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And this is why I hate painting (A32S previews)

Started by Chris Liu, Oct 07, 2014 00:57

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Chris Liu (1001)

After over 4 hours work and despite my best efforts to line everything up, on first load in to FSX these are some of the problems on just one quarter of the aircraft! :o There's easily another two hours work to fix this thing (you haven't seen the rudder or door 2L)  :( It's at times like this I wish we'd picked a simple livery with straight lines (think Swiss)!   

I'm not asking for sympathy, thanks or congratulations, it is reward enough that you guys are logging flights each day and/or posting here in the forums :) However, I would ask people bear in mind the man hours involved (and tedium!) when they wonder why we haven't added a particular aircraft type.

Aerosoft's paint kit isn't terrible, but the textures could have been laid out and labelled better. I've added some details that weren't in the paint kit, such as the warning labels on the engine nacelles.

On a more positive note, some of the new destinations this bird is already scheduled to visit include: Madrid, Athens (!), Lisbon, Valenica, Palma and Helsinki. I've actually done more than half the scheduling already  8)

Elijah Hoyt (1021)


Sergio De Ceglie (1143)

Great to see you progressing, not just with the new aircraft and the extra detail you're putting in but also with the new schedule.

As you're probably aware, Aerosoft are releasing an updated version of their A320/A321 package later this month to bring it up to the standard of their recently released A318/319 package. From what I've read on the Aerosoft forums, it appears the repaints will be compatible between the versions. A user has formally asked the question but no reply as yet from the developers. Hopefully it won't create any extra work for you.

Regards,
Serge

Chris Liu (1001)

#3
Quote from: Sergio De Ceglie on Oct 07, 2014 03:43Aerosoft are releasing an updated version of their A320/A321 package later this month... it appears the repaints will be compatible between the versions.... Hopefully it won't create any extra work for you.
I don't think they'd change the external texturing as it would create a lot of needless work for them too, and generate a lot of user complaints.

Initially we'll support the Aerosoft A320 Extended, because it is currently the market leader. It is my intention to paint their new A319 too, but I cannot provide any timescales as the A320 paint job is taking longer than planned. The FSL (Flight Sim Labs), BBS (Black Box Simulations) and PA (Project Airbus) models will be considered at a later date, subject to demand, availability and time available.  I am categorically ruling out support for Airsimmer, AFS, iFDG and Wilco as they are obsolete (and in the case of the Airsimmer, because the texture mapping looks like this).

If we don't officially support your preferred Airbus, you can still fly it for Intercity using Airbus house colours; I appreciate this isn't ideal but there are many A320 models available and I can't justify painting on request when they take 4-8 hours each.

Sergio De Ceglie (1143)

Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 07, 2014 12:25
It is my intention to paint their new A319 too, but I cannot provide any timescales as the A320 paint job is taking longer than planned.


So is Intercity also planning to have A319's in the fleet or is this just so users can use the A319 as a substitute for the A320?


Cheers,
Serge

Chris Liu (1001)

#5
That's classified information haha  ;) In all seriousness though, the initial Airbus fleet will be a mix of A319 and A320 and either can be used on flights which specify A32S equipment. This allows Intercity to adjust capacity for each daily duty based on demand/sales. For pilots it means you only need the A319 or A320 to fly all our Airbus flights (I hope this will keep costs down for everyone).

       
  • A320-216 seats 150 (138 standard and 12 premium seats. Standard is 32" seat pitch and 6 abreast, premium is 38" and 4 abreast), requiring 4 cabin crew.
  • A319-115 seats 128 (120 standard and 8 premium seats. Seat spec same as the A320) requiring 3 cabin crew. Or 12 and 112 (tot 124)?
  • These configurations are fixed (i.e. not convertible/flexible cabins like BA or LH)
  • These are the later CFM engined variants with EIS2 cockpits

Sergio De Ceglie (1143)

Sounds great Chris.

I don't currently have the Aerosoft Airbus's as I was waiting to see which way you went however as Aerosoft have a pretty good deal with the A318/319 & A320/321 in a bundle it looks like I'll go down that road as then I'll get you use both options.

Cheers,
Serge

Chris Liu (1001)

#7
I couldn't justify purchasing both the A319 and A320 as they're so similar, unless the extra cost was minimal. I'm not overawed by the Aerosoft Airbuses anyway, they're okay but I'm saving my pennies for the FS Labs A320. The majority of Intercity's Airbuses will be A320s anyway.

Sergio De Ceglie (1143)

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the FS Labs version too. If it was already out or close to release then I wouldn't even look at the Aerosoft Airbus. However to me it appears the release is still way off so I'll go with the Aerosoft Airbus for now. I think the Aerosoft Airbus looks pretty good for the price point, advertised features and intended market.

Regarding the bundle, for me (no vat) it's only €8.40 more to buy the complete bundle over just the A318/319 or A320/321 alone so it seems a good deal.

On a side note, I mentioned in another thread that there is a VA discount of 20% for the Aerosoft A318/319. There is also a 20% discount for their A320/321. The discount doesn't apply to the bundle though. So if anyone is interested in both packages then it works out cheaper to purchase the bundle without the VA discount than to purchases both packages separately with the VA discount. Hope that all made sense.  :)

Cheers,
Serge

Chris Liu (1001)

#9
Thanks for that Serge, didn't realise it was that cheap to get the bundle, I think that represents fair value. But I'm still too tight to get both  ;D For anyone else reading this, full pricing details are at: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/85038-aerosoft-airbus-projects-prices-and-update-options/

As always, there is no estimated release date available from FS Labs but as their A320 is now entering beta testing I can't see it being more than 6 months away. "A short beta phase is anticipated" so there's a possibility it could be on sale before this Christmas. Having said all that, I remember the PMDG 777 being in beta forever!

Elijah Hoyt (1021)

Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 08, 2014 14:50
...their A320 is now entering beta testing I can't see it being more than 6 months away.


I was a beta tester for FSL for a while and while I will not comment on the project or any of its elements so as to preserve my NDA, I will say that their process is slow. 6 months might be optimistic unfortunately, but I'm not with the project any longer, so who's to say. We shall see what time brings!

Chris Liu (1001)

#11
Thanks for the insight Elijah, I was worried that was the case  :-[

On a more positive note, all 204 scheduled A32S flights are done ;D I can now confirm we will add 30x A32S, although 10x DH8D are leaving the fleet to help pay for them, so total fleet size will stand at some 125 aircraft (up from 114 previously)!

A few comparison stats to illustrate how much we're going to grow:
Was: 104 aircraft,  96 destinations, 391 routes,  929 flights per day, 01:16 average flight duration.
Now: 124 aircraft, 105 destinations, 489 routes, 1040 flights per day, 01:36 average flight duration.
EDIT Blackpool is closing: 124 aircraft, 104 destinations, 485 routes, 1036 flights per day, 01:36 average flight duration.

The A32S will operate to the following destinations:
From Birmingham to: Dusseldorf, Brussels, Paris De Gaulle, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Madrid, Stockholm Arlanda, Marseille Provence, Venice, Berlin Brandenburg, Geneva, Nuremberg, Lyon Saint Exupéry, Zurich, Nice Cote D'Azur, Stuttgart Ecterdingn, Hamburg, Milan,
From Düsseldorf to: Birmingham, Barcelona, Marseille Provence, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manchester, Oslo Gardermoen, Glasgow, Stockholm Arlanda, Lisbon Lisboa, Madrid, Athens Eleftherios Velizelos, Helsinki Vantaa, Bilbao Sondica, Naples Capodichno, Palermo, Valencia, Shannon, Palma De Mallorca
From Edinburgh to: Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris De Gaulle, Paris Orly, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin Brandenburg, Milan, Stuttgart Ecterdingn, Nuremberg , Bordeaux Merignac, Toulouse Blagnac, Stockholm Arlanda, Munich, Bilbao Sondica, Turin Di Torino, Cologne/Bonn Koeln, Copenhagen, Hannover, Nantes Atlantique, Göteborg, Zurich, Geneva, Lyon Saint Exupéry

This means I am now back to painting (oh the joys  ::) ). Chris H has already done most of the backend changes required. So we're on target to deploy the full Autumn/Winter 2014-15 schedule and new jets for 26th October, providing there are no major hiccups.

Bill Ant (1076)

Awesome!! ;D
I love flying out of EGPH and EGBB.   I have the UK2000 versions and they are very good.
Especially at night!


B.
Visit my Flight Sim Blog! http://deskpilot518.blogspot.com/

Luis Nunes (1214)

So is it confirmed the release of the jets on 26th october this year?
I7 4770 3.4 ghz, 16gb DDR3, GTX 770 2gb DDR5, 3TB WD HDD, 2x 750GB WD Black Caviar, Win 8.1.

Chris Hulme (1003)

Quote from: Luis Nunes on Oct 09, 2014 13:19
So is it confirmed the release of the jets on 26th october this year?


Quote from: Chris Liu on Oct 09, 2014 01:20
So we're on target to deploy the full Autumn/Winter 2014-15 schedule and new jets for 26th October, providing there are no major hiccups.


As Chris said, so long as we dont hit any hiccups between now and then, the 26th is launch day!