50 minutes ago, w6kd said:

With that in mind, $19.99 doesn't seem to be too crazy, even if it's really only additional external models that they won't sell many o

Precisely, Bob.

50 minutes ago, w6kd said:

but it was well worth $25 in the last Christmas sale

That's when I grabbed it.

25 minutes ago, w6kd said:

was not a fan of CS for a long time because of their propensity to cease development and move on once a product had been released.

Long memory there, Bob

I'll agree that the price is questionable based on other A/C that are similarly priced but much more complex and with few corks.  However, it's a good airplane.  It's fun.  Stable, all the basic functions work.  Far, far better than Black Box.  And CS seems to be supporting this airplane with fixes.  It took a lot of convincing, but this most recent update, they finally incorporated the option to remove (hide) the yoke.  There is nothing really wrong with the airplane.

6 minutes ago, Le Français said:

The whole airplane turns dark and black at night. You haven't noticed that?

I am with the -300 model right now at a night setting at MK Studios Lanzarote, and I am far from seeing a 'dark and black' plane sat on the ground at the gate except the cockpit which I have deliberately started as a Cold and Dark start-up panel state, in which case all I have do is power up, and switch the Override Switch on, and voila! I have a lit cockpit. Could not be any clearer. That is, unless, you have a particular axe to grind against CS?

 

 

1 minute ago, Dreamflight767 said:

There is nothing really wrong with the airplane

Precisely

I'll add that I too have previously owned CS products and hated them.  Not this one.

Looking at the total for the whole package and Captain Sim’s general reputation, I think I will remain a guest 😶

Edited February 15, 20197 yr by joherszch

15 minutes ago, vc10man said:

I am with the -300 model right now at a night setting at MK Studios Lanzarote, and I am far from seeing a 'dark and black' plane sat on the ground at the gate except the cockpit which I have deliberately started as a Cold and Dark start-up panel state, in which case all I have do is power up, and switch the Override Switch on, and voila! I have a lit cockpit. Could not be any clearer. That is, unless, you have a particular axe to grind against CS?

 

 

I'll take a pic this weekend and show you.

3 minutes ago, Le Français said:

I'll take a pic this weekend and show you.

That's fair enough, except I cannot host a screenshot here as the image hosting website I used to use 'died a death' long while back.

2 minutes ago, vc10man said:

That's fair enough, except I cannot host a screenshot here as the image hosting website I used to use 'died a death' long while back.

Use this: https://imgur.com/upload

32 minutes ago, w6kd said:

I was not a fan of CS for a long time because of their propensity to cease development and move on once a product had been released.  They have, however, stuck with the 757 for some time now.  I guess I can continue to hold their past history against them...but should I do that if it appears they have turned the corner on producing abandonware?  It does, at present, seem to be the case.  They haven't proven me wrong just yet with the 757.

Steve, can I take it that you also don't repaint the $30 777-300 expansion from PMDG, or the $40 A319 expansion from FSLabs, or the €25 MD-88 expansion for the Leonardo MD-80?  If you do, then how is their charging for variants of their acft add-ons any different from CS?

In the case of all of those add-ons (and many others) third-party freeware repaints represent the majority of the available liveries.

Seriously, I'm missing your point.  When I wanted an American Airlines (the second biggest global A319 operator) or Frontier livery for the FSL A319, I didn't have the option of requesting them from FSL when the add-on released without those developer-created liveries...I had to wait for some talented repainter to put one out there.  And I'm very appreciative that someone finally did.

Regards

Hey Bob,

My point was tongue & cheek that I would never support CS based on my personal experiences with them, not only the countless reports you hear from credible simmers concerning their business practice.

I was poking fun that I've never charged for my repaints over the years from reputable vendors, but seeing how CS seems to get simmers to keep buying their stuff despite what is common knowledge about them, I figured I could jump on the gravy train and somehow recoup the cost of 1000s of hours spent painting planes for free for the community over the years.😉

I felt if simmers were willing to drop $30 on top of the $75.70 (really cute how they came up that price) for one engine variant which, let's be honest, I'm pretty sure they made the model, changed the engine instruments to match, re-worded the page on the FMC...no other in-depth coding, then those same simmers would maybe buy into my rather absurd pricing scheme to get a livery they really wanted. 😊

Then to hear they announce the pricing change to $99....well...again...unsure how that could be justified based on what I've heard of the aircraft thus far.

"... how is their charging for variants of their acft add-ons any different from CS?" - Generally those other devs are charging for a whole, entire version of the aircraft (esp the 747-400 to -8...completely different plane)...$30 for an engine variant?  Really?  Yeah if the initial cost of the plane was $30 and they were trying to roll the offset amount into the development cost of the entire plane, then I can see it...but the base plane was $75.57 (or whatever)...$49.99 for the Freighter?  Cut a whole in the side of the model, animate the door...not dev costs for $50 a copy, sorry.  If so..they have very inefficient modelers!

Anyways..bottom line and so there is no point missed, my post was poking fun at CS's pricing structure, I seriously will never paint a plane from them, unless I get made an offer I can't refuse, and I'm sad that people still support this vendor because it is only a matter of time....precisely when a new aircraft is released by them to be exact, that this apparently decent 757 will...in your own words..."cease development and move on once a product had been released." 

Can I predict the future...of course not.  Do I remember the past?  With this vendor, absolutely.  Will I base my opinion of this vendor based on what I "hope" they'll do in the future when the next darling of a plane is released?  Not likely.

Let's revisit this post when the next plane is released and there are still outstanding bugs on the 757 to see how active CS is in continuing support of her....or we could just extrapolate our best guess from the 777, L1011, 707, 727, 737, B52, C130 customers still waiting for their updates?

Funny you should mention the FSL Bus and repaints...I never got the 319, but 6 of my 21 free A320 repaints for that company's plane were either AA or Frontier...see here:

https://forums.flightsimlabs.com/index.php?/profile/11456-steve-dra/content/&type=downloads_file

48 minutes ago, Le Français said:

The whole airplane turns dark and black at night. You haven't noticed that?

I have no problems, and actually they've done a good job with the lighting, are you sure it's not the "moon phase" from P3D ?

I still think that it's a very good learning 757 but also realize that for the $25/xmas price it's still cheaper than the 7/year old Carenado Beech Baron at $32

35 minutes ago, Steve Dra said:

Funny you should mention the FSL Bus and repaints...I never got the 319, but 6 of my 21 free A320 repaints for that company's plane were either AA or Frontier...see here:

https://forums.flightsimlabs.com/index.php?/profile/11456-steve-dra/content/&type=downloads_file

Yep!
And I love them!! :--)
Thanks for sharing!
 

👍

43 minutes ago, Le Français said:

Use this: https://imgur.com/upload

https://imgur.com/a/no31IWQ

Thanks for that Image Hosting link, BTW.

27 minutes ago, FPStewy said:

I have no problems, and actually they've done a good job with the lighting, are you sure it's not the "moon phase" from P3D ?

I still think that it's a very good learning 757 but also realize that for the $25/xmas price it's still cheaper than the 7/year old Carenado Beech Baron at $32

Wholly agree with everything you state. Spot-on.

BTW, Steve Dra, you do a fabulous job with your repaints, no matter what aircraft you turn your immense talents to👍

Whether is 99 or 59, let's assume that the sim market will purchase 10,000 of their planes.

At 99 x10,000, the total intake is 99,0000. Let's assume that it takes 2 years from start to finish. Let's assume that there's a team of 2-3 people. Let's assume that each individual needs to earn $100,000, given their expertise and what the market pays for highly experienced programmers. That's 600,000 in two years, just on salaries.

Is there anyone out there who thinks that creating a pro plane for our hobby is a piece of cake?

Do we want everyone to develop scenery, which is more profitable( imagine all the world's airports) and less time consuming, or do we want good airplanes as well.

Because of the higher prices of all add ons, I am more selective when purchasing them. For example, I always wanted Orbx global. At 99, however, I decided that it was not for me. Now, at 39, it's quite affordable.

So I no longer question the pricing, since I know how difficult it is to determine what a fair price should be for a product. I do know that in time all products come down in price.

As with many products, those who are willing to wait, get a more debugged and enhanced product at a lower price.

I just try to be more selective.

tc