Very pretty model with some inaccuracies (BogdanX mentioned the split tailplane). Also, the flaps seem to work in reverse since you actually included wing parts in the moving fuselage parts. This doesn’t work in SP. Either use tiny (hidden) wings with regular control surfaces as flaps or add moving wing parts front of the CoL. Otherwise it won’t work. This way, flaps come down, plane wants to descend instead of increasing lift. Not how it works IRL. Having the leading edge flaps work separately by using trim also seems like an odd choice, since they usually either are automatic or work in conjunction with the trailing edge flaps (not sure which is the case for the F-104).
@Robomo00119 Why stop making an F-86 replica half way and make a semi-fictional one with a confusing variant nomenclature and an even more confusing fictional back story? I don’t quite get the approach.
@Falkenwut I’d like to go more into detail on this: since cannons seem to be a substantial part of this philosophy, it would only seem natural to able to modify the vanilla cannon so as to simulate an appropriate rate of fire, impact damage and overall „feel“ (as we all know, the wing gun and minigun are not particularly good at either). What’s your take on that?
Shape‘s perfect, flies well. No go for some more detail :-). I’d love to this fully fleshed out - like, imagine if the YF-23 had won over the YF-22. Would’ve been one sexy super fighter!
@FlyingBathtub I share these concerns. Also: editing of guns (cannons) is essential to get realistic rates of fire and calibers. The 600 rpm takakakaka of the default wing gun ain't gonna cut it. Most post-WW2 aircraft machine guns and cannons had rates of fire around 1,000 rpm already. A few exceptions existed, of course (Soviet NR 37, etc), but those were large caliber aircraft cannons. So again, I believe XML modding cannons is essential for this challenge.
@MrOofington … well, sorry I misread a joke. Then again, it didn’t exactly say „joke“ in the headline. Kinda hard to tell these days when everyone‘s being sarcastic all the time.
@MartinByrde Yeah, SP is tricky that way. It’s sometimes enough to save your build, go for a test flight and then upload it without saving it again. Bugs will happen, some are hard to control, so don’t sweat it. Everyone understands. ;-)
Another cool little gem. Again: very smooth controls and great flying characteristics. One little thing occurred to me: the rudder seems to be stuck (at least when I downloaded and flew it first). It required changing some faulty connections and reattaching it to the hinge rotators. I assume the tail wheel is supposed to actuate with the rudder?
Besides that: I really think you should keep the color choice for your original creations. Really makes them stand out plus you already got your own little ‚brand’. Maybe call it
„Byrde Aviation“ or „Byrde‘s Flight“
… or something Iike that. 😉
Anyway, keep up the great work and come check out my builds if you feel like it. I’d appreciate your feedback as well, since you obviously have a knack for making controllable planes.
@MartinByrde It really makes me happy to see this becoming so successful so quickly. Goes to show that true effort is indeed rewarded and the SP spirit is still alive and kicking.
Brilliant and impressive work! To be honest: I can’t get most of my builds to fly this smoothly. Cool design as well. I think, we’ll be seeing a lot more from you. I, for one, am looking forward to that!
@MentallyDistorted I see. I went ahead and looked into it … looks like I fixed it. I removed the left main wing (the actual airfoil - not the cosmetic one) and mirrored the right one to take its place. Reversed the flap on the new left - et voila! No more auto-roll :-) Here you go, in case you wanna update your XML: https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/lv87nd/Lockheed-EC-121-Warning-Star-auto-roll-fixed
@WinsWings No problem. I thought I‘d mention it before it goes unnoticed. But yeah, glitches can truly be weird in SP. I’m having the same issues on one of my older builds and they occur each time I change something and save the build. Guess we’ll just have to live with that. :-)
Great build! Just some quick notes: the elevators seem to be stuck due to faulty connections (they need to be connected to the hinge rotators only and those need to be inverted). Similarly, your ailerons are synchronized, meaning: they both move in the same direction (solution: invert the right aileron’s hinge rotator and you’re fine!).
I really like how your builds are improving and especially the use of fuselage parts for the wings is a major step up!
Whenever I’m scrolling through this/last year’s top rated builds I come back to this one and I wonder how this got so many upvotes? I mean no offense, it’s a very decent build, even really good in certain areas. But what caused this to be upvoted so disproportionately? Is there some kind of algorithm involved I’m not aware of?
Thanks for all the updoots! I realize a MiG-21 ain’t anything special in SP terms but I feel like there aren’t a lot of super simple ones that actually look the part. So that’s what I went for.
@WolfHunter9111 I dig it. Whenever I get around to polishing this one up, I was gonna call it the „Boeing A-21 Invader II“ (as an Hommage to the WWII-era Douglas A-20 Invader), but your idea is actually quite cool!
@Gabriel747 What?! It’s only been about a month since the F-22 update. I’d be thrilled to be pumping out superior quality builds at a rate like that! Also, I‘ll argue that it’s well worth the wait every time.
@CharlesDeGaulle I see what you mean, although my perspective is limited in this regard, since I’ve never played DCS (or flown a fast jet IRL, for that matter). I also noticed the „bobbing“ when pulling lots of Gs, which probably shouldn’t occur in a fly-by-wire jet like the Mirage 2000. However, I don’t find this to be particularly bad, even on mobile controls. I just pull back less hard on the stick and it turns just fine. Anyway, I do see your point. For me, personally, flight performance is good enough.
This is so cool! The blending of the wing root and the fuselage is masterful. Controls nicely, great cockpit, no obvious detail-overkill just to show off, but just the right amount of realism. Nice job!
@LlamaIndustries It's anything BUT an Apache. But if you're out for references, it's practically a Cobra with landing gear instead of skids.
+2Very pretty and accurate build but … how in the world do you not crash this thing when trying to land?? It’s so … agile. 😵💫
Absolutely beautiful! It’s the perfect level of detail and realism to go with and SP build. You truly ACEd it (again)!
T
@IdnManufacturer that explains my phone checking out 😂
+1Phone says no to saving it to my SP collection. Damn shame, looks awesome!
+1Very pretty model with some inaccuracies (BogdanX mentioned the split tailplane). Also, the flaps seem to work in reverse since you actually included wing parts in the moving fuselage parts. This doesn’t work in SP. Either use tiny (hidden) wings with regular control surfaces as flaps or add moving wing parts front of the CoL. Otherwise it won’t work. This way, flaps come down, plane wants to descend instead of increasing lift. Not how it works IRL. Having the leading edge flaps work separately by using trim also seems like an odd choice, since they usually either are automatic or work in conjunction with the trailing edge flaps (not sure which is the case for the F-104).
That target locking system is friggin awesome!!
+1@Robomo00119 fair enough. I’ll keep my eye out for more. ;-)
@Robomo00119 Why stop making an F-86 replica half way and make a semi-fictional one with a confusing variant nomenclature and an even more confusing fictional back story? I don’t quite get the approach.
@Falkenwut , that seems fair, thanks for specifying!
+1@Falkenwut I’d like to go more into detail on this: since cannons seem to be a substantial part of this philosophy, it would only seem natural to able to modify the vanilla cannon so as to simulate an appropriate rate of fire, impact damage and overall „feel“ (as we all know, the wing gun and minigun are not particularly good at either). What’s your take on that?
+1T!
That’s gonna be a beauty to fly!
+1Shape‘s perfect, flies well. No go for some more detail :-). I’d love to this fully fleshed out - like, imagine if the YF-23 had won over the YF-22. Would’ve been one sexy super fighter!
+3@FlyingBathtub I share these concerns. Also: editing of guns (cannons) is essential to get realistic rates of fire and calibers. The 600 rpm takakakaka of the default wing gun ain't gonna cut it. Most post-WW2 aircraft machine guns and cannons had rates of fire around 1,000 rpm already. A few exceptions existed, of course (Soviet NR 37, etc), but those were large caliber aircraft cannons. So again, I believe XML modding cannons is essential for this challenge.
@ZeroHours SP community at its best ... or worst ... in a nutshell.
+2@MrOofington … well, sorry I misread a joke. Then again, it didn’t exactly say „joke“ in the headline. Kinda hard to tell these days when everyone‘s being sarcastic all the time.
Let’s all calm down now.
Classic 1950s WWII jet bomber 🥸
Sooo ... is "just a plane" gonna land sometime soon? In any case: T!
T
@AdmiralGelvain My guess is: when the challenge has ended (post 30 Jan.).
@MartinByrde Yeah, SP is tricky that way. It’s sometimes enough to save your build, go for a test flight and then upload it without saving it again. Bugs will happen, some are hard to control, so don’t sweat it. Everyone understands. ;-)
Another cool little gem. Again: very smooth controls and great flying characteristics. One little thing occurred to me: the rudder seems to be stuck (at least when I downloaded and flew it first). It required changing some faulty connections and reattaching it to the hinge rotators. I assume the tail wheel is supposed to actuate with the rudder?
Besides that: I really think you should keep the color choice for your original creations. Really makes them stand out plus you already got your own little ‚brand’. Maybe call it
„Byrde Aviation“ or „Byrde‘s Flight“
… or something Iike that. 😉
+1Anyway, keep up the great work and come check out my builds if you feel like it. I’d appreciate your feedback as well, since you obviously have a knack for making controllable planes.
@MartinByrde It really makes me happy to see this becoming so successful so quickly. Goes to show that true effort is indeed rewarded and the SP spirit is still alive and kicking.
Brilliant and impressive work! To be honest: I can’t get most of my builds to fly this smoothly. Cool design as well. I think, we’ll be seeing a lot more from you. I, for one, am looking forward to that!
Cheers
@WolfHunter9111 $£%¥ plen. Gotta flesh it out at some point.
+1@WolfHunter9111 Oh ja!
+1@TheCommentaryGuy You win the comment section! :-D
+1@MentallyDistorted Thanks!
+1Congratulations, mate! Incredible progression in terms of output, hosting challenges and improving your build quality! Cheers
+1@MentallyDistorted I see. I went ahead and looked into it … looks like I fixed it. I removed the left main wing (the actual airfoil - not the cosmetic one) and mirrored the right one to take its place. Reversed the flap on the new left - et voila! No more auto-roll :-) Here you go, in case you wanna update your XML: https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/lv87nd/Lockheed-EC-121-Warning-Star-auto-roll-fixed
So it was simply a glitch. Not your fault at all!
Cheers
+1Beautiful and rare! Though I have to ask: is anyone else experiencing rather heavy auto-roll to the left?
+3@WinsWings No problem. I thought I‘d mention it before it goes unnoticed. But yeah, glitches can truly be weird in SP. I’m having the same issues on one of my older builds and they occur each time I change something and save the build. Guess we’ll just have to live with that. :-)
Great build! Just some quick notes: the elevators seem to be stuck due to faulty connections (they need to be connected to the hinge rotators only and those need to be inverted). Similarly, your ailerons are synchronized, meaning: they both move in the same direction (solution: invert the right aileron’s hinge rotator and you’re fine!).
I really like how your builds are improving and especially the use of fuselage parts for the wings is a major step up!
+1Whenever I’m scrolling through this/last year’s top rated builds I come back to this one and I wonder how this got so many upvotes? I mean no offense, it’s a very decent build, even really good in certain areas. But what caused this to be upvoted so disproportionately? Is there some kind of algorithm involved I’m not aware of?
+2Thanks for all the updoots! I realize a MiG-21 ain’t anything special in SP terms but I feel like there aren’t a lot of super simple ones that actually look the part. So that’s what I went for.
@WolfHunter9111 Classic and classy at the same time. To me, this is what SP is all about.
+2@WolfHunter9111 Ha! Now I see it too. Totally!
+1@WolfHunter9111 Got it. That’s why I thought it was clever. ;-)
+1@WolfHunter9111 I dig it. Whenever I get around to polishing this one up, I was gonna call it the „Boeing A-21 Invader II“ (as an Hommage to the WWII-era Douglas A-20 Invader), but your idea is actually quite cool!
+1@Gabriel747 Got it
+1@Gabriel747 What?! It’s only been about a month since the F-22 update. I’d be thrilled to be pumping out superior quality builds at a rate like that! Also, I‘ll argue that it’s well worth the wait every time.
+1@WolfHunter9111 This is one of the coolest, yet most subtle symbiotic relationships here in SP! Looking forward to the cockpit.
+2The hell, am I missing a huge in-joke here?
Also: challenge accepted!
+1Looooots of 99-part builds incoming! ;-)
+1@CharlesDeGaulle I see what you mean, although my perspective is limited in this regard, since I’ve never played DCS (or flown a fast jet IRL, for that matter). I also noticed the „bobbing“ when pulling lots of Gs, which probably shouldn’t occur in a fly-by-wire jet like the Mirage 2000. However, I don’t find this to be particularly bad, even on mobile controls. I just pull back less hard on the stick and it turns just fine. Anyway, I do see your point. For me, personally, flight performance is good enough.
This is so cool! The blending of the wing root and the fuselage is masterful. Controls nicely, great cockpit, no obvious detail-overkill just to show off, but just the right amount of realism. Nice job!
+1@CharlesDeGaulle Am I missing something? Could you elaborate on what you feel makes this „bad flying“?
@ZeroWithSlashedO Agreed. Although not sure if German Typhoons even carry Brimstone. Still … best stone.
+1