January 17, 20242 yr In the last week, I've gone into "total memory recall" of some flights I made early in my simming "career" by a recent photo essay provided by @P_7878 regarding the PNW area. I still recall the very detailed Tongass Fjords add-on created by Holger Sandmann that created an awesome looking (at the time!) scenery for this geographical area in earlier versions of the sim. Back in the day, one of my favourite, go-to flights (especially if I was short on time!) was a quick hop from Wrangell, AK (PAWG) to Bronson Creek (CAB5)...many fond memories of hand flying the MAAM Sim R4D following the river valleys of the Stikine and Iskut, in (often barely legal) VFR conditions during the cold winter months delivering virtual cargo/fuel to the gravel landing strip at the Snip Gold Mine. On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised that Asobo/MSFS still have the (abandoned) Bronson Creek, CAB5 airstrip available in the sim...that particular airport designation (CAB5), from what I understand, has been re-assigned (IRL) to the Abbotsford Hospital Heliport in the Fraser Valley. Growing up close to YVR, commercially flying DC-3's were still a very common sight around the airport in the 80's and 90's. Funny how you never forget that sound of a radial piston flying overhead. (I only wish that the Asobo/AH DC-3 in MSFS had a similar sound pack to that of the latest P3D Manfred Jahn C-47.) Having just, in the last few weeks, made the switch to MSFS after a 1-1/2 year hiatus, I'm really enjoying the Duckworks' Mod DC-3 (together with the differential ground steering add-on). Getting back to @P_7878's recent post from Bella Coola and the PNW, it reminded me of a repaint I did for Manfred Jahn's C-47 in P3Dv5...Air North C-GZOF. This particular Air North livery has been available in almost every version of the sim for as long as I can remember. Surprisingly, I had not yet found this livery for MSFS. Doing some recent research, I also came across the real life, restored Air North (Yukon Sourdough) DC-3 re-registered as N983DC, surprisingly, also not yet available in MSFS! Maybe this would be my opportunity/calling to pick up the paint brush again? I have a sort of sentimental attachment to this particular (Klondike Explorer) airframe...she was a common sight on the South Ramp at YVR in the early 1990's. Sadly, I still recall the day of her last flight in August 1995 when she went down just shy of YVR Rwy30, attempting an emergency landing following a prop overspeed on takeoff from Rwy08R. Unable to maintain altitude following an engine shutdown (prop would not feather), she came down short of the airport crashing onto the dyke close to #2 Road and River Road in Richmond. The hull was consumed in the post crash fire. The three crew members escaped through the cockpit with the PIC later succumbing to his injuries. In the two years prior to her accident flight, C-GZOF had been leased to Waglisla Air, serving the coastal regions in and around Bella Bella. Back to this particular livery...C-GZOF was a "working girl"...maybe not the prettiest bird on the ramp...when I saw her in the early 90's, her paint was quite weathered. With this repaint, I wanted to try to capture that essence. I'm looking forward to recreating many of the coastal flights I enjoyed when I first started simming oh so many moons ago...this time within a much better VFR/weather environment! This is also my first attempt at 3D painting with Blender, complimented with my 2D paint program for the finer details! So far, I like the way this one is turning out...truthfully, it may just be a heavy dose of nostalgia on my part... Attached are the results so far of this "retro" Air North C-GZOF DC-3 livery...I do plan to package this one with both the classic and the retrofit GPS panel...note, this repaint is still a work in progress, I still have some details I want to clean up (or is that dirty up?) prior to publishing...hope you enjoy the photos!
January 18, 20242 yr Author On 1/16/2024 at 8:33 PM, John F said: Very nice work! Looking forward to this one. Thanks for the feedback John...much appreciated! Not much progress today...painted the prop tips...and finally got all the Armor-All off of the tires... I wasn't originally planning to do any cockpit work...repainted the cockpit lining to a light brown colour...and then struggled to get a "leather look" on the cockpit seats...looks more like suede at the moment...I'll keep working on that... And it wouldn't be complete if the build plate didn't have the correct Construction Number and Serial Number...
January 19, 20242 yr On 1/16/2024 at 10:06 PM, rmeier said: In the last week, I've gone into "total memory recall" of some flights I made early in my simming "career" by a recent photo essay provided by @P_7878 regarding the PNW area. Wonderful, rmeier, that you're picking up on MSFS with this classic airline of the North/Northwest...and also getting into repainting...in the brave new world...🙂... You may just take a look at a post I'd contributed more than 3 years ago, on December 20, 2020, with the Title, "Story of Air North - (its DC-3/C-47 and 737-200) ..."...with a reference to (C-GZOF) ...Of course, being in the neighborhood of it...🙂...you would know lot more about the airline and its DC-3s than me ... Glad you've picked up the Duckworks Mod, which is missing in my Xbox, otherwise the MSFS DC-3 is a great (vintage) aircraft to fly...with good modelling, inside out, and excellent liveries, metal included... Have fun...!
January 19, 20242 yr Author 14 hours ago, P_7878 said: You may just take a look at a post I'd contributed more than 3 years ago, on December 20, 2020, with the Title, "Story of Air North - (its DC-3/C-47 and 737-200) ..." Thanks for the feedback...and I do recall the post... Definitely enjoying the sim so far...much appreciated!
January 20, 20242 yr Author Might be time to package this one up...(nice to see the other recent DC-3 photos here!)
January 20, 20242 yr This really looks very very nice!! Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080
January 20, 20242 yr Author 2 hours ago, bernd1151 said: This really looks very very nice!! Thank you! I appreciate the feedback...first time picking up the paint brush in almost 2 years. Livery is now available on Flightsim.to.
January 20, 20242 yr Looks beautiful... You seem to have picked up the paintbrush where you left off so expertly...rmeier...I think Steve D. would be proud of you...🙂...
January 21, 20242 yr Author 5 hours ago, P_7878 said: Looks beautiful... You seem to have picked up the paintbrush where you left off so expertly...rmeier...I think Steve D. would be proud of you...🙂... Thanks for the feedback! Happy with how she turned out! I had to laugh...last week I sent Steve an email asking him for some help on a dumb, nube mistake I had made within the MSFS file structure... No painting today...in fact, no FBO's, no airways and no ILS's...just old school VFR hand flying the DC-3.,,yeah, what can I say...didn't have the real world weather tab checked for today's flights! Made an earlier flight from Wrangell (PAWG) to Bronson Creek (CAB5) and then onto Prince Rupert (CYPR), Orbx scenery for both Wrangell and Prince Rupert. Later, I made another departure from PAWG and discovered two more (IRL) abandoned airstrips...first flying to Telegraph Creek (CBM5) hand flying at about 3,000 ft following the Stikine River Valley. It's been over twenty years since I've flown into that airstrip...missed on the first attempt, completed a go-around and landed the second time. From CBM5, climbed out of the Stikine Valley for a safe altitude (climbing to 9,500 ft) and made a direct route to Bob Quinn Airport (CBW4). Had never flown into that strip before...only knew it was beside Route 37 (and a lake)...just followed to the highway once I entered the valley...it's been a fun day! Also picked up some additional Orbx/Alaska sceneries today...I think I'll be busy the next few days...between this aircraft and Steve's PMDG DC-6 Evert Air livery for some Alaska flights... First leg after departing PAWG... The abandoned strip at Telegraph Creek...at 6,000 ft length and approx. 1,000 ft elevation, not too challenging...even though I had to do a go-around! 🙂 Cruise at 9,500 ft about 40 nm north of Bob Quinn Lake before a quick descent into the valley. Flying into the sunlight trying to find an airport I've never flown into...a 4,000 ft gravel strip.
January 21, 20242 yr Lovely set of pictures from the backcountry...Rightly, they say, you want to see a place, then throw away the tourist books, and have a native as your guide...🙂... Looking forward to the DC6 pictures in Steve's Evert Air colors...another classic airline...
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