Somnus

well that just looks awesome!

To be honest, our time there was short and I was too busy running back forth like a giddy school girl looking at everything to actually read most of the plaques Although my hosts that took me did mention that the planes in there were either the actual planes, or reproductions. I have a feeling that a lot of the more modern US naval planes were original, but these WWI and WWII were reproductions.

Hey guys, I got the opportunity to visit the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL last week. I don't have much experience with naval aviation, but I certainly found some things I enjoyed. I didn't get a picture of it because I was too busy climbing all over it, but they had the cockpit section of a German Democratic Republic Air Force MiG-21UM trainer, hood and all in the front cockpit. Unfortunately the canopy was closed, so, like I said, I could just climb all over it, looking at the switches and gauges and being pretty impressed with how well DCS modeled it. Here's a picture of it from their website: I did get some other neat pictures though! This is a trophy Fokker D. VII wing. You could really see how thin the fabric was that covered them! Here is a Nieuport 28 on the bottom with a Fokker D. VII above it. A closer picture of the Nieuport. Closer pictures of the D. VII. These are scale models of an Albatross D. Va, showing the skeleton of the plane. An American Sopwith Camel. I was disappointed with the snoopy doll in the cockpit. I mean, I get it, but still. A beautiful MiG-15 with a closeup of the guns and cannon. I really wish it had been down on the ground so I could have ran my hands over all those rivets! An Me 262, the world's first jet fighter! Another view of the Fokker and Neuiport, with the MiG-15 peeking in from the right. And for the final picture, the Hanriot HD.1 This was a really amazing musuem. They had a few examples of huge flying boats, and a large section of cockpit trainersthat you could climb into and sit in, including a F-4 Phantom II, an AH-1 Cobra, AV-8 Harrier and an F-8 Crusader. If you're ever in Pensacola, FL I would highly recommend visiting this free museum!

A little late, but welcome Ewald. Once you get flying with JG1, you'll never want to go back to single player again! There's nothing like looking out at your 3 and 9 and seeing friendly planes that you know are all piloted by real people, ready to work together.

It's a pretty fun game. I've got the Northern Inferno campaign too, but I haven't really given it a good try yet. There's tons of missions in the Community Mission Pack, and I think the steam version has Workshop support now too. You'll really need to know (or learn) different weapon systems though. What is the range and capability of such and such SAM site. How far can my F-18s fly before they'll be bingo fuel. What ECM system will be able to foil this SAM so I can run a SEAD, etc. Steep learning curve, but very fun!

Command: Modern Air / Naval Operations is on sale on Steam for 50% off right now, which brings the price down to $40. This is a -wonderful- "game" if you like to take things from a top down, operational level. http://store.steampowered.com/app/321410/

I didn't either. I wouldn't it buy it though, it's $10 too expensive!

Random sighting at a Micro Center yesterday:

Just about every night starting between about 9:30-10pm. I'm always here around 9:30, he's a little bit later.

So Oskar and I have been flying against 4 ai F-16s set to the highest skill level in the Su-27. It's pretty hard, but also pretty and intense and fun. I thought I'd post this Tacview file of a fight we had tonight. It had everything, BVR locks, flat spins, moves like I knew what I was doing, death, a vengeance fueled headlong afterburner dash after a death... good times! The F-16, at least at this skill level of AI, certainly outperforms the Su-27. NOTE: I tried to upload the file directly and was told I didn't have permissions, so here's a link to it... here.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing too. Oh well, it works I suppose!

1.5 right now. I run the steam version, so no Nevada yet

That's awesome! I'll have to give it a try! Edit: Oof. $30. Never mind! Still neat though! If I get enough into the aircraft it might be worth it!

Hey guys, So, so far I'm pretty happy with my CH setup purcheses, although I am certainly having to relearn muscle memory with the linear throttle, and then using the pedals. One of the issues that I'm having though is that I use the ministick to slew my targetting pods and the like on aircraft like the A-10C, Ka-50 and Su-27. If I flick the down or to the left, it re-centers just fine. However, if I flick it up or to the right, it doesn't re-center all the way, so it ends up with the reticule travelling constantly in that direction until I recenter it manually. This makes it hard to fine tune things. It might be because I'm using the stick as an axis instead of a button press, but has anyone who has this throttle experienced the same? Right now I've got a pretty heavy deadzone set on it to counter it, but this isn't ideal. I contacted CH and got this response: Hi Zach, The microstick on our Pro Throttle has a light spring tension which can cause the crosshair to be slightly off center. All of our Pro Throttles act this way, but perform within tolerance. The best option to resolve this is to apply a deadzone within the software or Flight Simulator that you play. Jon Soucy

That's good to hear that you've actually built this Brit! It might go ahead and try it, but I have NO WHERE to put it right now. My kids would be climbing all over and the wife would hate it staying out in the living room, haha.

Ivee got about 4 or 5 months until I move. Here's hoping I have somewhere to put it wherever I end up!

This looks really cool, and not too difficult. I wonder what the price of materials would be? They have a side-stick version too, as well as a way to rig a throttle up to act like a helo collective! Do It Yourself Floor Unit Frames

Right now I'd say any night except for Tuesday and Wednesday should normally be okay. Although I might be around then too. It's my last semester of classes, senioritis is definitely a real thing, so I probably shouldn't have as much time as I do, haha.

Seeing as how I *can't stay connected

Seeing as how I can stay reliably connected to RoF lately, would anyone be interested in flying DCS on a regular basis? I have all of the modules available on Steam, but have been focusing on the MiG-21, Ka-50, Su-27 and A-10C lately ( with an eye on the MiG-15 )

Well, I just ordered the full CH setup from Amazon today, so I'm excited! I had to cancel my order of the pedals from Walmart because I was told three days in a row (starting a day after they were scheduled to be delievered) that they hadn't shipped yet and would that day. Estimated delivery is the 18th - 19th from Amazon!

There's a second long section at the very beginning of the new trailer for Batman vs. Superman where you see the control stick for the Batplane. I immediately recognized it as a Warthog. I think I have a problem. His slide out way of storing it is awesome though:

HA! That -might- work. I ended up bribing her instead. I had set aside $500ish for a computer program which I've decided to wait on, so I gave her the extra $300 Hopefully I'll be ordering the CH stuff tonight. Maybe later, if the need (or desire, likely) presents itself strongly, I'll save up for the Warthog.

So after much sweating and internal anguish trying to decide between an X52 Pro and X55, and a moment of vertigo inducing panic when I realized that I have the cash on hand to afford a TM Warthog (followed quickly by cold fear when I thought of what my wife would do if I were to follow up on that) I think I've decided that I'm going to a CH Fighterstick and CH Pro Throttle. I've already got the CH Pro Rudder pedals on the way, so why not go with a full CH setup? Earlier today I saw Amazon had the X55 for $200, with 8 left. Just a couple of hours later I go back and they're all sold out, with people selling them from $300 used to $500 new mypilotstore.com has it for $250, but the CH setup would only be $260 on Amazon. What do you guys think? I should be able to order in the next day or two.

Well, I got it home and tried it out and it worked pretty well! It took slightly longer to press switches and what not, but I chalk it up to using it left handed, and also it being a touchpad instead of a mouse. I'm sure with use it could be just as fast. However, after installing the driver so that I could use the Control Center program (which lets you set the device orientation, scroll speed, etc) the mouse cursor just freaks out. The slightest touch causes the cursor to jump to the edge of the screen in a random direction. As soon as you uninstall the driver, it works fine again. I emailed the company that sold the device, as well as the company that develops the driver (I think Ergonomic Touchpads sells them, but Cirque is the OEM) to see if they have any ideas. I'm using Windows 10. But, then a bigger problem presents itself. I need to be able to remove this device from the spot I'll use it often, since I have kids. The velcro seemed pretty good for that, however the first time that I pulled it up off the velcro, the device started to come undone. The glue they used to hold it together isn't as strong as the velcro apparently. So, the device works well. The response was great. The speed and precision were there, but the build quality wasn't. They have a 30 day guarantee (as well as a 1 year warranty). I'm not sure if I'll replace and find somewhere else to put it, or just send it back. EDIT 1: I wasn't content with just letting it stay like this, so I just took a little super glue to it, and after it's dried, I've taken it off and on a few more times and it seems to be holding together okay, so maybe I'll hold on to it and keep trying it out Now I just need to get the driver issue resolved so I can mount it upside down (the cord comes out of the right side of the unit, right into the keyboard ) and all will be well! EDIT 2: Well, before I super glued it, I sent an e-mail to Ergonomic Touchpad and they've already gotten back to me and offered to replace the device. I didn't expect a response so quick! I was also able to resolve the driver issue by plugging the touchpad into a USB 2.0 port. I had it in a USB 3.0, and after switching between the two, the issue is definitely related to having it in the 3.0 port.