Platinum Wings?

[Jorge]

All,

One of the many things I've been working on piece by piece is a conversion to "retro" the basic CalClassic install into an "updated" version of Golden Wings. In the most basic form it goes like this:

1. Install CalClassic as usual.
2. Delete the traffic files except for the one that you keep in the "World" folder to keep the sim from crashing.
3. Delete the aircraft except for the Dragon Rapide, PT-13, etc. (My list isn't complete yet).
4. Install Silver Wings texture package.

That's what I have so far. The basic goal is to create 1939 as a start using the old 1940 charts on JWH's website and code traffic files using the default DC-3, Vega, and Trimotor as well as the Dragon Rapide, Ju-52 (ACG), and some of Heike Keitel's (sp?) airplanes from late FS2002 like the Ju-90 since they are multi-lod. I'm still working on the traffic for American Airlines, but I've finished Canadian Colonial, Delta, and Continental. I've started on Eastern Airlines. These are based on the "Airlinetimetableimages" website.

Again, most of the spare time is based on Miami and it's project but every now and then I get to this one. My final goal is to get a three part traffic and scenery program like the CalClassic program, but with Golden Wings as a basis, hence the "Platnum Wings" name. The start with 1939 would be because that was, in general, the last year of relative peace and also the year of the fairs in NYC and San Francisco. The other years I was thinking of are 1935 (one year after the airmail changes in the United States and one year before the 1936 Olympics and therefore you can mix the two into traffic and/or scenery represented in one year) and 1930 (which was the first year of "real" commercial travel in the US and the world with Imperial Airways, Pan Am, and various other airlines such as KLM, Lufthansa, Aero Oy, Aeropostale, etc. It was also the year after the Air Mail Act of 1929 in the US.

Here are a few shots from MCX of what I have.

Here is the default Vimy painted to look like a Keystone B-6 as used during the Air Mail Crisis in the early 1930's:



Here is the default Ford painted to look like an Atlantic-Fokker C-2A/C-7A from the same period:



Here is the default Ford with the later markings just prior to retirement as the C-3A/C-9A (the Air Corps version of the Trimotor):



Here is the default DC-3 representing a C-33 (military DC-2) in generic metal:



Here are the airliners. All are originals by Dale DeLuca and Juan Martinez that I modified by "sterilizing" the tails and making them void of mirrored text.  I also changed the colors and hues to be more visible.  Maybe not truely accurate, but the colors stand out more now:

American Airlines



Canadian Colonial (only one I painted, but based on Dale's AA bird)



Delta Airlines



LAMSA



PANAGRA



Eastern Airlines



Let me know what you guys and gals think about trying to do something like this. It would be interesting to do what would in effect be a "facelift" to Golden Wings.  There are MANY paints over at the ford trimotor site by Ed Moore and Gary Smith for the Vega, Trimotor, and various other aircraft that could be used as well.  Also, they have excellent blanks for the Vega, Trimotor, and Jenny for any changes or mods you may want of the paints they have or just to make some of your own to make "stand-ins" for aircraft like the Travelair, Bellanca Airbus, Reliant, etc.

Regards,

Jorge

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

Sounds like a great idea, hope it works out for you. BTW, I believe the name should be Platinum Wings, not Platnum Wings (assuming you are talking about the metal platinum).

[warbaby]

Sounds like a great effort, and I'm very intrested. I'd say that a good share of my flying is done before 1950. Imperial Airways and Pan Am especially. I'm somewhat disappointed with the Golden Wings AI, and i have no intrest in creating one. So to see you doing it intresting.
In know 1939 is a little late, but would you consider the great zeppelins as regular scheduled traffic?

Good work, Allen

[Jorge]

Thanks for the heads up on the typo, Tom, I hadn't even noticed it!

Allen, yes as far as the zeps. I was thinking the Graf for 1930 and both the Graf and the Hindenburg for the 1935 schedule. I have the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei tables but haven't found a frame-friendly gas-bag yet. Unfortunately the current - and beautiful - models of both zeps put my framerates to shame. It would be something down the road, though. The trick would be to make sure that they had enough time to go back and forth in the allotted time. The most would be three days in each direction in order to have enough time to turn around and still have a 24-hour buffer to make sure the schedules worked. Wouldn't be too realistic with regards to the timetables, but it would be something at least. There are several AI airships in GW3, so it would be a matter of studying them first and seeing how to pass that to the Graf and Hindenburg.

The other reason I was hoping to base it on CalClassic is that the scenery IS capable of being updated to FSX standards, albeit with some time involved like Tom has said elsewhere. The "piece-de-resistance" would be traffic files for ships based on the ships in the V4 library (something I tried unsuccessfully with Miami a while ago). The models would be made into aircraft models to work in FS2004 as local traffic. They could also, in turn, be changed to whatever they use in FSX for use in the trans-oceanic routes there. It would just be a matter of adding contact points, lights, and smoke to the cfg file and making sure all the textures were in the main folder in the same fashion that some aircraft designers use common textures in that main folder (MAIW drag chute textures, for example). That way all that would be needed in the ships' folders would be the model folder, the air file, and the cfg file. Keeps it small. Not sure why it didn't work for me in a previous attempt at Miami City, though.

I'll get more out there when I can.

Jorge

[Jorge]

Here are some screen shots of what I have.

The Grand Central Airport is somewhat lacking since I hadn't time to redo a Sketchup model of the terminal I was working on a while ago. I also haven't done TWA to Burbank yet, so there are no more parking spots since all were taken by American here. I just made a grouping of buildings on an asphalt pad with the terminal's footprint for future reference.

Newark is a retro version of Chris' wonderful scenery and was based on the 1940 plate I downloaded from JWH's website and Charleston is from a topographic map from the USGS historical site that has maps already geo-referenced.

Newark from overhead.



Charleston from overhead.



Newark from the National Guard ramp.



Newark from the end of the flight line looking south-south-west.



Newark main terminal with Canadian Colonial visiting.



Charleston National Guard ramp with CFS2 P-39D's as a generic stand-in.  The air file is Mooney-Bravo copied over but with the cfg file from an FS2004 conversion I found somewhere.



Charleston's Delta service to Atlanta - here via Columbia. Today this route still exists, but it's direct via a 737!  Again, this part of Charleston is based on a postcard I found online and a topographic map for the airport layout.  May not be too accurate, but better than nothing and it seems to fit with some of the older pictures I've seen of the airport.



Grand Central looking south.  Again, the buildings are just stand-ins for now.  Need to get more parking in here, even if TWA has to get moved to Burbank in 1939.



Same but looking north.



Hope we have some movement on this since some of the traffic files need some work - especially American since that is a REAL monster in 1939! Believe me, there is much to still do on just the traffic alone for ALL the airlines, not just the US.  I read on another post somewhere that the biggest roadblock back in these times were the time zones.  If any of you have seen the Lufthansa stuff from back then, the time zones would be the least of your worries.  I haven't started on them yet, but they look confusing!

At least we have the plates from 1940 which include many US airports, but also Bromma, Malmo, Bordeaux (correct me if I'm wrong on this one), the original Venice and Rome airports, Le Bourget, Berlin Tempelhof (showing the old buildings as well as the arched terminal we are familiar with), Mexico City in it's original configuration, and Moscow's first airport just to name a few.  The only "trick" would be to probably add a few hundred feet to the runways here and there for the AI DC-3's and Vegas since AI seems to be a balance of accuracy and necessity.  I'm sure any of you could put a Dakota in a 3,000 foot strip, but AI ... well ... not so much so.

Well, let me know what you guys think and thanks for the ideas!

All the best,

Jorge

[Willy]

Interest work there. I've still got my old Golden Wings install of FS9 and occasionally go for a flight there. What I did was to rip out all aircraft that weren't flying before 1940, convert a bunch of flyables to AI (including some payware ie:DC-2 and the default DC-3) and make all new AI traffic files based on late 30s, early 40s timetables that I could find. I pretty much got North America, Europe and some Asia and South America where I had AI for that airline. I only did a little scenery though and that was on the route from London to Melbourne.

[Jorge]

Willy,

I'd be interested in anything you would be willing to throw my way! My email is rechanij at yahoo dot com. Just the traffic text files would be fine. Don't worry about the paints, just let me know if they are downloadable files (i.e. for the default DC-3, Ford, etc).

Hope you had a great New Years!

Thanks!

Jorge

[agent0archer]

It would be great to have a 'war years' version of FS9.

Nice work

[Al]

Hi Jorge, interesting project and I hope you accomplish all you set out to do with it. I, like Willy still have my golden wings setup active and occasionally reverent to it for some nosaligic flights. I have done all kinds of kit batching with it trying to get something that represents the thirties with varying degrees of success. I like the way you are approaching it and would be willing to help anyway I can. I am going to need to fire up my golden wings version and see where I left off. I can do afcads , scenery placement and flight plans, testing etc... so let me know if I can help.

Good luck with the project

[Willy]

Jorge, I dug around and found a bunch of the text files for the 1939ish AI traffic. I never finished the project but here's what I could find.

Dropbox link: www.dropbox.com/s/iub1lg4u7h8ro5n/1939%20AI%20Traffic.zip?dl=0

[Jorge]

Willy,

Just downloaded them and will look at them today. Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish one more fields before going to work again tomorrow.  Just generic, but better than default.

Al,

Anything would be great. Tom's edit of my process for the map-making and calibration is spot-on, but I can send you a "finished" product to help visualize the "end" product if you will. Also, you can combine both our methods as well.  Let me know.

Everyone,

Thanks for your interest in everything and I'll post more when I can!

Jorge

[Deleted]

Jan 9, 2017 20:37:25 GMT -5 Willy said:

Jorge, I dug around and found a bunch of the text files for the 1939ish AI traffic.

Thanks for sharing your files. That might be a very useful base to generate a prewar traffic. I will try to assemble as most aircraft as possible in a few weeks. A Herculean task anyway! 

[JasonK..AKA "Pal Joey."]

if your interested, when you get to 1935, I have Braniff, TWA, National, Pennsylvania-Central, Western, and United flightplans coded and ready to go. I believe they're ready, ill double check. anyway, their yours if you want 'em.

[Jorge]

Thanks for all the input. Here's one of the three airports I did yesterday and today. Just basic for the AI to have a place to go. So far it's Mexico City, Torreon, and San Luis Potosi in Mexico. I only have a shot of Torreon since LAMSA is the only Mexican company I've finished so far.  Also, due to the schedules the traffic is there only a little bit each day and I've been fighting with Photobucket to get my stuff uploaded, but that's another story:



The paint is the LAMSA one by Juan that I have a shot of above.  Again, it's the default DC-3 with text removed from the tail or any mirrored areas.  I also replaced the white-top with bare metal and added a suitable alpha for the closer shots since alpha channel doesn't seem to matter much when farther away.

As far as the schedules and/or traffic, here are a list of those I have. Those with a star (*) have some sort of traffic done. American is a monster, so there is still more to be done. They're in alphabetical order by continent and then by company within.

Asia
----

China National Aviation Corporation (1940)
Japan Air Transport Company Limited (1938)
Manchurian Aviation Company (1935)
Philippine Air Taxi Company (1937)

Australia
---------

Ansett Airways (1938)
MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Company Limited (1938)
Quantas Empire Airways (1939)

Europe
------

Air France (1939)
Czeckoslovak Letecka Spolecnost (CLS) (1938)
Deutsche Lufthansa (1939)
Magyar Legiforgalmi Rt. (MALERT) (1938)
Scottish Airways (inc. Northern and Scottish Airways & Highlands Airways) (1938)

Latin America
-------------

Aeronaves de Mexico, S.A. (1949) (oldest complete schedule I found)
Panama Airways, Inc. (1937)
Compania Cubana de Aviacion, S.A. (1939 & 1946)
Expreso Aereo Inter-Americano (1946)
Isthmian Airways, Inc. (1933) (Company aircraft used in filming "Only Angels Have Wings," with callsign of, "Calling Barranca")
* Lineas Aereas Mexicanas, S.A. (1939)
Compania Cubana de Aviacion, S.A. (1936)

Middle East
-----------

Palestine Airways (1940)

North America - Canada
----------------------

Arrow Airways, Limited (1939)
* Canadian Colonial Airways, Limited (1939)
Canadian Airways, Limited (1937 & 1941)
Dominion Skyways, Limited (1938)
Mackenzie Air Service, Limited (1940)
Prarie Airways, Limited (1941)
Quebec Airways, Limited (1938)
Trans-Canada Airways, Limited (1940)
Yukon-Southern Air Transport, Limited (1940)

North America - United States of America
----------------------------------------

* American Airlines (1939)
* Blue Grass Airlines (1944)
* Boston-Maine Airways (1939)
* Braniff Airways (1939)
* Colorado Air Ways, Inc. (1942)
* Continental Air Lines (1937 & 1939)
Chicago and Southern Airways (1940)
* Delta Air Lines (1939)
* Eastern Air Lines (1939)
* Inter-Island Airways, Limited (1939 - Using the AI S-43 from GW3 Hawaii)
Mid-Continent Airlines (1939)
National Airlines (1938 & 1941)
Pan American World Airways, Inc. (1939)
Pennsylvania Central Airways (1939)
Trans-Continental and Western Airways, Inc. (1939)
United Airlines (1939)
Western Air Express (1939)

South America - Argentina
-------------------------

Aeroposta Argentina (1937)

South America - Colombia
------------------------

Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aereos (SCADTA) (1938)

South America - Brazil
----------------------

Panair do Brazil (1941)

I'll go over the listing of Willy's files more in depth, but from what I've seen so far I like them! I would just swap out aircraft, though - as already said - it's a Herculean task!

Thanks again for everything, folks!

Jorge

[Erik]

Very interesting, all of this. I am creating some late thirties European bits and pieces for myself, at irregular intervals. The focus is on 1939 for which timetableimages.com has quite some material. Airfield info is harder to get. The searching process has gotten me lots of interesting info though, like airline code sharing is at least eighty years old and in those days they were very daring in low visibility ('blind flying')!

I cannot tell yet if my stuff will ever get to a point where I feel it worthy of sharing, but if it does I will certainly tell here.


Erik