The bunny blimp!
Intended for slow sightseeing, mouselook tourism and boat/cruise following.
I wanted a relatively simple vehicle in the form of an airship or blimp. Most in SL were either really old builds or very steampunk, and I wanted something that was mesh and relatively normal looking.
It's 100% built by me for SL, using the very finest Blender quads and triangles. Hand made LODs and physics shapes ensure that it'll look and behave like a blimp all the time and won't disappear in to an ugly mess of triangles at a distance.
Just 69 land impact (72 for the 6 seater).
There's room for a copilot, who can be given control of the blimp. You can also take it back should they get carried away!
Comes in 2 versions, a 2 seater and a 6 seater. The 6 seater has passenger seats, 4 as standard. You can add more if you really need to, or take them out if you don't need them.
It goes forwards, and backwards, and up, and down, and left, and right. It strafes too. And it does so like the whale that it is, it's quite ponderous. You'll need plenty of room to turn it around.
Maximum speed is about 16 knots. That's actually quite a bit slower than RL blimps can achieve, but I think it's about right for SL. I intended it to keep up with the fleet of boats on the Leeward Cruising Club cruises, for which 16 knots is more than enough.
You can guest it to other pilots. Just sit in the pilot seat, say guest in local chat, and then get out of the seat so that your guest can use it :) And yeah, those guests can give control to a 3rd person with the copilot feature.
The ducted fans rotate depending on the horizontal/vertical throttle that you're using, so you'll see them pivot about if you use mouselook to look over your shoulder.
Rudders/elevators move as the blimp yaws and climbs/dives.
It has an opening door, and some hatches to get at the engines.
To go with the door/gondola, the physics are walkable (proper physics too, not attached prims). You can enter/exit the gondola using the steps on the inside of the door.
It has working dashboard gauges, for mouselook flying. There's a wearable HUD version of the gauges too.
It also has a *lot* of glass, even under your feet, so you get a real good field of view in mouselook.
It's got a few different camera positions, try them out! There's a secondary text HUD that's activated when the undercarriage camera view is used.
It has a ground detecting radar that can be turned on/off so that you can get those landings spot on, or skim across the water dragging the wheel through the surf.
It has a fly safe mode, should you feel the need to venture into lands unknown (goes phantom/temporary).
Copy/Mod so you can make it your own.
All of the scripts apart from the main engine script are modifiable too, so you can modify to your heart's content. Go poke about in the code, make it yours :)
FP textures are provided, plus there's a dropbox link for the PSD files if you want them.
There's a demo in world at the main store, see the See item in Second Life link below.
1.1.0 added a command HUD for pilots/copilots to issue commands instead of chatting, and a configurable channel to chat on instead of having to use local chat, and moving rudders/elevators (which increases the LI a little).
1.2.0 added a few more camera positions, a demo rezzer mode and various other little tweaks to make life better.
See item in Second Life- made for SL by me, so LOD proof, low LI and low lag
- great on sim crossings, it's done 1000s
- 2 and 6 seater versions supplied
- very modifiable, all scripts are modifiable apart from the engine
- textures/PSDs supplied
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!
I wish I could add about 100 more stars to this review. But a picture's work a thousand words - so here you go - https://www.flickr.com/photos/200270221@N07/54366297576/in/dateposted-public/
It was SUPER easy to texture thanks to the included maps. It flies like a charm and handles very realistically for a large air ship. WELL DONE! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU - we're gonna spread a lot of good vibes with this.
Loves it!
One vehicle I didn't have yet was a blimp. So looked around and this one was recommended by a couple of friends. Picked up the optional screens for it as well and they are really nice and work perfectly and very easy to install. The controls are simple and easy which makes this a joy to fly as well. If you're looking for a blimp as well I highly recommend this one.
Absolute MUST have for aviation enthusiasts
This blimp is fantastic. So much fun to make custom textures for, crosses sims like a champ. Very easy and fun to fly with or without the included HUD. Oh and it's huge!. I've added stuff to mine like banners/flags etc. You can customize the crap out of the thing. Add prims and custom paint to make it look like flying shark, ,make it look like a big flying banana, hell I don't know, use your imagination. But the options are limitless. Totally buy this.
A Flying Giant!
I bought this for my wife around a year ago, she really liked it a lot! I kept saying, I needed to grab one for myself, and nearly a year later I finally was able too..the wait was worth it! This blimp is a true flying giant and that is said in the best of ways! To echo what others have said, though it is a giant, it's handle is smooth and clean and one can get the hang of the size quickly. Painting is a breeze courtesy of the PDS files made available (which I've gushed about already in another review lol) and in general is just fun to out in.
One other very positive note about it - this past year, I've had to battle with on and off slow net. Sailing and driving was nearly and even completely impossible at times, and flying my planes was even a bit limited. However when going out in this blimp, even if there was some lag and latency (again due my net issues) everything as in handling and crossings were very manageable and the time in the air was just as enjoyable!
Thanks so much for this and all that you do!!
