Poor sounds and flight model?

[tailspin45 20]

The airframe (skins), panel and interior on this aircraft are awesome, to be sure, but with hundreds of hours in a real Twin Beech, I'm very disappointed in the sound and the way it handles. Is it possible I've installed something incorrectly (FSX Accel)?

The sound is more like flat-6s (Aero Commander) than radials, and the roll rate and pitch feel like a much smaller, lighter aircraft. Watch the yoke and roll rate during Matt's performance in a very light Beech 18 at Oshkosh, and you'll see what I mean, our roll rate is much faster

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Edited July 7, 2018 by tailspin45

[tailspin45 20]

Also...I can't find fuel boost pump switches anywhere (nor a POH or even cockpit diagram) that shows where they are (if there are any). Generally, they're on the subpanel inboard of the battery and generator switches. Or maybe they just aren't where I'm used to them?

[z06z33 763]

I feel the same about the sounds. No twin beech time here but I own a Yak-52 and this beech doesn’t sound like a Radial, but I found a good sound set on avsim for the 985. as for flight dynamics this thing rolls and pitches like a fighter not a heavy twin.

Edited July 7, 2018 by z06z33

[tailspin45 20]

Here's a freeware sound set until Carenado gets it right

https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxsnds&DLID=179237

[raymie 81]

Thanks for the link. I downloaded the freeware sound set just in case I purchase this aircraft from Carenado later. If and when a patch is available the sound set may or may not be improved upon. Sound sets are usually one of the so-called "weak links" in Carenado aircraft.

PS: I hope you submitted a support ticket to Carenado via their Official site--that is what motives them to provide the necessary patch to fix buggy areas.

[tailspin45 20]

Doing it as we speak

It's a nice looking bird. So far (KAKA to KSFF at 11,000 at the moment) speed and fuel burn for the power setting is about right.

But, gosh, it sure seems like a beta version at best despite their claims that it has been tested by real Beech pilots.

[raymie 81]

Appreciate having a "real world" pilot with real life flight experience in this type of aircraft. I have approximately 3-4 hours of "right" seat time in the Beech 18 but that was about 50 yrs ago. That is a key reason why I would like to purchase this aircraft for my flightsim hangar.

It may be very helpful once you have a few "sim" hours in this aircraft to provide us with a short review based on your own flight experience--other pilots have done this sort of thing for us and it can be very helpful, such as you noted regarding fuel burn for specific power settings.

Beta version--others have made that very same comment regarding Carenado aircraft in general. How could real Beech pilots miss these discrepancies?  

Thanks!

[tailspin45 20]

Happy to offer whatever insights I can.

Posted the following on the other thread, but reader's who may not have seen it:

Quote

Click here to download a real D18S manual

Click here for a short post about the Beechcarft and a link to a book of hair-raising tales about how the poor old girl was mistreated by the military.

The link is kinda buried at the end of the post so you can skip that if you prefer and just click here .

 

 

[HawkDsl 50]

The freeware set is mine.. It's a bit old, and i have far better knowledge on the workings of the FSX sound system these days... but it will be better then the one that came with it.. holy smokes!

 

They did so well on the C421 (minus sound of course). Kinda wonder if they just wanted to get rid of this project.. throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.

 

I bought the AreoZone set at sim market.. if you go this route, just use the engine sounds, and use Carenados other sounds like wind and systems.

[tailspin45 20]

14 minutes ago, HawkDsl said:

The freeware set is mine...

 

Thank you! A big improvement, but in a way that damns you with faint praise. Anything would be an improvement!

Didn't see a 985 sound set for Arezone.

[LATER] Oh, wait, you were talking about for the C421

[HawkDsl 50]

3 hours ago, tailspin45 said:

Thank you! A big improvement, but in a way that damns you with faint praise. Anything would be an improvement!

Didn't see a 985 sound set for Arezone.

[LATER] Oh, wait, you were talking about for the C421

Yea, sorry.. C421 was the set I was talking about... An even better freeware set can be had by dloading the Milton D18S over at SimOuthouse... that's the sound set I'm using with this one (engines only). The dload is the entire plane, but the sound set can be copy/pasted without installing the Milton plane.

 

AreoZone is not bad.. not great.. but usually better then stock version. I'm sure they'll have one in no time. Pretty cheap at 12 USD.

[tailspin45 20]

On 7/7/2018 at 3:28 PM, raymie said:

It may be very helpful once you have a few "sim" hours in this aircraft to provide us with a short review based on your own flight experience--other pilots have done this sort of thing for us and it can be very helpful, such as you noted regarding fuel burn for specific power settings.

 

I've accumulated about ten hours in 6DS, and my impression so far is that the bird is like some people: great to look at but screwed up inside.

The aircraft should never have been released, and frankly, I'm embarrassed for Carenado. I've purchased and fly several of their aircraft that I've also flown in real life and I thought they were about as good as anyone could create--you could almost smell the leather. But not this one. It has problems ranging from misspellings of placards to systems that don't function correctly. Worst of all, the powerplant sounds and flight model aren't even remotely close.

Can these problems be fixed? Of course, but it remains to be seen how quickly Carenado will do it. Until they do I'll feel like I wasted my money, particularly with Milton Shupes brilliant Twin Beech and AT-11 available as freeware. But if/when they do, this baby will become one of my favorites. She really is a beauty, and I expect there will be some outstanding repaints. Hint, hint. 

Beech Belle (C-45H) N7055K

 

Liberty Belle (D18S) N42C

My flights included a couple from Murray Field (KEKA) in Eureka OR, then east to Felts Field in Spokane (KSFF), then back west to Harvey Field (S43) northeast of Seattle, followed by stops down the coast at Astoria (KAST) and Crescent City (KCEC), both after an ILS. I'm writing this enroute to Sonoma County (KSTS) and the weather is beautiful.

Went up to 11,000' on the way to Spokane, but the rest of the flights have been at 6-8000'. An economical cruise setting is 28" and 1800RPM and that should give you about 160KTAS on around 40GPH if you lean her properly, and it does.

All the goodies are fun to play with--digital EGT, fuel totalizer, GPS with moving map, RNAV, funky old autopilot, weird Edo artificial horizon, and all the usual Bugsmasher knobs and gauges for cowl flaps and oil cooler, etc. Which is to say there are enough toys to keep you entertained and informed on long hops. But don't forget, most of that stuff didn't exist when this lovely old lady was born--in fact, an early model with only a working low-freq radio (like the Milviz Bamboo Bomber) and no gizmos would be a fun alternative.

Here are the gripes I've reported to Carenado support, so you won't think you're losing your mind when something doesn't work as expected:

• there's a black artifact on the top right wing tip that moves around on the wing as the aircraft bounces in turbulence. Not a shadow, sun was directly overhead. Possible DX10 issue?
• no fuel boost pump switches. There is a lever on the floor that is supposedly a wobble pump, but it actually is an electrical fuel boost pump on/off. Weird.
• fuel warning lights (low pressure) stay on all the time.
• the cowl flaps seem to have no effect on airspeed or cylinder head temperature
• no POH or cockpit diagram
• engine sounds don't sound like radials, nevermind 985s, at all. [a workaround until fixed is to use Shupe's sound folder]
• handling is far too twitchy for a twin of this size and weight. As someone else reported, if feels like an aerobatic aircraft. I've tried paying with CFG scalars but so far haven't managed to get the right feel. This bird is an IFR dream in real life but a real handful on the ILS the way it is.
• fuel indicator selector knob mouse clicks are backward. Left click moves switch clockwise. right mouse click rotates it counterclockwise
• Label on landing gear clutch misspelled - says "conver" not "cover"
• CFG file show 35 gallons in right aux (read main) tank, not 25, although it does display as 25 on the gauge (albeit incorrectly--see next dot point)
• fuel gauges read in gallons not tenths as they should. When full, the gauge shows .25 on rear mains, and .78 on front mains.
• With fuel selectors on front mains, after 45 minutes front fuel quantity still shows .78 (full), rear mains show .1. After rear main gets to zero the front mains gauge begins to show a decrease, as if both tanks were connected. But they aren't
• pop-up autopilot trim wheel works backward with mouse clicks, but works correctly with mouse wheel.
• aircraft.CFG file list ui_typerole as "Single Engine Prop". Should be Twin Engine Prop. Flies the same but screws up listings elsewhere
• fuel totalizer is missing the switch to select gallons remaining vs gallons used
• red cockpit lights bleed through roof and shine on the antenna in the dark
• does the Edo artificial horizon really have the brown gap? (I've never seen one , so don't know). CFG file says it's a flight director, but doesn't have "fly-to" bars.
• autopilot pitch changes aircraft attitude in altitude hold. If you roll the pitch reference down the aircraft has a weird nose down deck angle but altitude stays the same. Probably a strange interaction between flight model and Saitek autopilot
• NAV2 OBS acts like an ILS when tuned to a VOR...sorta. Glideslope bar appears and centers horizontally when course bar is centered vertically
• ground handling is like a car. No inertia, no tendency to ground loop whatsoever with tailwheel locked or unlocked. P-51 had a steerable tailwheel and some Texans had the retrofitted, but they don't feel anything like this bird feels now. No Twin Beech that I know of has ever had a steerable tailwheel.
• The copilot's fluorescent light switch is labeled 'Left' just like the pilot's. In any case, I think any gauge with radium dials had to be removed because of hysteria over radiation
• Two post lights over the totalizer have labels suggesting they have something to do with the RNAV. They don't.

But she is a beaut, isn't she?

 

Edited July 8, 2018 by tailspin45

[raymie 81]

Thanks for sharing with us your comments regarding Carenado's Beech 18D along with the pics. Appreciate it much! I will eventually purchase this latest product from Carenado, but not until I see what they have done to fix the mentioned bugs.

[tailspin45 20]

1 minute ago, raymie said:

Thanks for sharing

 

Once they get their Shinola together I'd be happy to write a 'how to' post.

We had to create a Part 135 'Air Taxi' operation and maintenance manual for our second Twin Beech because it looked like the FAA was going to shut down any Part 91 operations.

Trust me, you don't want to read it. But boiled down to the essence it could make it fun for folks who like flying this ol' girl and want to do it 'right'.

 

[pinepix62 63]

Real disappointing, looks like a stunning plane and I like the older classic planes but if it does not fly and sound like a classic, what is the point. Will hold back and see if it gets fixed.