Howdie again folks, great
to be back here writing again. Unfortunately I was called away
on an urgent job, and was unable to keep with continuity for a couple
of weeks. Well hopefully that is all in the past now. As
you might have noticed from the front-page and the title, my
mini reviews are from now on taking a different approach. Coming in
36R on ILS...Nah only joking!!. How many
times do you see screenshots in the forums that jog your memory back
to when you used to fly that plane or fly into that particular
airport? Ever go through the countless zip files you have
downloaded in recent years, and pull out that plane or scenery you
used to use all the time? Well with this new approach I am
looking at not only bringing back some of those files to the more
seasoned simmers, but more important, bring to light
the files that newer simmers might never ever see. I will still award
the "Akulla Approved" award to what I consider the best of
the chosen files. And Steve "Bear" Cartwright will still update you on the latest great uploads to the AVSIM Library every other week as I dig for new jewels. Well enough babble, lets see what I have
managed to dig outta the library's for my first mini-review.
Starting
the "Forgotten Jewels" reviews is an aircraft from a designer that is
well know to the simming community, Mr. Shlomo "Slo Mo" Hakim. Depicted here is the V22 Osprey currently in service with
the United States forces. Its main aim is to replace the fleet of
helicopters currently in service. It has the capability to lift
a maximum of 31 troops, with a crew of 3. The Osprey is
"different" to say the least, and Slo Mo has gone to
great efforts to recreate this aircraft. Remembering that were
now looking back to the late 90's, the moving parts are all included. and detail are of
very high quality. The main feature of this aircraft being the tilting
wing has been beautifully represented, and made fully animated using
your normal flap keys.
Flying
the Osprey takes a little practice at first, and if your a heli
flyer, then you will be at an advantage. With the wing in the
vertical position it will take off in a very short distance. The
limitations of the sim prevent the full vertical capability. Once in a
stable attitude, you can bring the wings down into the
horizontal position and make the transition into forward flight.
The landing gear is fully animated also for added realism.
Although "Slo Mo" has used a Lear jet panel, he has included
a virtual view that is superb for low-level observation and carrier
landings, and sound files for that deep throaty roar of the engines. Various other additions have been made to enhance the Osprey
of "Slo Mo". These include panels and a sound pack
that are available for downloading.....Akulla Bowerman field is a
small airport situated about 70nm west of Seattle. Bob Bernstein
the author of this airfield has taken a different approach from the
small sceneries we normally see. Bob has managed to capture the
airport and its surrounding area with great detail, and be able to give
it that extra touch of reality when flying in and around it. The
addition of car parks, refueling areas and parking areas for the
aircraft look superb. The refueling area is captured in great
detail, right down to the advertisements that adorn the signs. Great
care has been taken to reproduce the buildings on the airfield with precise
detail. As you can see from the screenshot on the left, the night
lighting makes it even more attractive.
The runway is 5000ft in
length, and is ample long enough to land a small jet onto it. Bob
mentions in the read me file, that its the only coastal runway on the
Washington coastline with the capability of receiving jets.
I discovered this scenery some time back,
and it has always been a favorite of mine. I have recently used
Bowerman field in a VFR flight plan that can be found at the VFR Centre
here on Avsim. Bob has done a few other sceneries in the Seattle
area, namely Elma Municipal and Monroe. If your an "eye
candy" type of person then this is a "must have" in your
collection....Akulla
Filename:
Cuba
Terrain Mesh David Maldonado's
discipline in the field of FS2000 is the creation of Terrain Mesh
scenery. There are many variants out there of mesh scenery, there
are even packages that cover the entire globe. From my
experience I personally find the individual add-ons to be the
best. This particular area is Fidel Castro's back
yard.....Cuba! Located off the coast of the United States,
its within easy flying distance of Florida, The Bahamas, and the
Dominican Republic. I checked the default FS2000 scenery
first before installing the add-on mesh, so I could see the differences
quite clearly. The installation process is quite easy and
explained in detail in the readme file. David's English is a little
broken, but none the less totally understandable.
Firing up the sim after installing the
mesh, I positioned my aircraft (DHC-2 Turbo Beaver) at Nicaro
airstrip at the Eastern end of the island. There are some mountain
peaks down in this area, and you can immediately see the
difference that it makes. The area where I found the significant
difference was flying west along the coast from Antonio Maceo Intl
airport. The cliffs and the peaks were very different to what is
portrayed by the default scenery. There are some great features to
the ground shape, and makes the flying experience so much more
realistic......Akulla Filename:
B727-200
DHL Worldwide Express Mr Diaz first caught my
eye towards the end of 1999. Back in those days I was into flying
long haul flights in the big air liners.Although I have
pretty much been "reformed" into a Bush flyer, for some
strange reason I still have affection for this particular aircraft.
Towards the end of 1999, we started to see more and more animation being
incorporated into the aircraft in FS2000. Eduardo, took full advantage
of this, and made this 727 completely animated. Although these are
common place today, and even more intense than they were back in the
early days, he made a fantastic job of recreating the surfaces. Pay
particular attention to the flap sequence. Not only has he got the
flaps that extend to the rear of the leading edge, but watch the leading
edge itself, its quite impressive to watch.
The version that is depicted here is in
the DHL colors, which have been daubed by the hand of Vital Vanbeginne.
One of the paint jobs that was done on this airframe is by Gerrit
Kranenbarg, and is in the colors of Caesar-Air CSPO VA. It has a livery
with a prancing horse on the tail, and I still think to this day,
that it is one of the nicest I have yet to see on an aircraft. Its Unfortunate that this particular aircraft it not available on Avsim, but can
be found on other sites using CSPO7272.zip as a search reference. If
there was any complaints about this aircraft, it would be the lack of
night lighting. I would at a guess, say this was due to the author not
being able to implement the techniques at the time of modeling...Akulla Filename:1938
Piper J4 Coupe
Having
already written a review on Bill Lyons Cessna 120, I am fully aware of the
standard that he produces with his FS2000 products. This little beauty
is no exception to that rule. The Piper J4 Coupe is a small and very
basic aircraft. The time and effort that has been put into this
Flightsim model is unmistakable. Bill has spared no expense of time
getting it to look and feel as per the real thing. The Piper J4 first
rolled out in 1938. It was designed as competition to the Aeronca
Chief. It was not designed with luxury in mind, hence the forerunner the
Piper J3 Cub being more popular. One of Bills traits when it comes to
F2000, is his "Virtual Cockpits" Having mastered the art of virtual
gauges, it makes this aircraft so much more realistic. The
"art-deco" panel facia, is actually based on a design from an
automobile of the era!
I took the J4 on a flight in my own back yard of Cornwall in the UK and must have flown for about 2 hours around the various small airfields. There are no navigational radios or autopilots in this aircraft, so its all manual flying. If your one for going low and slow, then this is a must for your collection. Being powered by a 50hp engine, its cruising speed is in the region of 80kts. Not having any flaps, it can take some practice to get the approach right and get speed down of landing. Flying the J4 in F2000 is pure bliss. It is as stable as a rock and will almost fly "hands off" if trimmed correctly. Even if your not a hardened light aircraft flyer and prefer the big heavies, take the time to download this and give it a spin. It might just widen your horizons to the discipline for VFR flying. The Piper J4 Coupe is this weeks proud winner of the "Akulla Approved" award and is richly deserved.......Akulla Note: Due to having my CPU fail on me I was unable to complete all the screenshots by myself. A big thank you must go to John Grammer for helping me out with the screenshots of the 727. As usual he was more than willing to help out and with very short notice... Thanks John ;-)
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