I spent a most enjoyable weekend flying two wonderful airplanes that are absolutely free - the new Commander uploaded last week from Milton' Shupes design group, and a fabulous GMAX Convair 540 paired with one of Tom Gibson's masterpiece panels available at Historic Jetliners group. Both have visuals and flight models that put many payware planes to shame - both are labors of love. The Convair in particular is just amazing. The Convair rated pilot who wrote the flight notes said the plane flies like a truck - and it does. What a great job. The Commander, on the other hand, comes in over the threshold right on speed like it was on rails. I heartilly urge anyone who likes piston and turbo props to give these planes a trip or two around the field. I'm guessing you will be pulling them out of your hangar a good deal more often in the future if you do. Colin

Enjoyed the Commander myself. I believe it's temporarily off the file list, but might be back now. Will check out the Convair, since my favorites are definately props ------ especially older ones.Ladamson

Hi,Thanks for all the kind words! The Convair you mentioned is actually the CV-580 (turboprop), which indeed has the panel over at HJG. The CV-240/340/440 (pistons) has the panel either packed with the planes or at my site. I just released a Western CV-240 with the ventral stairway there too, along with Greg Pepper's new B377 Stratocruiser (in UAL paint).Take care,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

The Commanders will hopefully back in the library Monday night/Tuesday morning.I have been waiting to get the 680 out the door so I could get my butt in the seats of these CV series and the anxiously expected B377, one of my all-time favorite aircraft. Thank you Tom, Greg and team for the great work on these aircraft. :-)Milton

Whaaaaat???? Do you mean to tell me...you guys aren't hard at work on a Shrike Commander, al-la-Bob Hoover? (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)Seriously Milton, you guys have done a wonderful job on all you've undertaken. I don't know what precipitated the 680's withdrawl, I missed that (if it was public information) but glad it will be back. Cal

As a matter of fact, the textures detail is being worked on for the Shrike as we speak.This Shrike is not my model but Paul's. He is on the alpha team and I encouraged and helped him get through modeling his first gmax aircraft. Though we started with my model, he has now completely redone it, inside and out. The model is much better than mine IMO. The VC and interior will be much better modeled as well.Paul is becoming a super gmax person and I know you will love this Shrike. I will be doing the FD's and Andr

As they say these days, "awriiiiiiiiiiigggghhhht"!!!Tonight will have two Canadian Rye Whiskeys in your team's honour.We all look forward to the Shrike.Cal

"Rumors about the death of freeware are a tad premature..."I challenge you to produce any thread that states this!!!I salute you for your attempt at spin though.I too have downloaded the the 680s and it`s fantastic in every respect.I have written the design team a letter of thanks and would also like to thank them here again in a public forum for their fantastic contribution.To top it all off I see that there is a paintkit coming out as well but "I like Ike".:)

The paint kit for the AC560A(HC) and the AC680S series should be announced this week. I hope we see some really great repaints from the community on this one. :-)MiltonP.S. I hope to repost the AC680S files Tuesday night after work. These files do not affect those of you who already downloaded the 680S.

Milton - Just FYI, I downloaded the Commander ( AirForce version ) and installed it in FS2004 ( press beta ). Flies like a dream. Two things I noticed however with the panel - 1) the digits in the Heading Adjust don't display clearly and 2) No digist at all display in the popup "LCD" radio window. All else seems to be fine, including the landing light visibility from the cockpit :).Athlon xp2700Asus A7N8X w/ 1G PC2700 DDRGeForce 4 Ti 4600/128MFS2004 at 1600x1200x32vgb

Thanks for the info .. I have received many positive comments from other FS2004 beta testers as well.Once CoF is released, I will make whatever adjustments necessary to be compatible.Milton

See link http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...acrp&DLID=32356:-)Andr