Recently I purchased Eric Dante's Socata Collection. This purchase was made over at Simware and I thought I would give anyone who is interested a quick little review of this collection. I have only spent a few hours so I can only tell you what I like and don't like about it. My disclaimer is I am a real pilot, but I have never flown a Socata of any kind, so I can only go on what seems right.
I will try to be brief by just giving you the jist of it.
First off the purchase went some what smooth. I had to wait a day because Simware was reseting their server. No big deal... Once I got the download and found the necessary codes, (I hope you read French, because the email was in French) the install went smoothly. The cost was $20 US dollars.
For $20 you get three models with three paint schemes each varying from different countries. That is pretty cool!
Variety is the spice of life... Here are the models
TB9 Tampico
TB10 Tobago
TB20 Trinidad
After doing my walk around, I have to admit these are the best visual models I have seen of the Socata family.
We are doing well so far. Then I had to open the hatch to see inside. All the surfaces move as you would expect. So far a pretty model and some interesting paint schemes. I believe they are from real aircraft, because some I have seen at airliners.net.
As I looked closer at the gear it seemed they were way too small to support the aircraft. After further review of some real photos they really are that small. Wierd... Also I moved the elevator up and down and the whole thing moves and the tab in the back moves independantly depending on your trim. Very cool detail. As far as the out side detail is concerned it stopped here. The cowling doesn't come off, the are no cargo doors that open. The delorian style doors are the only thing you can open, for those of you that like to open and close stuff like I do.
The lighting is a bit default. No special FX here. The nav lights seem a bit far out, but nothing I can't fix later.
Lets take a look inside. This is a very nice interior. Comfortable seats, enough room in the back seat for two people, plus bags. The controls are easy to read and access. There are not yokes in the way of the default gauges. Yes thats right, default gauges. Such a beautiful interior to be destroied with those default gauges. Guess I can fix that later.
What better place to go flying that in France LRFD to be exact. Master swtich on, fuel pump on, mixture rich, nav lights, beacon on.. Clear prop... ER...ER...ER.... RRRRRR!
Started up very easy. No guess work here with this aircraft, but it sounds very familiar. It sounds a lot like the default Cessna 182. Of course it should, the sound is aliased to the default Cessna 182. I will fix that later.
The aircraft taxis very well, nothing special. The run up sounds like a 182, but looks like a Socata. Cleared for take off... Okay now I am getting excited....
The aircraft took off at what seems a normal speed, and climbed out about like I imagined it would. The aircraft has very nice flight characteristics. Like I said I am not a Socata professional, but for FS it flies and trims up real nice. Very fun to fly.
My final conclusion is this. The whole package cost $20. That is $6.67 per model and $2.23 per paint scheme. That is not too bad considering the rest of the aircraft is default. I like to tinker with my planes so I don't mind going in and changing out the gauges, adding new sounds, and playing with the lights. That is part of the FS fun for me. For those of you expecting a high quality flight model with all the bells and whistles, this is not the package for you. For those that want a great looking model and don't mind tinkering around a bit, the package is pretty worthwhile.
I don't mind paying an artists for his work. Eric Dante did a pretty good job with this one. Granted a part of me would have like to have seen more bells and whistles, but for what it is worth, I didn't have to make the model. I might however look to add some more paint schemes. I will have to create my own paint kit though, because there is none.
The aircraft also comes with a check list, but you could follow the same one for the C182 and you would do just fine. There is not POH or any other files to go with it for those of you that like to read. Personally I take the directions to anything and throw them away.
That is my quick review. I am sorry if it was a bit long winded, but thought some of you might find it interesting. Bottom line I give it 2.75 out of 5 stars for the package. The other 2.25 stars I will give to myself for adding new sounds, gauges and FX later.
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