Bear's Cave The world of Flight Simulators short reviews by Steve "Bear" Cartwright 29-Jan-2001 Welcome to the BUSH BASH! by Don Moser alaska by don.zip uploaded 21-Jan-2001 5,133Kb FS2000 Well, Don Moser (Mr. Alaska) has taken all of his sceneries (26 so far) for Alaska and applied them into one single scenery upload! For those of you like me that are approaching the scenery limit in FS2000, can really appreciate Don's efforts here! Besides I found that there were several of his individual bush sceneries that I didn't have anyway (I was missing 10 of his sceneries...boy, where was I). Don is easily among the top 2 or 3 guys that have been supplying us with some very excellent bush sceneries to fly our Beavers, Porters, or whatever into, ever since FS2000 hit the market! I particularly like Don's sceneries, because he obviously enjoys making the scenery and he has a way of applying a certain level of "fun" into each and every one of his uploads! Installation is straightforward and Don even offers some alternative methods in his installation/readme files, plus he includes a folder that contains all of his original readme files for each individual scenery in this package! Don's scenery list, sceneries included in this package, are as follows: Don, Eagle Island, Cape Tagliak, Hinchees Helos, Icy Bay Midway Field, J Paz Fishing Camp, Joiner Lake, Aliulik, Dangerous Cape, Ikutat Inlet, Landers Lookout, Raspberry Island, Shuyak Island, Zachar Bay, Lake Ackerley, Lake Horton, Lake Lynn, Lake Stephanie, Lake Timberwolf, Lituya Bay Cabins, Moosehead Lake, Nelson's Outpost, Pavlofs Pass, Porters Place, Smallwoods Retreat, and Webbers Landing. If flying in the Alaska Bush is your thing, then Don Moser's "Bush Bash" is a absolutely must have file! Check it out now! ...Bear! 29-Jan-2001 Sikorsky CH53W Navy Sea-Stallion by Michael Vader & Shlomo "Slo Mo" Hakim ch53navy.zip uploaded 21-Jan-2001 2,887Kb FS2000/CFS2 Michael Vader and Shlomo Hakim have provided us all with a really terrific helo..the US Navy CH-53W Sea Stallion, a heavy assault helicopter. The aircraft modeling was all performed by Shlomo and he did a really outstanding job, all parts are moving and fully animated, right down to the retracting tailskid! This upload includes realistic sounds and a full cockpit interior and speaking of the interior, Michael Vader's (a former CH53 pilot and reservist with the German Army) panel and interior views are equal to the high quality of Shlomo's external modeling efforts. This aircraft is one of the heaviest helos made (outside of Russia that is) and it's a real joy to fly Michael and Shlomo's wonderful rendition of this truly unique helicopter! If you haven't downloaded and installed this aircraft yet, then give it a shot, you'll love it! ...Bear! 29-Jan-2001 Cardiff International Airport Version 1 by John Walker cardiff2k_v1.zip uploaded 24-Jan-2001 484Kb FS2000 John Walker has given us other airport add-ons, including Birmingham version 1 just a couple of weeks ago and he continues his fine work with Cardiff International Airport (also located in the United Kingdom). As before, John has kept his renderings simple, most likely for best frame rate performance, yet his sceneries appear to be both complex and very realistic at the same time. I particularly like the way the runway sides are rendered, as well as having all the correct runway markings. Unlike his version 1 of Birmingham, John has included some static aircraft with his Cardiff International upload! John as also released his latest update for his Birmingham scenery as it now includes static aircraft as well. If flying in England is where you spend most of your flying time, it's a must to download John's very fine scenery add-on! ...Bear! 29-Jan-2001 AK2000 by Mathieu Tremblay & MagicDesign M_ak2000.zip uploaded 28-Jan-2001 1,897Kb FS2000 Mathieu Tremblay has taken 20 of the default Alaska airports and like Dave Erikson (author of the "Alaska Commuter Series" of Alaska bush sceneries) has kept it simple and sweet! As I've mentioned before, in my mini-reviews, Microsoft has done an outstanding job with Alaska in it's default form (particularly as compared to FS98); but like all things, there is a lot of room for improvement and Mathieu's AK2000 upload is most certainly one of them! Mathieu's upgrades include local trees, hangers, docks for float planes, static aircraft, and re-rendered landing strips in some cases. All and all, this is another must have for all of us that spend much of our time flying the bush country of Alaska! The following default locations have been upgraded with Mathieu's upload file: Lawing, Arctic Angel, Coal Creek, Hardee Feild, Blair Lake, Clearwater, Golden North Airfield, Colorado Creek, Denali, Kalmbach, Alsek River, Bold, Crevice Creek, Laub, Platinium mine, Parker Lake, Quartz Creek, Nugget Bench, Long Lake, and Camp Point. So, check out the AVSIM library for this scenery package and then break out your favorite bush or float plane! ...Bear! 29-Jan-2001 Douglas DC-3 "DC3-Airways" by Jan Visser dc3_dca.zip uploaded 28-Jan-2001 13,829Kb FS2000 Normally, I wouldn't include an aircraft re-paint as one of my weekly picks, but sometimes what some may think is a simple re-paint needs to be looked a little deeper and boy, I'm glad I did with Jan Visser's latest! I really don't have the words to describe Jan's latest livery release of his unbelievable DC-3 aircraft, but you have to see this aircraft to believe it! Right down from the "DC-3 Airways" paint (in a very nice and distinctive soft green, red, and white on the polished aluminum of his wonderful creation) to the fully re-rendered passenger interior, an interior totally re-done in wood paneling. The interior is also outfitted with a dark red carpeting, full galley, and blue leather seating, all included for the passenger's maximum comfort I assume. As before, Jan does not include a panel or sounds (authentic panel and sounds that is), but highly recommends that you download Bill Rambow and Roy Chaffin's work of art included with their R4D upload! As I've previously stated, this is simply one of the very finest aircraft available for any PC based flight sim to date, period! ...Bear! Tell A Friend About these Reviews!   Standard Disclaimer These reviews above are a subjective assessment of the work of the authors. 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