Famous Flyer #6 Ford 4-AT Trimotor - (Free June 23-30)

Really nice for free (until June 30th!, be sure to snag it!) The interior sounds are absolutely a joke, but otherwise I'm liking it.
 
I think the interior engine sounds might be designed to sound like what you'd hear wearing a noise-cancelling headset, but yeah, they're probably the weakest part.

Can't beat the price though, and it's a pretty solid release other than the interior sounds.
 
First impressions after a few hops around Oshkosh.

PROS:
- Free!
- 3 switchable instrument panels, 1920s, 1930s-40s, modern.
- Plausible flight model.
- Decent passenger cabin.
- Nice manuals for both plane and gyro pilot.

CONS:
- 3D model seems a bit dodgy, in quite a few places but especially nose, cabin windows, possibly wings. Floats seem too close together and at wrong incidence.
- Sounds, bad.
- Not many good paint schemes.
- Start-up a bit glitchy, starters sometimes won't depress, sometimes not all engines start even with Ctrl-E, restarting flight seems to help.

Overall, not bad a nice surprise.

August
 
Is this the surprise aircraft that Bomber was talking about in another post? Funny, I did not find it in the Marketplace today and I did the upgrade. Inqueries are in progress. From the screens posted on FB, it looks quite good. Free is always good. Provided with pride from Microsoft. An apologie to the community for the way they handled the MS2024 announcment I guess.
 
What a great surprise, I certainly did not expect the Ford to be added.

Given that we already got the Fokker F.VII and the Junkers JU-52 I was not expecting another 30's trimotor, but you can't beat the price and I am downloading it now.
 
some early notez. It seems a bit rushed to launch. It's free. Cockpit guages are blurry when you pull away from them. I thought it might be my graphics settings, but no. Correct on the interior sound being poor. It would seem an audio file or files are missing.Motor struts where they attach to the underside of the wing seem to be off a bit. Not sure which variant this model is. I don't recognize the long nose and vertical forward windows. No spray for the floats. Can't tell if the guages on the outboard engine struts are working, they too are also blurry. No issues starting or shutting down. It's free.update: blurry guages the result of Nvidia DLSS. Disabled and it's as if I have a different sim.
 
I just read through the manual and tried the different panel options.

The two "period" ones are perfectly acceptable, but the texture/modeling on the "modern" panel is pretty bad, since a bunch of the gauges almost look like they're 2d.

This has the makings of a pretty good product, and it's fine as freeware, but there's a couple of pretty obvious issues that need resolving before I'd consider paying for it.
 
dvj said:
Not sure which variant this model is. I don't recognize the long nose and vertical forward windows.
Click to expand...

Not sure if the developer is sure either! I think it is supposed to be a 4-AT-E with 300hp Whirlwinds. It should have a much shorter nose in that case, though. There was a lot of variation in the noses of the Fords, but generally the ones with the bigger, heavier engines had shorter noses. I have seen a few pics of Fords with noses almost as long as this, but not quite, and they are mostly earlier, smaller engined variants. The flight deck windows, I think, are just too tall, and not right for any variant. If you're talking about the central "prow" of the flight deck glass being vertical, that certainly was a thing; the EAA's plane has that feature, and so does the one at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo.

But you have to keep coming back to: it's free, and if we could replace the sounds, it would be not too bad from inside.

I'm glad to see Jankees already painting it. I was afraid the shape issues might put off the repainters.

August
 
I've patiently waited for a Trimotor to make an appearance in the game. I was surprised it was not included in the 40th celebration, along with the others. And, while I'm please like everyone else with this gift, I am sorry it is not the recognizable model (either 4-At or 5-AT). This model looks more like some sort of modern replica trimotor -- something I'd expect to see in a Homebuilt catalog. There's just something 'off' about the airplane.

I'm still hoping and anxiously waiting on the Ford Trimotor project from Taog, as it has all the hallmarks of a True Ford classic!

KB
 
Tried to get it, but my sim shows offline even though my online functions are turned on. Even tried signing out and restarting the box.
 

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I was just browsing around and found this on wikipedia which seams to match JanKees image above which is described as "Oldest flying Ford, a 1927 4-AT-A, Serial No. 10, NC1077"

Ford_4AT_Trimotor.jpg
Ford_Trimotor


It does not seam to be the most common but perhaps it was one of the earlier version? IMHO, it does not bother me since when in the VC I can't see it.

Noticed the market its described as an Aeroplane Heaven model.
 
There were a few different short and long nose versions of the Ford Trimotor, and three different windscreen/cockpit window designs, but there has never been any that look quite like this interpretation in flight sim form, with the flattened out upper nose and overly-elongated/exaggerated windscreen & cockpit windows. I know it's free (limited time), but from the exterior, it's the windscreen/cockpit windows that make the real Ford Trimotor, no matter which variation, have the visual character/attitude that they evoke. I'd love to see a developer who has an actual deep interest/passion for the Ford Trimotor build one for MSFS, like what we've seen with the MSFS Junkers Ju 52 and F13.
 
Anyone been able to set up the 3 lever Logitech Pro throttle quadrant to be able to control 1 engine per lever?
T43
 
Well, I managed to get the Marketplace working after starting a flight with live weather and pulling up a METAR - then going back into the Marketplace. Go figure...

Anyway, I picked up the Trimotor and did a circuit around Lihue just to see how it handles. First - I love the fact that it has the option to fly with a modern panel. This is a modern sim flying in today's skies, and today's rules pretty much demand at least some modern avionics. That said, flying this thing is... odd. The tail lifts around 40 knots, which in the Ford feels more like 10. And even with 100% fuel, she's lifting off the runway at around 60. Landing was a bit of a challenge - possibly due to winds, but it wasn't the most rock-stable approach I've done. Again, with the tail wanting to fly over 40, getting that large a plane to settle was "interesting."

On a side note, I really wish Asobo would work out which planes are appropriate for which parking spots. I ended up parking next to another Ford with floats that someone apparently just dropped off onto the ramp. Good luck getting that thing to move anywhere...
 
I think some of the landing thing is down to there not being enough drag.

Obviously, there aren't flaps, but something with that much frontal area should slow down significantly faster, or at least not acellerate as much in a descent.
 
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