Happy Holiday's to everyone!After saying I would'nt spend $55usd on this bird a combination of xmas euphoria and 20 years of driving past an Air National Guard C-130 base (KILG, 166th ANG) daily on the way to work got the better of me.I've just admired the 130 as long as I can remember and I'm almost 41.This is my first Captain Sim product. I've read criticisms about CS but never personaly experienced them. I was wary of this purchase and it was really more than I wanted to spend for a FSX aircraft.I am relieved to say I am very happy with my purchase. It may have been expensive by my standards, but I feel as though got what I paid for. The model is a visual feast, the VC is a place I just feel like I'll be spending alot of time it. Top notch inside and out. I'm not a c130 pilot but I like the feel of the flight model. The flight systems seem to be well modeled. The radar works. The manual is very good. The sounds are great imo.The C130 itself is everything I wanted it to be. It's a blast to take in and out of short fields. It climbs like a bird, it has a decent cruise speed, and long range. Cockpit visibility is exceptional imo. I really envy real 130 pilots.Now I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'll be buying the extra packs when they debut. I'd love to have the J model for its 6 bladed scimitar props, and floats/ski's would kick major butt. The extra skins will be nice too.Awesome piece of work imo, I'm delighted. Never though I'd say it but I'll problably end up buying the shuttle and xload. Just did the fsx default mission "African Relief" with the 130 and it was a blast.Edit: I just saw Greg's thread moments after posting this one. Sorry about that. On a note related to that thread, I payed using paypal and I was flying within 10 minutes. Everything from email comfirmation to activation was intant. No problems with dl servers either. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182387.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182388.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182389.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182390.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182391.jpg

These shots show some of the animations such as the radome, wheel chocks, apu, plugs, escape hatches, escape hatch display flag, and a humvee that drives in/out of the cargo compartment.This beast is just begging to do some work. A civilian paint would kick butt for virtual cargo runs. I might have to investigate that area.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182392.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/182393.jpg

I purchased the FSX C-130 about two hours ago. I purchased the product,received the DL link, downloaded and installed within a 10 minute period with no problems.I've taken two flights in it so far and it flies great and has no moreimpact on frame rates than the Flight1 PC-12 I have.I was in the mid 20's at KSEA RWY 34 with Autogen and Scenery at Dense using the VC.What I'm finding with FSX is that when I lock the framerate with someaircraft I get better performance while with others if I set it atUnlimited I get better performance. The C-130 seems to work best atthe Unlimited setting.It looks great and performs great on my system. While it may seem a bit high in price it's simply a reflection of the economic times we live in with the US $ losing ground to the Euro.I have no complaints so far with the C-130.Lian-Li PC60-B Case Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power Supply Gigabyte P35 DS3R Intel Core2Duo E6850 Arctic Cooling Freezer7 Pro Crucual Ballistix 2GB PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) EVGA 7950 GT OC 512 Mb Plextor PX-810SA/SW-BL 18X SATA DVD Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/sec Seagate Barracuda 7200.10250 GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/secCraig