Background Many readers of this site, especially those who can trace their hobby back to the days of FS2000, will remember with great fondness the regular reviews written by Senior Staff Reviewer Steve ‘Bearracing’ Cartwright; these went under the collective name of ‘The Bear’s Cave’. These articles would feature some particularly fine selections of freeware that Steve had come across in the previous month or so, wonderfully written and with screenshots that were themselves works of art; I for one always felt a tingle of excitement when a new ‘Cave’ feature was announced on the front page of this site. For various reasons, Steve has not had the time to contribute these reviews for some time, so I suggested to Robert Whitwell (our Reviews Editor), that it would be nice to have a similar regular feature, highlighting some outstanding pieces of work available for MSFS. For once, forgetting all my military training, I volunteered myself to write this feature! The ‘Bear’s Cave’ can never be bettered; however, I hope these new regular articles will shine a spotlight on some excellent products which you might have missed or overlooked.
The Rules? There is only one rule (apart from the fact that all the items are made for MSFS!) and that is that the items featured must be of the very highest quality and will not have featured significantly on the list of the top downloads from this site. I will include aircraft, airports, scenery, even re-paints and utilities, if they are good enough. Most of the items will be freeware, however if I buy or have had the pleasure of flying a friend’s simulator, something very special that is payware (but not well known), I might include it occasionally in passing. However the main focus will always be freeware. All the items featured will be available to download from either this site or the designer’s own website and I will do my best to include a direct link with every review. As the advent of FSX has slowed the current flow of new releases coming on line, I will often dig up something from the past that I think may be of interest. Do not expect full and detailed reviews on any of these featured items, think of them as a trailer for a film, a taste of what you might expect to find if you choose to download them. So, without any more waffle from me, let us open the chest today, and find out what treasures lie within! This Months Featured Design teams:
Sud-Ouest Aviation 4050 Vautour IIN for FS2004 The Vautour is typical example of French designers going their own route, an early generation jet fighter bomber with two under-slung engine pods and bicycle undercarriage; think of it as Gallic half-sized B47 and you will have an idea of the aircraft. This aircraft model has it all: a striking set of 2D panels, a great virtual cockpit and a set of attractive color schemes - who could ask for more? Well, how about working ejector seats?...Check! Working radar (that enables you track and home in on AI traffic)?... Check! Dedicated sound sets, animated jet orifices, chocks and crew ladders all modeled?...Check! The only thing missing is a price tag! One of my favorite pieces of animation is the crew flipping up their visors and un-clipping their oxygen masks as the canopies are raised…. classic stuff! It is obvious from these screenshots that the Vautour looks good; but how well does it fly? Well, as one comes to expect from a product of this quality, the answer is ‘like a bird’ (or should that be ‘l’oiseau’)! True, landings require a bit of practice because of the unusual undercarriage arrangement, but everything else is beautifully modeled and coordinated. As with all the very best MSFS aircraft, test flying of this model was undertaken by an ex-Vautour pilot; and it certainly shows. Virtual cockpit fans will appreciate the fully ‘mouseable’ cockpit and (because Gmax was used to build the model) frame rates are on a par with the default Cessna in FS9. Instrumentation is in ‘good old’ feet and knots, so any pilot used to the US system will quickly find himself at home. Documentation is excellent, a .pdf document in both English and French takes you through installation and flying techniques; this is worth reading to get the best out of the aircraft and to understand fully the (slightly) more complicated installation procedure required.
The incredible ejection sequence should not be tried on a real flight, because once out of the aircraft the pilot plays no further part in the game. Once crewless the aircraft will crash totally out of control, which is rather as it should be. In the real world, ejection is non reversible! The Sud-Ouest Aviation 4050 Vautour IIN by Barney Bigard and team can be found in the AVSIM Library; search for file so_4050_vautour_fs9.zip LFRD2004 St. Malo Dinard Pleurtuit Scenery for FS2004 by Etienne Vauchez I said that some treasures will not be new; this one is three years old! The reason why some of you may want to download this rather obscure French airfield (apart from the perfect place to base your new Vautour), is in the name of the author! Etienne Vauchez is now the owner and designer of what is thought (by me) to be the best current FS2004 add-on sceneries, FlightZone 01- Rhode Island and the astounding FlightZone 02- Portland (used here on the A26 and Jungmann screen shots). M. Vauchez tried out many of his groundbreaking design skills on this little airfield at Dinard, situated on the coast of Northern France. The airport buildings are photo textured, as is the whole area, which blends seamlessly with the default textures. Custom autogen and a complete re-build of the land-class and coastlines complete this little gem. An automatic install program is included so anybody should be able to use this product within a few minutes of its download. The entire area is modeled in Gmax and, as with his commercial products, you get great detailing but with default scenery frame rate figures. I find the size of the area modeled perfect for circuit flying and the runways can happily take small to medium sized airliners. As with all good products, a well written manual (again in French and English) is provided, as are some useful approach charts that can be printed out, another nice touch. Until his commercial products were released, this airfield was my ‘FS home airfield’ and, returning to it for the writing of this article, it made me realize just how good it is. A classic example that just because it is old, it is not made of solid gold. The way the trees and buildings fit into the textures have not been bettered, even in FSX. If you own the France VFR scenery for Mont St Michel, you can download a small patch that will enable this airfield to blend in with the pay-ware scenery. This gives you miles (or should that be kilometers) of France in photo detail to explore. It also enables you operate larger aircraft over the Mont St Michel area, as the pay-ware airfields are for GA aircraft only.
This little (in modern scenery terms) file resides at the very back of the AVSIM Library; it’s lfrd2004-v1a.zip - why not go and blow the dust of it! The Bücker 131 Jungmann for FS2004 Having spent some time in France, I want to keep a European theme going and travel east to Germany for the next subject. Statistics tell us that a great majority of flight simulator users fly large modern jets. Well how about taking a bit of time off from your glass cockpits and IFR procedures, its time to feel the wind in your hair! This little beauty has had me hooked for over a year; she is a fully aerobatic vintage biplane trainer with a flight model that takes a lot of practice to master. On the detail front, you could not ask for more; fantastic texturing both inside and out, this machine is handmade by a real craftsman! Navigation aids, a compass and the good old Mk. 1 eyeball is what you have here, so forget long flights! The Bücker is designed for taking off and flying, easy eh? Well, not quite! If you have your realism setting up high, it may take several attempts to get the Bücker more than a few feet, without performing a rather embarrassing ground loop. In addition to the ground handling (making sure you have located the tail wheel castor lock before commencing your take off roll certainly helps), try to remember that the flight instruments are metric! She may lift off at 70 knots but at 70 Km per hour, no way. A great many of the Luftwaffe top aces cut their teeth in these little beasts; no wonder they developed their skills quickly in the 1930s. Do not despair, the fun of this creation is to master the handling and subsequent lack of power once airborne. It will take time, but the satisfaction of performing a five minute aerobatic routine from the virtual cockpit, followed by a perfect three point landing will make you grin from ear to ear. Once again the designer has given us a full set of features which delight the eyes and ears; however it is the sheer fun factor that makes this little gem so special.
With full documentation in English and German, two aircraft models and 5 paint schemes the Bücker Bu-131 Jungmann collection can only be downloaded from the designer’s site. Whilst you are there, why not pick up Herr Fischer’s fantastic Ju-52 vintage airliner, maybe you airline enthusiasts can combine the best of both worlds with that model! Check out the AVSIM Library for some super repaints too. The Sim-Outhouse A26 team with the Douglas A26 Invader for FS2004 and FSX The A-26 was a fast an agile light bomber that saw service in the latter days of WW2 and served with many air forces including the USAF until the 1970s. This long service history makes the aircraft a texture artist’s dream and the many modifications carried out during this long service life will be covered by members of the team (who are not as experienced as the main designer) in future versions. In all, in addition to well known names like Milton, Jan Visser and Jerry Beckwith, a total of 71 forum members were involved with this project. A great idea, but how do the two base models (A-26B and C) check out? An easy to use self installing program makes life simple, so within minutes you are ready to go. Documentation is found in the aircraft folder and is useful but lacks the professional styles of the other aircraft featured this month. That said, as many FS pilots only read the manual when things go wrong, this is an area that the team can afford to skimp on. It is the only area they have skimped on too! From the moment this aircraft appears on your screen, it will be love at first sight! A brilliant interior, superb panel and a sound set so realistic that you can almost smell the fumes! Talking of fumes, the smoke and flames created on start up will be enough of a spectacle so that you will never want to start flying this aircraft with its engines already running. In the air, she performs with grace and poise; the instruments look very authentic and are as smooth as silk. If you can run the larger default jets in FS2004, your PC will have no trouble here. Also of note is the fine animated pilot by Jan Visser, a work of art itself. The aircraft is designed to work well in FSX with one or two very minor limitations at present, although I have not tried it myself yet.
To
download this aircraft, it is necessary for you to join the Sim-Outhouse,
as the aircraft will not be made available (at present) anywhere else.
I urge you to do this, maybe you can even get involved in painting,
researching or even designing the later variants of their project. If not,
I am
sure
the folks there will be a great source of friendly advice on all matters
flight sim! They can be found at http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/index.php I hope you will enjoy these freeware treasures as much as I do; just give a thought occasionally to the hard work and dedication that has gone into such fine creations. Do I have a favorite? Well, on grounds of subject matter, rather than quality, the Vautour gets my vote (by a whisker); I just wish some texture artists would create some more color schemes for it. Hopefully, I will be back again soon to give you another glimpse inside the Treasure Chest. In the meantime if you have any nominations of your own, why not post them in the AVSIM forums? |
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