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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

AussieX releases Toscany scenery

Link: AussieX



AussieX has released a, what looks from the screenshots to be, amazing scenery for fsx SP2 for Toscany in Italy.

As I don't use fsx myself I cannot vouch for how it works but avsims reviewer likes pretty much everything with it, not even getting any significant frame rate hits. So if you have n updated fsx why not give it a try, it's for free.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Saab J35 Draken

Link: flightsim.com

If you like me grew up in Sweden you have definitely come across the Saan J35 Draken. A hunter plane that saw service in the Swedish Air Force and the Austrian Air Force. There is actually a nice model out there by Kuzunori Ito.

But there is also a very nice and realistic version out there by Thomas Nilsson which can be found here. But do read the manual if you want to get it up in the air.

There is a nice youtube clip about Draken which can be found here. It is in swedish but the videos are nice.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Victoria, BC

Link: flightsim.com

Don Grovestine has developed this fs9 and fsx scenery of Victoria, BC.

For an airport a short hop away from Vancouver it really has a lot of regular service, really cool!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Review of the CL-215

Link: flightsim.com

After spending a bunch of time watching the really nice television show Ice Pilots I decided to take this bird for a spin. The Candair CL-215 aircraft is a very nice piece of work and the model by Massimo Taccoli, Michel Gerard, Dennis Seeley and Dave Eckert.

Panel
Well this is one really nice part of the package. It holds a very nice and fast loading virtual cockpit and a nice 2d panel with good and logical subpanels. I guess the only thing I could think about is that it would be nice to have a moving yoke in the 2d panel but hey now I'm just being picky. It has a nice function that lets you lower or raise the viewpoint.

Sound
The amazing sound set of Dave Eckert is really, really nice it brings those big Pratt & Whitney R-2800-83AM 18-cylinder radial engines to life and what an amazing sound it is when you start them or when you accelerate down the runway.

Visual model
It is a beauty here too. There exists a number of repaints the one in the pictures are the Buffalo Airways. But all you have to do is do a search at flightsim.com for CL-215 and you will find a bunch of them.

The visual model is detailed and works great, there is even a ladder that is attached to the aircraft when you shuts it down. Very nice indeed.

Dynamics
This is a plane that is good to handfly, the only thing I found hard with it is the trouble I had to trim it. It needs a lot of change in the trim before you feel it and a lot of trim change between the different stages of flight. Maybe a new fde might be in order?

Overall this package is really good and if I gave it a grade it would be 4 out of 5, absolutely worth the time and effort to learn to fly this aircraft.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Sometimes you do get lucky

Link avsim.com

So once in a while you do get very lucky and tonight was one of those nights, NO I am not talking about my girlfriend and me but the fact that I was really cheap and didn't want to spend money on German Airports 3 just to get Dusseldorf. I looked around and actually found a link about a fs2002 scenery that might work for fs2000, but as it turns out it actually works with fs9 too.

So this scenery by John Walker, published at avsim on 9th of March 2003, i.e. over seven years ago! worked flawlessly and looks pretty darn good in my opinion.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Madeira and Caribbe south scenery

Link: Madeira at avsim
Link: Carribe South at avsim

Toni Agramont has released two sceneries for fs9, the smaller but extensively modelled Maderia scenery and the more larger scenery Caribbe south. The latter of the sceneries contains 245 cities and some 25 airports, from Dominique to Tobago. Very nice indeed!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Alta Floresta, SBAT

Link: flightsim.com

Eduardo Mello has designed this nice little scenery for Alto Floresta in Brazil which looks like it could be very nice. Not a airport I would fly into a lot but surely a nice addition.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Newmans DHC-7

Link: flightsim.com

Newmans Air was the base for Ansett New Zealand and was active from 1985 to 1987. Included in the repaint which is linked to above is a nice routemap and timetable. Interesting concept with flying older airlines that aren't in business anymore. The package is by Markus Hellwig.

The base model can be found here.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Go Cairo 2007

Link: flightsim.com

Omar Al-Sefi has designed a scenery addon, freeware which I like for Cairo's airport which you can download by clicking the link above. There is also an update that you can find here and a new brand new afcad file which you can find here.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Fifty North SAS

Link: flightsim.com

Ruben Olsen has created a new repaint of the 50N 737-500 into the SAS colors. Very nice indeed. There are a couple of other nice repaints but I really like this one a lot.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Cuba

Link: avsim.com



Toni Agramont has released a version of Cuba, conatining no less than 93 airports that have been modified not to mention 424 cities. Looks like a very ambitious project and should leave you with hours and hours of fun exploring.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

ISDT - Israel

Link: http://www.isdt-israel.com/

I just stumpled across these guys the other day when looking at the avsim new files. They do have a couple of nice freeware models, the Beechcraft for fsx and the ATR72 and 42 for fs9. And also a smaller GA aircraft called Texan LSA 550for fs9.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Airbus 380-800

Link: flightsim.com

This model by Robert Versluys seems to be one of the most repainted ones out there of this spectacular aircraft. You can find a large number of repaints for it at flightsim.com, the only thing I did not like was that the model that I downloaded only had one payload station which meant that the panel kept warning that the Center of Gravity was out of limits.

The panel that I found to be best of the freeware ones out there is one of Alex Christoff that you can find here. It has 2d panels all around and resembles the real panel pretty nicely compared to other freeware panels out there. The sub panels are very nice too, simple but fully workable and functional. I do however miss a sub panel for the lights which as far as I can find only can be used by the keyboard commands currently. But it is a good freeware panel for the A380.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

ATR-72

Link: flightsim.com


Francisco Sánchez-Castañer hase designed this nice freeware version complete with panel and virtual cockpit of the ATR 72. If I am not mistaken there is a version of the ATR-42 also somewhere but I haven't been able to find the download location for that one so if you know where it is, please put it into the comments section of this post.

There is of course Flight1's atr which I also own that is very nice but this one is really nice considering that it is free. You can also find a fsx version here.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Miegs field

Link: flyscenery.org

If you have been into this flightsimming thing before the days of fs9 you will most certainly have a special relationship to Miegs field in Chicago. Nowdays it's not there anymore and therefor fs9 and onwards uses other airports as default (in fs9 it is Seattle). But in fs5.1, fs98 that I started out with it was Miegs field where you ended up when you started the flightsimulator.

And now once again flyscenery has given you the chance of flying there again with the release of this freeware scenery. Very nice and nostalgic initiative.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Support us

Link: sugarsync.com

If you would like to support our service you can do this in a easy, free way by signing up for a free 2GB account at sugarsync here. Sugarsync lets you backup important files and libraries from your computer online using secure SSL and AES technology. It is a great way of sharing files with other people by making them public. It has a dropbox technology built in to it.

So please do support our service by registering for a free account or any of the paid versions (from $4.99 per month for 30GB of space) using this link. If you sign up for the free plan using the link you will get an extra 250MB of space to use.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Baltimore anno 1957

Link: flightsim.com

Alan Courtney has made this new scenery of Baltimore's Friendship Intl airport dating 1957.

If you which to recreate a time period bursting with aviation mile stones this is certainly for you.

You can find more information on the airport here.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Netherlands scenery v3.0

Link: http://www.nl-2000.com/


Here is a scenery that has been developed for a number of years and is just amazing. It's basically the entire Netherlands. The screen to the left is of Amsterdam's Schipol airport and the one below is of of Deelen airbase.

I do not however have this one installed on my system since I don't have the room for it, there are two versions of 3.0, the large of 24GB of data and the smaller with 21GB of data. Then there is also a service pack availiable.

If the Netherlands is were you do most of your flying and you have a lot of space then this might be for you. You could also try out the 2.9 version availiable here which is only 219MB in size.

If you just want to improve on your default fs9 Amsterdam scenery a tip is an updated version by Harmen Bosma which you can find here.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Gimli glider

Link: youtube.com

I know this is not a flightsim post but I gave myself some liberty and posted it anyway. Have you ever heard of the Gimli glider? Not then you should definately check this video out (look at all five parts though). This is a real life, lucky ending situation that could have ended in catastrophy but turned out well, and shows the importance of fuel planning and getting it right the first time.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Older style airports - Manchester

Link: DMflightsim

In a couple of posts I have mentioned the idea and concept of installing older renditions of airports into fs9. David Maltby has a couple of versions on his website of the Manchester airport. One of the 1962 version and one of the 1975 version.

I am wondering if this is one direction that flightsimming will turn to in the future. Even more so than the niche it seems to be today. In the future one might want to start up fs9 to go back in time, remember the airports and planes of your youth more so than flying around with models of newer airports and aircraft.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Aviator 90 - updated


Chris at Aviator 90 has been keeping busy and they have published a large number of more videos on basig flight principles, flight, landing and much more.
They are very good and informative for most simmers, both if you are just starting out or if you would like to learn more about the basics and the finer points.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Putting AI ships in fs9

Link: fs-shipyard

I got a tip about this website a few days ago and I started to think about ships in the harbors and the sea. In fs9 there is no such thing, but after looking around a bit I found the excellent fs-shipyard website where you can download a bunch of things and one of those things are ai boats and plans for fs9.

A good starter model for making your own shipping lanes can be found here. And please share your plans with the rest of the world through the website above.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Blueprint Simulations

Link: Blueprint Simulations

Blueprint simulations has gotten mixed reviews, some people like them others not. One example is their Boston scenery which a lot of people think is not as good as the freeware version out there.

I haven't tried their Boston version but I have tried a couple of their other sceneries and think they are pretty good. And they are certainly very productive. If you take a look at their website you will see that they have a total of 19 sceneries out there on the market. They have Ireland's Dublin/Collinstown, Toronto (which there is also a freeware out there for), Memphis, Barbados and many more.

The last one I mentioned, Barbados is availiable as a freeware version which you can try out if you would like to try them before you buy any of their scenery.

The pic on thetop left side is from their Dublin, Ireland scenery and from the screenshots it looks very realistic. I have had the pleasure to visit the airport about 7 times as my brother and his wife lives in Dublin and have had the pleasure to see the development of the new pier.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Amsterdam Schipol


So there has been a lot of focus on the new Amsterdam Schipol scenery as I have mentioned here in this blog and also the Netherlands 2000 scenery set which includes Schipol of course. But I would also like to focus a bit on other freeware versions out there. The link above is for a version that brings the default scenery more up-to-date with the new Polderbaan and a good number of parking/gates added.

If you'd like to have some cars moving around the airport an interesting little scenery is by Andre Koopman which you can find here. Andre has also made a small scenery that puts the so called Fire-fly into the scenery. This is used by the fire fighters as a training tool. You can download it here.
You can find another scenery for Schipol by Peter Bos here. So there are a few freeware alternatives out there to use.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Lockheed T-33A

Link: flightsim.com

Tim Conrad's rendition of the Lockheed T-33A is a wonderful piece of work. This aircraft is a very special one for me as I had a model airplane of the type that I built when I was around 11 years old and used to fly run around with in my hand.

Another tip is a repaint by Nobu Aki in Boeing colors that you can find here.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

POSKY Boeing 777-300 Air France


Thouraine Damian has repainted POSKY's Boeing 777-300 into this wonderful Air France livery. A very nice piece of work.
On a side note I've always found it interesting how companies go about changing their liveries. Some do it drastically and some very subtle. KLM and Air France hase changed their livery kind of subtle the last couple of times. In fact I really have too look hard to see the changes made to the Air France livery.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Updated SGA A300B4

Link: flightsim.com

This package was put together by Björn Comhaire (Björn has made the panel) but has parts from various different authors. It comes in an easy install file, finds your fs9 folder automatically and adds the SGA A300B4 plane, updated fde, panel and sound.

The panel looks very nice and advanced like a couple of the other A300 and A360 panels out there. I especially like panels that lets you increase the numbers on the MCP by 10 increments by right clicking and this one lets you do just that. It also has a very nice IAS hold function which lets you set an airspeed, set the thrust and then it climbs away holding that speed, very nice function often lacking on fs panels even though it is usually around in the real aircraft.

The model is SGA and very nice, also the sound is nice.

I guess the only thing I do not like about the set is that there are no sideviews which I find a bit annoying on models without a VC. But all in all, with respect to the short time I have had to test the package it is a very nice one.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

London Gatwick scenery

Link: www.FsNordic.net

By chance I stumbled across this freeware scenery for London Gatwick airport. The one I tried was for fs9 but you can find a fsx version here.

It is very nice, the only problem is that some of the textures of the taxiways don't really line up. But except for that it works nicely.

It is made by Garry Summons, who's UK2000 scenery you might have heard about.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Finally a King Salmon scenery

Link: www.flightsim.com

I've been waiting for a scenery for fs9 and King Salmon ever since I saw the world air routes movie of the Boeing 737-200 where one of the stops are just King Salmon, Alaska.

The airport started out as Naknek Air Force base even though information on it's origin is hard to find. The name Naknek came from the river Naknek which flows nearby. The Air Force has left the airport and now it is called King Salmon airport and still boosts of a 140 movements per day. It has two paved runways and one water runway and is also the hub for Penair.

The scenery was created by David Frantz.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Nimrod for fs9

Link: www.flightsim.com

I couldn't say I like the look of the Nimrod, in fact I would probably say it is quite ugly. But one thing is true it holds its place in the history books.

This model is by Matt Baker and UKMIL.

Monday, March 1, 2010

If you are looking for a paintkit

Link: here

If you are looking for a paintkit for an aircraft then you need to look no further. Above you can find a discussion forum entry where you will find most of them.

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