AirFoilLabs, well known for their acclaimed C172 addon for X-Plane, has released more previews of their current project, the Beechcraft King Air 350/350i package for X-Plane. After a hiatus of new information on the project, AirFoilLabs has also given us a new insight into how the aircraft is progressing!
The first part of their update details the current status of various aspects of the project, including 3D modeling, texturing, animations, systems, and more. Rather than dissect it all, I’ll leave you with their full list below for you to digest:
MAIN 3D MODELING – DONE
PBR TEXTURING CONVERSION – DONE
LIVERIES DEVELOPMENT – IN PROGRESS
ANIMATIONS INTERIOR/EXTERIOR – 95% DONE
HIGH RESOLUTION EXTERIOR DETAILS OBJECTS – DONE
GROUND OBJECTS – DONE
NEW MORE RELIABLE WALK SYSTEM WITH GRAVITATION AND OBJECTS (SCENERY AND AIRCRAFT) INTERACTIONS! – DONE
3D PEOPLE – DONE
PILOT ANIMATIONS – DONE
LIGHTS OBJECTS AND ANIMATIONS – DONE
MANIPULATORS – DONE, NEEDS TUNING
ICING EFFECT ON LEADING EDGES – DONE
COMMANDS REGIONS SYSTEM FOR MANIPULATORS – IN PROGRESS
BASIC FLIGHT MODEL – DONE
DETAILED FLIGHT MODEL TUNING – IN PROGRESS
FMOD SOUNDS SYSTEM – IN PROGRESS
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM MAIN LOGIC – DONE
OTHER AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS – IN PROGRESS
AVIONICS – IN PROGRESS
MENU SYSTEM – IN PROGRESS
AUTOMATED CHECKLIST SYSTEM – IN PROGRESS
INTERIOR GLASS EFFECTS AND TEXTURES – TO DO
INTERIOR LIGHTNING – IN PROGRESS
In addition to this new information, AirFoilLabs has taken the opportunity to show off some new previews of the King Air in-sim, and the detail demonstrated looks absolutely stunning! (over 49 previews were shared, and quite obviously we can’t cram them all into this article. While we will show 12 of them, the full set can be found here)
This is exciting news for X-Plane users as AirFoilLabs are known for their intense dedication to accuracy and realism in their modeling, and we can only expect that to continue into the new King Air. As of right now, a release date is still uncertain and there is a lot of work ahead, but the previews shown of the airplane certainly inspire confidence.
