Latecoere 631
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Thread: Latecoere 631

  1. #1

    Latecoere 631

    Next local legend 10 revealed. Wow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AYyw9VJaJ4
    Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.

  2. #2
    Nice little write up on the real aircraft here

    Latécoère 631 Flying Boat Airliner | Old Machine Press
    Greg :USA-flag:

  3. #3
    Not that many were built 10 plus the prototype. Reading the Wikipedia page it had lots of accidents and incidents for only having 10 aircraft built.
    Greg :USA-flag:

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by dvj View Post
    Next local legend 10 revealed. Wow.
    Must say that'll be the understatement of the week as far as i'm concerned, dvj...

    After seeing the video i can't help but to go for WOW!!!! AND HOLY MACKEREL!!!

    But thanks for the HU naturellemt !! I say again WOW!!!

    If i'm not horribly mistaken this should be and must be the final antidote for the debacle of a certain other flying boat release earlier i still can't get out of my mind.

    What about that ol' tug boat towing that beautiful sea monster to its take-off area ? Says it all, doesn't it. That's heart and soul, dedication and passion all over.

    Say, do i see a coffee maker there in cockpit ? A cockpit as gorgeous and inspiring as the external model !

    Must say i have a thing with Latécoère. Era's ago i recorded a French TV series about this Frence aeroplane developer on the first ever Philips video recorder. That's gone forever of course but i can still play parts of it in my mind's eye.

    Thank you Microsoft/Asobo for bringing this amazing piece of flying boat history to MSFS !!

    And thanks again, dvj ! Made my day actually !

  5. #5
    BlueMesh sure do some stunning work! They were also responsible for the MSFS P-51A, Hughes H-4 Hercules, and Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis". I love the interior visuals (including the light coming through the skylight windows), and the tugboat and exterior visual effects from the water are fantastic.

  6. #6
    Definitely a gorgeous aircraft. I wonder if the developers will include the walk arounds in the engine nacelles and back of the engines. That would be a great treat just to wander around that lovely beast. There's a tremendous potential for uncompromised immersion in this one. If it's done right, could command more than $20 typical LLs.

  7. #7
    Not clear from the teaser if there is much study sim to this. But the motor startup with flash and smoke, with good looking prop disks seem very well done. Nothing of the passenger cabin shown. Guess it's a wait and see for the June drop. Does seem curious that we continue to get seaplanes while the water/wake effects still suffer a bit. The boat tender is a very nice touch.
    Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.

  8. #8
    God, I pray it's not a study-level aircraft, thank you. This was not a plane designed to be operated by one untrained person sitting at a desk. I'll settle for "realistic, convincing, with authentic handling and performance," thank you very much. :-)

    When we get multiplayer operations on a single plane, then y'all can have your 1940s behemoth flying boats be study level, when you can have four players up front and one or two guys to crawl back up behind the engines to fix things in-flight!

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Gregory Paul View Post
    Nice little write up on the real aircraft here
    Thanks Greg ! A wonderful and interesting read !

    Despite being a 'monster' it certainly is a graceful and elegant monster, isn't it..


  10. #10
    it looks a bit like a Sunderland on steroids I think.
    Let's hope they do something with the wake effects as well....
    You can find most of my repaints for FSX/P3D in the library here on the outhouse.
    For MFS paints go to flightsim.to

  11. #11
    That is too frickin' cool. I would have never expected an aircraft like that to show up.


    Forest

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Bomber_12th View Post
    BlueMesh sure do some stunning work! They were also responsible for the MSFS P-51A, Hughes H-4 Hercules, and Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis". I love the interior visuals (including the light coming through the skylight windows), and the tugboat and exterior visual effects from the water are fantastic.
    Don't forget the Wright Flyer, John.

    Remains to be seen if any other MSFS dev could've done a better job on this extremely important piece of aviation history. Not only the Wright Flyer itself but also the Wright brothers working ground at Kittyhawk/Kill Devil Hills from which they conducted their first test flights have been meticulously recreated in MSFS by BlueMesh, including the memorial. Highly recommended for anyone who hasn't done so already to have a look. Just put 'First Flight' into the airport search window.



    Fully agreed on the interior visuals. The mid pedestal with the trimwheels reminds me of something coming right out of a Jules Verne submarine. The whole thing breeds a bit Jules Verne, doesn't it. He's French too. ;-)

    Big fan of BlueMesh, have a lot of confidence in their upcoming flying boat extravaganza.
    Last edited by Javis; May 8th, 2023 at 22:28.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by simtech View Post
    Definitely a gorgeous aircraft. I wonder if the developers will include the walk arounds in the engine nacelles and back of the engines. That would be a great treat just to wander around that lovely beast. There's a tremendous potential for uncompromised immersion in this one. If it's done right, could command more than $20 typical LLs.
    I always wondered if access to the engines of an aircraft during flight would really have any use. I figure only the back of an engine could be accessed this way ?.. And what about the firewall ? Would it really be possible to change a dirty sparkplug ??...

    Well, maybe we'll get to know all about that soon won't we...

    Btw, what is 'LLs' ?...

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by dvj View Post
    Not clear from the teaser if there is much study sim to this. But the motor startup with flash and smoke, with good looking prop disks seem very well done. Nothing of the passenger cabin shown. Guess it's a wait and see for the June drop.
    Like with the Boeing Clipper it's not like photos of the Latecoere 631's internal accommodation are easy to come by. On ze contrary i'd say. Here's what i found so far :





    Not much, huh...


    What seems to be available in more or less abundage however is a series of Latecoere 631 paintings :



    Does seem curious that we continue to get seaplanes while the water/wake effects still suffer a bit.
    Very remarkable, yes ! Well, BlueMesh did the Hughes H-4 as well and the waterspray effects there are very good, atleast compared to the cheesy, not to say non-existent, default water muddle. In the video it looks like a good start also.

    The boat tender is a very nice touch.
    Absolutely love it ! I'd buy it for this wonderful feature alone already !

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by jankees View Post
    it looks a bit like a Sunderland on steroids I think.
    Let's hope they do something with the wake effects as well....
    The video shows a good start already, don't you think Jan Kees ?.. The waterspray effects on their H-4 is very well done too.

    Yeah, on one hand it's great to see a not that well known flying boat around the waters of MSFS, on the other hand why not go for one of the more or less famous and well known flying boats like the Sunderland, Sandringham or Short Empire. I think the most famous of them all is the Boeing Clipper of course but that's already done.... Personally i wouldn't mind if Blue Mesh would take a look at it as well..

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Javis View Post
    The video shows a good start already, don't you think Jan Kees ?.. The waterspray effects on their H-4 is very well done too.

    Yeah, on one hand it's great to see a not that well known flying boat around the waters of MSFS, on the other hand why not go for one of the more or less famous and well known flying boats like the Sunderland, Sandringham or Short Empire. I think the most famous of them all is the Boeing Clipper of course but that's already done.... Personally i wouldn't mind if Blue Mesh would take a look at it as well..
    Or a Catalina. Of course, that has guns, so they (MS) probably wouldn't make it. I'm really happy with this choice, though, as it was so good looking. I read up on some of it's routes and the problems they had with them. Hopefully, they won't be modeling the wing flutter problem.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Javis View Post
    The video shows a good start already, don't you think Jan Kees ?.. The waterspray effects on their H-4 is very well done too.

    Yeah, on one hand it's great to see a not that well known flying boat around the waters of MSFS, on the other hand why not go for one of the more or less famous and well known flying boats like the Sunderland, Sandringham or Short Empire. I think the most famous of them all is the Boeing Clipper of course but that's already done.... Personally i wouldn't mind if Blue Mesh would take a look at it as well..
    I agree that i would rather see the Short Empire but on reflection I can see an argument.

    Late 631 - 10 built in service 1947 - 1950
    Boeing 314 - 12 built, in service until 1939 - 1948
    Short Empire - 42 built, in service 1936 - 1947

    While the Short was clearly more successful, in comparison to the 314 the numbers don't look that bad, but the Empire is clearly the most successful.

    In reviewing the default aircraft past versions of the sim, there was a pretty clear American and British bias in the aircraft that were selected, I can find only one aircraft that was not at least a joint project with a British or American manufacturer. Asobo/Microsoft seams to be trying to correct that.
    Joe Cusick
    San Francisco Bay Area, California.

    I am serious, and stop calling me Shirley.

  18. #18
    Javis: LL = Local Legends The ability to access the engines in flight in not totally foreign as I believe the engines on the B-36 also were accessible. I seriously doubt that the engineer would attempt to change out any spark plugs.. there's over 330 of them . I remember being told many years ago, that they would take extra oil barrels and pump oil into the oil tanks because some engines would go through oil like **** through a goose. Just think what unleaded gas would have done for those engines.. Would've saved a lot of spark plugs...

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by blanston12 View Post
    In reviewing the default aircraft past versions of the sim, there was a pretty clear American and British bias in the aircraft that were selected, I can find only one aircraft that was not at least a joint project with a British or American manufacturer. Asobo/Microsoft seams to be trying to correct that.
    Check out this peculiar video. It's about this book that portaits more than 30 different French militairy flying boats that were used during WWII alone. https://youtu.be/16Oo6BIkTzo

    No shortage when it comes to inspiration about non British/US flying boats. I would maybe give them all up though for a fully fledged all singing and dancing version of the Boeing 314... (just like what i hope to see when i'll get my dirty hands on the Late 631)



  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by simtech View Post
    Javis: LL = Local Legends
    Ah, of course, thanks!

    The ability to access the engines in flight in not totally foreign as I believe the engines on the B-36 also were accessible. I seriously doubt that the engineer would attempt to change out any spark plugs.. there's over 330 of them .
    Really ?... 4 on each cylinder ??....

    I remember being told many years ago, that they would take extra oil barrels and pump oil into the oil tanks because some engines would go through oil like **** through a goose. Just think what unleaded gas would have done for those engines.. Would've saved a lot of spark plugs...
    It is said that if needed the aircraft could fly on either the 3 port or starboard engines only or even just 2. Also that part of the firewall could be folded away to get better access to the engine. I guess it would still be only the back of the engine... Pity there seem to be no photos of what it all would look like to a no doubt very courageous mechanic...

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Sundog View Post
    I'm really happy with this choice, though, as it was so good looking. I read up on some of it's routes and the problems they had with them. Hopefully, they won't be modeling the wing flutter problem.
    Indeed!

    Or a Catalina. Of course, that has guns, so they (MS) probably wouldn't make it.
    Well the A-10 model proves it can always be replaced by a search light.. Hehe. (ridiculous! ;-) But isn't it like a Catalina is already in the works for quite some time ?..

    Yes, there's plenty of interesting routes to fly with the Late if you read the history of this remarkable and sadly very unfortunate flying boat. Probabely caused by its development during a bad moon rising..

  22. #22
    Talk about non British/US flying boats.

  23. #23
    Javis: "Really ?... 4 on each cylinder ??...."
    The B-36 had SIX PW-4360 engines each with 28 cylinders and TWO plugs per cylinder. That's a whole bucket of spark plugs...Might be one of the reasons that beast isn't flying today, although it would be a first day buy for me to see it in MSFS..

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Spook48 View Post
    Talk about non British/US flying boats.
    Aha, yes, Miss Emily. Kawanishi H8K. I'd say bring it on. If the water effects are anything decent we can't have enough float planes, can we. It's a big Geisha girl but certainly not the biggest. Check out this little lady :





    https://youtu.be/nB9QMQI-ZRM

  25. #25
    Insane . I never saw that one before. Did it fly ? It kinda looks like a h6k on steroids.

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