Glowing Heat - SR-71?

[Ark]

Any expereince with this one?

Just found it at Simmarket. It looks like it was released in January of this year.

http://secure.simmarket.com/glowingh...lackbird.phtml

[airattackimages]

Looks like an FS9 quality model/textures/effects. But, considering nothing else is out there other than some really old freeware ones, I guess it's the best thing there is. Doesn't look bad, just dated for a 2012 release.

[JIMJAM]

Its the older Alphasim model. I do not know if its been changed or enhanced in any way but judging from what I see and the description, its the same.
Which is not bad. I still have it loaded and its a blast to fly. Besides I think there was only one other which I also have and the Alpha is better imo.
If you are interested in the Blackbird you will love it.


EDIT- "NOTE: This is the same product that was offered under the VIRTAVIA label until December 2011."

I just loaded and flew the Alphasim Blackbird for the first time in years. Its aged well and still a challenge. Keeping it from exceeding its VNE is always difficult. Landing however is its biggest challenge with the Concorde a close second. Bad vis,no flaps and fast = high pucker factor.

[centuryseries]

Its the older Alphasim model. I do not know if its been changed or enhanced in any way but judging from what I see and the description, its the same.Which is not bad. I still have it loaded and its a blast to fly. Besides I think there was only one other which I also have and the Alpha is better imo.If you are interested in the Blackbird you will love it.EDIT- "NOTE: This is the same product that was offered under the VIRTAVIA label until December 2011."I just loaded and flew the Alphasim Blackbird for the first time in years. Its aged well and still a challenge. Keeping it from exceeding its VNE is always difficult. Landing however is its biggest challenge with the Concorde a close second. Bad vis,no flaps and fast = high pucker factor.

As Jimjam says its the same aircraft as previously on sale with Virtavia, except for the fact that it now has drooping elevons on engine shutdown, Animated tertiary doors above Mach 1.5 and animated free floating exhaust when the afterburner kicks in. Just a couple minor improvements I've been wanting to do for ages. Thanks for the kind comments, it is still challenging especially after a break!

[TheGrunt]

Bump for this thread!
Just for those interested in SR-71, Glowingheat has now fixed the air refueling for FSX model! I received updated files from them yesterday and just tested them and refueled the bird in air. Alone that was so much fun I don't know if or when they are going to update the packages in different distributors, but you can get the updates by contacting their support, which is blazing fast. In my case, David has replied in hour or two after sending mail or filling the contact form on their site. Great service indeed!

There aren't other viable SR-71's available and though this is a bit old, IMO it still looks good and more importantly flies well and is extremely hard to fly at altitude (I usually end up in flame outs at around 60K feet ). External model is fabulous and I even like the cockpit though it dates to FS9. Only complaint left is camera operator station which looks weird at least for me (frame texture is sort of too small and ground can be seen through the sides), but this probably doesn't affect how it operates. I haven't tested the camera operation as of yet though. Fix for the air refuel is important, because oh my oh my, how thirsty bird SR-71 is at lower altitudes during take off
I also hinted Glowing Heat that they should consider updating cockpit textures to more higher resolution and that alone should make VC look just amazing and shouldn't be that big of a job to do and that would probably bring bunch of new customers in, so I hope they are putting some effort to it in the future. But as said, I'm fine with it as it is today.

So all in all, Alphasim/Virtavia/Glowing Heat SR-71 is IMO still really good model. Fix came out just in right time as FlyPast magazine's most recent issue has SR-71 plane in focus and reading those articles before learning this baby should really get you in the mood :salute:

[centuryseries]

Bump for this thread!
Just for those interested in SR-71, Glowingheat has now fixed the air refueling for FSX model! I received updated files from them yesterday and just tested them and refueled the bird in air. Alone that was so much fun I don't know if or when they are going to update the packages in different distributors, but you can get the updates by contacting their support, which is blazing fast. In my case, David has replied in hour or two after sending mail or filling the contact form on their site. Great service indeed!

There aren't other viable SR-71's available and though this is a bit old, IMO it still looks good and more importantly flies well and is extremely hard to fly at altitude (I usually end up in flame outs at around 60K feet ). External model is fabulous and I even like the cockpit though it dates to FS9. Only complaint left is camera operator station which looks weird at least for me (frame texture is sort of too small and ground can be seen through the sides), but this probably doesn't affect how it operates. I haven't tested the camera operation as of yet though. Fix for the air refuel is important, because oh my oh my, how thirsty bird SR-71 is at lower altitudes during take off
I also hinted Glowing Heat that they should consider updating cockpit textures to more higher resolution and that alone should make VC look just amazing and shouldn't be that big of a job to do and that would probably bring bunch of new customers in, so I hope they are putting some effort to it in the future. But as said, I'm fine with it as it is today.

So all in all, Alphasim/Virtavia/Glowing Heat SR-71 is IMO still really good model. Fix came out just in right time as FlyPast magazine's most recent issue has SR-71 plane in focus and reading those articles before learning this baby should really get you in the mood :salute:

Thanks, I've noted your comments and perhaps one day I will revisit the VC and also make some changes in the camera area, although I will say that the out-of-the-box version of FSX doesn't have the same camera issues, and I believe it maybe a third party addon that is messing that up, because the camera zoom is fixed at a set distance in the aircraft.cfg

So long as anyone catches me between reasonable UK hours I will respond quickly, not always as fast as this, due to being at work in my day job, but as soon as I physically can respond.

My next challenge now that I'm settled after moving house will be to finally release my FSX B-58 Hustler which I have begun revisiting. After that I may revisit The SR-71.

Remember to keep your Alpha within limits to avoid high pitch compressor stalls, if you are prone to them remember also that there are inlet restart switches at the bottom of the centre panel near the trim gauges that will happily enable you to restart your engines once the pitch is reduced to acceptable limits for the engine inlets to function properly.

[FlameOut]

will be to finally release my FSX B-58 Hustler which I have begun revisiting

That is great to hear!

I worked with a lady ( Jan ) about 12 yrs. ago who's husband ( Luke ) was a crew member on the B-58 he was either a <small>pilot, (navigator, radar operator, bombardier) or defense system operator, I don't recall what she told me. Anyway the poor guy passed away after long fight with lung ca.</small>