Once again months have passed - time is running! I have almost completed my flight training and will soon start my typerating on Airbus A320 or Boeing 737NG. Real life is “progressing well”, so how about the project?

I’m really glad to be able to tell you some good news. We now have another BIG partner, who is helping us with drawings, photos and system describtions. I’m not telling which company this is, yet! We are working together closely - helping each other. This really pushes the project forward and motivates us.

After one of our team members has left, I had to redo big parts of the aircraft. Now I’m once again finishing up the external model and will afterwards move over to the virtual cockpit. And here’s the next good news. We have a new guy in the team, who will be doing the scripting and animation of the virtual cockpit. He’s an expert in this field, so be ready for some interactive VC action!

I also did promise some new pictures. Once the spec / reflect / bump maps are finished, you will get to see those. That should happen soon. Stay tuned!

Once again I’m really happy to see, that we have so many great supporters! I am aware, that you are desperately waiting for updates and new pictures. And I would love to give those to you! However it’s not as easy, as it often seems. We are both quite busy at the moment, although we thought, we’d have more time by now - it’s totally not the case at the moment.

I have passed the theoretical exam and moved on to IFR training at my school. Now flying the Piper Seminole with Avidyne flightdeck - really nice! Tristan is somewhat busy with private life at the moment too. Please, keep in mind, that this is a developement blog. It’s our intention to show you how this project is coming along and offer some “behind-the-scenes” information. We will not make predicitons on when everything will be finished.

BUT, here’s actually some project news for you guys: We have been thinking a lot about how to develop and release this bird, so that the project in the end is worth the time, that we are spending with it. Tristan and I have decided to go FSX, since it opens a lot of new possibilities to us. We have been playing a lot with specular and bump maps. Guys, as soon as you see our 228 with those new textures, you will understand why FSX!

Also, we have started to develop a completely new, high detail 3D cockpit, which will be professionally rendered to give it a photo-real look. As soon, as there is something to show, you will see it!

I really appreciate that and I’m looking forward to working on with you in the future.

I’m now preparing for the final ATPL theory exam. After that, I will continue flying IFR and hopefully in about half a year finish and start flying commercial airplanes.

In the last months I have been really busy studying. That will be over in a few weeks and I will have more free time for all those nice things in life, such as my Do228 project.

I whish you a very nice new year 2009!

Viktor

First of all I would like to thank you for all those posts motivating us. Looks like we have quite a few supporters.

I’m sorry, that I haven’t been providing you with updates for such a long time. Here’s what the project looks like at the moment:

We have a pretty much finished model, fde and vc in progress and panel graphics almost finished as far as I can judge that.

Also, we now have a new member in our team, who supports us with his knowledge about MSFS, marketing and management.

He’s the one who helped us to set up a “business plan”. So far things look good.

However I will start my ATPL theory course very soon (PPL will be done in about a week) and I put my efforts into that.

That’s why I won’t be able to work on the project and write news regularly. I’m sorry for that, guys, but “real life” is more

important in this case.

As soon as there will be a big update, you will know it, I promise. We will stay in contact with the major news sites.

Again, thank your for your support!

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As there are many questions inbetween the comments, we have opened up the section “FAQ”. Below you can post your question as a “comment”. We will answer it here.

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When we posted those screenshots of the gauges (”Details baby…”), Tristan from Soleluna Airways asked us, what those pictures actually show. Are those the modelled gauges for the VC? Or just photos of the real panel? I gave a short reply in form of a comment. Now André suggested to create a short post on this topic, so you guys know what we are actually working on at the moment and what our work looks like.

So, what is needed to create a gauge? First of all, we need pictures of it. As we don’t have our own Do228 (not yet…), we have to rely on our partners. We request a picture - the next day we usually have it. Nice service, that is. The pictures we usually get look like this one:

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The following screenshots are showing the three different paintshemes of LGW’s Do228-200 fleet.

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