Flyable YF-19 for FS2002 (maybe 2004)

[Chronocidal]

K, this is for all those flight sim junkies who have been begging to fly a YF-19 since they first saw Mac+.. including me.

The plane flies like a bat out of hell, but is kind of stall prone.. I'm working on the flight characteristics. The control surfaces are very effective, and if you pull too sharp a maneuver at too high a speed, the stall warning will go off... the plane may not stall entirely though.. a lot of times, the engines will keep it up by sheer power alone, and you get kind of a fish-tailing effect... basically, the plane turns faster than it's flight path. Usually the stall warning will go off once you stop pulling back on the stick. It can be fun to watch the plane slide around a loop, but don't be fooled into thinking the plane always travels the direction the nose is pointing. Also, get ready for some really interesting landings... this plane has a flaps down stall speed of approx. 60 knots. Makes for some really slow landings. It's got spoilers (rudders turn in for speed braking), full gear, and a split flap/aileron system, as well as leading edge slats, and an opening cockpit. It's a fun ride. If you manipulate the controls right, you can pull some VERY strange maneuvers. If the plane looks like it's out of control, don't worry, just give it full throttle, and try to get the nose level, then let go of the stick. It's got some VERY weird ways of flying.

It's a pretty small download, since the model doesn't use any actual textures yet, just a few 16*16 bitmaps for specular higlights and reflection. To install, you should just have to unzip the file, and copy the YF-19 folder into the aircraft folder in FS2002. Once that's done, copy the two fx files into the effects folder in the FS2002 directory. Should be pretty simple.

Note, I don't know if this will work with FS2004, but you're welcome to try it. If I ever get 2004, I'll make sure to make a new version, but from what I hear it's not hard to convert the planes from 2002 to 2004.

yf_19.zip

[Chronocidal]

Here's a screenshot to look at, I didn't include it in the zip to save space.

Edited April 7, 2004 by Chronocidal

[one_klump]

[neo]Whoa[/neo]

wow, that looks friggin cool...

Now I just have to get a copy of the game...

[Chronocidal]

I don't think 2002 is too expensive anymore, since a new version is out. You might be able to find a copy of the basic edition for around $20.

I'm planning on eventually making a whole series of planes like this, all from the various Macross stories. I started with Mac+ because I bought the YF-19 model first.

[David Hingtgen]

Low stall/approach speeds are a characteristic of FSW. (not THAT low though)

Just a nit-pick: you'd probably want the rudders to turn OUT for speed-brakes. Turn-in generally causes a pitch-up. See F-22 and F-18 for examples of both.

PS--what kind of options do you have for flight characteristics tuning? If you've got it, try a lower angle of incidence. (While FSW incidence is generally typical, it behaves differently under load,

and "averages" out to a lot lower value than normal planes while manuevering)

[Chronocidal]

K, I think there's an option to tweak that, I hadn't played with it much before. Thanks for the tip. Also, the speed brakes should be easy enough, I just have to reverse the axis of rotation. But the position of the speed brakes was something I wondered about.. is there any evidence that the -19 had its brakes elsewhere?

I may increase the stall speed later, but for now it makes it easier to see how stable the plane is at low speeds. I exaggerated many flight characteristics to try and get the plane to fly like how the -19 behaved in the movie. Truth is, I mainly went for movie realism, not real life realism. It resulted in some ridiculous stats, and impossibly high g-levels, but it is fun to fly. I'll probably tone it down some once it's done, but I'm still trying to figure out how to tweak the specific stats to get it to fly well. FS2002 is REALLY picky, and has a way of corrupting the aircraft stat files somehow. It's like the program doesn't like certain values and decides to re-write them, changing how the plane flies without me doing anything.

Edited April 7, 2004 by Chronocidal

[RedMax1]

This looks very cool. I can't wait to get home tonight and try it out. Any chance we will see textures? I would volunteer to help with them but I have zero experience texturing models. BTW, what did you use to build this guy? (GMAX, FSDS?) I look forward to future macross planes for FS.

[mk16]

OOO, neat :

If you need any help UV maping the plane, i can lend a hand. I pretty much figured out how to do it with my yf-19 model. Making the tetures is nighmare in my case. Being so papered by the traditional means, i kinda dont see the point in learning how to paint wih my entire hand, as opposed to the fingers with a pencil. Hmm yeah i need a tablet. I can try but it usually takes me too long to make anything.

Edited April 7, 2004 by mk16

[Chronocidal]

Don't worry, I've had lots of texturing experience, so it won't be a problem. I just don't know when I'll get around to doing it.

[RedMax1]

I just wanted to let you know the I tried it out in FS9 and it is amazing. Very fun to fly. One thing I did notice is there are no flaps? ( not sure if this is intentional) Anyway, Thank you for the very cool model! AWESOME job!

[Chronocidal]

Hmm.. which version is FS9? I know I included flaps of two types on it, but they might not work if that version uses different flap naming conventions than FS2002. It should have hinged leading edges that drop, and the inner half of the wing control surfaces should drop as flaps as well.

Edited April 8, 2004 by Chronocidal

[David Hingtgen]

Up top, you say it has leading edge slats. Just a post ago, you say leading edge flaps. Which is it? And IMHO, it should have neither, but rather a hinged leading edge.

[Chronocidal]

LOL.. Whoops, yeah, I gotta get my wording straight, considerig I'm an aeronautics major. You're right, it does just have a hinged leading edge... It did have slats at first, but I replaced them, and just made them hinge downward.

What's the actual difference between a leading edge flap and just a hinged leading edge though?

Edited April 8, 2004 by Chronocidal

[David Hingtgen]

Technically, a leading edge flap could be anything. But it's generally assumed to mean Krüger flaps unless otherwise specified, and is how I usually read it. And a hinged leading edge is just that. Mainly because a flap is a small piece, but the "hinged leading edge" is the whole front of the wing, not really a separate piece. Could also mean droops, but they're downwards-only (being a specific type of hinged leading edge).

(Being an airliner buff above all else, high-lift devices are a specialty of mine, airliners have used and invented most every type). Coolest flap name: Zap flaps! (Which are like sliding split flaps)

Edited April 8, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[RedMax1]

Sorry, FS9 is FS2004. I have seen this with a couple of aircraft that were designed for FS2002, but the flaps don't work in FS2004. None the less its very cool!

Edited April 8, 2004 by RedMax1

[Lightning]

any chance we'll see it in a bright red w/white stripes (kinda like millia's) paint scheme?

[David Hingtgen]

Or a quick pale blue repaint, for a VF-19A?

[Angel's Fury]

That is friggin cool!!!!

[Chronocidal]

Yep, no reason I won't repaint it various ways. Those are just the material colors from Max, which transfer over to FS2002. Once I make up the actual textures I'll do several versions, most likely the VF-19A scheme, and maybe a couple other custom ones. I'd like to see how this plane would look in some of the old high-vis Tomcat markings.

[VF19]

thats awesome.....now go make a 21.

btw, does FS have any thrust-vectoring characteristics?

[Brianw76]

Man, that is sweet. I got the FS2004 SDK today and decided to try my hand at adding a plane to the game. I had a Cowboy Bebop Swordfish II lowpoly model laying around that I made a few months back and put it in the game. pretty simple to do it. I'll have to model a VF-1 or VF-0 for the game now.

[Chronocidal]

Ooh, please do... It'll let me concentrate more on the Mac+ Valks. If you need any help getting stuff flying correctly, I'm sure I could help. Getting the model in the program is the easy part...It takes a lot of trial and error testing to get the plane flying like it should, but it's less time consuming than modeling, so I'll be able to do multiple planes at once. If you need any plugins for Gmax or Max, I've got them.

I have no idea how to do thrust vectoring, I've heard it's not possible. I've been using Max to directly export the FS Models, and format them, instead of the Gmax Plugin, because I can't texture in Gmax well, and I always lose all the animation data in the transfer from Max to Gmax. What I'm tempted to buy is the Flight Sim Design Studio program, which hacks into the model data in specific ways, and can change a LOT of model characteristics, based on changes in data from the game... basically, as is, you have to activate the afterburner flame on the YF-19 by pressing L, which also turns on the nav lights... With FSDS, there is a way to link the activation of those effects with the throttle percentage, so they appear automatically. The same is true for many other things as well, and they can't be done with Gmax. It's not too expensive, and I'm seriously considering it, if it will make things like true thrust vectoring possible. As it is on my newest model, the feet are linked to move with the elevator and aileron control, so they do appear to vector the thrust, but there's no actual change in the direction of thrust. It just looks cool. Except of course when the afterburner effects are on, since they don't move with the feet.

I've got a VF-22 Hasegawa kit sitting up in my closet, as well as a VF-1J, so I'll probably be doing both in the future, but I'll probably do the VF-22 first.. as well as a YF-21 paint scheme for it, of course.

Edited April 9, 2004 by Chronocidal

[VF19]

*grins ear to ear*

I just might have to go install FS again.

[VF19]

Jeez, that thing flies like a bat outta hell. IT IS INSANE!

[Chronocidal]

Yep.. there's no way a real aircraft could fly like that.. at least using today's technology. I based the stats off the kind of maneuvers it pulled during the dogfight scenes in the movie... I'll have to look over the movie again, though. I probably overdid it.

[VF19]

yes......a 5 degree lateral stick movement puts the thing through 5 or 6 rolls.....and it can fly straight up indefinitely, though I have no problem with that.

[Chronocidal]

Heheh.. well, Isamu said on his first flight that it was able to reach the atmospheric service ceiling in 40 seconds...I tried to match that roughly. It'll probably get closer with later updates. I've gotten quite a bit of texturing done in the past two days, but it's going kind of slow.. I should have textured the model BEFORE I broke it up and animated the different parts.

[VF19]

oh, it reaches it in 40 seconds (well, 37 seconds exactly) but its amazingly sensitive. Isamu'd have to be a newtype to fly that thing lol.

[brainiac_08]

just flew the fs2002 version and wow its great. thanks

J.J.

[Brianw76]

i don't know if anyone would wanna fly this but i'm building it... it should be done in a few days.

[RedMax1]

Sign me up....

That looks great so far. Can't wait to take it out for a spin!

[Marso]

Has anyone flight tested it on FS 98?

[RedMax1]

Is there any chance of possibly getting a copy of the model so I can update it for FS2004? Currently the flaps and engine nozzels do not move in FS2004. I am willing to do the work myself....as I would hate to burden you with the task.

[Chronocidal]

Well, I guess I could, but it would probably be easier for me to do the update and release it when it's final. I don't have the model in Gmax format anyway, so all the animations would be lost in the transfer. I'm through texturing about 1/3 of the model, and I can't imagine it being that hard to get the flaps working for you. Probably just a simple renaming of a part. I'll get the FS2004 SDK, and I can release two versions when it's done.

The nozzles on the other hand shouldn't move anyway. I've been experimenting with that on my own after I released the current model. I might simply eliminate the thrust vectoring unless I can find a way to make the engine flames move, cause right now it looks ridiculous to have the nozzles moving while the afterburner flames shoot through the center of the feet.

[RedMax1]

Sounds great to me.....

I just didn't want to be a demanding leacher....

Thanks for your excellent model....

I look forward to the update!