were never attached on the aft side of the blades. They were only placed on the side which is visible when looking from the front.

Apart from this the model looks extremely accurate.

Bets regards

Thomas

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I like your taste, Mathjis.

About the Catalina I would suggest these requests:

The PBY from the movie Always

http://www.scalefirebombers.com/index3.html

The ability to drop "red stuff".

A better than great sound for the rotary engines, including start up and shut down that works well with my subwoofer.

It already looks great.

Rui

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