DC-8 50 series update

[Michael2]

Good to hear that someone wants to buy it!

How long will it be in development? All my previous estimates have been way off, so I'm not inclined to make any more. I think we can say it's a matter of months (and not too many) rather than years at this point. I'm not prepared to say weeks quite yet. And then there will be beta testing, preparation of manuals, etc. It is getting close to done, but this a slow time of the year for working with my kids out of school and a couple of short vacations planned.

I have had some discussions with a publisher but until an agreement is firmed up I don't want to talk about who is going to sell it and at what price, etc. There will be realistic working systems and reasonably accurate flight and engine modelling so I guess the price will reflect that.

I expect the publisher will start previewing it with screenshots and videos before the product is actually released.

 

[TurboCompound]

You should consider publishing it through Flight1. They have probably one of the smoothest e-commerce systems I've ever dealt with, plus they let you keep a solid chunk of the revenue.

 

[pockrtplanesairways]

One thing I'd like to say though, the price should stay under $30, because JF's DC-8 packs, though most likely a bit less detailed and realistic, give you 4 or 7 planes depending on the pack, meanwhile your pack only comes with the 53 variant if I'm corect. Not saying that price is gonna stop me specifically, I have all the JF stuff and still plan on getting this, but I'm just saying for other people.

 

[KL791]

Good to hear that someone wants to buy it!

How long will it be in development? All my previous estimates have been way off, so I'm not inclined to make any more. I think we can say it's a matter of months (and not too many) rather than years at this point. I'm not prepared to say weeks quite yet. And then there will be beta testing, preparation of manuals, etc. It is getting close to done, but this a slow time of the year for working with my kids out of school and a couple of short vacations planned.

I have had some discussions with a publisher but until an agreement is firmed up I don't want to talk about who is going to sell it and at what price, etc. There will be realistic working systems and reasonably accurate flight and engine modelling so I guess the price will reflect that.

I expect the publisher will start previewing it with screenshots and videos before the product is actually released.

Plus one as Customer for this fantastic model

 

[Paul Golding]

Hmmmm, a few random thoughts.

Firstly, thanks Scott for pointing this forum out to me

Next, Michael. This project looks outstanding and if the released product is anywhere near as good, you've done yourself proud sir. And of course, thanks for the compliment concerning the DF727.

Which leads me on to a comment/suggestion.

One of the reasons that the DF727 seemed to be so well received (and this is despite the fact that most who bought it already had the CS727), was because it was produced for the fun of it. It wasn't a commercial developer product that needed to be released to generate revenue to pay the bills, so there was no release schedule or time constraints. I put together a beta team of some 30+ people including then current and past 727 pilots and listened to what their comments were on the product, the result being over 6 months in beta. Someone might be able to correct me, but I'm pretty sure the only fix needed after release was to cure a flight model problem related to the rudder effectiveness; a problem that I managed to cause myself. The only service pack released was to include the Super 27 models.

So, take your time in finishing this right.

As for the DF DC8, whilst the artwork was largely done for the cockpit, photographs taken, model partly built, manuals obtained etc, finding people to do the other stuff proved to be a problem (Christ! I never got a FSX 727 finished either). I even got time in a fixed base DC-8 simulator as well.

As for the fact there's already a DC-8 product out there (and I was on the beta); well just say that the devil is in the detail. There's plenty of products out there that try and cover the whole history of an aircraft, but I really think the best one's are those that model just one specific version in the greatest accuracy. We shouldn't really care if it's the longest one or the shortest one, with this engine or that one. Just do one really well

Oh, and let me know if you'd like a beta tester

All the best.

 

[antaris]

Absolutely beautiful; that VC at night is impressive!

Congratulations to all who are/were involved in this great project!
Sergio.

 

[scottb613]

Hah - Michael - don't think you could find a better beta tester than Paul - good luck to you guys !!!

Regards,
Scott




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[scotth6]

You should consider publishing it through Flight1. They have probably one of the smoothest e-commerce systems I've ever dealt with, plus they let you keep a solid chunk of the revenue.

Is this sarcasm? I have never heard of the Flight one commerce or wrapper system being described as smooth before. In fact I've heard it being described in much more "colourful" terms. Just saying.

 

[TurboCompound]

Is this sarcasm? I have never heard of the Flight one commerce or wrapper system being described as smooth before. In fact I've heard it being described in much more "colourful" terms. Just saying.

In my experience it's always worked fine. The customer support is helpful and you can get things refunded within 30 days, plus it generates a key file to make it easy to re-install addons on a new computer. I've also only bought a couple products from them, so maybe I just haven't ran into problems yet.

 

[Michael2]

I'd be happy to have you as beta tester Paul, when we get to that stage. I do have a former DC-8 pilot and flight engineer advising me as I code the systems and I am sure he will be on the beta as well. Thanks for the comments and suggestions which I think make a lot of sense. I can't say the project has been entirely for "fun" although that of course has been part of it. I did feel that many of the steam gauge jets available for FSX/P3D were lacking in one way or another and I wanted to make one that I myself would want as a purchaser. While I enjoy the modern jets as well, I have always preferred the earlier ones as there is so much more that has to be done manually to keep it interesting for the flight simmer.

My focus has been from the beginning on making (at least to start) only one variant, or at least one that can pass for the various sub-variants of the 50 series DC-8s. I chose the 50 series as most representative of the type during its heyday and of course these also flew as cargo aircraft for decades after being retired from passenger service. There will be a cargo variant, as this will involve only minor changes to the exterior model and a couple of tiny changes in the VC.

I would like to do a 62 as well but about half of the VC would need to be redone in addition to substantial changes to the external model and it would be a huge amount of work. So whether that will happen I can't say at this point and it wouldn't be free given the amount of work required.

 

[Heretic]

If you want to go for maximum accuracy, organize the model files, textures and folders in such a way that you can depict all possible engine and weight configurations for the 50 series at minimal disk space cost. It's quite fun to have an operator-specific configuration and fly a high MTOW with the weaker engine option.

 

[pockrtplanesairways]

When you do make the cargo variant, would you mind including this livery as one of the default ones?

 

[Alex753]

Hi !

Awesome work !

I'll do the "Air Afrique" Texture When the aircraft will be available

 

[johnor999]

If the systems do what they're supposed to do I'll be a very happy man indeed. Visually, it looks stunning! Like mentioned before, making one great variant is way better than a crippled fleet of variants.

 

[Michael2]

I've been putting a lot of time into the systems. There's a lot of complexity ... Summer has not been a good time for getting this project completed. I will be so happy when my children are in school. Only a few days now till they are.

 

[Sawbones]

Are you planning some sort of modern nav system option (eg. GNS/FMS) for those of us that would like to simulate this beauty in today's increasingly navaidless age?

 

[Heretic]

I doubt that - save for the 70 series - DC-8s ever saw anything fancier than a KLN90B.

 

[Michael2]

I've seen the odd photo of 50 series cockpits with some sort of nav system installed, but each one tends to have something different and I wouldn't be able to even identify them.

At this time I don't have any plans for anything other than the INS. The way the INS is set up (which I can't take credit for -- it's by Tom Aguilo) you can enter waypoints manually, or have them automatically inserted when you load an FSX flight plan. It will automatically load additional waypoints after you go through the first nine. So if you include your SIDs and STARs in the flight plan you will have them in the INS. I use AivlaSoft, so what I do is load the flight plan without SIDs and STARs and then l update the route as needed using AivlaSoft. For example when a STAR is assigned if its something that can't be flown using just the radio nav aids, AivlaSoft updates the loaded FSX flight plan and this is passed on to the INS.

 

[Heretic]

The automatic FSX flight plan loading is a great idea and feature. Always having to hack each waypoint into the freeware CIVA is quite tedious.

 

[Sawbones]

That's cool, just thought I'd ask. I like to kit the old girls out as if they were still being operated today (TCAS, GNSS, etc.). Looking forward to flying her nonetheless!