For FS2004 flyers

**Beirut** · 04-23-2006, 02:46

Just got the Captain Sim Legendary C-130 Pro add-on. It's the first payware plane I've bought. Cost $50 on the Visa for the 86 meg D/L. Sounds crazy, maybe it is, but look at the detail in the pics below. This thing is first class from front to back. The exterior and virtual cockpit are incredible, the 2D cockpit is boring but I find all 2D cockpits boring.

Three models are included and they come in ten different liveries (paintjobs). A few other models (float plane, Spectre gunship, tanker) are available for $15 each as add-ons to the add-on. I'm going to get the Spectre even though the guns don't fire. The D/L was painless as so was the installation. Online anti-piracy activation of the program took about one second and was bother-free.

It flies nicely (I have 8,000 hours in a real C-130, so I can tell. Cough-cough.

) and the sounds are very good. I think this is the kind of product you enjoy more and more as time goes on as you learn the intricacies of the painfully realistic systems. It has all kinds of neat features and bells and whistles. One funky thing is doing fast steep landings, Dump a hummer out the rear cargo door (it's all animated) and then take off again, simulating a "combat drop". Do that at night in the rain with high winds (I haven't yet) and I'll bet it's a intense as any RTS battle.

I've been flying this puppy over my Megascenery Pacific Northwest add-on scenery, and though it's tough on my rig at full settings, the eye candy is exquisite. Is it worth $50 for one add-on plane for FS2004? Well, if you're having fun... yes!

(Next is the 707, the F-104, both from Captain Sim and when it's released by JustFlight, the Lancaster.)

(If I knew where FS2004 hides screenshots, I'd post my own.)

**Androo** · 04-23-2006, 05:21

Holy Carp, those screens look good... Being "just" for FS2004 (and not for a combat sim) I wouldn't normally have even considered it at that price... but man that Hummer drop sounds like fun. $50 crazy for a single aircraft? I don't think so. You may not get eight thousand hours of flight time out of it, but it sounds like you will get your money's worth and more from it. No, $12 Cdn. to see The Benchwarmers, that is crazy.
BTW, is there a Canadian livery? (Second shot from the top?)

I'm with you on the Lanc. (Off to Justflight to investigate further...)

Edit: Rats. Being an Aeroplane Heaven production, I was hoping that at least some of the Lancaster iterations would have CFS3 counterparts, but no.

**Beirut** · 04-23-2006, 05:37

Originally Posted by Androo

Holy Carp, those screens look good... Being "just" for FS2004 (and not for a combat sim) I wouldn't normally have even considered it at that price... but man that Hummer drop sounds like fun. $50 crazy for a single aircraft? I don't think so. You may not get eight thousand hours of flight time out of it, but it sounds like you will get your money's worth and more from it.

I'm all for combat flightsims but there's something very enjoyable about just flying for the sake of flying. If the aircraft model is good enough and the eye candy is nice, just balancing the instruments and conducting proper landings can be very satisfying. (As soon as I can find my screenshots, I'll post you some serious flightsim eye candy.)

Originally Posted by Androo

BTW, is there a Canadian livery? (Second shot from the top?)

Yep. And several add-on liveries are availble as well.

Originally Posted by Androo

I'm with you on the Lanc. (Off to Justflight to investigate further...)

I've got the Visa on standby for the moment that Lancaster is released.

http://www.justflight.com/en/(mj0gxz...45)/index.aspx

**Ianofsmeg16** · 04-23-2006, 10:51

Wow! I was conisdering buying that, now I'm definatly going to get it! It looks awesome, how do they fly Beirut?

**Beirut** · 04-23-2006, 11:44

Originally Posted by Ianofsmeg16

Wow! I was conisdering buying that, now I'm definatly going to get it! It looks awesome, how do they fly Beirut?

Well, as I was saying, I have over 8,000 hours in a real C-130 ...cough-cough-gasp-wheeze, so I can say with great authority it flies exactly like the real thing. I bought the C-130 because it's a heavy prop plane (props are more fun) and because the cockpit has excellent visibility all around. Makes for good viewing and fun flying. Look at the window space in the cockpit in my first post. You really get a nice sensation of flight and speed, and you get to enjoy the scenery as well. Oh, and every button and switch in the cockpit works and the gauges are very clear and easy to read. Great attention to detail.

The C-130 is predictable, suprisingly powerful, but I'd like it to be heavier on the stick. It's too light on my MS FFB2. The stock Cessna 172 fights back more. I guess I need to adjust the FFB settings some.

More pics from the Captain Sim site.

Look at the detail on this 707. You get the E707 as well as the civy model.

And the F-104 is gorgeous. Can't wait to bomb around at Mach 2 in this thing.

**FesterShinetop** · 04-23-2006, 20:45

Wow, that looks really good... bit of a pricetag though at $50...
Best way to go (and only way in FS9 AFAIK) if you wanna take screenshots of your own is to get another program that runs in the background (like Fraps or Multigrab - thats what I use).

You can get Multigrab from here:
http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/

It's free... all it does is it stores your screens in a seperate folder when you press the PrtScr key. You can also choose in what kind of format etc. Very handy little program for screenshots and it is tiny so it won't mess up your FPS.

**Androo** · 04-24-2006, 05:52

Originally Posted by Beirut

I'm all for combat flightsims but there's something very enjoyable about just flying for the sake of flying.

I usually like to up the ante a bit with bad weather or poor visibility, but I know what you mean. One of my most satisfying gaming moments ever came flying FS2000. I quickly plotted a course to a tiny island with an airfield off the coast of Maine. I set the ceiling at 50 or 100 feet and visibility to half a mile or something like that, flew a cessna 185 on instruments with no GPS through pea soup for half an hour and then descended below the clouds when I thought I should be approaching the island. Nothing. My fuel was starting to get iffy. Had I already passed the island? Next stop the Azores? If I was going to head back to the mainland I had better do it soon... And then there were the airport lights. Landed and switched off and listened to the rain for minute. Wow, I was chuffed.

Originally Posted by Androo
BTW, is there a Canadian livery? (Second shot from the top?)

Yep. And several add-on liveries are availble as well.

Nice.

Good tip on Multigrab, Apache. I've been using Fraps, and it's fine, but I do get a one second pause every time I grab a shot. I really like some of Martin Wright's other stuff, so I'll check it out.

**Beirut** · 05-01-2006, 23:19

Just got this one over the weekend. Gorgeous skins and great detail. This one was $30. Still feels weird paying for add-on planes when so many are free, but none of the free ones approach this level of detail and quality.

This thing is a bear to fly. Very heavy on the stick (MS FFB2), it really fights back, which is good. But landing is not easy at all. It stalls at a speed that would tear the wings off a Cessna. Mind you, it climbs to 50K' like a sprinter doing the 100 yards. Tons of power. Great fun. Been flying over an excellent freeware add-on of Logan Int. I downloaded. The eye candy is pure Haagen-Dazs.

(Captain Sim site pic. Photobucket is still shrinking my pics too much. Have to figure out how to change that.)

**Androo** · 05-02-2006, 04:39

Originally Posted by Beirut

Still feels weird paying for add-on planes when so many are free, but none of the free ones approach this level of detail and quality.

Check.

But landing is not easy at all. It stalls at a speed that would tear the wings off a Cessna.

Sounds right for one of, if not the most, demanding aircraft to fly ever built. I believe it was Luftwaffe pilots who gave it the moniker "the widow maker", wasn't it?

Mind you, it climbs to 50K' like a sprinter doing the 100 yards.

Heh, basically a rocket with ailerons....(G forces=

). What is the length of those "wings": six feet, seven feet?

Have you been tempted by the SR 71?- that looks pretty cool too, I think. It would be fun to fly from LA to NY in 90 minutes, or whatever it took it.

Happy landings.

**Beirut** · 05-02-2006, 11:43

Originally Posted by Androo

Heh, basically a rocket with ailerons....(G forces=

). What is the length of those "wings": six feet, seven feet?

About a foot I think.

Originally Posted by Androo

Have you been tempted by the SR 71?- that looks pretty cool too, I think. It would be fun to fly from LA to NY in 90 minutes, or whatever it took it.

Yep, looks like fun. (And a helluva challenge to land.) Kind a of a restrictive cockpit though. Doesn't look like you would have great visibility and I like to be able to see the ground when flying. Just makes it more fun for me.

Still thinking of getting the 707, not sure. Absolutely getting the JustFlight Lancaster when it comes out. That's a no-brainer.

Originally Posted by Androo

Happy landings.

Not very often in the F-104 I'm afraid. I still crash 75% of the time. Once you get it to a speed where you can lower the gear and flaps without them being ripped off, the plane handles like a tugboat in heavy seas, wobbling like it's drunk, and you have nearly zero ground visibility with your nose up attitude. You want a really long runway to put this thing down on.

**Androo** · 05-02-2006, 14:39

About a foot I think.

Heh, heh... scaaaarey plane...

Doesn't look like you would have great visibility and I like to be able to see the ground when flying. Just makes it more fun for me.

Yes and I guess it needs to be flown at extreme altitudes also to safely achieve its cruising speed.

Not very often in the F-104 I'm afraid. I still crash 75% of the time

Yup sounds like a real hand full- as it should be. Re long runways: can you deploy a drag chute once you're down on that tiny gear?

Edit: Checked the Captain Sim website and answered my own question about the chute. Wow, 67 liveries available for download: that is impressive.

**Beirut** · 05-06-2006, 23:34

My Lord, I'm an addict.

This is turning into a confession thread.

I just got the Captain Sim 707. (Thanks goodness my woman never sees the credit card bills. Not bad really, $30.)

Very nice plane. Wonderful detail, lots of interactivity, good sound set. Nice & classy, lots of dials and switches, no digital nothing. Takes lots of runway to get up and lots and lots to get down. Tried to land at Andrews AFB without thrust reversers and ended up in the Potomac.

Comes with several models including the standard version, Air Force One, and a NATO AWACS version. Had to DL a good Canadian skin, none came with it. Probably the last model I'll buy from Captain Sim. Don't really want the 757. The all digital cockpit is too much like a microwave. I prefer the classics to the new birds. Gimme gauges and flip switches any day.

Got me a nice stable of Canadian ponies now, though. Lots of fun.