Aerosoft sales now on.

[Paul K]

25% off most of their range, including the two 'shiny things' -Lightnings F3 and F6. Sale ends 2nd November:-

Aerosoft Shop

If you miss that, then SimMarket is also holding a sale of Aerosoft products until 4th November, but at 20% off:-

SimMarket

Very very tempting. Eh, Dave B ?

[DaveB]

Tempting.. yes.. especially as I've not bought anything for weeks

Unfortunately.. your prompt comes too late. I had a mail from FSPS and they have Aerosoft at 20% (like Simmarket) so.. I dived in and bought the Seahawk and Jayhawk. Not fussed about the Jayhawk much but the Seahawk.. well.. it has the word Sea in it I had the old FS9 versions but of course.. shipping in FS9 was at best poor so they dropped off the end of a bit of wire a long time ago. The one I bought is FSX native and has been out long enough now to have been patched a few times. I actually got the very latest patch for it in the download zip from FSPS dated very recent so I know it's bang up to date.

Had a quick flurry around in it. Not sure what to say at this point. I don't care for the glass cockpit much and I swear some of the panel bitmaps are not as crisp as shown in the screenshots. I'm also unsure about the degree of shine. It's not super-gloss but it's not matt either. It's in a vague area that doesn't quite look real if you know what I mean. However.. the flight model is reasonable.. very stable and there's a lot to be able to get working should I so desire. I think you get about half a dozen ships with it too though in all probability.. I already have these I've already pulled a set of Atlantic skins for it along with a set of Pacific skins.. neither of which have been installed yet.

All in all.. first impressions are not bad. I don't think it looks as 'polished' as the Cera UH60 either inside or out but the Cera model is a yardstick and a darned good one. It'll give me a break from the Virtavia Sea King anyway

EDIT:

ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

That's a rather nice pic Dave. The Sea/Jayhawk was something I thought about getting a while back, but it was a case of buying something for the sake of it, rather than actually wanting it. Generally speaking, I'm not very good with helicopters in FSX/P3D, though I must say the Flysimware Bell-47 is quite easy to handle. I don't think I'll be getting anything in the Aerosoft sales, but I'll be on the lookout for the Captain Sim one, with a view to buying the P3D-compatible B727 base pack. I think that's just about the only thing on my wish-list at present. Maybe Orbx's landclass for Alaska and Canada too, but I think that's it.

[DaveB]

Rgr that mate

I've spent quite a bit of time in the Seahawk since getting it and have even browsed the manual Like many addon models.. they add a lot of stuff that (I reckon) the vast majority of folk have no interest in and I think this happened when Aerosoft remade the Seahawk for FSX.. to bulk it out if you will. The model itself is ok though as mentioned above.. the degree of shine is a bit iffy. I looked in the download for the paint kit and couldn't find one so I've just been to Aerosoft to see other users asking where it is. The answer.. there isn't one. The statement 'Fifteen liveries and a paint kit are available.' should have been removed by the vendor as it had been at Aerosoft. That's disappointing I can't find all these ships it mentions either.. any of them in fact. They're certainly not in the boats folder (unless I've gone ship blind)
The readme shows a program 'Shipyard2' which I DO see. It utilises Google Earth in order to place these ships.. I guess using ship tracks though where the ships actually are remains a mystery.

TBH.. the FSX Seahawk hasn't been on my buying radar and were it not for the fact I've started getting 'new model' withdrawal symptoms and the sale was on.. I'd probably not have got it. There's nothing else I'd have gone for so in for a penny.. in for a pound.. well.. around 19 of em I'll use it though which is always rewarding

Roll on Christmas
ATB
DaveB