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[WxTech]

Mod released May 14, 2018. Posted in Cockpits(Reskins). Or just get it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/oz56ub2l69k8jlb/00_WxTech_P-39N-1.7z



[EDIT -- Added some pics, after getting off my duff and acquiring a new image hosting service (after the Photobucket fiasco). See post #4.]



I got waylaid during my P-40 efforts, and stumbled into the distracting byway of the P-39. My interest lies mostly with the earlier birds, and so I've been concentrating on the N-1 (which covers the P-400 and D-1/D-2.)

I started out with Stenka's repaint, some of which is largely left as is--but I've made numerous small tweaks that might escape notice. And some fairly significant alterations, not to mention some completely new stuff.

I've been going hammer and tongs for at least three weeks. For reference I used as many photos as I could find online.

Added new elements (in cockpit only):
- Rear armored glass with mounting frame. (And added a high-specularity reflection which brightly flares when the Sun is directly ahead.)
- The missing frame bar which arcs over the pilot's head.
- The horizontal tubular bar immediately behind and just above the seat, presumably to anchor/guide the shoulder harness.
- Foam rubber head protecting cushion on the arch edge just behind/above the pilot's head.
- Small armored plate covering  the lower front wind screen (has the additional benefit of hiding the annoying cowling texture gap.)
- Additional frame bracing above the doors, extending rearward to the bulkhead arch.
-Frame edging to indicate thickness where it sandwiches the perspex.
- Built the box (10cm in depth) which front face is the left side panel.

Fixes:
-The circular holes in the rear bulkhead arch (5 each side) have been better positioned, and a pair of new holes are added higher up.
- The front tubular frame has been slightly rounded in profile from the former square.
- The tubular framing at the sides and front have had their textures altered and re-mapped.
- The side framing above the doors/tubular parts has been trimmed down to be only as high as the tube top surfaces; as in reality, and obstructs less.
- Each of the small gaps immediately ahead of each door and just below the cockpit sill has been covered-no seeing through the wall at these points any more.

INSTRUMENTS:
- Essentially all have been re-done, some from scratch, some being photo-realistic.
- Added glass reflections (of the cockpit interior) to the instrument faces, which are fairly properly lighting angle dependent in intensity (strongest when the Sun is high forward.)
-Added additional higher specularity instrument glass reflections to the upper panel set, kicking in when the Sun is directly behind.
- Improved the gyro compass drum, making it larger so that barely more than 50 degrees of azimuth is displayed in the window, as was the case in reality. And made it more smoothly round. And put a truly black texture behind the drum so that you can't see the gun through the gap below it.
- Fixed the magneto switch, so that its handle is oriented correctly for "both" mags (as opposed to the former impossible horizontal orientation.)
- Added the missing screw heads for the instruments so mounted.
- Integrated the instruments into the panel in the correct manner of appearance.
- Restored the correct assignment of magnetic compass heading and waypoint indicating needles.
- Separated a couple of needle pairs which incorrectly shared a common plane and thus flickered where overlapping.


And overall made many tweaks to textures and their mapping.

I even made up a set of damaged gauges, with reflections, to replace the stock ones, even though it seems this plane does not actually use them! (There is no damaged panel to activate.)

I'm about to integrate the armored glass damage texture. And I plan to refine my gun sight with additional polys for some 'rounding' of the too-square body edges. And I'd like to add the trio of adjusting nuts at the mid-point of each lateral gun sight bracing bar. Another *potential* addition; oil smearing on the aft canopy perspex occuring with the last level of glass damage--maybe.

There's bound to be some bits I've forgotten in my frazzled brain.

I'd sure love it if someone could look into the gyro compass code.. The drum turns as though in cold molasses; *way* too slow, where it should be essentially instantaneous in response.

I hope to release this baby in a week or two...

[henkypenky]

Every cockpit update is very welcome Wx, thanks for all your work; you have any screenies to keep us busy these two weeks?

[WxTech]

henky,
After Photobucket got greedy I've never bothered to seek out another image host. So no screenies at this juncture, I'm sad to say.

[EDIT -- But this inspired me to get a new hosting service. Pics in the next post... )

I did forget a couple of items, which I added in edit. The main one is the addition of the horizontal bar just behind/above the seat, which appears to be the anchor/guide for the shoulder harness. Two others involve gap filling: Just ahead of the doors are no longer small holes through which one sees outside; the slim gap just below the gyro compass drum formerly let one see the not so dark backing texture in grazing light--it's now truly black.

I'm having trouble with the armored glass texture mpact damage texture. When my field of view has the texture at or very near the screen edge, triangular or rectangular gaps appear. Most annoying! I'm trying all kinds of positional adjustment and mat file parameter changes to see if this can be overcome--not looking hopeful. It might have to do with the fact that I already have three textures on the armored glass; two for the basic greenish tint (both identical except that the other has its surface normals reversed in order to reduce the variation in intensity of tint as illumination angle changes), and one for the bright specular reflection when the Sun bounces off it.

[WxTech]

[David Prosser]

It looks like the real deal.

[vegetarian]

This is fantastic! Can't wait to install it and have another go at some of those Eastern Front and early SW Pacific Cobra campaigns.
Thank you WxTech.

[henkypenky]

AMAZING! These two weeks will be torture. Thanks for the pics.

[Kopfdorfer]

You're an artist WXTEch !

Fantastic.

Kopfdorfer

[Paulo Hirth]

  Very well done, nice details, thank for your work!

[Catahoulak9]

This is beautiful WxTech, and so badly needed for the p-39. Many thanks!

[barber]

Magnificent, WxTech thank you!

 Cheers
 Barber

[WxTech]

I did forget to mention two new graphical changes...

The radio stack just above the floor has been given a new texture taken from a photo (you can see this in one of the screenies above.)

The map case flap on the starboard door has been also given a texture from a photo, incorporating instructions for landing gear and flap operation.

I just finished more gun sight work, rounding the sharp edges/corners of the sight body. I've long been unhappy with the simplicity of its modeling. But as the N-2 sight was my very first 3-D project I was at the time much more conservative and parsimonious with polygon count. You can see the progression in my gun sight complexity as I moved on to the USN Mark 8, then the Italian San Giorgio tipo B, and latterly the Russian PBP-1. And so it's high time I took the N-2 to a better standard.