Project Mercedes and Project Have Blue have already begun to reach their next phase of construction:

REFLECTIVE TEXTURES.

It took me time to figure out what was wrong with the textures. But I then found out that I was suppose to check on one simple detail in FS9: The "variations" drop-down box of the aircraft menu [where the aircraft is displayed]. How stupid of me.

I have finally gathered up some pics for you people. Don't mind the last image. I'm trying to work on the *.air file for the model.

Tell me what do you think.









Now, for the interior textures. Hey Oz [if you are reading thi], do you still have the interior textures for the F-117 Have Blue?

Thanks for the comments.

I posted this thread like 3 or 4 hours earlier. Yet, I am surprised that you are the only one that replied. I was expecting at least 3 or 4 replies by now. But, oh well.

I just did one part of the Have Blue model so that I can see if the reflections work. Now it does.

Long ago, I have tested the F-117/A Have Blue [proper name] in FS2002. The Have Blue and the Mercedes SL600 are now going to be compatible for both FS2002 and FS9. I have both simulators installed.

Now that I have grasped the concept and understanding of the alpha channels, I can finally do many things.

I am planning to apply the reflective textures [with a chrome appearance] on the rims of the Mercedes and on the side-view mirrors as well.

I'll apply the textures on the rest of the Have Blue model [with added detail].

the merc is looking great

tried looking at the contact points?

I checked the contact points. They seem okay, or at leats it looks okay.

It's not really cardboard.

Its surface is made up of non-metalic materials [somewhere close to being plastic] that has been painted over with RAM [Radar-Absorbant Material].

Believe it or not, it really did fly. However, there were two crashes.

The first crashed after a gear failed to deploy. The pilot had to made a lot of go-arounds and tried to force the gear to extend by jolting the aircraft up and down. However, the plane ran out of fuel and Engine1 died. So, the pilot had to bail out in 2 sec before the aircraft spun out of control.

The second crash happened when [if I can remember correctly] a pilot landed the plane a little too fast. The landing gears callapsed and the plane had to slide to a stop [in pieces]. This plane is one tough cookie to handle when it comes to landings. It's actual landing speed is 160 knots. go figure.

The government kept the project going until they started making the Night Hawk version.

I have some pics here.

This was after a landing.




You may bot notice it well, but the aircraft is actually sitting on the ground [in slew mode]. Half of its body is buried.


This was after a take-off. Hmm, I guess I must have damaged the nose gear during that landing.


However, to my surprise, the aircraft flys normally. It's yaw movements, on the other hand, is unpredictable. I did not make any compromises to the flight dynamics in the Aircraft.cfg file. I guess it has something to do with the station loads.

The textures use to work properly long ago. Then I made new textures for it. For some stupid reason, the textures appeared all transparent [the Alpha Channel was grayish]. I couldn't figure out why, so I decided to remove the textures for now. Later on, I'll make the textures again and follow the instructions carefully this time.

Right now, this aircraft is not ready for beta testing. This is due to the effects of the unfinished *.air file.

I finally got the d@mu aircraft to sit still. It was the Dampening Ratio [on the contact section] that needed fixing. All I had to do was set the ratio to 1.

However, still does not solve the so-called sinking aircraft issue.

The model no longer flips, but it still appears halfway buried into the ground with the nose slighty downward [not by much]. No crashes or violent movements this time.

I tried to increase the static_cg_height in the aircraft.cfg file, but it made it worse. It caused my model to DROP and then crash as it hits the ground.

I then tried to set a higher, negative value on the vertical axis of all the wheel contacts. Well, it made the model finally rise from underground. But it's nose would then fall down into the dirt and cause a crash.

I can't figure out what's the actual solution to this.

Here is a sample of the model's aircraft.cfg file. Can you figure out the culprit?

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]
max_gross_weight = 12500.0
empty_weight = 8950.0

reference_datum_position     =  0, 0, 0
empty_weight_CG_position     =  0, 0, 0

max_number_of_stations = 3

station_load.0  = 170, 8.619, -1.2, 0.0

[contact_points]
point.0=1,  13.197,   0.00, -6.750, 1181.1, 0, 0.6270, 46.8, 0.8760, 2.5, 1,  5.0,  7.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0
point.1=1, -3.690,  -4.863, -6.750, 1574.8, 1, 0.6349,  0.0, 0.4798, 2.5, 1,  5.0,  7.0, 2, 0.0, 0.0
point.2=1, -3.690,   4.863, -6.750, 1574.8, 2, 0.6349,  0.0, 0.4798, 2.5, 1,  5.0,  7.0, 3, 0.0, 0.0
point.3=2, -37.83, -10.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 5, 0.0, 0.0
point.4=2, -37.83,  10.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 6, 0.0, 0.0
point.5=2,  17.00,   0.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0
point.6=2, -17.00,   0.00, 0.00,  787.4, 0, 0.0000,  0.0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.0000,  0.0,  0.0, 4, 0.0, 0.0

static_pitch = 3.0
static_cg_height = 3.0

[Views]
eyepoint = 3.0, 0.0, 1.0

I only showed the needed parts of the file. This is what's currently used for the model.