SkySim’s ‘Sea Vixen’First Impressions-
When I first heard of the SkySim Vixen, I had been told that some of the aircraft designed by SkySim run just as well as default on the sim. Naturally, my low specs made me intrigued by this. So, I got the plane and installed it. The installer puts two groups in your aircraft folder, and a small cluster in your start menu with the uninstall. Unfortunately, it didn’t come with the manual, but a quick google search brought it up. I haven’t flown a lot of aircraft like the Vixen before; generally, I tend to see either WWII or modern craft, with little or no in between. So, the Vixen was a bit of a first for me. She flies really well, and the two engines provide plenty of thrust. If you look at her, you can actually sort of tell how she flies. If you crossed a Lear and an F-18, this might be it.
Virtual Cockpit-
One thing a lot of us like to see is a lot of photoreal textures. Well, that makes up just about all of the cockpit. The interior is basically divided into two sections, the pilot and the navigator seats. I was really pleased that you can move your eyepoint to get into the navigator’s little compartment. It looks nice, but there’s a lack of gauges. The VC isn’t terrible on frames, but I’ve seen smoother. The only unappetizing thing I noticed were three hydraulic gauges with red and yellow borders. I couldn’t find a lot of pictures of the Vixen’s cockpit, so I’m not sure if these are realistic or not. A nice feature is that the gunsite can flip up and turn on. It’s a nice little effect that adds a lot to the feel of the plane. From the VC, you can control absolutely everything in flight. There are quite a few non-working switches, but they’re down to your side and you don’t notice them a lot. Some of these switches were dedicated to jobs other than what they’d do in real life, such as being able to add missiles and drop-tanks that show up on the model. If you turn around in your seat, SkySim did a really good job on the seat textures there. It’s not something you see much, but it’s still interesting. Overall, the detail is excellent. The ejection handles are there, you can pull up the site, go into the navigator’s cabin, and the flight controls look excellent. Plus, the night lighting is a nice, vintage-looking reddish glow.
Exterior-
The first thing I noticed was frames; it’s sort of bad. I probably lost about three more than a standard addon. However, unlike a lot of addons, the plane really looks nice from every angle, with hardly any blurries up close. Most rigs won’t have any problem running it, but as you can see mine wasn’t intended to max out FSX. There aren’t a whole lot of variety in the paints that the Vixen comes with; most of them are just the navy blue of the RAF. There are some very neat features that are modeled. For one, when hydraulic pressure is lost, the spoilers, gear doors, and control surfaces droop. When you look into the spoiler’s bay, it’s all photoreal, with some nice details in there. The same can be said for the interior of the wings when you fold them as well as inside of the nose cone. Of course, all the control surfaces are modeled, and you can see the pilot looking around in the cockpit. In all, the exterior looks really excellent, although it is hard on frames. There is a lot of detail in all the recesses, and even the missiles and drop tanks look very nice.
Flight-
As I said, it flies like it looks like it would. It has a good bit of thrust, but it’s a big plane. Don’t expect it to maneuver like the F-18. Takeoff is straightforward; it can take off from a carrier deck with assistance, so a normal runway is no problem. She does have afterburner, but they sort of stay hidden in the exhaust nozzles. Flight is just what you’d expect of a sturdy plane like this. You can easily pull 12 G’s, but it has a long turn radius. The max speed is about 660 MPH. There is an autopilot for those interested, but it’s a rather simple 1950's unit with only basic controls. Landing is also easy enough; I found the Vixen stalled sort of easily, but the flaps provide a lot of lift. Also, you can land on a carrier with the tailhook, but I couldn’t get the Acceleration takeoff assist to work. Upon shutdown, you can pull the parking break to have a ladder and dust plugs show up.
Final Word-
The SkySim Sea Vixen is an excellent portrayal of a good old jet from an era that seems ignored in today’s flight sim game. The inside is decent, the outside is excellent. My only complaint is that there aren’t more of a variety of paints. The performance impact is acceptable, and I don’t think it will be a factor for most computers. For a first airplane, SkySim has done an exemplary job, and I really look forward to when they release their Hawk. For $40.00, it is a tad on the expensive side, but I’ve seen much more outrageous pricing. What more can I say, it has a 2D panel, good VC, marvelous exterior, and enough effects and goodies to keep you entertained. In my opinion, it’s the best Vixen that has been developed for simming.
Rating-
7/10p = What you get - Price Ratio
7/10p = System Requirements/Performance on the computer
5/5p = Installation/Quickness of Key Delivery (Support)
20/20p = The Model, moving parts, how it looks like compared to the real plane..
10/10p = The Panel, features that are given/that work.
23/25p = The VC
6/10p = Manuals/Tutorials provided that explain how to work the plane
8/10p = Features, All the eye candy, neat effects, etc.
Total-
86%
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