How can I help?

[Fhechene]

The other day I was thinking about how cool wold be to have so and so planes, but how tedious is the process of adding at least one plane to the game: cockpits, flight models, sounds, documentation, weapons...
So I thought, instead of making a post about how I want some planes, how about I make possible adding those planes.
So there, how can I help?

[Sita]

interesting and not realy easy question ...

if you are 3d modeller..or 2d artist... or java coder ... i know how you can help ...

if not ... .. hm ... you can help by passive mehtod ... for example collecting info and reffs about planes which you want's ...

[Fhechene]

Well, not Java, but Python, so I guess I'll just stick to info and references.

What kind of references? I guess that not weapons, top/cruise speeds, engines...they are all in wikipedia. Flight models?

[BrainMan]

Originally Posted by Fhechene

Well, not Java, but Python, so I guess I'll just stick to info and references.

What kind of references? I guess that not weapons, top/cruise speeds, engines...they are all in wikipedia. Flight models?

Photoes of cockpits, drawings, journals, etc.

[Sita]

Originally Posted by Fhechene

What kind of references?

any kind...


http://www.luftfahrt-archiv-hafner.de

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Sita

any kind...

More to the point, the more detail you can provide the better. Reference material for currently non-flyable aircraft is particularly welcome, since TD seems to be concentrating on "filling in the gaps" rather than adding new aircraft to the game.

Good, high-resolution photos of cockpits, gunner, and bombardier stations are quite welcome. Ideally, those photos will be of museum aircraft which retain period equipment (flyable "warbirds" usually have modified cockpits, and have stripped armor, life support, etc. equipment out). They will also be from a number of angles (including views of the ceiling and floor). Detail photos will clearly show lettering on gauges, pilot placards, etc.

If you can't get interior photographs, "walkaround" photos of obscure aircraft, especially detail photos of assemblies or areas of the aircraft which aren't clearly visible in 3-view drawings or modeling references. For example, it's often hard to find good pictures of the area between the engines and the wing (like inner side of engines or details of fuselage or leading edge of wing) for twin-engined aircraft. Detailed pictures of things like trim tabs, control push rods, landing gear bays, gun sights, ordinance, cockpit framing, armor glass mounts, etc. are also good choices.

If you take pictures of an existing aircraft, try to get the exact model number, production block, and other details. For example, "P-47D-10-RE Early production, later field modified with "Malcolm" hood. Restored to markings of P-47C-5-RE flown by Lt. Walker "Bud" Mahurin" is far more helpful than "P-47."

The same goes for technical manuals and journals. TD and their allies are pretty good at tracking down existing info on the web, but if you have access to period materials which aren't yet on the web, that's a goldmine of info.

Again, the more detailed and "crunchy" a particular source is, the better it's likely to be. "NACA Report 135 "Airfoil Characteristics of the P-47C" Submitted 3 FEB 1943," "TM 53-5 Assembly and Repair of the P-47C Thunderbolt," or "AAR 14 MAY 1943 Pilot: 1st Lt. John Blogs" is probably going to be more helpful than a 30 year-old modeling magazine article.

For combat reports, ideally you're looking for details in "After Action Reports" and squadron histories about ammunition and ordinance loadouts, squadron tactics, damage inflicted and sustained, and other small details that don't make it into the history books. But, keep in mind that the people who wrote those reports probably had other things on their mind when the events they described occurred, so they aren't necessarily accurate. Pictures, technical diagrams, reports, etc. are more reliable.