I agree with T43 here. Are these airplanes suitable for x-country flights? Do they have working radios? VOR receivers? ILS ability? Airshow birds have to fly between airshows. What kinds of systems do these birds have?Originally Posted by Twice43
I read on the official MSFS site that they are rather limited. I have held off buying so far.
John
***************************
My first SIM was a Link Trainer. My last was a T-6 II
AMD Ryzen 7 7800 X3D@ 5.1 GHz
32 GB DDR5 RAM
3 M2 Drives. 1 TB Boot, 2 TB Sim drive, 2 TB Add-on Drive, 6TB Backup data hard drive
RTX 3080 10GB VRAM, Meta Quest 3 VR Headset
Hi John,
Myself still in great doubt or i should buy the Reno-pack or just 1 or 2 planes.
The AT-6D "Eros" looks indeed good in your screens, how is the functionality in the cockpit?
Can you also say anything about the textures mapping? Is it repaint-able?
Thx,
Marcel
I am actually fairly pleased with the planes in the Reno pack, maybe because my expectations weren't all that high.
I quite like the P-51A even taking into account John's criticisms, which I agree with. Nice cockpit, plausible flight model, feels different from the Ds.
I'm very pleased with the variety in cockpit layouts which really makes it feel like they are different airplanes. I can see that I will be choosing my planes based on what navaids they have that I want for the flight I'm planning. I also like that the fictional P-51 and T-6 with the generic liveries comes with something pretty close to a stock military cockpit, albeit with a jump seat and no gunsight in the case of the P-51, and I assume that version will be what most repaints are done for. The variety in the L-39s is nice too, ranging from fresh out of Czech military surplus to full glass panels. I hope that we will see some accurate military repaints done for those, both in camo and for the many display teams in which they have been used.
I think there are some issues with the P-51D 3d model but it is hard to tell, partly because that yucky texture that they use for bare metal makes it hard to see what the curvature of the surfaces really is. The vertical tail seems a bit wrong, either the dorsal fin is too large, or the stabilizer is too short or tapered, or something. The tailwheel struts should be longer so that the bottom of the tail is not so close to the ground. Handling is okay, I don't think it rolls fast enough. A stock P-51 is supposed to have about 70 degrees per second roll rate, I find it hard to get mine all the way around in much less than 8 seconds. The T-6 actually rolls considerably faster than the P-51D, which doesn't seem right. In general, I would say that the Wabirdsim and A2A Mustangs for FSX/P3D and the IL2:GB Mustang are better than these. They certainly all sound a lot better, and my ported-over Warbirdsim P-51s are definitely staying in my MSFS hangar for now. But, I have warmed up to the Reno P-51s after a few flights and they are not trash, they are okay, about as good as all the other Asobo planes for the sim. I will keep flying them, especially as we get better skins for them.
The T-6 generally looks all right, although I think they screwed up the cowling, it's not curved enough at the front. Pleasant to fly, maybe a little on the forgiving side.
Don't neglect those Pitts's. Next to the P-51A, I think those are my favorites of the new planes. They exhibit the most diversity with the different wings, cowlings, etc. Not sure yet how much this is reflected in the performance, but they are great fun to fly.
I notice that the canopies tend to have fingerprint smudges rather than scratches in the glass, which I find more realistic.
Most of the P-51s and T-6s have significant errors in the paint schemes. How hard is it just to copy the paint job directly from a plane that you have access to, to your skin? Too hard for Asobo apparently.
There is a gauge error in the P-51 Bunny, three of the gauge dials are the wrong size/alignment and you can't read your manifold pressure, RPM, or vertical speed. Should be an easy hotfix to the panel coding. But this, along with the propeller bug in the P-51A and a few of the other things people are pointing out online, makes me think that this DLC got pushed out the door just a little bit early, before it was all quite tested. But there is a lot of content here to test. Knowing that the obvious bugs will get fixed soon, I'm satisfied with my purchase, and I haven't even gotten around the pylons yet.
August
The general answer to this seems to be yes, you can navigate, depending on which cockpit you select. I haven't done any IFR cross-country in one yet, but I just programmed a VOR to VOR flight plan and loaded up the P-51 Miss America, which is one of the ones that has a modernized cockpit. The Garmin GNS530 seems to be fully functional, it shows the route and waypoints I defined in the flight plan, and I don't see why it wouldn't work, although I cannot pop the display out to a window as is possible in some aircraft. The Garmin GTX330ES transponder also seems to be functional. There is also an analog VOR gauge that seems to work. Other planes have different equipment, for example Goldfinger has a GNS 430, Dolly has a transponder and VOR gauge but no GPS, etc.
There is even more variation in the T-6s and L-39s. Here is a shot I just took of the T-6 Big Red cockpit, this has the full moving map tablet style deal, you can add waypoints to your flight plan on the fly, the NRST feature works, pretty much anything you would want. Plus you've got the G5 type thingie in the center of the panel and a full radio stack at lower left. Everything seems to work but if you've heard that it might not, sit tight and we'll test. Unfortunately it is a beautiful sunny morning here in downstate NY and the sun is messing up my TrackIR, so it will be a few hours before I can do more testing for you, but this is of concern to me also so I will let you know.
August
Knowing that the obvious bugs will get fixed soon, I'm satisfied with my purchase, and I haven't even gotten around the pylons yet.
August[/QUOTE]
After the Bomber_12th scorched earth review,I have temporarily applied the brakes on purchasing the Reno Set.
Can I ask what gives you confidence the obvious bugs will be fixed?
T43
Thank you for such a detailed report.
John
***************************
My first SIM was a Link Trainer. My last was a T-6 II
AMD Ryzen 7 7800 X3D@ 5.1 GHz
32 GB DDR5 RAM
3 M2 Drives. 1 TB Boot, 2 TB Sim drive, 2 TB Add-on Drive, 6TB Backup data hard drive
RTX 3080 10GB VRAM, Meta Quest 3 VR Headset
There is even more variation in the T-6s and L-39s. Here is a shot I just took of the T-6 Big Red cockpit, this has the full moving map tablet style deal, you can add waypoints to your flight plan on the fly, the NRST feature works, pretty much anything you would want. Plus you've got the G5 type thingie in the center of the panel and a full radio stack at lower left. Everything seems to work but if you've heard that it might not, sit tight and we'll test. Unfortunately it is a beautiful sunny morning here in downstate NY and the sun is messing up my TrackIR, so it will be a few hours before I can do more testing for you, but this is of concern to me also so I will let you know.
August[/QUOTE]
Thanks for taking the trouble to check this out.
T43
PS, I was wrong before, you CAN pop out the instrument displays, I just forgot the right keystroke because I don't do it much.
August
With regard to the P-51D models, one point of issue I have with the visual models, besides those already mentioned, is that the main landing gear struts, right now, when viewed head-on, are bowed outward, where as when viewed head-on they should be straight up and down. Also, on all of the P-51D's, the tailwheel strut/yoke is currently backwards. For some reason the fuel tank selector is also not setup correctly for most of the P-51D's - where as you should be selecting between the left and right internal wing tank selections on the fuel selector, it actually has the fuel selector switching between the left and right drop tank selections on most of the D-models.
(These types of things, as well as the issues with the P-51A, could have been done right from the beginning if they had simply consulted with someone with an actual keen interest and passion for the type(!).)
As a further mention, when testing the P-51D Lady B last night, I noticed that the autopilot system is inoperative (one of the very few Mustangs flying today to an autopilot installed in reality). The landing light on that model also fails to retract, so it sticks through the landing gear door when the landing gear is up.
On another of the P-51D's I was testing, the landing light doesn't extend.
On the P-51D Man O' War, there are doubled-up VHF antennas showing on the bottom of the wings.
You're making a fair point there, inasmuch as Asobo has an uneven record of fixing such bugs. It just seems to me that the P-51A prop texture issue and the Bunny instrument issue, at least, would each take about 10 minutes to fix and as they really hurt the looks and flyability of the plane, respectively, they could be pushed out in a quick marketplace update for the DLC. But who knows? And I'm sure that most of the issues John has pointed out will not be addressed for a long time, if ever.After the Bomber_12th scorched earth review,
Can I ask what gives you confidence the obvious bugs will be fixed?
T43
August
That was the source of my hesitation, I have read in other Forums that Asobo has been dragging its back legs as regards tweaking its aircraft.
However, my hesitation was short lived & I have gone for the 'Full Set', in part pushed by the unknown of how long they will offer the discounts, & your encouraging comments.
T43
I ended up getting the lower-cost expansion pack + the P-51A.
So far I've only flown the P-51A in free flight and in a time trial, and observed some of the same issues as others, such as the prop textures (yikes!). It seems like the mixture bind is not mapped so one has to use the VC lever to adjust mixture. Also, I'm pretty sure the sound is from a P-51D, as that sure sounds like a Merlin. I get why they did that, though.
My expectations weren't terribly high since I figured these models were mostly built for making a constant left turn at high speeds and low AGL. That prop texture drove me nuts though and will try my hand at fixing that if nothing shows up at flightsim.to in a few days. I'm guessing the community will try to fix what they can over time. Not holding any hope MS/Asobo will fix anything outside of critical game-play issues.
Overall I'm pretty satisfied considering the cost. I'll easily get my money's worth just having fun tweaking things (which has always been an enjoyable part of FS, IMO) for free flight, along with some fun running around the Reno track. I was sort of hoping one could fly any plane in the races but oh well.
- dcc
- -
Yup, disappointing about the P-51A
It's by Blue Mesh who did the Caudron Racer which is presumably why it's different to all the other Ponys, I was hoping it would be better not worse!
The T-6 seems to be the best of the bunch, I'll probably get the starter set, especially if good original repaints start appearing on .to
(but the Pitts in the starter set appears to be included in MSFS GOTY anyway? unless the Youtube review I saw looked at the wrong Pitts)
I am very glad to hear that. I have two friends with Pitts - one an S-1 and the other an S-2 - and I really want to get in on the fun at a level I can afford
My machine can't handle MSFS right now and I'm not in a position to upgrade to suit, but reading these user reviews - as they come from you folk I value them immensely, particularly with John's extensive knowledge - has tempered my excitement somewhat.
Now back to getting this to work on my PC which runs FSX perfectly. and DCS pretty well, to tide me over until ASOBO gets their stuff together...
Xtreme Air Racing (2002) by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Big Red T6 out of Burbank.
It has a glass GPS unit in the dash.
I tried to set it for a 'Direct To' Santa Monica but couldn't get it to lock on.
Anyone successfully flown Big Red on the GPS?
T43
As long as I stick to the cockpit, I've still been having a blast flying the A-model - I am just so incredibly impressed with the cockpits on these aircraft, and it is such a fun experience to be looking through that framed windscreen and canopy of the P-51A while in flight, which is so accurately depicted.
Not sure what you mean here. I just took it from Ontario to Van Nuys. The GPS worked fine, showed me the destination, where to go, when I would get there. Works fine with VORs and waypoints as well. It won't fly the plane for you though - no autopilot.Big Red T6 out of Burbank.
It has a glass GPS unit in the dash.
I tried to set it for a 'Direct To' Santa Monica but couldn't get it to lock on.
Anyone successfully flown Big Red on the GPS?
T43
August
AP was what I was hoping for.
However, looks like the L-39 has one so tomorrow its Albatross day.
T43
Yeah, the L-39 is great. Not only an AP, but if you forget to put the gear down, you can land Flintstone style.
August
Clearly their beta team has failed them.
MACH 3 DESIGN STUDIO
Heatblur Rivet Counting Squad™
Given that they cancelled, then un-cancelled (but said they wouldn't fix any bugs before release) the sim update itself, I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't get much testing past making sure the network code for the racing worked.
Does the canopy open, John ?..
Sofar only tried my fav of the bunch, the T-6. Like you say the T-6 cockpits are incredible. Can't get the canopy to open though while there's that big handle looking so inviting (isn't that even mandatory during Taxi/TO/Land ?) Basic engine sound i like very much but its responding to throttle/mix/prop settings seems off. Way easier to handle than the A2A T-6 but not sure yet if that's one for the good or the bad listing...
Set your pilots Avatars to default, No more;-)
As I continue to work my way through the roster of planes, it really is the cockpits that shine, and that more than make up for the glitches we have seen. These have clearly really had a lot of care put into them and were a labor of love for somebody. For instance I tried the Pitts "Black Hawk" (N45SS) tonight. This is a basically stock Pitts with a wonderful lived-in, steam gauge cockpit with a bunch of notes taped to the panel with Reno radio frequencies, alternate fields, charts of aerobatic maneuvers and even an inspirational quote. Absolutely beautiful. And when I googled the real N45SS, I found the exterior paint and markings to be meticulously correct, with every sponsor decal in the right place. There are even sponsor messages written along the front of the leading edge of the wing of this plane, which is a hard area to texture! And it is so different from some of the other Pitts's, like "Second Hand" with its chopped, squared wings, and a 1-screen, all-glass panel, that it would be unfair to call them variations of the same plane. These cockpits are what really make me feel like I got 40 high-quality planes with this DLC, not just 40 liveries spread over 4, or 6 or 7 planes.
August
Have to agree. I thought I might be just getting a bunch of repaints but was pleasantly surprised to see all these planes were unique inside. I could be flying for weeks here just to see what I got.
LouP
Members who have read this thread: 2
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks