f9f AH Panther mods

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hobby
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f9f AH Panther mods

Post by hobby »

I would like to get rid of the drop tanks on this aircraft because evidently those Panthers used in Korea specialised in ground attack and in that role never carried drop tanks. The F9F Panthers used for photo recce aircraft were unarmed but seemingly did use drop tanks. The freeware models are based on the freeware Aeroplane Heaven model which has permanently fixed drop tanks.

Is there any way one can delete the drop tanks from this model?

I don't know how one could do that but someone here might have the skill and computer program(s) to do so.

The Vertigo Studios Panther seems to have disappeared from all FS shops except Vertigo Studios website but the purchasing mechanism does not look very secure.

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Airspeed
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Re: f9f AH Panther mods

Post by Airspeed »

Hi Hobby :hello:
The Flyaway site lets you see a list of the files in the download. Whether they can still be seen AFTER download, I don't know.
The names include .bmps for wing tanks. I can't test any of this, as FS is not currently working on what's left of my system. I wonder if it is possible to delete the wingtank.bmp? Depending on the material from which the tank is made, it may be less visible. If you could get to the .bmp itself, and paint it pure black, that may make it invisible.

How accurate must the model be? Rob Richardson has, of course, done the Cougar, which was an updated Panther. He has a tankless option, but may have the wrong number of crew for your needs. :dunno:

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Re: f9f AH Panther mods

Post by DaveG »

Are you referring to the recent A.F. Scrub model, that's based off the old AH model?
If so, I had a quick look at the mdl in MCX, & first impressions are that you're out of luck. The tanks are part of the wing mesh, and has other parts attached to that which are part of the wingfold animation hierarchy. It could be done, but the amount of work involved isn't worth it IMO.
They share the same material/texture map as the wings, and the UV's overlap, so even if it were possible to "hide" the tanks using the texture alpha channel, you'd take a lump out of the wing as well. 8)

FlightStore sell the boxed edition of the VS Panther if you're interested.
https://www.flightstore.co.uk/aviation- ... ther-p2703
Edit: It's at PC Aviator as well: https://www.pcaviator.com/store/product ... t=0&page=1
Dave G.

hobby
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Re: f9f AH Panther mods

Post by hobby »

For Airspeed and Dave G:

Thanks to both of you for the help with the F9F-2 Panther.

The aircraft that I have on my FSX system is the recently released A F Scrub version of the freeware AH Panther. I think that aircraft has a most attractive shape and it is a great pity that the fuselage drop tanks cannot be dropped or otherwise erased without destroying part of the wing structure.

It was completely by chance that I discovered two things, first, the Panther, when used as a fighter bomber, did not carry underwing drop tanks. The second was that the Panther had leading edge wing slats or flaps. I discovered the latter clearly illustrated (page 525) in one of my oldest books on carriers: "Aircraft Carriers" by Norman Polmar, pub. Macdonald & Co. 1969 (785 pages), Price £8 - 8 shillings. The acft.cfg of the A F Scrub model makes no mention of these but I added them myself at 2* and that modification appreciably altered the "sit" of the acft. on approach - the leading edge slats/flaps extend when the first position of "flaps down" is selected.

The A F Scrub version appears to add an afterburner to the aircraft but I think that a 1949 design would not have had an engine fitted with an afterburner - I could be wrong about that but I can't find any references to an AB being fitted to any mark of Panther.

I do have Rob Richardson's Cougar and have been practicing ccts. and bumps - the instrument layout of US planes of that era looks so odd to one accustomed to the "basic six" being up front as in British aircraft - odd to keep looking down to check how the aircraft is performing but the emphasis in the Panther and Cougar seems to have been that the pilot had to pay more attention to his jet pipe temperature than where the enemy or the ground/sea was! Perhaps the real life training schedule "scanning pattern" took care of that.

I'll be ordering a disk version of the F9F Panther. Many thanks for the link.

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