Cowansim MD500 to come to MSFS

[Matchstick 1,886]

Spotted a little snippet of news that Cowan Sim, the XP helicopter dev is looking to bring their excellent MD500E over to MSFS.

The project will be starting this winter though I suspect will take some time to deliver anything, but it's nice to know we should be getting the 500E at some point.

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/273711-x-plane-12-updates/&do=findComment&comment=2430873

[jpe828 624]

Its out now, and I may have to buy it!

[regis9 4,013]

Cool I didn't realize they were that close to release!

[blueshark747 1,843]

I'm all tied up with the 206, I may grab this one later.

Edited January 29, 2023 by blueshark747

[Stoopy 1,571]

She's a lively one!   And definitely rewards a smooth hand on the cyclic.

Comes with an absolutely redonkulous amount of liveries.  I must have spent 45 minutes scrolling through them one by one in the hangar and drooling - they just keep coming!  If you're a fan of the MD500 you might find yourself whistling at some of them or having your jaw wide open, literally.   

The sounds seem OK (the wife is currently drowning me out while she watches her Andor Space Wars-thing on the big screen) and I mean to tell ya she is twitchy and jumpy (the helicopter not my wife) compared to the Bell 206 and others but a lot of fun once you reign her in!

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Stoopy

[Zangoose 1,631]

Here’s a link to the product page for this to make it easier for people to find

https://cowansim.com/product/500e-for-msfs/

[Stoopy 1,571]

48 liveries included.... gotta be some kind of record?

[ryanbatc 12,834]

I actually wish they'd include a few and have an option for more.  I need like 3 haha.  

I'm hoping for TDS GTNxi integration at some point - so much nicer to operate especially in VR.

[regis9 4,013]

I went ahead and bought this as I quite enjoy his B206.

Just had time for a quick flight through the Swiss Alps, LOIJ - LOWI.  

First impressions:

- Flies nicely, very nimble and fast.  Requires a steady handy but great to fly.  Gains and sheds airspeed very quickly.

- Trims out nicely for cruising.

- You can easily exceed VNE and I was guilty of flying along at 145knots today.

- I found it relatively easy to land, my first touchdown was probably one of the best I've had in a MSFS helicopter so far.

- I could not get it started manually, tried three times following the checklist but the starter button for me was not responsive.  Not sure if I screwed something up but I'd be interested to hear from others if the starter button is working for you.

Overall  a nice addition to my growing chopper fleet.  I can see myself spending more time in this one than the 206.

 

[Stoopy 1,571]

1 hour ago, regis9 said:

I went ahead and bought this as I quite enjoy his B206.

Just had time for a quick flight through the Swiss Alps, LOIJ - LOWI.  

First impressions:

- Flies nicely, very nimble and fast.  Requires a steady handy but great to fly.  Gains and sheds airspeed very quickly.

- Trims out nicely for cruising.

- You can easily exceed VNE and I was guilty of flying along at 145knots today.

- I found it relatively easy to land, my first touchdown was probably one of the best I've had in a MSFS helicopter so far.

- I could not get it started manually, tried three times following the checklist but the starter button for me was not responsive.  Not sure if I screwed something up but I'd be interested to hear from others if the starter button is working for you.

Overall  a nice addition to my growing chopper fleet.  I can see myself spending more time in this one than the 206.

 

Be sure to flick the ignition key down on the side of the pedestal, just to the left of the BATT switch.  

Agree on your impressions of how she flies.  I just did a nice flight down the California coast from KSBA to Long Beach (my usual shakedown route) and was able to trim her up pretty well for gentle fingertip flying.  Also yes, the speed can creep up on you in this one but it's also easy to bring the nose up a scooch and modulate it.   Was able to set down nicely on the Queen Mary helipad. 

A keeper for sure!!!

[regis9 4,013]

30 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

sure to flick the ignition key down on the side of the pedestal, just to the left of the BATT switch.  

Thanks, I’m thinking that’s what I missed. Will try shortly.

[177B 730]

I too enjoyed the 206 so I got the 500E.

Now it is my favorite heli in MSFS.

It feels right, I did tune my curves a bit to make her a bit less twitchy, and now she flies like a dream. Just pay attention and don't loose concentration, she is very quick reacting. But still the easiest to t/o hover and taxi of all my helis in FS2020, I have about all of them.

I have never piloted a 500 IRL so I can't say if it is true to life. 

I highly recommend this one. FPS is very good on par with fixed wing planes about 7-10 fps better than FI 206 and a bit better than Covansim's 206 for me at least.

[jpe828 624]

2 hours ago, 177B said:

I too enjoyed the 206 so I got the 500E.

Now it is my favorite heli in MSFS.

It feels right, I did tune my curves a bit to make her a bit less twitchy, and now she flies like a dream. Just pay attention and don't loose concentration, she is very quick reacting. But still the easiest to t/o hover and taxi of all my helis in FS2020, I have about all of them.

I have never piloted a 500 IRL so I can't say if it is true to life. 

I highly recommend this one. FPS is very good on par with fixed wing planes about 7-10 fps better than FI 206 and a bit better than Covansim's 206 for me at least.

Whats your curves? I think thats what is missing for me, otherwise feels oh so twitchy

[Stoopy 1,571]

TBH during my first flight last night I was kinda wondering if I would ever get to fly this thing smoothly but after some more time it is settling down - of course I also backed off my sensitivity curves to -40% for the cyclic axes.  

The only other thing I wasn't crazy about was the default pilot's eye viewpoint which is offset toward the center of the cockpit and too low and far back.  Fixed it:

https://flightsim.to/file/48949/improved-pilot-s-eyepoint-for-cowan-md500e

 

[Darth_Vapor666 54]

Its subjective but I find this heli just beautiful. Cries out 'must buy' even if I haven't had the time to devote to other helicopters in my hangar.