A new FSX arrival at Simmarket the other day was Dirk Stuck Design's Basler BT-67 Turbo, which DC-3 fans will know is a converted DC-3 with a fuselage stretch, modified wing, updated avionics, metal control surfaces, new electrics, long range fuel tankage and most importantly, the addition of Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprops and five bladed props to replace the old radial engines and three blade props, which gives it a fifty knot increase in cruise speed and makes it more economical to operate than an original DC-3.Since the BT-67 is one of my favourite aircraft and I wanted one for Air Hauler, I thought I'd give it a whirl (it was cheap - 15 quid - so I wasn't expecting much and was in fact thinking it'd probably get some merge work going on with it to make it really decent judging by the preview pics). That assessment was pretty much as it turned out to be, the model is basically okay, a bit rough in places, but nice enough and pretty accurate dimensionally, the VC is more like a quick freeware stab at matters than of a payware standard with really very basic default avionics that don't accurately reflect what most BT-67s look like inside, but of course since it is a genuine native FSX model, it can get a merge with the Just Flight FSX DC-3 cockpit and then be worked on from there as far as avionics go. You do actually get a few different variations of the thing, so there is more than one external model, including passenger, research aircraft, a gunship and a variant with skis.The texturing is mostly bloody awful, and I really mean that, bad specular mapping and not very good resolution plus some truly gaudy and monstrous liveries that look like an explosion in a paint factory, but again, what I really cared about was the exterior model, and that is alright, so a repaint is no big deal considering there is a plain grey military paint scheme that can be the basis for this.The flight model is basic, but again that can be fixed thanks to plundering either Just Flight's or MAAM's better attempts at things, which should only need a tweak to longitudinal stability and an increase in roll rate to be a fairly accurate depiction of the Basler. So, what you get here is a usable starting point for what could be made into a pretty good FSX Basler BT-67, but not without some effort. In my case, I want one for FSX badly enough to go to that effort, so I wasn't unhappy with what I bought, but if you are not prepared to do all that tweaking, then this is a bit of a rough attempt for something that is payware, so be aware of that if you are considering it. It was worth it to me, but I think you'd have to really want one to agree.This is genuinely the best texture in the package, and from that you can probably tell that the others are a bit rough to say the least.Al

bumped since I did a serious edit to the original post and added a review having now bought it.Al

Wow... this is payware?

Wow... this is payware?

Yup, kind of hard to justify that too when there is a freeware version of it kicking about (on Avsim's file library actually). As noted, I'm such a fan of the BT-67 that I'm prepared to forgive it many things simply for the external model, but by payware standards it is pretty poor in most respects apart from giving you an external model of a turbo equipped DC-3 that can be worked on to improve it.For 15 quid, which let's be honest doesn't get you a hell of lot these days, I was prepared to go for it, but I bet there won't be many who will, because there absolutely are many freeware things out there that make it look like a joke.On the plus side, I should have some replacement textures knocked up for it by the end of this week (since I am off for three days), and I'll upload them to Avsim, so if anyone does go for it, those are on the way.As noted, there is a Basler BT-67 freeware version kicking around out there too (which this one is based on), so take a good hard look at that one before pulling the trigger on this payware one, as you aren't getting very much more for that 15 quid, and when you consider that you can get the Just Flight DC-3 for the same price, it's a tough sell to say the least.Al

worst looking addon i have ever seen.