Posts Tagged ‘Bill Womack’

In good PR fashion we can now announce that ‘we are happy, no, proud to announce’ … yadayadaya…

 

Seriously though, we ARE happy !!! After much hard work we can now finally put our feet up on the desk and bring you a new add-on for Flight Simulator X called Plum Island. It is the first of a new series of very highly detailed small sceneries designed by Bill Womack. The series is called ‘100 Dollar Burger’, with a wink to an existing real-life chain of small airfield reports.

Bill is well known for other commercial sceneries such as Freight Dogs, Dillingham on Hawaii and major parts of Tongass Fjords, and also for some excellent freeware sceneries such as Bear Gulch and RAF West Malling for RealAir and Reading Airfield in Pennsylvania made for the MAAM-Sim DC-3 title.

Plum Island’s small airfield (2B2) is situated near Newburyport, some 27 miles north of Boston along the Atlantic coast. The FSX version of it conveys the atmosphere of a small local field, often slumbering in the summer heat or laying deserted in the wintery cold. According to the Airnav pages aircraft operations average some 54 per week, so clearly not a busy airport, but instead the ideal companion for your VFR-loving GA aircraft!

FSAddon’s version for it is a ‘native FSX’ title and tested under Windows XP and Vista, and with FSX SP1, SP2 and Acceleration. It includes the airfield itself with abundant detail up to and including the field’s instructions hanging next to the entrance of the main building.

It also includes a wide area around the field including the town of Newburyport, the tidal flats from the river to the Atlantic, the beaches and the many holiday homes along the coast. This entire area is made using high-res aerial photos and painstakingly placed customized autogen houses and other objects.

Also included is a dedicated AI traffic file, a nice little manual in pdf format and last but not least a dedicated support forum on FSAddon’s web site.

The second best part of all this, next to the incredible detail and immersion the package brings you, is the price. Plum Island can be had for only $ 15, as an introductory price to the new series.

 

We have put it up for sale IN DOLLARS on our own site (click HERE), using the Flight1 wrapper software. We are also working on a CD version, for those of you who don’t like 280 Mb downloads, or just like to have some plastic in your hands!

The CD is estimated to cost $ 22, and that’s including shipping anywhere in the world.

If you rather buy from simMarket, that too is possible, then go here.

 

 

 

Title		Plum Island
Series		100 Dollar Burger
System		FSX only
Location		27 North of Boston, MA
Author		Bill Womack
Design		Native FSX
Tested on		XP, Vista (32 and 64), FSX SP, FSX SP2, FSX Accel. and DX10
PRICE		US$ 15

 

Plum Island is Bill Womack’s latest title for Flight Simulator, specifically made for FSX. This time Bill has made extensive use of aerial photos to add a true-to-life atmosphere to the landscape. On it he has meticulously placed autogen objects, so that this ‘photo-title’ is NOT one of the ’standard’ boring flat-looking wallpapers that so often result from using photos.

Plum Island’s small airfield (2B2) is situated near Newburyport, some 27 miles north of Boston along the Atlantic coast. The FSX version of it conveys the atmosphere of a small local field, often slumbering in the summer heat or laying deserted in the wintery cold. According to the Airnav pages aircraft operations average some 54 per week, so clearly not a busy airport, but instead the ideal companion for your VFR-loving GA aircraft!

He has also made not only the Summer textures, as again is usual for products like these, but rather has provided Winter textures as well, and night textures.
The BEST part of it all however is how he has been able to BLEND the phototexture with the default MS textures. You will have a hard time figuring our where Plum Island ends and default FS textures begin !

But that’s not all… Bill has added the very small airfield 2B2, aka Plum Island, in stunning detail, rendering it truly ‘as real as it gets’. Finding the field from the air is not easy, but once you do and land there, you can taxi up to the small FBO or fuel station, and fill your plane up.

You can ‘fill yourself up’ on one of the picknick tables in the shade of some trees, and chat with the airfield manager or one of the ‘resident’ pilots.

 

Here’s a quote from an e-mail to Bill Womack from one of our beta testers and residents of the area :

"……. Bill, the FBO at Plum Island, Steve Noyes, said not to make things look so real. After all, you didn’t have to show the rust on his tractors. The Director Don said you showed too much cracks in the runway. I told him they were real. He said, "I know, but…". You won over 3 converts to Flight Simulator. George Kelly, the Manager at 2B2, who bummed a computer from me. Mike Donahue a pilot from Plum Island airport and I think Victor Tine, the reporter that called you. He took to FSX like a baby after candy.
As far as I’m concerned, you’ve outdone Emma Field in realism. Thank you buddy. The next time you’re in Newburyport, I owe you a lobster dinner at Michael’s Harborside….".

 

 [polaroid=1]

 

 

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

 

 Below some more screenshots, many of them made by our friend and ‘resident screenshooter’ Nick Churchill.

 

 

And here some COMPARISON SHOTS…. default MS versus Bill Womack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you arrive late in the day and the sun starts to drop behind the horizon, the atmosphere is even more life-like than during day time….. notice the late sun rays glistening on the myriad of little waterways snaking through the marshes and wetlands in the estuary….

 

 

 

 

 

Surprise surprise !! You may find some ’stuff’ on the runway that you could do without…. like a FENCE !!!

 

 

And here are a bunch of Nick’s shots !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plum Island is Bill Womack’s latest title for Flight Simulator, specifically made for FSX. This time Bill has made extensive use of aerial photos to add a true-to-life atmosphere to the landscape. On it he has meticulously placed autogen objects, so that this ‘photo-title’ is NOT one of the ’standard’ boring flat-looking wallpapers that so often result from using photos.

He has also made not only the Summer textures, as again is usual for products like these, but rather has provided ALL SEASONS, and night textures.
The BEST part of it all however is how he has been able to BLEND the phototexture in with the default MS textures. You will have a hard time figuring our where Plum Island ends and default FS textures begin !

But that’s not all… Bill has added the very small airfield 2B2, aka Plum Island, in stunning detail, rendering it truly ‘as real as it gets’. Finding the field from the air is not easy, but once you do and land there, you can taxi up to the small FBO or fuel station, and fill your plane up.

You can ‘fill yourself up’ on one of the picknick tables in the shade of some trees, and chat with the airfield manager or one of the ‘resident’ pilots.

 

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

 

 Below are a bunch of screenshots from our Beta Product…. the final product may differ some.

 

First of all the NAME of the new SERIES !

 

And here some COMPARISON SHOTS…. default MS versus Bill Womack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you arrive late in the day and the sun starts to drop behind the horizon, the atmosphere is even more life-like than during day time….. notice the late sun rays glistening on the myriad of little waterways snaking through the marshes and wetlands in the estuary….

 

 

 

 

 

Surprise surprise !! You may find some ’stuff’ on the runway that you could do without…. like a FENCE !!!

 

 

 

And to close this session off.. here are some shots at day time ……..

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you liked this little tour of the sleepy airfield, somewhere in New England. We’ll have more information for you soon.

Lets fly out of here in our own Super Cub…….. see you next time !

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Womack is hard at work on his first airfield in a series of ‘reasonably priced’ small fields. It will be a series of fields all situated in New England. Although small and cheap you will see that the quality is extremely high….. You can feast your eyes on more screenshots below, but also follow the development ‘live’ on Bill’s blog !

 

 

Yes folks, although Nina and I are almost packing our bags, car and motorbike to head off to France, we still want to share a few things with you.

First of all the Piper Cub by Simon Smeiman…. I am working on the packager and we should have it out this weekend if all goes well! Oh yes, I’ve read some grumpy comments on it already by people who have tried the demo version of it. All I can say is: it is a FIRST by the author, I like flying around in it, and it isn’t expensive. Anything else is a matter of taste.

Secondly, Bill Womack is working on an exciting new project (and YES, also on Tongass Fjords and Emma Field). He’s a real busy bee he is!

Feast your eyes on this !!!

 

And there is one more thing, but I’ll save that for a separate post………… STAY TUNED !