Going Around the World in the Comanche

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Mustang
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Joined: 19 Jun 2011, 13:11
Location: Midlands, UK

Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Mustang »

Cheers guys :)

Piper, I use the free ENBseries add-on to tweak the lighting effects. Nothing more than the out-of-the-box settings. It adds some more contrast and makes things look a little more lifelike. If to turn it off with the shortcut key (Shift-F12), default FSX looks quite 'Nintendo like' in terms of its colour palette. But here I can see the improvement in P3D screenshots where everything looks better still.

No worries Paul, and I don't read a great many threads here so missing some is easy. Ah, the tip tanks! I knew I'd forgotten to pack something before I left :D

It took some serious thought before committing to this epic journey, knowing how long it would take me, but I'm glad to have started it. Another a reason to keep on flying! It's also the reason why I decided not to buy Air Hauler 2; to avoid distractions. Plus, it's good to see how the Comanche will cope with all kinds of weather conditions and over a long series of flights. If I was flying it on random flights I wouldn't likely build up as many hours because there too many other aircraft in the hangar to distract me! (May that Constellation take a long time to come out of beta!)

I decided to start out with a fairly basic Comanche set-up. I expect to 'buy' a few upgrades along the way, including the tip-tanks, so I shall be arriving back in the UK with a top-spec model 8) Again, I thought it might be interesting to see how much of a difference some of the extras make to the performance.

I'll let you know what Georgian dish we have, though it won't be for some weeks yet as we're off on holiday shortly. Time for a bit of real flying, unfortunately only in economy class though :D

awash2002
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Joined: 01 Aug 2013, 06:13
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Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by awash2002 »

I also want to do the same around the world trip with a similar equipped Comanche I went ahead and installed a Garmin GTN750 GPS unit in mine my departure date is August 10 but instead of going around the World I'm going Around the USA starting from my home airport Tom B David Field KCZL and arriving back at KCZL some time after the Reno Air Races. The plane is N5242P. I still need help with the route planning also along the way I will be adding tip tanks to the plane along my journey
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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Lewis - A2A »

A RTW sim thread and a recipe trading thread all in one sounds like a grand idea Mustang :lol: :mrgreen:

Have fun on Holiday with the family!

cheers,
Lewis
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Mustang
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Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Mustang »

After more than 6 months, I thought it was time for an update! There isn't quite as much progress as I would have hoped, especially over the Christmas period, but there is an explanation for that :wink:

So... since I last posted in July, I have covered:

Leg 16 - across Georgia
Leg 17 - Georgia to Azerbaijan
Leg 18 - to Iran
(with an unplanned IFR approach in poor visibility which I was very happy with)
Legs 19 & 20 - across Iran
Leg 21 - to the United Arab Emirates
Leg 22 - to Pakistan
Leg 23 - deeper into Pakistan


On Christmas Eve I began the rather lengthy process of completely reinstalling my PC after buying an SSD for Windows 10 and FSX. Not only did I have to reconfigure my whole system and numerous other games/sims and controllers, I had the painstaking process of rebuilding FSX, this time using FSX-SE instead of the boxed edition. I only got it to a state I was happy with a couple of weeks back, so flying has finally recommenced.

Here's the usual map:
Google Progress Map

A small photo album of each leg:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/29219468@ ... 173073140/

And a few choice screenshots from along the way:

ImageThe day's light slowly grows

Approach to Rasht in Iran:

Image Completely overcast as we near top of descent

Image And a clear view by 300ft

Image High terrain during our 11,500ft cruise

Image Downtown Tehran

Image Approaching the Zagros Mountains

Image Various ridges and terrain ripples cover the landscape

Image Taxying out at Shahid Dastghaib Intl, Shiraz, Iran

Image Mountains fashioned after a Toblerone bar!

Image Many hilltops appear 'sunken' in this area

Visit to Dubai:

Image Burj Khalifa standing twice the height of our aircraft

Image Picture perfect over the Gulf of Oman :)

Arrival into Karachi

Image Final for 24R, the city lights now shining


So, back to the side project of my wife making some 'local' cuisine to match each country I'm visiting, we have recently enjoyed 100% homemade renditions of:
  • Georgian bread (Khachapuri)
  • Azerbaijani stuffed peppers
  • Iranian lamb kebabs
  • Arabian falafel and pita bread with aubergine dip
All very tasty ... now I await a nice curry! :mrgreen:

Scenery & visuals by:
-FTX Global
-FTX Vector
-FreeMesh X
-A few freeware airports and freeware Dubai
-REX Essentials
-REX Soft Clouds

Current hours logged on the airframe is about 41 and she's due an oil change (4 months) and possibly an upgrade. Karachi's international airport has a GA aero club so I may get a few bolt-ons from the maintenance hangar 8)

Till the next update!

Martyn

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Piper_EEWL
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Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Piper_EEWL »

Hey Mustang,

Nice to see you're still working on that round the world trip! I'm sure it was a massive pain to get the sim and the controllers back to where you want them!

Nice screenshots. And those meals sound really good!

Happy flying and thanks for sharing!
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

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Paul K
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Joined: 20 Jun 2010, 08:44
Location: Norwich U.K.

Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Paul K »

A great set of pictures, Martyn, and well done on your progress so far. It looks like you have an appropriate range of add-ons for the trip, judging by your list. :)

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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Great update Martyn, looks like you really have your sim setup well as the series of screenshots is amazing! Very sharp 8)

cheers,
Lewis
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Mustang
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Joined: 19 Jun 2011, 13:11
Location: Midlands, UK

Re: Going Around the World in the Comanche

Post by Mustang »

Cheers all, glad you enjoyed :)

I've a surprisingly straightforward setup (from a technical point of view). ENBSeries provide a bit of contrast to make it look less 'cartoony'. I've not applied Nvidia Inspector adjustments yet so am using FSX's own anti-aliasing. I don't think it's the fastest option for me but it'll do for now, especially since much of the scenery is sparse.

I'm considering trying one of the freeware add-ons that streams satellite imagery from the internet for use as ground textures. With the FSX landclass being quite poor for this part of the world, it must be look stunning to see real ground textures. But it means spending more time tweaking and less time flying... so I might not! I'm tired of tweaking :D

Hopefully my screenshots can be a little more creative now thanks to ChasePlane, which is a fantastic camera tool.

Martyn

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