Starting KJAX -- a couple of questions...

[Guest KORFBuilder]

Hello all! After KORF (Norfolk) I have taken awhile off and moved to Jacksonville, FL. I've gotten the bug to build once again, and I can't think of a better place than KJAX. My first scenery was quite a steep learning curve, but this should go much better. However, I do have a couple of questions for everyone out there...1) Has anyone successfully gotten the help of their airport in providing building dimensions? I went to the city to get the info from blueprints, but the airport has undergone so many renovations that there are hundreds of updates. I am thinking of going directly to the airport, but I'm not quite sure what to go in there with... So, does anyone have experience at it?2) A more general question... does anyone have any external photos or photos of the ramps at KJAX they are willing to share? If I don't get the dimensions from the airport, these are what I'll have to go off of...Thanks for your help!Matt PerryKORFBuilder

[wsieffert 0]

You might try looking at TerraServer for aerial photography of the airport but generally the photography is several years old. You could also rent a small plane and do a photo shoot of the airport, approx $100-120/hr for a Cessna 172.W. Sieffert

[ShezA 176]

The obvious is check on the sites like airliners.net and jetphotos for pics of JAX and try and determine what it looks like.For the scenery itself, you should download an airfield map of KJAX, place the runway with the precise length/direction and lat/lon (ideally you would use default reference point from FS by placing your aircraft at the approximate center point of the runway), and adjust your background map to fit the runway. Subsequently you just use the background map for placing and sizing of terminal etc.Shez

[Guest KORFBuilder]

Thanks for the replies so far. I have gotten the top down photo's and done exactly what you have mentioned. My concern lies elsewhere however, so I'll try to rephrase my thoughts. When I built KORF I used all the aerial photo's I could find. The problem was the height of buildings. I think the reason I asked for photos, was to see if anyone had photo's of the back side of Terminal A & C and all of Terminal B as I cannot see that from anywhere at the airport. There's not even a perimeter road on the other side of the airport where I could use a good pair of binoculars from. My main question though remains... Has anyone gotten cooperation from their airport, and how did they go about doing it. Thanks again for the replies. It's great to see people always willing to help!Matt PerryKORFBuilder

[ShezA 176]

I had help from Orange County Airport Authority back in 2000 when making the original SNA, but that was before Sep 2001...Height of buildings is easy, take a look at pics of any aircraft parked at the terminal and by reference to the tail height estimate the height of the terminal. Again remember you are not the architect of the airport so accuracy can be 75%. Users are grateful you are giving your free time to this ;-) :D .If you are after making textures for the backside of terminals (i.e. parking areas), take a call and make some approximate textures. For terminals just go with whatever you see in any photographs you have and replicate it throughout. Another avenue is to contact the authors of the photographs you have and see if they have more photos they have not posted.Final view: if you do not have enough reference material choose another airport.RegardsShez

[Guest bcorner]

I started a few years ago doing a detailed arial. You could try the Public relations office at KJAX. Simply tell them what your up to. They have been known to give tours of the facilites. They have a scale model of the airport terminal on display somewhere in the main lobby. at least they used too.