AirFoil Labs B23 & Azurpoly TB-30 on MP - first impressions

[Matchstick 1,769]

A couple of new aircraft on the Marketplace today - Bristell B23 Ultralight the first MSFS plane from experienced X-Plane developer AirFoil Labs and then Socata TB-30 from Azurpoly.

Since it was my turn in the new plane tryout rota (and I love microlights and basic military trainers) I've grabbed both of them.

AFL Bristell B23 first impressions

Exterior and interior modelling seems pretty decent EXCEPT for the dashboard which is really flat and unappealing looking sadly. Instrumentation is default G3X plus standby EFIS and GPS panel - nothing exciting there though the engine information is on the far right if the right hand MFD so it's difficult to see at a glance.

It has a constant speed prop so there's a prop control but no mixture (as seems increasingly common in modern ULAs)

I'm contrast to the disappointing panel textures the sound seemed really good. The engine noise in particular felt right - I have no real world experience with Rotax engines so I can't say if it is accurate - but I could easily believe that's what a Rotax 912 is like.

I haven't flown enough to get a proper feel for handing but it nothing stood out except for stall - it had possibly the most brutal and aggressive stall behaviour I've seen in MSFS dropping the right wing and starting to rotate incredibly rapidly and spinning with turning into a spin with the slightest provocation.

(I need to do more testing with that as the results were so extreme I want to check it wasn't a fluke or use error)

Also I haven't had a chance to compare performance against the PoH yet (Bristell password protect the PoHs on their main site but a quick Google turned up the files in the site of their French distributer www.b23.fr)

So right a bit of a mixed bag - it's definitely not the quality of AFLs C172NG or KA350 but it's also a cheaper and with some work esp on the panel model and textures it might be a decent option for a small runabout.

Azurpoly Socata TB-30 first impression

Again the modelling seemed decent if but spectacular. The dash for this plane was still a little flat feeling but much better than the B23 - there was however a really bad "speckling" effect with the shadows in some of the darker corners. Interesting all the liveries I looked at had the cockpit controls labelled in French but the tooltips were in English and it's not especially complicated anyway.

The rear cockpit is modelled with most flight controls available back there, but there doesnt seem to be an easy way to switch to that seat.

Systems this time are standard analogue instruments plus a couple of Garmin G5 for PDF and Nav Display. With a GNS530 GPS (by default), secondary radio, Transponder and ADF - no AP this time. Also has a smoke system but I didn't test that. There's also an EFB with a few controls and options on it but I couldn't find the option to swap the GPS for the GTN650 (both PMS and TDS version aresaid to be supported). Additionally if I closed (rather than moved) the EFB I couldn't work out how to reopen it (neither of these planes come with a manual that I could see - Note to any Devs reading - telling customers to go look at the PoH instead of writing a manual might give us the performance info we need to fly but it won't tell us how you've implemented SIM specific features in your plane or even give us a cockpit layout diagram in most cases).

Handing impressions are that this is a heavier feeling, much fast plane than the B23 (which is no suprise). Again nothing stood out as wrong - like the B23 there was an pronounced stall response though somewhat less aggressive. Also definitely felt like a plane that didn't want to show down for approach - needed effort to get it shown to flaps speeds.

so overall it seems a decent fast two seat trainer. there arent many prop planes in MSFS with the front and back cockpit arrangement so that gives it something distinctive and it felt quite good to fly.

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Matchstick

[ryanbatc 12,092]

Much appreciated.  I'll skip the B23 as it looks like a vfr tourer for tht most part and is slow hehe.  Does the Epsilon have decent interior lighting?  About how fast does it go (in ktas preferably) at say 4000 ft and then maybe 10000 ft?  Looks like Azure Poly did a semi custom G5 which looks way nicer than stock.  How are the sounds too?  I'm tempted by the epsilon especially with TDS support.

[Matchstick 1,769]

6 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

Much appreciated.  I'll skip the B23 as it looks like a vfr tourer for tht most part and is slow hehe.  Does the Epsilon have decent interior lighting?  About how fast does it go (in ktas preferably) at say 4000 ft and then maybe 10000 ft?  Looks like Azure Poly did a semi custom G5 which looks way nicer than stock.  How are the sounds too?  I'm tempted by the epsilon especially with TDS support.

I'm afraid at the moment I don't have answers to most of those questions yet - sounds seemed Ok but didn't leap out in the way the B23's did.

[JBDB-MD80 1,284]

Airfoil Labs the developer that did the 172ng in X-Plane?  oh boy they are just getting the feet wet in MSFS they will imporve over time.

Edited June 17, 2022 by jbdbow1970

[darshonaut 237]

Auzurpoly publishes the Manuals on their website : 

https://azurpolygroup.com/resources/

 

[psychedelic_tortilla 135]

With the PMDG 737 and the Fenix having arrived in MSFS and the iniBuilds A310 getting announced, the AFL King Air is really the only plane still making me think about getting XP12. The thought of them bringing it to MSFS, combined with the TDS...oooooh boy! 

Edited June 17, 2022 by psychedelic_tortilla

[SAS443 1,547]

4 hours ago, Matchstick said:

I haven't flown enough to get a proper feel for handing but it nothing stood out except for stall - it had possibly the most brutal and aggressive stall behaviour I've seen in MSFS dropping the right wing and starting to rotate incredibly rapidly and spinning with turning into a spin with the slightest provocation

I fly the B23 from time to time.
The stall tendencies are little bit nastier than the Cessna 172 or Piper - although nothing extraordinary. But it has a rather short wingspan and when either wing starts to dip, things can happen quickly. Compare to the Diamond DA20 Katana which has a span of 10.9M vs 9,3M of the B23, the DA20 exhibits more gentle stall tendencies at similar weight class.

Another useful information about the B23 is that you can load her up past the "Max Zero Wing Load" limit of 660KG if you put items in the compartments on each wing (2 x 20KG). That weight doesn't count since it works against the wing bending moment. Obviously you still must respect the MTOW of 750KG.

Speaking of managing the CG limit. Never take-off with a near aft limit CG. As the B23 burns fuel, the CG is slowly transfered backwards (opposed to a PA28 where CG moves forward as fuel is burned off). This means you could takeoff legally but land hours later with a CG past the aft envelope. Luckily the G3X Avionics displays and calculates the W&B very intuitively so you'd be rather reckless to suffer from this.

I will purchase this plane later tonight, AFL is a top developer for X-plane so it bodes well.

Edited June 17, 2022 by SAS443

[Matchstick 1,769]

- Deleted

Edited June 17, 2022 by Matchstick

[Matchstick 1,769]

3 hours ago, darshonaut said:

Auzurpoly publishes the Manuals on their website : 

https://azurpolygroup.com/resources/

 

Thanks for that - there are the mods to switch the GPS version there as well.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Matchstick