Flight Replicas releases Spitfire Mk.1a and Mk.IIa for MSFS

Nice pics! May have to see if the pilot can also be selectable in the air, so that users can switch liveries/models while in flight. :)

Personally, I build aircraft I like (and when it takes about a six-nine months or more, you really have to like them), and not for the 'market'. No interest in capturing a market or competing with anyone. I think quite a few developers do that. And as such, you can end up with several examples of the same type being available, each with their strengths and weaknesses definable only by the end user.

Hi Mike.

The missing pilot in this case is a function of using Flight Control Replay. I flew your Mk.II first, and that was the flight I recorded for playback, complete with the pilot. Then, during playback of that file, I flew the Mk.IX in formation with it, well, I tried to as it's not as easy as it looks! It seems to me that FCR possibly uses the MSFS slew, hence the pilot can be missing on replay. So this may not necessarily be related to your design approach.

I do however like your approach to picking subjects. If we cannot stay personally and emotionally engaged with our work, it is easy for it to lose the edge. And if that work is also our hobby, we can implicate two important aspects of life in tandem. I started to see that happen with VIP Group all those years ago. My hobby became my work, and sometimes the business side stole some enthusiasm, and that affected my hobbyist activity too. Keep on producing for your passion, and when you hit a home run with the market, take it as a blessing and a bonus. I sometimes really miss being in the FS industry, but have not found the way back in.. So maintain the balance and love every minute.

Someone on a facebook group asked me today what I think about your Spit. I want to give a reasoned opinion that may encourage sales for you while also reflecting on the fact that they cannot compare it with competitors on a feature by feature level. You are correct in saying the end user defines value based on personal preference. If the tablet in the FI is what they count on, they will miss it in yours. If they only want one Spit (sacrilege - LOL), they may not sacrifice their tablet! But often feeling trumps features. And that is what I would convey. There's a warm fuzzy flying your Spitfire. It is as satisfying as a good cold Scottish beer on a hot Saskatchewan day in July. (And I will fly your Spit a lot more than I drink beer!).

One last thought for now. If you have not done so, maybe ask Michael Potter to introduce you to Dave Hadfield. His insights might be wonderful on flying so many of the aircraft you build. Worth an hour's meeting at Timmies methinks!

- Kenneth
 
One last thought for now. If you have not done so, maybe ask Michael Potter to introduce you to Dave Hadfield. His insights might be wonderful on flying so many of the aircraft you build. Worth an hour's meeting at Timmies methinks!

- Kenneth

Thanks, Kenneth, for that thoughtful reply. Thanks, too, for the suggestion - I had dinner with Dave Hadfield about ten years ago, at a fund raiser in the Vintage Wings hangar, and we talked about flight simming, etc.. We talked about beta testing the P-40N, and communicated back and forth for quite a while - but in the end, it fell through. Too large a gap, I think, between the real thing and flight simulation to be really be able to bridge the fields. I haven't been able to keep in closer contact with Vintage Wings as their Gatineau hangar is just a little too far for comfort now. Dave has done, and continues to do so, YouTube videos about flying the aircraft he flies - Spitfire, P-40N, Fox Moth, Hurricane - and his comments, from procedures to handling, all very useful when writing the flight dynamics for sim aircraft! Numbers are one thing - the feeling of flight, definitely another.

(Speaking of bridging the fields, that's why I'm happy that it's a member of Spitfire Mk.Vb BM597's flight crew that will be talking with Dave Harvey about Spitfire handling - said flight crew also being an experienced flight sim user, and beta tester on the Spit.)

That's Michael Potter's Spitfire that my daughter is standing next to, in the photo, when VW came down for a visit - since sold, I believe.

Commander Mike Crosley's book "They Gave Me a Seafire" describes how difficult it was to fly Spitfires in formation, due to the sensitive elevators - so no wonder it wasn't easy with the Spitfire formation. Imagine 12! Apparently the RN pilots much preferred Hurricanes for formation work. :)

No intention to stop making the aircraft - and man, the requests keep coming in - but one's brain certainly starts to zone out after a few months, it does become difficult to 'see' the project and its million details after a while. So a bit of a slog, but good people like the beta testers and users are all experts at bringing dev's back to reality and motivation. :)

Mike
 
"Oleg syndrome." Perfect, I love it. That term has just entered my permanent flight sim vocab.

August
 
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