Adam Banks

@carlosqr for me!

Maybe in the old days ... I mean in Victorian times (when children were still being sent up chimneys) and thick, yellow smog would blanket the city!! I've always thought (with FSX, P3D and now MSFS) that the transition times around morning or evening have always been totally up the creek. Far too abrupt - and far to early (or late).

Hahaha! Caught out - HOWZAT! I spent a couple of days programming the MCDU in both FBW A32NX and PMDG 737 - using the same flight plan to compare. This daft old fart got utterly confused! Nice to see I have the same livery for both!! So ... kudos not to PMDG for the excellent exterior model - but to the FBW team!!! Thanks for the comments, folks!! Adam.

A quick flight from my birthplace (Leeds) to near where I ended up (Bristol) before leaving for NZ: You have to admire the way the undulating runway is modeled: MSFS lighting is so good ... Out of the haze and down the Pennines ... An uneventful (for once!!) approach and landing ... taxi to the gate: The level of detail of the PMDG 737-700 is superb! Adamski.

Whereabouts? I lived in Chalford, near Stroud. Used to go gliding from Aston Down. Thanks for the nice comments, folks!

Another amazing Cold War aircraft. Nothing like as elegant as the Hunter, but the Gloster Meteor has plenty of character! Back to RAF Kemble!!

Possibly one of the most stunning liveries for a jet fighter ... the incredible "Re-entry" colour scheme on the magnificent freeware Hunter by Dave Garwood: This was one of 22 (yes - twenty two) Hunters gathered at a display at Kemble I went to a [good] few years ago. MSFS pics snapped over Gloucestershire.

Fabulous shot - and a worthy winner! Now you can claim the Orbx Lawn Mower addon! LOL!

Here we go ... "Miss Demeanour" over Gloucestershire (Orbx MSFS South). I had the privilege of seeing this incredible aircraft at a display at RAF Kemble (a good few years ago!).

digital896 and his Austrian departure for me!

Wow! Fabulous shot!!!

Here's mine! Auckland City pack with a rather fanciful aircraft!

I'd have loved it to be a DC-3 .. but it's the Beech D18S I could go with the cargo - 6 crates of CDs of Peter, Paul & Mary's "Leaving on a Jet Plane"! Thanks, Iain!

Drat! I thought this month's theme for the screenshot comp was "Wings", so I snapped this one: Ah well ... back to the drawing board!!!

Phew - that's a relief! Glad to hear you're staying in the saddle!! Thanks also for re-posting the rules. Us old timers forget easily

Iain - did the "Wing" theme for this month get the go-ahead? I think I might have missed the post.

I don't think that would work. Over at NZFF, there were times when it became apparent that constestants were canvassing friends/other members to vote for their entry. IMHO, the current rule is way better. I still don't understand this fixation on winning. I'd have thought the idea of the comp was to showcase Orbx products, with forum members have a bit of fun along the way. As to contestants being outclassed by hardware - I don't see how you can ever level that playing field. Again - a moderately capable system shouldn't stop you taking screenshots and trying to be creative and enjoying taking them. I certainly wouldn't mind entering an F1 Grand Prix with my 1960's Morris Minor. No chance of winning, of course, but what a blast!! To put it another way - if you were choosing a desktop wallpaper (which you may end up staring at for ages), you'd want the best looking image, would you not? Why would you want some blurry, heavily anti-aliased , lo-res version? Now here's another idea: the winner has to produce a desktop wallpaper of the image (ie. decent resolution and maybe a couple of aspect ratios). The winning shots then go into a gallery, where anyone can grab them (after an Orbx person has stamped a subtle Orbx logo on it). Flightsim.to has a wallpapers section with thousands of submissions: https://wall.flightsim.to/profile/AdamskiNZ (not sure if that link takes you directly to my wallpapers, but they're there ... somewhere). Then maybe: https://flightsim.to/community/user-gallery Adam. P.S. I think the number of "likes" entries get is a total red herring. Sure, it may give you a bit of a "feelgood" factor, but I'd go for the hard scrutiny and votes of other contestants - any time.

I just don't understand this gripe. *Any* competition that's based on skill (of any kind) is going to be affected in this way. The most popular (ie. the best <?>) shot wins - what could be simpler? Sure - the competition is going to attract some "quality" entries from seasoned "regulars" ... but isn't that the same for *any* competition? The Chase? Wimbledon? F1 racing? My only problem with the competition is the confusion as to what qualifies as sufficiently Orbx-related content. With all the combinations of other vendors, it can get complicated! However - this whole forum is financed by Orbx, so I see no reason why the comp shouldn't showcase their products only. I think Iain has been quite fair with moderating eligibility. If in doubt - post the pic somewhere [else] and ask him. He's been quite happy to judge my pre-entries. We had similar problems over at NZFF - where a tiny handful of competitors basically dominated the comp month after month. People moaned that they thought they never stood a chance of winning ... but HEY ... I thought the whole point is to enjoy taking part (isn't it?). Anyway - we tried to open things up by using themes - and allocating votes/points to entries that best fit the theme as well as pure aesthetics. The idea was to open the field out to people that could think "outside the box" but weren't necessarily Photoshop wizards. Sounded great on paper - but went down like a lead balloon! *Two votes?* - wow - that was just too complicated for some. If anyone has any constructive ideas, I'd suggest posting them in Iain's themes thread. In the meantime - don't take it to heart, Iain - you've been doing a grand job (for years)! Wait ... I'll ignore my advice and post a suggestion here: In many competitions, the problem of skilled vs unskilled is addressed by using *league tables*. Maybe the consistent winners could be hived off to a "Premier" league (with a suitably "premier" prize) and other entrants in the "regular" league get some sort of a prize *as well*. Either that - or just give three prizes each month: 1st, 2nd, 3rd - with corresponding product values.

digital896 - nice wing view with shipping!

Here's my tribute: ... and, finally, this month's screencomp entry: The Southern Alps (NZ) - Orbx NZ Mesh.

Here's mine - a tribute to the brave Ukrainians: A pre-delivery Ukrainian AF F/A-18 on a test flight over the Southern Alps (NZ). Orbx NZ Mesh.

Well ... that gets my vote!!! I think it will add a little "spice"! The only (slight) difficulty I can see is working out whether each entry adequately fits that requirement! Would you need to moderate them for that? A while back, in the NZFF screenshot comps, we also ran them as themed - and people got *two* votes: one for "best fit for the theme" and one for pure aesthetics. The two votes were then combined to give a final score. You could weight the scoring by giving the theme vote 2 points and a "regular" vote only the one. That way, you probably wouldn't even need to police the entries.

Thanks for the noce comments, folks! As to the mud ... it's been raining solid here for over a week (in RL) ... better get used to that mud!!!

It's so great to have NZQN back to normal - with the updated NZ Mesh. Before I attempt some of those famous RNAV approaches in the 737, I thought I'd do a recce or two in something smaller! This is what a winter morning at NZQN can be like. Note: this is *not* a sepia toned pic! After a pie and coffee, things looked a little better! Away at last! Another day, another murky morning - and another aircraft! This is the Asobo/Reno T-6 (with my favourite livery). Nice looking, but not as good as the A2A/P3D version, I'm afraid! Adam.

It's just anyone living in Browns Bay LOL (Hi Bob!). I had a few disconnects again today ... but I installed the new mesh yesterday afternoon (and tried a few flights with it), so I don't think it's related.