Nice De Havilland Beaver...but?

[longhaul747]

Did some flying around in the Beaver and its a nice model that flies nice and straight.  However I will probably get flamed for mentioning this but I am kind of disappointed it's so basic.  I own the FSX/P3D Milviz package and you had all sorts of options plus multiple float options like amphibious and regular floats.  The big killer is the lack of a tundra tire option and really surprising the lack of skis.  I was hoping for at least skis for this model.  Its hard to complain since you can't complain about the price but its hardly anything definitive.  Early on this was supposed to be a definitive package but then Blackbird/Milviz sold it to Asobo!

Its nice to have a Beaver in MSFS but for us die hard Beaver fans I think its a bit light.  I still think we have a pretty strong market for a more definitive Beaver package.

At one time it was mentioned that Blackbird wanted to release Beaver expansion packs but at the time did not yet know if they could do that selling to Asobo?  Curious to know if that is still in the works?  

Supposedly Blackbird is working on an Otter package that will likely be definitive including a turbo Otter eventually.  At one time a Turbo Beaver was mentioned but no idea where those planes stand?  It has been a while since we heard anything about it.  It would sure be nice to see the default Beaver eventually brought up to definitive standards even if I have to pay for it.      

[bobcat999]

Yes, hopefully expansion packs, and the Otter as well! 

[longhaul747]

Hopefully we get the regular floats version as well.  It might not seem to be a big deal and I guess in the flight sim world it really is not.  However in real life the Amphibious version robbed a lot of performance and capability from the Beaver and many bush operations much preferred the regular basic floats.  The amphibious floats add a lot of weight and break all the time.  Also bad news if you forget to raise the gear and it was not uncommon for the indicators to show all green when in fact one of the gears was still down.  The water especially salt water really gums them up and maintenance was expensive and time consuming.        

My dad was in the Seafood business up in a Alaska about 25 years ago.  His operation had a Beaver they used to fly out and rendezvous with the fishing boats paying the fisherman in cash.  Literally McDonald's bag filled with cash.  As a younger person I would go up there during the summer and get many flights in on that Beaver.  It was kind of a POS but at the same time incredibly solid and flexible aircraft.  I remember asking about why we don't put amphibious floats on it?  You don't want them was the answer!

Ours was a former military bird and had the tip tanks.  Range was pretty solid.  Twice we flew it down to Seattle and only had to stop once for fuel (okay twice for not pushing it and use the bathroom but we could have).  Took forever but you can fly forever.  I think it even had hookups for an additional external belly tank but that did not work well and good luck finding one even back then.  Probably a lot to ask for but having those tip tanks come in handy when in the deep bush.  

[St Mawgan]

The Porter with floats is available. I was actually hoping it would be amphibious but ....

[Matchstick]

46 minutes ago, longhaul747 said:

Did some flying around in the Beaver and its a nice model that flies nice and straight.  However I will probably get flamed for mentioning this but I am kind of disappointed it's so basic.

It's a free plane coming with a simulation - why would you be expecting anything but basic ?

We saw with the cheap Famous Flyer/Local Legends that features were being cut to hit the price point and MS was at least getting some money directly for those.

At least with the Beaver not being encrypted (unlike the A310) there's a good chances modders will come along and extend the featureset.

[abrams_tank]

I would love for somebody to make the Harbour Air livery for the Beaver (Harbour Air is a Seaplane airline that serves British Columbia, Canada, and has many flights running from Vancouver to the rest of British Columbia). If you want to see the Harbour Air livery for the Beaver, please vote here: https://flightsim.to/request/livery/20502/harbour-air-dhc-2-beaver

[St Mawgan]

Having Kenmore and Carlin is pretty nice. 

[Phantoms]

Unfortunately, it also stymied the other Freeware Beaver that was being worked on that "may" have had more features. That developer went on to work on some really nice planes with Big Radials (the P40, the Goose).

[Matchstick]

5 minutes ago, Phantoms said:

Unfortunately, it also stymied the other Freeware Beaver that was being worked on that "may" have had more features. That developer went on to work on some really nice planes with Big Radials (the P40, the Goose).

At least in the case the Beaver is a word not allowed good plane even if it lacks features.

The same doesn't seem to be true of the DC-3 but again the existence of a free version in the core game means the chances of seeing a better 3rd party version are substantially reduced, at least in the short term.

[Bert Pieke]

25 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

I would love for somebody to make the Harbour Air livery for the Beaver (Harbour Air is a Seaplane airline that serves British Columbia, Canada, and has many flights running from Vancouver to the rest of British Columbia). If you want to see the Harbour Air livery for the Beaver, please vote here: https://flightsim.to/request/livery/20502/harbour-air-dhc-2-beaver

And a "floats" version to match.  Harbour Air Beavers are not amphibs.. 😉

[abrams_tank]

2 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

And a "floats" version to match.  Harbour Air Beavers are not amphibs.. 😉

I guess I'll take what I can get. Who knows if Milviz will ever release a float version.  It's unfortunate that Milviz didn't, but I can still have fun if somebody does the livery for the amphibious version of the Beaver.

[HiFlyer]

18 minutes ago, Matchstick said:

At least in the case the Beaver is a word not allowed good plane even if it lacks features.

The same doesn't seem to be true of the DC-3 but again the existence of a free version in the core game means the chances of seeing a better 3rd party version are substantially reduced, at least in the short term.

Well, we could always start a thread on the Asobo/MS forums asking that they stop giving us so much free stuff, because we would rather have third parties do higher quality pay ware...

 

[abrams_tank]

Just now, HiFlyer said:

Well, we could always start a thread on the Asobo/MS forums asking that they stop giving us so much free stuff, because we would rather have third parties do higher quality pay ware...

No thanks. As much as I regret that Milviz didn't do the pure float version of the Beaver, I am still happy that it's free 🤣

[Reader]

50 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Well, we could always start a thread on the Asobo/MS forums asking that they stop giving us so much free stuff, because we would rather have third parties do higher quality pay ware...

"Free stuff" is of course wonderful but:
so much of the free stuff is of a very high standard, which the new free stuff DC3 does not approach.
Its rival in FSX and P3D, where it was payware until recently, was the freeware DDW C47, which showed what could be achieved with the existing 
resources. Arguably, it is a work of art that can stand with any other aircraft model, either freeware or payware.

Equally arguably, the DC3 for MSFS does not even stand comparison with its fellow releases, in particular the free stuff Beaver, which shows what can be done.
The DC3/C47 is an icon of flight and deserves better than this, which may be better than nothing but could be so much better than it is.
YMMV

 

[Matchstick]

34 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Well, we could always start a thread on the Asobo/MS forums asking that they stop giving us so much free stuff, because we would rather have third parties do higher quality pay ware...

 

Maybe we could ask they apply some quality control to their products ?