Introduction:

     When trying to re-create a legend as beloved and respected as the P-51 Mustang, a designer needs to realize he has some pretty big shoes to fill.  People may not know much about airplanes, they may not know much about World War II, and they may know much about anything.  But they will know the Mustang.  They will know that low slung radiator, they will know that squared off tail, and they will know that bubble canopy.  The P-51 is arguably the most easily recognized plane to come out of WWII.  To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know what a Mustang was.  So if you are going to try to recreate a plane as famous as this one, you need several things.  You need knowledge of the plane in question.  You need to have the ability to transfer that knowledge in to pixels.  And perhaps most of all, you need to care about the project you are working on.  Over the course of this review, I hope to answer these questions regarding the Icarus Mustang.


Purchase:

     Purchase was made by credit card through the Icarus web site and went smoothly.  Icarus uses 2Checkout, a third party reseller and states during the sale that a generic mailbox (i.e. Hotmail, Yahoo, etc) could cause problems in billing and in receiving your download.  A private e-mail is requested.


Download:

     In this day and age, you become used to certain things in life.  I was a bit disappointed to find after I had completed the purchase that I would have to wait 5-8 hours to receive my download link from Icarus.  An e-mail from the company assured me it was not uncommon, and that this was to protect them from piracy.  However, my one previous purchase from Icarus (their Lavochkin LAGG -3) was purchased in the same manner, through the same company, with the same card, but download was immediate.  After receiving the download link, there were no problems downloading


Installation:

    Installation was with the clickteam installer, and by default directed the installation to the standard C: drive position of the FS9 folder.  Opportunity is given to change the install directory, incase you have FS in another location or if you want to manually install the plane. Installation was straightforward and without a problem.

Paint Quality:    

What this plane is lacking in the model quality, it makes good on with the paint.  No less than 24 different paint schemes are provided, with all major schemes being present, such as Petie 2nd, Big Beautiful Doll, and the Tuskegee airmen.  Also included are lesser know liveries including the Italian Air Force and the Republic of Korea.  British Squadrons are well represented, fitting since it was a British request that was responsible for the Mustang coming into existence in the first place.  You’re guaranteed to take a while to get through all of them.  It would have been nice to have some modern Reno Racer paints thrown in too.

Flight Model:

Let’s face it.  Very few of us will ever know the joys of piloting a vintage war bird.  Since the most we can hope for is a backseat ride in one, any review of a flight model will be subjective.  This plane feels right however.  While some flight models for similar planes are as twitchy as the Extra, others are as slow as the Cessna.  This Mustang seems a nice mix of the two with a nice roll rate, that won’t bore you, but is easy to control.  Top speed at 1000 ft was 358 kts, with 294 kts at 21,000 ft.  Maximum speed in a dive from 25,000 ft was over 500 kts!  Trim characteristics felt good, with the plane trimming out in level flight in seconds.  The plane wouldn’t fall off of its tail to save its life, and don’t even think about spins.  


Problems and Support:

While installation went off without a hitch, after saving the plane in the default situation, things quickly turned bad.  Several files became corrupted and attempting to install the plane caused the un-install program to crash.  Several times, shutting down the sim with the plane in the default situation caused Windows to crash entirely.  A detailed message to the company was answered with the standard industry reply that I should change the compatibility mode to Windows 98and that in over 200 sales, this was the first problem they had encountered.  I leave it to the reader to form their own interpretation of that.  Support is offered via e-mail and a private forum available to buyers upon completion of purchase, and my question was responded to in an extremely timely fashion (within 4 hours).  

Overview:

While the paint and flight model for this plane make it a joy to fly, the inconsistencies in the visual model distract so much, that it is not possible to completely enjoy this plane from an outside view.  It is not an expensive plane, but if you’re going to pay for your add-ons, I believe you are entitled to a certain degree of professionalism that is lacking here.

Pros:  

•      Dozens of paint schemes keep you satisfied for weeks.
•      Wonderful flight model
•      Decent VC, with clickable gauges and switches
•      Inexpensive
•      Quick response to support

Cons:

•      Extremely poor visual model is extremely distracting.
•      Long wait for download
•      Somewhat of a frame rate killer


Recommendations:

Even though you get a lot of paint for your money here, there are several freeware packages out there that duplicate and even exceed this model, including the AWD P-51D, a model by Roger Dial and Steve Small, and the Whitehead Eagle by Shigeru Tanaka.  Any of these are more desirable examples and should be sample first before deciding to buy.  My suggestion is to go with the Lagg-3 instead.  


Test System:  

Sony Vaio
2.4 GHz
1024 Mb Ram
180 GB HD with FS9 on a 16 GB partition
GeForce FX 5600 256 Mb video card

Very talented and thought out review.
One of the few that I enjoyed reading.
Great job..............

Air

Great review! And one I thought worthy of a sticky for the month of October!!!

I liked the review, and thought you did an excellent job covering all the bases. Very accurate representation of someone who purchases payware, and honest without being in your face regarding issues or concerns. Thank you DPR!

---Stephen

Congrats on a fine job.....

After readings hundreds of reviews over the last 6 years, I enjoyed yours and can't even think of any "picky" complaints to show how clever I am.....LOL 

I use Tanaka's excellent Whitehead Eagle a lot as one of my personal favourites and found your comparisons interesting and relevant.

Don't hesitate to do some more.....

thanks for the great review. when i first saw the add for the mustang, i couldn't believe that so much energy  and attention went to create this model, and yet leave such an obvious flaw on the cowl etc. maybe they will come out with a patch to correct if it's possible?........................kevin....which spitfire are you refering to? is there more than one comming out......cheers, vic.