New out from Just Flight, is their rendition of the Mitsubishi A6M2 21 'Zero' (or Zeke if you are historically picky) IJN carrier fighter. This is an interesting arrival for FSX given the similarly recent appearance of this very same aircraft in Microsoft's Flight. I was disappointed to see the Zero show up in Flight for a couple of reasons, one, I thought it was in slightly poor taste given the fact that you could only fly around Hawaii, and two, it had no cockpit. Thus it is nice to see one which can be flown elsewhere, and from the interior.

 

The exterior 3D modeling and texturing is pretty nice, not jaw-droppingly stunning, but certainly okay with some well-observed weathering, as indeed is the interior, which has a lot of detail, and even though it is not quite up there with stuff such as A2A's spectacular efforts in this arena, it is nevertheless quite pleasingly done, with all the instruments in their correct Japanese calibrations (tool tips in FSX help a lot here). Most of the stuff you would want to play with in the cockpit is in fact functional, including the cocking levers on the 7.7mm MGs and the flip switches on the arming panel, which in the Just Flight A6M allow you to swap between clean, bombed up, or long range tank variations on the exterior model. Some of it is static eye candy though, for example the chain link to the trim wheel does not move when the trim wheel rotates, but to complain about this would be rather picky, because everything which really does matter is in fact well rendered and does operate in some way. Night lighting for the cockpit is also available.

 

Performance-wise for FSX, it gets high frame rates, although where emulating performance of the real A6M is concerned, there is only a partial nod towards reality. Everyone knows that the A6M was famously maneueverable at low speeds, its light weight ESD alloy construction meant it tipped the scales at about 1,500lbs less than stuff such as contemporary Supermarine Spitfires and Bf 109s, resulting in the A6M's ability to out-turn most adversaries. But control surface forces at high speeds were its achilles heel, with the aircraft becoming near-impossible to roll when up near its VNE.

 

Speeds and service ceiling on the Just Flight A6M are about right, but the roll rate is a bit too high (it was 55 degrees per second at about 180mph on the real thing). The JF A6M's roll rate is the same in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions (which it should not be of course) and that nippy rate of roll remains available throughout the speed range, which is not at all accurate for the A6M. The real thing was known to get very difficult to roll at anything over about 220mph, especially to the right; a drawback which was famously exploited by US Navy fighter pilots after this characteristic became known. Some of the A6Ms quirks are however fairly well done, for example, the A6M's float-type carburettor behaviour is well modeled, with power dropping off under neg G, and performance degrading when inverted.

 

Sounds are okay, although it could perhaps do with a bit more of the clattering sound that the Sakae engine on a real A6M does actually make. Other stuff you get includes a nice clear and concise PDF manual, and a PSD file paint kit, so expect to see some seriously-weathered offerings soon, as the A6M is a ripe target for that kind of thing.

 

For 20 quid, this is a nice effort. It is no A2A Accusim Spitfire by any stretch of the imagination (although the advent of Accu-Feel does help in this), but it is nevertheless a nice thing to have in FSX, not least because the A6M of course has range of nearly 2,000 miles but can land and take off in a short distance, making it quite a handy and fast aircraft to have for some VFR whizzing about in something a little different.

 

Some piccies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al

This looks very nice. Thanks for the review Al!

For 20 quid, this is a nice effort

 

 

Ok this is your opinion but really. Imo it looks bad and for 20 quid this plane is a nice effort to push people on the commode.

Oh I agree that it is a bit on the steep side price-wise given that it is merely a visual rather than a flight model simulation, but there is enough merit there for it to be fairly nice to have when one could tweak up the flight model. If it was a choice between this and something such as A2A's 'solo' WW2 fighter like their F4U, which are actually a bit less in price, then I'd go for the A2A ones every time, but I think the A6M is an interesting aircraft, so that was enough to make me pull the trigger, but these down side are in fact why I did this quick review , so that people could make an informed choice in being aware that it is no study sim where the flight characteristics are concerned.

 

Al

shouldn't this have gone in the user reviews section?

Probably.

 

Al