One little treat turned up at the week end - the new De Haviland 104 Dove from Just Flight.

 

It's certainly worth a look for the very claustrophobic feel of the two man cockpit and the well rendered VC. (There's three versions of the cockpit - two civil (one with modern avionics, one traditional) and one for the military Devon variant.

 

I'm not sure I have the trim sorted entirely yet and there's one or two features I'd have like to have seen rendered differently (those cockpit communication boxes for a start) but there's a good manual (worth reading as some of the switches are in odd places) and for UK £19.99 its not bad value.

 

Good set of liveries (there's also a repaint pack with 4 extra liveries for £3.99 but free with the base pack if you download today).

 

http://www.justflight.com/product/dh104-dove-and-devon

 

 

Has anyone bought it and have an early opinion. In the Justflight sample photos there are no images of the passenger cabin. I believe their Lockheed 10 did not have a passenger cabin. Even though when flying you don't need to be looking back into the cabin, if I know one is not there I can't get rid of the feeling that I am just flying a cockpit without the rear of the aircraft! Just me perhaps..

Well, if there is one, I haven't found it yet. :smile:

 

I suspect it's behind this door but there doesn't seem to be any way to open it.

 

 

I've tried hammering on it but there's no answer, even though according to the fuel/payload settings there are passengers loaded. Obviously in today's airliners we can't have passengers getting into the cockpit so I guess here they're stopping the pilots getting to the passengers.

 

It's not something that bothers me too much. I've been seduced by delightful cabins in the past only to find I never look at them, but you're right - there doesn't seem to be one.

Well, it is placarded to be kept shut!

 

Though for an aircraft of this size class, at least a basic passenger cabin to complete external view with transparent windows to peek in would be nice to have.

Well, it is placarded to be kept shut!

 

Though for an aircraft of this size class, at least a basic passenger cabin to complete external view with transparent windows to peek in would be nice to have.

It's got a cabin in the external view, you can see it through the windows in external view as well as when the door is open on the ground... you just can't see it from the cockpit.

 

Great plane with fantastic sounds, very pleased so far.  So far I haven't run across the trim issue a couple have reported, seems to work fine in the flights I have made.

 

VC is a true treat, was excited to see this one released.

 

It's got a cabin in the external view, you can see it through the windows in external view as well as when the door is open on the ground... you just can't see it from the cockpit.

 

Great plane with fantastic sounds, very pleased so far.  So far I haven't run across the trim issue a couple have reported, seems to work fine in the flights I have made.

 

VC is a true treat, was excited to see this one released.

 

Nice to see a good report on this release. I have been trying to control my tendency to make impulse purchases as I already have more aircraft than I have time to fly, but I like aircraft from this era and it would make an nice companion to the Flight Replicas Heron, particularly if it has a good VC.

 

 

It's certainly worth a look for the very claustrophobic feel of the two man cockpit and the well rendered VC. (There's three versions of the cockpit - two civil (one with modern avionics, one traditional) and one for the military Devon variant.

I'm not sure I have the trim sorted entirely yet and there's one or two features I'd have like to have seen rendered differently (those cockpit communication boxes for a start) but there's a good manual (worth reading as some of the switches are in odd places) and for UK £19.99 its not bad value.

 

If you can get the VC shadows woking in DX10 or use P3D, that claustrophobic feeling might go away.

There are a couple of models there with a clear plastic cockpit roof that lets the sky in

and greatly increases the amount of VC shadows

giving you that convertable, free as a bird feeling.  

 

Must agree with your comments about the communication boxes.

Just so ugly and in your face, especially when you look left.

 

gb.

Bought it today and have taken a few flights.  On the positive side the VC/instrument panels are great. Very realistic, much detail and nice textures.

 

But overall I am disappointed and doubt if I will fly this aircraft very often, and this is because of the sounds. I disagree with an earlier comment that the sounds are good. The engine startup is just terrible. You press the start button and nearly instantly the engine is running smoothly. I listened to a couple of Youtube videos with sound recording of the Dove engine startup, and there is a lot of cranking and then the engine takes several seconds to engage and run smoothly. The JustFlight model is nowhere near the real thing. What we need is a replacement sound package and some volunteer to provide a more accurate startup sequence. Someone did this a few months ago when the Carenado Seneca V was first introduced with an inferior sound package.

 

But for the time being this one is going into the hangar.

 

 

Pity. I was watching this plane at the weekend in the movie Flash Gordon (!) Yes, its a Dove in the initial sequence where Flash and Dale crash into Zharkhov's laboratory. I was as surprised as you

 

 

But overall I am disappointed and doubt if I will fly this aircraft very often, and this is because of the sounds. I disagree with an earlier comment that the sounds are good. The engine startup is just terrible. You press the start button and nearly instantly the engine is running smoothly. I listened to a couple of Youtube videos with sound recording of the Dove engine startup, and there is a lot of cranking and then the engine takes several seconds to engage and run smoothly. The JustFlight model is nowhere near the real thing. What we need is a replacement sound package and some volunteer to provide a more accurate startup sequence. Someone did this a few months ago when the Carenado Seneca V was first introduced with an inferior sound package.

 

I personally think that accurate sound quality is a very important feature of any aircraft as it contributes a lot to my sense of immersion when I fly. I know that you can now buy addon sound packages for lots of aircraft (although I doubt if the Gypsy Queen is one of them!) and, although I have done that for some aircraft in the past, I feel that the sound package supplied with any aircraft should be reasonably accurate at the very least. So I might hold off with this one for a while!

 

Bill

This is the way it should sound...

 

 

 

On a side note.....what the heck happened to the once magnificent British aircraft development and manufacturing industry? It seems like almost every day I hear about yet another British aircraft from yesteryear that is new to me, and yet today........where have they all gone??

I'm enjoying her still, and think the sounds are better than a lot of other addons. Startup I agree isn't as realistic sounding as it could be, but once running I rather like the sound.

 

Additionally, the gear thunk, flaps, brake hiss when applying or releasing etc are all very well done and immersive. Throw on my headset and crank the volume, no complaints on my end.

 

I have run into the trim issue as I read elsewhere, at lower speeds it's easy to get caught with the nose way too high and enter an unrecoverable stall.

 

Overall though really enjoying her. Currently flying all over the Pago scenery and NZ, seems right at home.

That "nose high" at low speeds issue is something that reminds me of the JustFlight Tornado GR1. The low speed flight characteristics of that plane don't make a lot of sense to me, although I admit that the Tornado probably wasn't designed for relaxing cruises around the countryside :smile:

On a side note.....what the heck happened to the once magnificent British aircraft development and manufacturing industry? It seems like almost every day I hear about yet another British aircraft from yesteryear that is new to me, and yet today........where have they all gone??

 

Aircraft manufacturing (as distinct from components) has sadly disappeared - in a nutshell, mainly down to political interference over many decades.

 

Bill