Classic British Flight Sim

Hi Ben,
Yes I guess you are right.
I have now used the SeaVixen Autopilot for the Seahawk 2D panel and am trying to sort the VC Panel. I just can't get to come up, I only get the outside background.
Don. in Tasmania

nazca_steve wrote:Thanks for the offer, Gaffer, but I never really intended to make it an FSX model, and the fact that it performs well enough in X as it is, is enough for me.

As for upsetting the applecart for users who abandoned FS2004, ah well, let that be a lesson for you! The Force strikes back against the Darkside ;-)

Cue flamewar.

thats fine, but conversion is very easy. you have done all the hard work in the fs9 model, and converting to FSX would be painless.

In the meantime, I've been painting, and have knocked out a few more examples. I also have the static model complete for scenery-builders (like the one I put out a while ago for Ian), and will be releasing that this weekend. The shabby looking partly-bare metal scheme you see below is for WM994, the first of the static model repaints I've done.

WM994:



WF174:



XE444:


UPDATE:

Got a few more screens for you chaps, including a new Dutch repaint showing the earlier markings (available for download now). In fact, all, apart from XE456 in this series are online now.

6-61:





XE456, a Hawker Siddeley Group trials aircraft:



IN157:



and a very weather-beaten static model I spent a large part of Saturday on...I do like 'em dirty, even if this one is a bit forlorn out in open display.

Cool idea Steve.. like that a lot ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

nazca_steve wrote:Well, chaps, after over a year's worth of work (yes, I am slow), the project is finished. I am literally sitting here with beer in hand. Please enjoy and feel free to share feedback, good or bad. Happy flying. All models and (ongoing) repaints can be downloaded at: http://www.nazcastudios.com/sea-hawk CHEERS

Great stuff Steve. I'll have to wait for less contention on this Virgin BB connection (they say its my router but internal wireless works fine - go figure) before downloading.

The only Sea Hawks (known as Sh**e Hawks to we maintainers) I worked on were GIAs (ground instructional). Nearly got squashed by an engine falling through whilst we were trying to lift it out as the instructor had mistakenly connected lifting strop to the compressor top casing eyelets and of course we trainees, not having worked on them before knew no better. I was underneath with others pushing and shoving to clear the bifurcated jet pipes of airframe structure. It was only luck that saved a nasty.

Your Hawk release flew past me whilst I have been flight testing SkySim's Vixen and working to ATC on a flight in hops from Seattle-Tacoma, Klamath Falls Oregon, Reno Nevada, Las Vegas Nevada and then LA. Strewth isn't McCarran, Vegas huge - needed a fuel pit stop by the time I got to the active runway threshold on depart to LA! I found something curious with the Oxygen on the way. It looks topped up but isn't but you are OK if you quit FS2004 and start over from a saved flight at the stop point.

Dodgy indeed, there Phixer, horrible to think that the old girl could have made that much of an impact on you
About the ground instructional frames, were these part of the SAH, or literally just GIA frames? Also, do you happen to remember what kind of state these were in, and possibly what paint schemes they wore?

Good luck with the downloads and Virgin, maybe you'll get them in time for Xmas...

ATB,

Steve

nazca_steve wrote:Dodgy indeed, there Phixer, horrible to think that the old girl could have made that much of an impact on you

Aye. Aircraft can be dangerous for those who know not what they are doing and also for the unfortunates working near them. I recall seeing a guy trying to remove a mainwheel from a jacked Hunter - by undoing a ring of bolts. Arrrgh! These were the bolts holding the wheel halves together. He was lucky that the fully inflated tyre didn't send a wheel half into his face at high speed.

About the ground instructional frames, were these part of the SAH, or literally just GIA frames?

The SAH aircraft were down at Culdrose mostly, with SAH xxx numbers on the cockpit sides. The GIAs, in my day were at Arbroath, HMS Condor.

The state varied but all were fairly clean with paintfinish in reasonable nick, certainly no worse that the Vixens I worked on that were long in the tooth or long out from last refurb'.

Markings I recall were the Caspian Tern of 897 Sqd'n and Flying Fish in Sun of 898. I would need to trawl through my copy of Sturtivant, Burrow and Howard 'Fleet Air Arm Fixed-Wing Aircraft Since 1946' for matching serials. I'll attempt this if you wish.

One SAH example depicted in the above cited book is FGA.6 WV865 SAH7 with call sign 038 in white (as are other markings) on side immediatly forward of intakes, on the all over black finish.

Good luck with the downloads and Virgin, maybe you'll get them in time for Xmas...

Looking worse right now than it was last evening. I often have to copy posts into a WP incase they get lost during posting by connection failure. Makes interacting on forums frustrating, not to mention hassle when a drop out occurs just as you send the payment page for an online order and the drop means that you cannot access the software you have just paid for as happened when I got models from Alpha Sim recently - they sorted it for me but VM need a good roasting on this. :-(

Hi Steve,
A super model ,thankyou. You could always tell a Sea Hawk maintainer - he always attached his tools by string around the wrist! for if you dropped a spanner during an engine change the whole engine had to be removed- there was no access to the Plenum chamber from below! He also carried a hide faced mallet to check the Plessy Starter head before reloading the cartridges. -Ah fond memories the last one I worked on was an "All Black" we had on Instrument Flight at Hal Far Malta in the early 60s late 50s. As a minor aside ( no critism) the JPT instrument was very important on this vintage of aircraft (Sea Venom, etc.)
regards John

Cheers for that detailed info there, Phixer. No need to check on the serials, (thanks though), as the state of wear and tear is enough for now in case I knock up one of the GIA airframes for a static model. I like the SAH birds too, I have to admit, as I've seen some with odd orange flashes and plenty of paint chips to make for some good paints.

What was life like up at Arbroath on a typical day? Did you spend a set amount of time on one type, such as Sea Hawk, then move on to another, or was it multiple types on one day? I can never get enough of old service stories. As for the 'Sh**ehawk' label, I am assuming it wasn't a popular bird to maintain - was this due to the difficulty accessing the engine?

Bringing me on to Pedro's comments, many thanks for sharing those little details. I do have some questions now you've opened that can of worms! Bear with me, being a civvie here.

1) I am assuming you had to tap or smack the cart starter with the hide-faced mallet, why was this necessary exactly?
2) Access to the plennum chamber - were these doors hinged, or just pulled off when unscrewed?
3) any chance you have a pic of a starter cartridge, or could explain the loading procedure?
4) the gun bay access doors - these seem to split into two portions that could be opened independently - could you confirm, and also, in many pics with them open, it seems they were anchored by something to roughly where the wing intake was - by a small sticklike object or peg - could you confirm?
5) how tricky was it to remove the cannons, if you ever did so?

General question here to Phixer as well. It seems Sea Hawks rarely showed much oil streaking around their exhaust fairings - was this due to naval standards keeping them clean, or a facet of the type not leaking that much out?

The main reason for all this, is that earlier in the project I was modelling an animated opening plennum chamber and may go back to that for a static GIA model. Could be fun.

Best,

Steve

p.s. Pedro, sorry about the lack of a JPT gauge, bit of an oversight on my part.

nazca_steve wrote: What was life like up at Arbroath on a typical day? Did you spend a set amount of time on one type, such as Sea Hawk, then move on to another, or was it multiple types on one day? I can never get enough of old service stories.

I was an artificer under training at that time so time was split between workshops (metal bashing and welding and workshop technology), academic studies (Applied Mechanics Aircraft, Aeronautical Engineering Science, Mathematics and Engineering Drawing), the naval side (parade ground drill, civil defence exercises, rifle and machine gun shooting) and aircraft airframes and systems. The latter being split between classroom and hangar work. Sea Hawks, Hunters and Gannets were general fare but I recall looking over the last surviving Vixen prototype which was in the corner of a hangar looking sorry for itself, It was an act of officially sanctioned vandalism when that ended up on a fire dump IMHO.

As for the 'Sh**ehawk' label, I am assuming it wasn't a popular bird to maintain - was this due to the difficulty accessing the engine?

The nickname was also used for seagulls so it was more by way of affection than anything else. The Seahawk was good for maintainance, certainly compared with any of the twin engined heavies which followed. The Scimitar got a name as 'The Flying Fuel Leak', for example and the Vixen and Phantom needed so many hours of work for each sortie.

As for stories, I have no shortage of those - a visit to my web site will give some clues and a list of types I worked with once finished training including some interesting test flights in Sea Devons and Herons.