The Spindrift has always been one of my favorite SF ships, even though during the TV series, Land of the Giants, it only flew during the pilot episode, and maybe once or twice during the series run, and then only for very short hops, if at all. 



Spindrift "Black Pearl II" repaint, freeware HDE texture pack (clouds)

The original DL is from Ron Pendergraft's "Pendercraft" web site, which appears to be defunct, or at the least, been hit by some malware attack, and saddly, it looks like the FS9 demo is the only MS FS "Spindrift" available, and was far from a "complete" project.  Regretably, it does not seem like it was released anywhere else except on the Pendercraft web site, and due to a sad life event, Mr. Pendergraft seems to have left the add-on buisiness. 

One reason I like it is beause it has that curious look of a Corvette "Stingray", and at the same time, the shape of the tail fin recalls the old "Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon rockets of the old serials from the '30's, '40's, and '50's (No, I am not old enough to remember them from first hand movie-going experiance.  Besides, those "Talkies" are just a "flash-in-the-pan" fad....).

It took a bit to shoe-horn the Spindrift into FSX and get it "happy":  I swapped in a 737 panel, initially, then a 727 panel because I added two more engines (Total 3, coaxially mounted).  This gives it a climb rate that leaves the Chiroptera from Hades all charred and sizzled, wondering what hit 'em. It climbs from 0 to 100,000 in just under 40 seconds, max speed in less than 10 seconds, and Pensacola FL to Chicago O'hare in about twenty five minutes, at 60,000. I know, real world, pilot = strawberry jelly, but as I say in my sig, if it's fast, me like (Is there any way to crack the 2666 TAS limit in FSX?).  I also added the sound from the Horten HO 18C, because it sounds weird.  Then there's the ither extras, the repaints (Black Pearl III is my usual ride), the burner effects, smoke effects, lights, the "Warp/Wormhole/Hyperspace Portal" effect, and float points for water landings (It looks sort of like a boat, anyway).

It's my idea of "fun", and provided the incentive to learn to "fiddle" with effects, repaints, and tweaking preformance.

ShaneG wrote on Jun 12^th, 2010 at 6:38pm:


Thanks!  Wha can I say?  I'm twisted.

Cool shot!  And thanx for the "Memeory Lane" trip!

Nice rendition!   

Still nice!