Sepecat Jaguar for X-Plane: August 2010

The Jaguar project for X-Plane has been a long time in the making. The overall aim is to realistically simulate the Sepecat Jaguar aircraft in many of its guises and to a high visual quality.

I began developing this model back in 2007, and since then I have spent many hours, and a fair amount of money researching and gathering data to ensure the flight model is accurate as possible within the limitations of X-Plane.

Assistance has been sought from ex Jaguar pilots, and from current Jaguar technicians and museum restoration teams. Some very kind and skilled people have provided me with dimensions, access to a real Jaguar, and documentation to aid systems and flight modelling.

The entire flight model has been rebuilt multiple times, and the 3D model had a few iterations before good progress was made.

This blog will document the build process, and updates will be posted when decent steps are made.

This is a long term project, and it will be available to buy upon its completion.

28/08/2010

First beta model

I have offered a first beta out to the Uk Dev group to gather some opinions about how the Jag is flying. This will give me a chance to complete a little more of the object work, and I'll hopefully gather some useful comments to assist me in making the flight model as nice to fly as possible.

I'll post some pics of the current status of the object work when I get a chance.

Stay tuned!

24/08/2010

Drag Testing

Its been a while since I last posted and a fair amount of flight testing progress has been made. I am currently in the process of testing the drag of the aircraft with different weapons load-outs. This may seem academic, but I still hope for working weapons in X-Plane some day, and the Jag looks good with some drop tanks, or rocket pods hanging off the wing!

I have verified that the aircraft is capable of a wide range of take off and landing speeds, and it is quite stable with the aid of artificial stability. I think there may still be some room for further tweaks to the centre of gravity, or radii of gyration.


Cruising back to Ascension Island, hands off at 50ft.

More drag needed on the fuel tanks before the next flight.