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Convair 580 (Sierra Pacific Airlines) for FS2002/FS2004

Built in GMAX and bare metal textures by Greg Pepper 

Aircraft modified by Tom Gibson, tgibson@sunstroke.sdsu.edu

Version 3 - June 27, 2003

Many textures based on photos provided by Steve Mathis.

Panel by Alan Jennings and HJG, gauge bitmaps by Alan Jennings and Greg Pepper, gauges by Greg Pepper and Tom Gibson.  Refer to the panel's DOCS folder (in the 580panel folder) for details on how to use this panel.

PLEASE NOTE!  This panel is used by special arrangement with Historic Jets Group (HJG) - no uploads of this plane or panel allowed to any other site!

Flight dynamics by FSAviator (true FS2002 flight model with dynamics derived from actual flight manual information), correct within 3% of the real flying characteristics - see Reference file (F10).  This FDE is not designed for AI use - it will not work.  Download AI propliners at http://www.calclassic.com/.

Beta tested by Steve Mathis (CV-580 pilot), Tom Gibson, Alan Jennings, and Greg Pepper.

Version 3 Features:

1.  VC is fully textured.

2.  Air conditioning inlet has black interior

3.  Improved flight dynamics - slows down better at low power levels, increased reverse thrust

4.  Overhead panel switch added to main panel.

5.  Shortened cockpit windows

FS2002 FEATURES:

AIRCRAFT

1.  Virtual Cockpit

2.  Prop reverse (throttle to idle, press F2)

3.  The passenger door will open and airstairs will extend when you press Shift-E.  Press Shift-E again to close the door for flight.

4.  The plane is complete with reflective and night textures (turn on lights with L key, then turn Landing Lights off and on with Ctrl-L).

5.  The landing gear has working compression struts, and retracts as seen in vintage video.

6.  The landing lights light the ground properly, and must be extended before use (press the L key, and then press Shift-W).  There is a separate taxi light on the nose strut (turns off with the rest of the lights using the L key, or use the switch on the panel).

7.  The prop blades actually rotate when you change the pitch or feather them; to feather the prop select engine by E1 or E2, then press and hold Ctrl-F2.  Press M--- and Ctrl-Shift-F1 to shut down the ignition and mixture.  Then press E2 or E1 so you can operate the other engine.

8.  Contrails whenever you want them (press the I key)

9. FS2002 style nav, landing, and beacon lights (press the L key)

10. FS2002 style visual effects, including touchdown smoke

11. Working NAV2 radio

This plane also features animated landing gear, Fowler flaps, ailerons, elevators, and rudder.


Tom Gibson's modifications:

I've made some minor improvments to Greg's great 580 - thanks for the wonderful model, Greg!:

Props now display the pitch visually - you can feather the props by pressing and holding Crtl-F2 and watch them rotate.  Flaps deploy as proper Fowler flaps (i.e. slide back), and the flap/nacelle joint has been corrected to 45 degree angle.  Airstair handrails now deploy realistically.  Props have smooth curved edge, corrected right wing misalignment, pointed the rear fuselage, smoothed rear fuselage, and added view blocks in air intakes, prop spinners, main gear wells, and under stairs.  Scissors links are added to the gear, the gear retraction cycle has been altered to match video footage, the nose has been slightly reshaped, antennas have been added, glass has been added to the cockpit, and the airstairs plate reads correctly from the back as well as the front.  Nosewheel now steers with the rudder.  Added reflective textures, and it is lit at night, albeit subtly, and the virtual cockpit gauges are lit.  Altered Greg's original textures to match photos I had.  Corrected blue textures showing on bottom fuselage.  Greg has added a smoothed wing root too.

Greg's original text:
                               
This is an all-new simulation model created from scratch using AutoCAD and gMAX.  The 2D and 3D panels are also original and use photos from real Convair 580's. The model includes many working parts as well as a working "airstair".

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This particular flight sim model has what appears to be quite a past. From what I can discern it was originally created several years ago for FS5 with FSFS by Keith Waugh, and then improved by Tom Gibson. Later it was upgraded to FS98 by Dee Waldron using AF99. Through the years it has been modified by Tom Gibson, Dave McQueen, Frank Safranek and K. Trinkle.  I flew the FS2000 version in Sierra Pacific colors for many hours. Recently I found yet another incarnation of this model with the FS2002 version by Igal Kaplan (panel) and Glen Hall. With the advent of gMAX I thought I would like to try to take this old model to the next level. I found the FSDS sourse files by Dee Waldron and Michael Verlin for the FS2000 version at FreeFlight Design. All of the parts for the FS2002 gMAX version are new and none of Waldron's model was used. However, due to it's accuracy and attention to scale, I did use it as a template. This saved a great deal of time. The 3D model and virtual cockpit were built using AutoCAD. The 3D model was then imported into gMAX. The textures (created with PhotoShop) were applied and the animation perfected. The model contains almost 17,000 polygons. I don't know what the limit is but I'm sure this may be pushing it. (note: the model was created and tested on a 700 MHz PIII and frame rates do not appear to be a problem) I think it was Dee Waldron who said he found this model file on FreeFlight Design and after doing his magic with it, was returning it to where he found it. I too am returning it to where I found it by posting the gMAX file at FreeFlight Design for the next generation of designers to make this old 580 even better. It's ironic that this flight sim model seems to have as many lives as its "real" counter part. I just keeps getting better and better.

I would like to thank all those mentioned above who have gone before me in providing such a fun and well-executed model. I hope I haven't left any body out. My deepest apologies if I have. I would also like to thank Felix Rodriguez and all the other designers at FreeFlight Design. The service they provide aspiring designers like me is invaluable. They have helped me with this 580 as well as other models. Thanks is also deserved by Tom Gibson who gave me early information on the air stair operation and provides one of the best propliner sites in the world. Lastly I would like to thank "Cowboy" Bob Palmer. I've known Bob sense I started flying co-pilot in Tired Iron's B-25 several years ago. Bob used to captain a Convair 580 for Sierra Pacific and was invaluable in providing technical information on the 580.

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     Important: This is Freeware! It may not be used commercially in any way. This simulation is made for the sole purpose of entertainment for fellow flight simmers.  It may NOT be sold or distributed on any disk or CD, regardless of whether the disk or CD is allegedly "non-profit".   I reserve ALL rights to this model.

PLEASE NOTE!  This panel is used by special arrangement with Historic Jets Group (HJG) - no uploads of this plane or panel allowed to any other site!

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TO INSTALL:   Use a decompression program like Winzip to unzip the downloaded file to a
temporary directory; then unzip the "Unzip into Main FS2002 Folder.zip" file to the main Flight Sim 2002 folder (the one with FS2002.exe in it).   That's it: it should be ready to go. "Kick the tires and light the fires!"

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About the model:
You will notice the 2D cockpit uses a Beech King Air throttle quadrant while the 3D cockpit more realistically shows only pilot and co-pilot throttles. The real 580 only had throttle levers. The prop RPM was controlled by an automatic system using engine torque, throttle position and the prop governor. There were no condition levers as the fuel was controlled with on-off toggle switches on the overhead panel. The airstair can be deployed using the "SHIFT E" keyboard command. Remember to make sure the left prop has stopped turning before you open the door. Don't want anybody walking into a prop. (makes a really big mess on the side of the airplane!) Those big paddle blades have a lot of momentum and take a long time to "spool down". If you're in a hurry, move the prop levers into "feather" and they will slowdown faster.

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DISCLAIMER

It is inconceivable that anything in these files could cause problems with your computer, however: there is absolutely NO warranty or guarantee of any kind, expressed or implied, for any problems arising from the use of these files.  This includes, but is not limited to, any hardware and/or software problems.  All use of these programs and their related files is at the users own risk.

