No Guts – No Glory
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Well folks,
Frustrating couple of weeks.
The entire office spent all of last week trying to figure out what was up with the 109. Kind of a standard thing with all DCS planes when they suddenly begin doing something absolutely unexpected.
Our 109 flight model started as a copy of the P-51, and then we began slowly replacing all systems and all data with Messerschmitt stuff. Well, after another round of replacements something somewhere happened with something that made the 109 decide to crabwalk through the sky rather than fly straight like the Mustang. Check each new system. Nothing. Replace each P-51 system with each new 109 system individually. Nothing. Replace all together in conjunction – screech!
This is the kind of stuff we really can’t afford to be spending so much time on at this stage of the project, especially as it really looked to everyone that we really put more than enough time for the unexpected into the project in the first place. Still, the 109 still doesn’t want to fly right, and it’s not the question of our skills or experience. Like I said, the entire office, including all ED veterans, spent this whole time trying to figure it out alongside our programmers. If anything, their experience had a slightly calming effect. We want to pull our hair out, while they chuckle and say “yup, happens every time.”
To give you a better idea of the kind of work that goes into all of this, here’s some details of the P-47.
To make matters worse, the P-47 is documented so much worse than the P-51, and, surprisingly, even worse than the Bf 109. For example, check the tail gear shots above. This was all done from photos.
The best blueprint we have is this:
Obviously, not nearly enough data to fully model the mechanism. And with all parts that need to move in complex animations, making sure everything fits and doesn’t fall apart or clip through when animating, well, let’s just say that lately the P-47 modeler has had very little joy in his life.
