https://www.justflight.com/bundle

 

 

Potentially some good bargains to be had there particularly if you want 3 or 4 of those on offer - just a shame I already have most of these!

Bill

I am wondering if any of the three aircraft would be worth being bundled with the JF Turbo Arrow III/IV:

• HS 748
• Fokker Friendship
• BAC One-Eleven

I heard mixed opinions on them when being first released. Have they improved meanwhile?

Thank you and Best Regards

Frank

I just thought potential buyers might find it helpful if I gave my opinion on some of the JF types in this sale which I already own. I like Just Flight not only for the unique aircraft which they make available to us but also for their excellent, very patient and invariably polite product support. These aircraft are really a bit of a steal at the sale prices which, depending on how many you buy, range from £12.50-£15 ($15-$20) per aircraft!

For anyone particularly interested in GA types I can highly recommend the excellent PA-28R Arrow and Trinidad/Tobago, both of which have been developed by the clearly very talented JF in-house development team. The Arrow in particular is beautifully modelled from a visual viewpoint with excellent systems replication. I personally also like their DH-104 Dove and Devon.

Although the HS-748, which was developed by Aeroplane Heaven, has come in for some criticism from the purists, most of the significant issues have been addressed in its SP2 version and I think this now really is a very good product and it is an aircraft which I find quite immersive and love to fly. 

Fans of classic airliners also have a few other unique aircraft to choose from which are not available from any other developer. These include the One-Eleven and DC-8 series both of which have also received updates this year addressing most of the outstanding issues. Although neither of these could be considered study level, they are nicely modelled with good sounds (particularly the DC-8 - worth buying just to listen to that iconic engine howl on startup!!) and quite reasonable flight dynamics. The recently released C-46 is also in the sale and although it cannot be compared to the A2A Connie or PMDG DC-6 in terms of systems replication and functionality, it is a nice addition to the steadily increasing fleet of piston types becoming available to anyone interested in classic propliners. Finally the other JF classic airliner in the sale which I have in my fleet is the F-27, which visually is again quite well modelled and has a reasonable degree of systems replication. Just not quite sure about the internal sounds which seem to lack that classic Dart whistle.

Although as a rule I don't purchase many military jets, I understand that the Canberra, Hawk and Hunterhave all been developed by the JF in-house team and have had some very good reviews. As they are really a steal at the sale package prices, I am tempted to get them just to try a different type of flying. Just need to let my credit card cool down a little!

Bill

Thank you, Bill. I might get the Hawker Siddeley. I loved the freeware model made by Rick Piper and team. I am curious how Aeroplane Heaven have captured it.

Best Regards
Frank

56 minutes ago, mdata said:

Thank you, Bill. I might get the Hawker Siddeley. I loved the freeware model made by Rick Piper and team. I am curious how Aeroplane Heaven have captured it.

Best Regards
Frank

You're welcome Frank, but I think we both just posted around the same time by chance! My personal view is that the HS-478 is a very nice product and probably a little better in terms of systems depth than the Rick Piper 748, although I must admit that my experience of that freeware was in FS9. Modelling of the JF HS-748 both internally and externally is very good and I think the Dart sounds are a little better reproduced in this than in the F-27.

With regard to the 3 aircraft you were considering to bundle with the Arrow, if you were only going to get one other I would put the 748 as first choice, the One-eleven second and the F-27 third. But you could go wild at those prices and go for all four !!!

Kind regards

Bill

Hi Bill,
This was a very welcome coincidence

In fact I got wild, I decided to add the HS 748 to the Turbo Arrows plus the DC-8 50-70 series. The latter because I wanted to add a freighter model to my hangar and because the HJG DC-8 models impressed me during my FS9 times ... great memories, thinking back to the days of these great freeware developers.

The other models I will safe for a future sale.

Best Regards
Frank

Hi Frank,

I think you've made good choices there and hope you enjoy those - I think you will. As I mentioned above the JF airliners are not study level but the updates have improved them and I have found them very enjoyable.

Kind regards,

Bill

Dug a bit through the forums and then picked and mixed the Turbo Arrow, Tornado GR1 and late series DC-8 models.

Not sure when I'll have time to fly them all, but it's a mild vote of confidence for JF's in-house team.

16 hours ago, Bjoern said:

Not sure when I'll have time to fly them all, but it's a mild vote of confidence for JF's in-house team.

I'm not sure if the DC-8 was developed by the in-house team (it may have been Aeroplane Heaven) but I'm pretty sure the other two were.

Bill

2 hours ago, scianoir said:

I'm not sure if the DC-8 was developed by the in-house team (it may have been Aeroplane Heaven) but I'm pretty sure the other two were.

Yeah, but I figure the in-house team must've plowed through a lot of the code to iron out the bugs for the service pack (e.g. HSI, autopilot, fuel system as far as I've read).

3 hours ago, Bjoern said:

Yeah, but I figure the in-house team must've plowed through a lot of the code to iron out the bugs for the service pack (e.g. HSI, autopilot, fuel system as far as I've read).

Yes they have had a bit of practice ironing out autopilot bugs!!

Apart from a test flight after installation, I haven't done any flying in the updated JF DC-8, but I spent quite a few hours flying in the original (pre-update) version and despite its bugs, I quite liked it although I have to admit that most of my longer flights in it were done using the GTN750 and it functioned well even with the original autopilot. Visually it was nicely modelled both internally and externally and had quite a good sound set but if I remember correctly the ground handling on the original version was a little twitchy particularly on the roll out but hopefully they will also have addressed in the update. I just need to get around to trying some flights in the updated version now but finding time can be a problem as I seem to keep adding more and more new aircraft to my setup - I guess that is what they call addiction!

Bill

I sprang for this, especially since I can use most (maybe all?) of these aircraft in both FSX (which I currently still run), and P3D v4.x (which I plan to run sometime in the near future).

Since I know you all will interested, I'll post which ones I purchased and my comments:

Turbo Arrow III/IV -- this is the only one of the four I've flown so far.  In my stupidity, I purchased thinking it came with a modern avionics stack (I've become a modern avionics junkie), but, that really doesn't bother me TOO much, as I am an old steam gauge and VOR/NDB/Dead reckoning nav guy at heart, anyway.  I find the accusim flight model to be, perhaps a bit twitchy, but, I think once I'm used to it I'll find it really satisfying.  I'm a fan of the T-tail in the IV model...like how the sound of the engine subtly changes when you adjust mixture and prop advance, nice touch.  This seems like a good aircraft to get me back into FS and re-training me for the more complex aircraft I used to fly (PMDG MD-11), and want to fly (A2A Cessna 182).

BAe Hawk -- haven't flown yet.  Wanted to try a less-complex jet model, again to re-train myself.  I used to have the freeware T-45 Goshawk, and thought it was great.  Sometimes, I just want to zoom over the ridges at 450 knots.

DC-10 package -- I had to buy this, especially at $15.  I used to fly the old CLS DC-10 in FS9 and FSX, and had the CIVA INS add-on for it.  (I miss that).  I need to find another INS system for FSX/P3D.  

C-46 - Haven't flown this yet either, but I've always liked the C-46 over the DC-3.  If I can fly the hump with this one, I'll be happy.

18 hours ago, scianoir said:

Yes they have had a bit of practice ironing out autopilot bugs!!

Apart from a test flight after installation, I haven't done any flying in the updated JF DC-8, but I spent quite a few hours flying in the original (pre-update) version and despite its bugs, I quite liked it although I have to admit that most of my longer flights in it were done using the GTN750 and it functioned well even with the original autopilot. Visually it was nicely modelled both internally and externally and had quite a good sound set but if I remember correctly the ground handling on the original version was a little twitchy particularly on the roll out but hopefully they will also have addressed in the update. I just need to get around to trying some flights in the updated version now but finding time can be a problem as I seem to keep adding more and more new aircraft to my setup - I guess that is what they call addiction!

Bill

Sometimes I wish I'd have never started buying payware add-ons. There's just no time to fix and fly them all.

But my behavior exhibited during Steam game sales (if it's cheap and interesting, it gets bought) carried over nicely to FSX add-ons. I've got it beat though (no purchase unless I know I'll actually play it) and one day, I can overcome adding aircraft to my hangar.

 

12 hours ago, Mace said:

DC-10 package -- I had to buy this, especially at $15.  I used to fly the old CLS DC-10 in FS9 and FSX, and had the CIVA INS add-on for it.  (I miss that).  I need to find another INS system for FSX/P3D.

The freeware Delco IV A works nicely in FSX. And there was a discussion about a XML remake of it on FSDev. ETA unknown though.