Thanks for the reply, Skunkworks. One of these days, when the omens, and my bank balance are favorable, I really do plan to create a home simpit based on the LevelD767, and your project is a real inspiration. I have noted the interfaces you used for when that time comes. P.S. I just checked your profile, and it is all the more impressive to learn that those are real aircraft panels, guages and flight controls used in your flight deck. I had often wondered if actual aircraft hardware could be so adapted for use in FS9, and now that question is answered, though I will hazard a guess that you must have a very solid background in electronics engineering, to have pulled off that interface so well. Tony

Thanks for the reply, Skunkworks. One of these days, when the omens, and my bank balance are favorable, I really do plan to create a home simpit based on the LevelD767, and your project is a real inspiration. I have noted the interfaces you used for when that time comes. P.S. I just checked your profile, and it is all the more impressive to learn that those are real aircraft panels, guages and flight controls used in your flight deck. I had often wondered if actual aircraft hardware could be so adapted for use in FS9, and now that question is answered, though I will hazard a guess that you must have a very solid background in electronics engineering, to have pulled off that interface so well. Tony

I was an electronics tech for the Minuteman II program. Mostly re-engineering and reverse engineering for the real 727 equipment. Radios are difficult though and I've not succesfully been able to get one working. The steam dials are nearly impossible to synch with an encoder that will change to the same frequency at the same rate as the steam dials revolve.The sim could have cost upwards of three times what I quoted if I would have had to buy ready-made third-party aftermarket panels, MIP, throttle, etc. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending upon your viewpoint) no one makes anything for the 727 except Boeing. There is only one real working gauge in the MIP and that is the yaw damper/control surface position indicator gauge. The rest are computer generated on two monitors.

This may be a yawner for those of you who had the good sense to purchase the Dream Fleet 727 from Flight1 long ago. But for anyone, like me, who was tempted but didn't take the plunge, let me tell you, it is fantastic! Perfect frame rates unlike almost every add-on I have purchased in the last year, totally immersive, all 727 versions (and real "versions" - significant differences between them) and a huge collection of liveries. For a model that has been released for about five years, it is still totally cutting-edge IMHO.Having obtained the old CS 727 in FS2002 days, I was reasonably satisfied with the FS9 portover and stuck with it. I kept looking at the DF 727 but couldn't persuade myself that the improvements over the CS version justified spending the extra money. WAS I EVER WRONG!!!! :( If you have any interest at all in flying heavy metal without all the glass stuff, FMC, Autoland etc. then this is a must-buy! I am having way too much fun with this. So bye for now, I'm off to haul some freight in my new (old) 727...

I thought the same thing: Dreamfleet's 727 is the best around. I hope they release the DC-8 :( :biggrin:regards,Macs

Although IMO the VC gauge refresh rate is rather low... :(

I haven't found it slower than most of my other addons and faster than many. But I'm running with the lower resolution option so maybe that makes a difference. Also only used the analog panel so far - from what I've read, the EFIS upgrade is a bit more demanding.What I am finding is that it is allowing me to fly "heavy metal" into a number of very complex add-on airports with smooth FPS and that, along with the quality of the plane itself, has almost transformed FS9 for me. I have several that are amazing sceneries but I pretty much have had to restrict what I could fly there because of FPS issues. No more...Man, I love this thing!

Interesting. It's one of those products I've always meant to buy, but never have. I wonder. Should I or shouldn't I?

You absolutely must. It is amazing! As long as you're okay with flying 60/70's technology, you will find it an incredibly addictive add-on. I truly regret having waited so long and wasting my money on other, inferior products. :(

Yes, I echo everything said about this plane - it's great! I do hope an FSX version of it will come to fruition.

i've been tempted recently and i think this thread might tip me overhow do the 2d panels look on newer high-res monitors? i have a 1680x1050 (i realize they don't have widescreen panels)

i've been tempted recently and i think this thread might tip me overhow do the 2d panels look on newer high-res monitors? i have a 1680x1050 (i realize they don't have widescreen panels)

I can't really answer this for you - hopefully someone else can. My guess is that the flight engineer/overhead/APU panels will be perfect but not sure about the cockpit forward views. But the VC is so excellent that I almost never use the 2D forward views.

You absolutely must. It is amazing! As long as you're okay with flying 60/70's technology, you will find it an incredibly addictive add-on. I truly regret having waited so long and wasting my money on other, inferior products. :(

Oh sure, I spend a lot of time in Yak40s, Tu134/154s, Caravelles, etc. Like the modern stuff too - but that's just the great thing about FS. One day it's a B738, the next a Caravelle :(

This may be a yawner for those of you who had the good sense to purchase the Dream Fleet 727 from Flight1 long ago. But for anyone, like me, who was tempted but didn't take the plunge, let me tell you, it is fantastic! Perfect frame rates unlike almost every add-on I have purchased in the last year, totally immersive, all 727 versions (and real "versions" - significant differences between them) and a huge collection of liveries. For a model that has been released for about five years, it is still totally cutting-edge IMHO.Having obtained the old CS 727 in FS2002 days, I was reasonably satisfied with the FS9 portover and stuck with it. I kept looking at the DF 727 but couldn't persuade myself that the improvements over the CS version justified spending the extra money. WAS I EVER WRONG!!!! :( If you have any interest at all in flying heavy metal without all the glass stuff, FMC, Autoland etc. then this is a must-buy! I am having way too much fun with this. So bye for now, I'm off to haul some freight in my new (old) 727...

HiReading this and all of the other replies to this topic makes me think that I too should replace the Captain Sim 727 which I have used for many years and thought was fairly reasonable - it seems that the Dream Fleet version (even though it was produced in 2005) is far better. I feel my credit card twitching again!Bill_{Windows XP Pro SP2; Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz CPU; Arctic Cool 7Pro; ASUS P5N-E-SLI Motherboard; 4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM; 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX Dual VGA Graphics card; 2x 500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive; 650W (2 x 12V) PSU; 2 x 1000GB + 1 x 150GB Western Digital External Hard Drive; CH Pro Yoke and PedalsPowering 278GB of fs9!}

All, Captain who ??? :( There is no substitute for Paul's 727... Just this past weekend I was flying the Eastern bare metal 727-200 Super with Winglets and the Meatwater mod - in a what if scenario... The recent Eastern 757 McPhat shots in the screen shot forum gave me the idea... Great plane - I've owned it for years and still get an immense kick out of flying it... I think I've seen fairly recent posts from Paul over in the Dreamfleet forum - so I think he is still working on the DC-8...Regards,Scott

Nope. No DC-8 from DF. A monumental shame.

"It was a real heart-breaker when Dream Fleet decided not to upgrade their FS2002 737-400 for FS9."The last time I upgraded, I failed to reinstall and merge this aircraft, but I agree that it is a classic for FS and probably will resurrect it again at some point in the future.There is in fact a way to get it to work in FS9 thanks to Peter McLeland. Somewhere I recently saw a direct link to it with a Google search for the Dreamfleet 737-400 but cannot for the life of me find it now, nor does a search for my post show up. I did find the following line in another link though that should lead you to the instructions for the merge. I think it is still also imbedded somewhere in both the Dreamfleet and Simflight forums, and probably others.Hope this helps:RTHPeter McLeland has authored a way to make the FS2002 patched aircraft to work in FS2004. If you go to his website: http://www.petermcleland.com/ and click on "Links" and then "download merge kit"

INS? GNS? FMC? Shame on ya'll! :( I'm sure you're right about avionics upgrades and maybe at some point I'll try something, but at the moment I am having too much fun flying as it was "back in the good old days!" I got some time in the Air New Zealand 737-200 way back, and from what I can remember, it wasn't all that different to this old girl. I don't think I have ever seen an FS9 Flight Director that was as realistic and responsive as this one. I am kicking myself for not buying this ages ago - I could have saved myself a lot of money buying inferior add-ons that lasted in my hangar for a few weeks. This thing is awesome! I keep waiting to find something that isn't perfect but so far, nada!It was a real heart-breaker when Dream Fleet decided not to upgrade their FS2002 737-400 for FS9. Seeing how good this is makes that decision even stranger and sadder.