If the 'holy grail' of functionality and historical authenticity are not practicably achievable, the best outcome is an honourable compromise that is.

Well said, Sky.

FWIW, these days compromise is sadly lacking from society in general. It would be a blessing if we could achieve it here.

As to accuracy, I still say that the enemy of good is perfect.

If you want to be a 100%'er EAW can provide the perfect venue for your hobby. What greater thrill than to see your creation in action and used by players for their pleasure.

However, it's also possible to be a 90%'er and get just as much out of the game. My guess is that there a lot more players willing to take less accuracy for more variety and functionality than there are "absolutists".

I'd be delighted to have absolute authenticity. It would be in the tradition of the game, which represents still the most accurate portrayal of the war in the air of its era, in this genre, that I have yet to come across; and I've tried a few over the last twenty years. The game probably deserves the best cockpits that can be rendered. Having said all that, there doesn't seem to be anyone able or willing to do it and that's alright. We're not Microsoft, with all the resources that implies. You seem to be an aging, dwindling bunch of amateurs that have already achieved wonders in both alternatives of the game. You've done well up to now, let it continue, but don't discourage yourselves because you can't achieve miracles.

I worked on gauges very briefly, I was wondering if the non working ones could be removed during my tests, I have my answer now.

But I enlarged the dials to max out the space they covered (I covered, or dropped decorative elements) and I was able to get some more room to add marks and large numbers.
Effectively it wasn't real looking but functional, after all it was just a test.

I lost interest in three months of work. It was because nobody would answer my questions.

So I dropped all modding and decided to continue with my EAW help web site.

CJ said he would help some time after I stopped working on the dials when he reappeared in 2015.
I have some of that work still, but I sent it all to CJ I think, or some of it .

Anyway, from what I see, its almost everything I did except I didn't pull the panel back at all.

Unfortunately the case its the limitations of the way the game does 3D models and graphics.Get it to run a lot higher definition models (3D Max designed) with proper shading and atmospheric lighting.Sky boxes are like oil paintings and the terrain runs at CFS1 type resolution.Ground objects are still very low resolution and sprites are used a lot.Whereas the newer sims run all true 3D and lighting rendering a lot more better.The heart of EAW is the research and the way the sim flies with its AI and flight models.The missions are a lot more lifelike than a lot of modern sims.