Columbia Views

[Rudi_Jaeger]

My first post here, so thought I'd introduce myself and share some shots of some scenery I'm working on to enhance the Columbia River in FTX NA Blue; which btw, I've been like a kid in a candy store since installing the fantastic PNW scenery. This is my first shot at scenery creation in FSX; normally I do templates and paintschemes of warbirds for the WWII combat flight sim 'Il2 Sturmovik 1946'.

Although I retired from 21 years as an Infantryman and reside in Colorado Springs (home is where the Army sends you); I was born in Chehalis, Washington, and raised in a small logging community called vader, just west of Mt St Helens. So thanks to the FTX Team I can now visit home without ever crossing the Rockies

As a youngster, I was fortunate to take many excursions along the mighty Columbia and do some salmon fishing from the port of Ilwaco. I was always delighted to see the big ships as they made their way to the various ports along the river, and even see some naval vessels when the Portland Rose Festival came round. Crossing the Columbia bar during rough weather on a charter boat was quite a thrill too, and it was comforting to see the lights from North Head and Cape Disappointment. I also recall the Columbia River Lightship, which was later replaced by a large bouy.. ironically, they both now reside at the maritime museum in Astoria, Oregon.

Anyway, I just had to have some ships, fishing boats, and marinas in the Columbia; so I set about placing the default FSX (Acceleration) library objects using the Whisplacer object placer, which is a great piece of freeware btw. Nothing precisely accurate mind you, but enough to give the feel of the area whilst touring the river low and slow...

That last one is from Portland, looking downstream from KPDX vicinity.

Hope you enjoyed the screenies; there are many talented virtual photographers here, and I enjoy viewing their shots as well.  Thanks again to FTX for creating the most beautiful scenery in the simming world.

Cheers!

[Phil Manhart]

Looks great Rudi, welcome to the forums!

[maxter]

Great work, keep us posted.

Cheers and thanks for sharing.

[Iain Emms]

Wellcome to you Rudi, some nice shots there indeed keep them coming.

cheers

Iain

[alan2]

Hello mate , and thanks for posting . Im a stickler for reality and wont d/l fantasy products , however , you say this gives the RL feel . Although not accurate are the docks, jettys more or less in the right position / location?

[Rudi_Jaeger]

Thanks so much for the warm welcome mates; much appreciated.

Regarding the accuracy of Columbia river scenery I'm working on..

No, nothing 'real life' accurate unfortunately. Basically it's the result of flying along the Columbia and thinking "Hey, there should be some ships docked here.. or where's the big grain elevator at the Port of Kalama.. or the light houses at North Head and Cape Disappointment.. or the charter fleet at Ilwaco, etc". Of course, unless someone is familiar with the area, these landmarks and features would likely go unnoticed.. but to the 'locals', they are familiar sites which are quite noticeable if not there.

I'm only using the default FSX library objects.. so although the Columbia River Lightship and bouy are represented at the maritime museum in Astoria, it's still just the red hulled default fishing trawler, and a generic building for the museum. Basically, it's all just a 'stop-gap' until the FTX Pro's can come out with the good stuff, which is way out of my league.

Of course I've thought about releasing it when finished, but I'm not sure how to go about it, or even if it would be a proper thing to do with regards to the fine folks at FTX. Last thing I want to do is break any rules or infringe on anyone else's projects. So for now I'm just using it to spice up the screenies and relive some old memories.

I saw the WIP shots of Tim Harris' Portland scenery, and was simply in awe of the accuracy and overall appearance of the area. Once that's released, the Portland portion of this little project I'm working on is happily going straight to the recycle bin

All the best! ~ Rudi