Probably not up to the standards required here, but...

...seeing as I was just looking around for information on something completely different (WW1 hangar photos) and it led me back here yet again, I thought this may be of interest to at least someone.

For a while now, I've been building "representative" WW2 airfields around Britain for MS FSX, using an odd mix of Ted Andrews library objects, default objects and my own pretty poor modelling capabilities.

They're not - and don't claim to be - 100% accurate, so I suspect I'll get a lot of flak from people who know better than me what was, should be and shouldn't be where, but if anyone is interested, they're all available here: www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk

I'm currently in the process of trying to start an accurate (i.e. photographic) scenery of an airfield, which will probably be Halfpenny Green, seeing as that is closest to me and I have permission to take photographs on site. How long that will take? A slightly different matter...

Anyway, hope it is of interest to someone.

Cheers,

Ian P.

Dear Ian - Welcome to AiX. Please do not feel intimidated by the breadth of experience you will find here - we all set out to help as best we can. I'm not into the Flight Sim thing myself but I have been stunned by what many members have created. I'm sure you will get some good advice here.

Hello,

Thanks for the welcome and your comments.

To be honest, the airfields I produce aren't intended (at present) to be 100% accurate, but due to the lack of coverage this period gets within the sim on the ground, as oppose to in the air, I felt it more important to get them done and available than historically correct. I'm always open to constructive criticism and advice, though.

One thing that the modelling community here may be able to help me with, though, is a Crossley Q Fire Tender.

The one thing my airfields are missing is fire coverage and some research turned up the fact that the Crossley would be more appropriate to the period than the model in the Airfix set which is the only one I have three-view drawings of to model. There is a Crossley Q still around, just up the road from me at the RAF Museum Cosford. They were more than willing to let me cross the barriers and photograph it, but the vehicle is backed up against the hangar wall and very close (a few inches) from the back of a German fighter, so I was unable to get much from any angle.

I don't suppose anyone here has more information on the Tender do they? I've trawled through all 67-odd (edit: it just hit 69!) pages of the Fire and Rescue vehicle thread and unfortunately even the Cosford museum one seems to be missing from there... I'm sorely tempted to post some of my photos of it.

Cheers,

Ian P.

Hi Ian, very impressive sims. I particularly like the Hornchurch one because that is where I live.
I have posted a CAD plan of the airfield in the appropriate section in this forum.
PM me if you want copies of any drawings etc.

Mike

Hi Mike, thanks.

I do want to try and create a completely accurate one at some point - Hornchurch, Sleap and Atcham are currently the short list. It won't be for a while yet, though, as I have other things on my plate that need to be done first.

Cheers,

Ian P.

HI Ian, any chance of some screenshots on the forum? Would be good to see

Hi Ian, glad you might want some more Hornchurch info at some point.
Also glad it might not be too soon!
Quality of drawings I have is making it difficult to be certain of details in some areas, but I am trying to get the best representation. Photos seem to be best guides in some details, better than the Hendon plans.
For example the water tower should be a good pin-point but not easily visible on the plan. And AWM drawings show a slightly different type to the one visible on photos. Even a Mod on AIX hadn't noticed the difference - strange given their expertise.
Anyway, if you want to detail Hornchurch get in touch. I will continue to refine my CAD plans for the station as best I can.

Best regards,

Mike

Paul has a valid point there...

I'd an admin at a flight sim site's forum ( www.simflight.com ) and the number of people PM-ing me asking "why doesn't product X work with product Y on my computer?" can sometimes get quite high!

Flyer719 asked for screenshots a while ago (I'll post some "proper" ones later), but these three may be of interest, I don't know.

The first is Hornchurch as it stood on my PC for a long time:
(One of those dispersal points is now the car park, which I suspect you've stood on a few times, Mike?)


The second is Hornchurch after someone provided a little bit of information:


And the third is how it ended up looking in the end.


There are some more shots of the finished one at www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/node/88 which I won't post here without resizing them, as they are 1280x1024, if I remember correctly.

The airfield layout diagram I have for Hornchurch, unfortunately, is not very clear. It is obviously a scanned copy, in numerous parts, from the original Air Ministry drawing, which I then printed and sellotaped together. For preference, I'd like to obtain a copy of the one presumably held by DoRIS at the RAF Museum, but following some news I've had this morning, the whole endeavor of trying to do one "properly" has taken a backwards step anyway.

Actually, I will post this one of RAF Middle Wallop as well, while I'm here, as it was on the same page that I stole the earlier screenshot links from.



Totally off topic: Paul, I have some questions about your upcoming/recently released book to potentially replace the one beside me... Is it OK if I PM them to you?

Cheers,

Ian P.