Roland Laborie Canadair CL-215 now on Marketplace

[Matchstick 1,886]

New release on SimMarket today of Roland Laborie's Canadair CL-215 firefighting plane.

His previous MSFS Vought Crusader didn't excite me and at $32.40 inc tax it's a bit too expensive to buy without seeing reviews first but it does look interesting at least so I'd be curious to know what anyone who does pick it up makes of it.

https://secure.simmarket.com/roland-laborie-cl-215-msfs.phtml

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

I did pick this up and I just did a 10 minutes flight so far It's not bad but it won't blow your mind either. 

[qqwertz 785]

9 minutes ago, fogboundturtle said:

I did pick this up and I just did a 10 minutes flight so far It's not bad but it won't blow your mind either. 

How are the sounds? 

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

Just now, qqwertzde said:

How are the sounds? 

Average. I haven't tested the water dump yet. There is a bit of smoke when you start the engine. The manual is mostly in French. 

[Jetset408 108]

The inner Justin Simle/Arnie Schrader in me wants to get this. My head says otherwise.

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

10 minutes ago, Jetset408 said:

The inner Justin Simle/Arnie Schrader in me wants to get this. My head says otherwise.

save your money.

[DylanM 1,069]

Would be a fun bird. Wish it took advantage of MSFS with things like PBR textures...

[LRBS 948]

Another question, please.

Can you remove the yoke from the view?

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

yes, there is a switch on the left but it's not labelled.

[Amon1973 1,421]

If the reviews are half decent I might get it when it goes on sale in the future, I have other priorities at the moment.

[FrankR409 514]

5 hours ago, fogboundturtle said:

save your money.

Thank you!

[LRBS 948]

5 hours ago, fogboundturtle said:

save your money.

Can you elaborate, please?

I'm thinking in purchasing and wondering what did you find wrong with it.

Thank you! 

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

16 minutes ago, Vlad Tepes3 said:

Can you elaborate, please?

I'm thinking in purchasing and wondering what did you find wrong with it.

Thank you! 

this is what a RL pilot who fight fire in a plane for a living posted

The good:

- It looks like a CL-215. The outside model is decently detailed and accurate as far as my eye from working around these aircraft can see
- It flies like it has some momentum in control, as it should

The bad

- The sounds! Oh wow. The sounds are maybe not THE worst I've heard in MSFS but certainly in the bottom 2%. It sounds like two sickly Rotax engines recorded through a phone and then compressed. 
- Scrolling magnetos automatically starts the engines without hitting the starter
- Plane instantly starts rolling on the ground and has no momentum
- Prop RPM sits at around 4500 (!!!) at full power
- Prop controls do nothing in the upper range of power and only allow you to decrease RPM to realistic numbers (under 3000) below about 1/3 power
- Drag and overall performance inflight is disappointing. Full flaps + idle gives approximately a 300-500 fpm descent on approach.
- Very, very little friction when landing on water. It's difficult to get it below 40 knots. The slowest I could get it on the water with full flap and engines at idle was around 20-25 knots
- but once you DO get it slow, it porpoises in and out of the water, sometimes up to about 20 feet before slamming back down
- Wake effects are random and sporadic, but mostly not there
- At rest the plane sits almost out of the water. The bottom 2 feet of the keel is in whereas the tip floats are up in space
- Mixture controls do not cutoff the engine
- Did I mention the sounds? Man.....

Edited December 24, 2021 by fogboundturtle

[flyinpilot212121 724]

36 minutes ago, fogboundturtle said:

this is what a RL pilot who fight fire in a plane for a living posted

The good:

- It looks like a CL-215. The outside model is decently detailed and accurate as far as my eye from working around these aircraft can see
- It flies like it has some momentum in control, as it should

The bad

- The sounds! Oh wow. The sounds are maybe not THE worst I've heard in MSFS but certainly in the bottom 2%. It sounds like two sickly Rotax engines recorded through a phone and then compressed. 
- Scrolling magnetos automatically starts the engines without hitting the starter
- Plane instantly starts rolling on the ground and has no momentum
- Prop RPM sits at around 4500 (!!!) at full power
- Prop controls do nothing in the upper range of power and only allow you to decrease RPM to realistic numbers (under 3000) below about 1/3 power
- Drag and overall performance inflight is disappointing. Full flaps + idle gives approximately a 300-500 fpm descent on approach.
- Very, very little friction when landing on water. It's difficult to get it below 40 knots. The slowest I could get it on the water with full flap and engines at idle was around 20-25 knots
- but once you DO get it slow, it porpoises in and out of the water, sometimes up to about 20 feet before slamming back down
- Wake effects are random and sporadic, but mostly not there
- At rest the plane sits almost out of the water. The bottom 2 feet of the keel is in whereas the tip floats are up in space
- Mixture controls do not cutoff the engine
- Did I mention the sounds? Man.....

That’s unfortunate, would love me a CL-215 but gonna pass on this one for sure! 

[Mets737 200]

It has so much potential but definitely not worth it in its current state.