R4D - DC-3 Progress Report

[Guest JonP01]

Thanks. I don't doubt it will be truly excellent.

[rambow 0]

Thanks, and a belated HNY to you, too.You betcha, we will have an FS2002 version of the new R4D. No promises for future packages - it takes a tremendous amount of work, especially by Rob, to support the old FS version. But because of the long delay of what was originally intended to be a FS2002 package, we feel we must include it in this case. We will produce the FS2004 version first, though. At this point, I'm loathe to delay the CD release further to put out both FS versions at once on the same disc. So we are giving priority to FS2004 and that is what will be on the initial release. The FS2002 version will follow on a second edition of the CD, and probably also in a payware download version, as will the FS9 bird, price yet to be determined.Speaking of price - the FS2004 CD, which will include three complete aircraft models in four liveries, the MAAM R4D-6 #50819 in both its original shiny metal and current painted silver liveries, UAL "City of San Franciso", and BEA's "Sir Eric Geddes" will sell for $30.00 and will be delivered anywhere in the world for $4.95. When the subsequent edition is issued, it will include both the FS2002 and FS2004 version and the price will be the same. The CD's will feature "how to" videos, extensive user's manual, original history article, and vintage manuals, among other goodies. As with the 'Briefing Time' CD, it will be stuffed with as much as we can get on it, so you will be getting your money's worth.Any download version will be the aircraft only, as with BT, and the price has yet to be determined. The download will not come out for some time after the CD, so the CD will be the way to go if you want to get the most for your money, get it ASAP, and make sure the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum gets all of the money. We really appreciate our outside contractors who handle the download business and boxed versions for us, but they have overheads of their own and must make a profit, so MAAM only gets a portion of those sales. If you buy the CD directly from our MAAM Online Store at www.maam.org, all of the proceeds go directly to the museum's restoration programs and you'll get the best deal on price and shipping, too.Thanks again to everybody who has been so patient and understanding about the long, detoured development process of the Gmax R4D. Bill RambowMAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, and Womackhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[rambow 0]

Hi Jack,First, this is NOT an update. This is a completely new aircraft package from the ground up. But don't worry about FS2002. See the reply above.Since you opened the door, let me address a question I have received a few times already, and expect to get many more times once the Gmax R4D / DC-3 pacakge is released...Regretfully, we will not be able to give discounts to owners of the previous R4D package. OK, I admit, the regret will be mostly on the side of the buyers.;-) But the truth of the matter is that setting up a mechanism to verify registered ownership of the old R4D is beyond the means of an all-volunteer operation like MAAM-SIM. We do not charge for "upgrades", "patches", or "add-ons" to our products. Even the FS2004 Upgrade of 'Briefing Time' which involved a tremendous amount of work by the team was issued as a free download. Likewise, when improvements or fixes were made, to the old R4D, they were always free. I think our recent Freeware issue of Bill Womack's stunning KRDG/MAAM Scenery should amply prove we are not totally greedy, even on behalf of our non-profit cause, the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum. The Gmax R4D and DC-3 for FS2004 and FS2002 will be a new product, and everyone will have to pay full price if they want it. We won't apologize for that. We think we are giving good value for the money, and the money all goes to a worthy aviation history cause. That does not mean we don't appreciate our past customers, though. So we'll make it up to you by providing a steady stream of free enhancements and add-ons that will increase the value of your CD, far beyond any "loyalty" discount you might have gotten. If you like these gifts, and want to respond, please go to www.maam.org and drop a few tax-deductible bucks in one of the restoration funds, and accept our sincere thanks. The money is badly needed now, more than ever.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, and Womackhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[rambow 0]

Did I say that? Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.;-)At the present time, no other panels are contemplated. The R4D panel and VC will serve for all three aircraft. That's a major project, after all. However, as my friend and loyal BTBT member Francois has reminded me, we do have access to the Dutch Dakota Association's DC-3's with one developer and two beta testers living in the vicinity of their hangars. Jan, especially, would dearly love to update the DDZ panel we did some years back, so never say never. ;-) Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, and Hamblyhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[rambow 0]

Hi Andreu,You have to remember that our R4D was a Naval transport, albeit an Admiral's personal one. Sailors were not accorded the luxury of the wider seats that the three seat civil versions usually had, nor were they allowed to be much overweight! ;-)Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, and Womackhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[rambow 0]

I agree about the default DC-3 sounds. Never fear, we'll give you a full-bodied P&W sound suite.Although Jan may not like it too much, being the VC creator, as the 2D panel and view designer I admire your attitude! ;-)Actually, I absolutely love the VC on both 'Briefing Time' and the R4D, but we probably will continue with the innovation we introduced with BT, giving users a choice of "full" and "light" versions. It's still under discussion, but things are pointing that way. We have already surveyed our BTBT (Briefing Time Beta Team), but I would be curious to know how many of you BT users regularly use either the Medium or Light versions.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, and Womackhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[rambow 0]

Why thanks! We aim to please. It's as close to the real thing as we can make it, and quite a bit more so than the old version, especially on the copilot's panel and overhead electrical panel.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, and Hamblyhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[rambow 0]

Thanks kindly, Gary. We all appreciate that sort of support and outlook very much.BTW, apropos of nothing, a co-worker just came in and said their was a "Gooney Bird" taxiing to parking here at Andrews AFB. Well, I jumped in the van and drove down the ramp to investigate. It was a Basler Turbo Conversion! The horror. The horror.;-)I went aboard this particular bird here a couple years ago and, except for the slant of the sparkling new diamond-plate cargo deck, there was almost nothing inside that resembled our beloved R4D or any other DC-3 I've seen. The cockpit was almost all glass, for Pete's sake!Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, and Womackhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[Guest jaapverduijn]

Hi Bill!I always use the "medium" Briefing Time. Be well!Jaap.

[Guest Javis]

>According to the photos, this will be a "wide-body" DC3 :-)>What, four seats in a row instead of the usual three?'usual' is a word you'd better be very carefull about using in conjuction with 'DC-3', Andrue.. usual four can be as much usual as usual three in this case :(http://www.airliners.net/open.file/098225/M/http://www.airliners.net/open.file/177292/M/http://www.airliners.net/open.file/185069/M/http://www.airliners.net/open.file/299888/M/You have a good point nontheless, atleast our UAL bird will feature a three seats config.best regards,Jan

[Guest tgabriel]

This thread was linked to on Feb 13 because of a question asked on the 13th is relevant to this subject.I want to add a comment here that all can see: If you are upset with having to buy a new aircraft instead of getting an upgrade of your original R4D-6 from MAAM, remember where the funds go. Bill and the other fellows do not get one red cent from this endeavor. Every dollar paid for this plane goes into the care and feeding of the real R4D the virtual one is modelled on. I will gladly pay for such a magnificent aircraft and would gladly pay a license renewal yearly to be able to fly her. I realize most of you do not share my views on this subject and want these voluntary developers to give you something for free but you have to keep some perspective about just what this project is.Thanks Bill, Jan, and the rest of you for your tireless devotion to this project. Terry GabrielRaleigh, NCDC-3/R4D Flier in the virtual world.

[Guest jgpullensr]

<<< snipped some >>>>I will gladly pay for such a magnificent aircraft and would>gladly pay a license renewal yearly to be able to fly her. I>realize most of you do not share my views on this subject and>want these voluntary developers to give you something for free>but you have to keep some perspective about just what this>project is.Terry,I just want to throw in my 2 cents worth on this subject. I agree with everything you said about the MAAM R4D and include their B24. I've bought a couple of upgrades from MAAM, the last is ver. 6 with the "Briefing Time" included. I feel it has been money well spent and would do all over again. I've read on the MAAM website that these projects have been done to raise money for the real planes. They don't make a cent from the proceeds. Heck, they don't even make back the amount of the CD and postage to send them out!The MAAM programmers have done an excellent job. I fly their planes more than any others I have for MSFS 2004. I really get a kick out of starting out with a cold cockpit, going through the check lists to get them started and go flying. It's the closest I've been able to afford flying the real thing. Never was able to finish my Private License I started when in my teens. Then the Army came along and after that family and kids.The guys at MAAM are the very best. I can't wait to hear when they will be able to let us know they are working on an add-on of the P-61 night fighter. Then I'll really have a full hanger of WWII planes to fly.Happy Trails,Jim

[rambow 0]

Thanks Terry and Jim, and all you other great and understanding supporters. We really appreciate it, and that goes for the staff at the museum and we developers, too. One small correction - I do burn the CD's at home, but except for occasional replacements and review copies, the mailing is all done by the volunteers in the museum store office. The museum does actually reimburse me for the cost of CD-R, label and ink stock, and postage for the shipping of batches of CD's to Reading. In fact, I have a bunch of receipts in my wallet now to give to Russ. Thanks for the reminder! ;-) And although you are both right in saying that Jan, Fred, Rob, Bill and I make no money for ourselves from the MAAM-SIM effort, we do receive great satisfaction, the unending gratitude of the folks at the museum, and some memorable flights aboard BT, not to mention the appreciation of our work by many hundreds of users and reviewers.Thanks a lot.Bill RambowMAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, and Womackhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[Guest allcott]

Great Shots, but the excessive slope of the cockpit side frames and windows really jars with the `feel` of a DC-3 and the top of the fuselage seems a little `pointy` when the real shape suggests something large and heavy has sat on top of the oval!http://www.airliners.net/open.file/456700/M/http://www.airliners.net/open.file/426083/M/http://www.airliners.net/open.file/422558/M/http://www.airliners.net/open.file/420161/M/Is this something that is reflective of the beta and will be fixed before release?Allcott

[Guest IanP]

Nice photos, Allcott, although I think you'll find that Bill and Jan have many hundreds more of the exact R4D that they are modelling, taken from far less acute angles... :-)