MiG-31 Firefox Online Resource | The world's premier fansite devoted to the fictional Soviet fighter.

UPDATED: January, 2010

MiG-31 Firefox for Microsoft FS2002/FS2004/FSX - Ver. 2.3
[download now - 4.5 mb] Copyright © 2009-2010

CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS VERSION:

This is a correction of my last update for both FS 9 and FSX of the FS 9 Firefox 2.0 by Owen Smoot and Kurt Beswick. I did not have the change to the afterburners in the files I previously uploaded. I also forgot to include a gauge with the FSX panel. Sorry for any problems this has caused. This is the whole aircraft again with the changes, so you don't need anything previous to this for this to work.

To install, unzip to a folder of your choice. Copy the aircraft to the FS aircraft or airplanes folder.

FS9: copy both the gauges and effects to the FS gauges and effects folders.

FSX: copy the effects to the main FS effects folder and copy the FSXpanel folder to the aircraft folder. Delete the panel folder and rename the FSX panel folder to panel.

See [reference speeds] section of the aicraft.cfg file for operating speeds.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS AIRCRAFT IS NOT GUARANTEED TO WORK PERFECTLY IN FSX.

Tips to properly get to 80,000 ft. Set 450 on the autopilot as well as 80,000 ft. After take off, turn the autopilot on and hit the speed button if you did not already have it on. If you are flying GPS, stay at 4x time compression or below, until you are climbing on the GPS course. Then you can go to 8x, or 16x time compression if you wish to. At 16x time compression the autopilot will not keep course PERFECTLY; but close enough. When between 30,000 and 40,000 feet cut the climb rate from 3,000 ft per minute to 2,000 ft. per minute. After reaching 80,000 feet, dial the speed back to 410 from the 450 start speed. To come down, make sure you slow down to 300 knots or less before you start your decent. ~ Firefox 2.3 update courtesy of Bob Chicilo

Model by: Owen Smoot
Textures by: Kurt Beswick
Flight Model updated by: Bob Chicilo
FSX Cockpit updates by: Greg Kelleher

This sim model (along with past updates) is also available on Simviation.com for download:
http://www.simviation.com

Since it's release in 2003, the Firefox flightsim model has been on FSPlanet's "Best of the Best" page:
http://www.fsplanet.com/best.htm

NEW! Firefox cockpit panel upgrades for FSX, courtesy of Greg Kelleher:
It now has a real engine sound from a eurofighter typhoon (slightly lower pitch with the hissing taken out) and a heads-up display with attitude, altitude, airspeed heading and notifications on the bottom of it about undercarriage and air brake status. ~ Greg
[download now - 2 mb]

OPEN REQUEST: Anyone with really great high-res screengrabs of the FSX Firefox in flight please feel free to send them in! As crazy as this may sound, I don't have FSX setup on a machine with the hardware needed to really get good stills. I'd like to update the slideshow section of this site with some awesome screengrabs. Specifically some extreme low-level shots where I can enhance the background with a motion blur, add the signature roostertail if it's over the ocean, etc...

CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS VERSION:
* Completely re-worked flight model (most work done by J. Schumacher). Much more 'real-world' realistic. She'll now only do Mach 3 @ 60,000 ft...but she'll fly a REALLY long way +/- 3,000 miles.
* Fixed the afterburners so they light up with throttle position now.
* Addition of dynamic smoke effects for the engines. Thanks to Nick Needham for custom creating them for the Firefox.
* Addition of startup heat effect (made by JR for F-16 Falcon)

Read full Documentation for version 2.0 here:
http://www.thinkinrussian.org/firefox_v2.txt

Model by: Owen Smoot
Textures by: Kurt Beswick
Flight Model by: John J. Schumacher
AutoCAD files by: William Babington

This sim model is also available on www.FS2004.com for download:
http://fs2004.com/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=109

NEW! Firefox cockpit panel upgrade for CFS2
[download now - 800 kb]

Read full Documentation for the panel add-on here:
http://www.thinkinrussian.org/firefox_panel.txt

This is a Panel set for the Firefox FS model, accurately reproducing the movie mockup cockpit. It features several working MFD's in which you can place the TAC screen and a second view window, or moving map. There is also a Helmet-HUD. It is designed and tested for 1024x768 CFS2 only, although it may also work in FS2000/2002.

Created by: Mike Eustace

A BRIEF HISTORY

Owen Smoot writes ~ A few months ago I decided to take up aircraft design so I purchased FSDSv2 and began to learn. Being a major fan of the 1982 movie Firefox, starring Clint Eastwood, I decided that my first attempt at an aircraft for FS2002/2004 would be the MiG-31. I was given an older model of the Firefox from Richard Hulme, and my intention was to basically "touch it up" a bit, learn FSDS in the process, and possibly release a newer/better aircraft for the simulator. I wasn't too long into fiddling with his model when I decided to just scrap the idea and start building a new one from scratch. I found a website dedicated to the Firefox aircraft and its owner, Mr. Kurt Beswick, was nice enough to texture the plane for me from his own incredible illustration. This is the final result. I hope you enjoy flying it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Kurt Beswick writes ~ When Owen approached me to do the texturing for this 3D model, I saw it as an opportunity to branch out and try something new and challenging...and indeed it was. I have a newfound respect and admiration for people who create textures for games as a full time job. You'd think that starting off with a 2D illustration would be easy enough to modify and wrap around a mesh, right? Ha! I'm as amazed as anyone else that this came out looking as good as it did - it was incredibly complex. I ended up recreating quite a bit of the paneling from scratch. So if there are any imperfections here and there, don't tell me about it! haha! Seriously though, it was a great learning experience and we hope you enjoy flying it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

INSTALLATION

Simply put the 'Firefox' folder into your 'Aircraft' folder, the contents of the 'Gauges' and 'Effects' folders into their corresponding FS2002/2004 counterparts.

COPYRIGHTS & CREDITS

This flightsim download is considered freeware. The plane and textures are from original artwork. A few things (such as gear and wheel textures, afterburner effects, flight model, sound effects, some cockpit .bmp's, and a few pieces like the intake fans) were borrowed from other aircraft. I really can't remember who's stuff I used so if you see your work being used and you want credit for it, please let us know and we'll properly credit you. We absolutely DO NOT or WILL NOT claim anybody's work other than our own. Please know we respect everybody's work and since we aren't making a dime off this we hope nobody will complain if you see your wheel texture or reheat effect being used. You are free to edit any of this in any way you wish as long as you let us know what you're doing and give us a copy of it when you're done.

The basic aerodynamic flight model is loosely based upon a Panavia Tornado fighter with some key flight characteristics tweaked to produce the final product. To maintain the umost realism, the landing gear (as in the movie) are borrowed from the F-4 Phantom.

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