Kwiflight Spirit released: Is it a B-2, or just wacky fun?

DennyA

DennyA

SOH-CM-2023
So IniBuilds has released Kwikflight's "Spirit." I really don't know what to make of this one, so I'm going to be interested to see impressions or hands-on videos.

Spirit: Ninja of the Skies

Forum/press release

Pros:
* It's only $17.59 US/13.99 GBP
* The plane model itself looks really detailed
* Appears the systems in the cockpit are simulated in good detail for actual flight purposes. Six MFDs with radar, TFR, systems pages, etc. FMP with flight planning and performance.
* "Air to ground strike capability supported" in the version from the Inibuilds store. (IE: Not Marketplace) -- curious about this one and sad it's not in the the demo video.

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Cons:
* Those paint schemes are well-executed with tons of detail, but they're over-the-top ridiculous and look like they should be on a motorcycle gas tank, or on a Bubba's t-shirt at an airshow. They don't do Tiger Meet-style crazy paints on stealth aircraft.
* The legit USAF paint schemes cost extra. (There's one plain gray scheme included, but from the screenshots it appears to lack USAF markings) EDIT: They made the USAF paints free and refunded buyers!
* No mention of Northrop-Grumman or B-2 could be (1) an attempt to not call attention to annoying intellectual property lawyers or (2) an indicator this is a fantasy plane that looks like a B-2 but may not closely simulate one

I really don't know what to make of this -- it looks like the model is super-detailed and the systems are well-modeled. But the goofy motorcycle tank paint schemes (well-done, but they make Ace Combat look subtle) make me curious as to whether the flight modeling and handling is anything like the real thing, or is just super-basic for fun purposes.


The addon pack has 15 realistic USAF paints, and the plane looks fantastic with those:

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Anyway, this may be an amazing surprise bargain, or a fun toy for casual fliers -- really hard to tell without dropping the $20.

So I'll be very interested to hear impressions from aviation enthusiasts who are familiar with how a real B-2 should fly. At that price I wouldn't expect or even want study level (not to mention you couldn't do real study level of a bomber that's this classified), but I do want something that feels convincingly like we'd expect a B-2 to. If it does, I might grab it and watch for community repaints!

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watch
 
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Apparently they've made the USAF livery pack free. A positive impression from someone on the official forum; I'm now more interested. Hmm!
 
Not mentioning Northrop is almost certainly a way to try and avoid copyright issues, much like Carenado never uses the Cessna name or logo.
 
Given the free livery pack and the low price, i decided to take a chance.

Only had a minute for a quick test flight on my lunch hour, but initial impression is that they're doing themselves a disservice promoting it with those liveries. It looks amazing in military clothes, sounds good, and "feels right" as far as flight model goes -- feels like a heavy FBW bomber and not super-simplified.

The manual also implies it's got pretty thorough system simulation for an under-$20 plane!

Excited to check it out more thoroughly after work!
 
Thank you for the heads-up, Denny. It looks really good and a reasonable price too, as you say. I'll definitely have to consider purchasing this and the livery pack. I've always been in awe the few times I've seen the real deal fly over.
 
What the heck is "Shop Pay"? I tried to buy it but insteed of PayPal they had something called Shop Pay. I don't like using my credit card for these purchases. So I use PayPal.
 
Shop Pay is a popular shopping cart service that a ton of smaller online retailers use nowadays. I've bought everything from MSFS planes to Star Trek ship replicas to jackets using it. It's an established and trustworthy service, but totally get not wanting to share your card with yet another service.

The nice thing about is that once your info is in, you can super-easily check out on any website that uses it; all your address info, etc. is there for any Shop Pay service.

You don't have to sign up for it separately or anything -- it's just the back end service sites like iniBuilds use.
 
So given my snarky comments about the paint jobs (due to stealth, you’re never going to see a B-2 in a “Tiger Meet”-style paint), I have to admit that even those paints are amazingly detailed. And the realistic ones are nailed down to the panel identifiers.

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It's not study level and nobody's going to buy this instead of the JF Vulcan, but for under $20 there's a lot of pretty, feels-right-in-the-air, convincingly modeled plane here. Now that they made the real liveries free, I'd recommend this to any S-O military aircraft buffs who like the flying part more than the system management minutia.

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If it's not for purchase in Sim market or MS marketplace, no Purchase from me. I'd love to have a B2 in my sim, this one violates my FS purchase rule and model of economics as a user and customer.
 
Well, sorry the digital distribution landscape is ruining your chances to experience some fun planes, but I gotta say the kitty in your profile pic is adorable. :)

From the "Inibuilds only" comments in the manual about the bombs, er, "cargo," and the fact that the bomb bays are labeled "cargo doors" in the tooltips, I'm certain this is coming to Marketplace, so if you're willing to forego the bomb drop animation (and the bombs in the bays), I'm certain you'll be able to pick this up in the Marketplace once MS gets it through its approval process. So sometime between next week and Christmas...
 
DennyA said:
Well, sorry the digital distribution landscape is ruining your chances to experience some fun planes, but I gotta say the kitty in your profile pic is adorable. :)

From the "Inibuilds only" comments in the manual about the bombs, er, "cargo," and the fact that the bomb bays are labeled "cargo doors" in the tooltips, I'm certain this is coming to Marketplace, so if you're willing to forego the bomb drop animation (and the bombs in the bays), I'm certain you'll be able to pick this up in the Marketplace once MS gets it through its approval process. So sometime between next week and Christmas...
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They can use them as cargo bays and add in good old WW2 Beer kegs in the bay. When it comes to the market place I'll be buying it 110%. I dont fly armed aircraft. I ferry unarmed to the base in honor of WW2 and WASP and current cargo/transport military personal. Want to simulate hot armed buy P3D Pro imo or if your 18-21 go visit your local military recruiter.
 
DennyA said:
Shop Pay is a popular shopping cart service that a ton of smaller online retailers use nowadays. I've bought everything from MSFS planes to Star Trek ship replicas to jackets using it. It's an established and trustworthy service, but totally get not wanting to share your card with yet another service.

The nice thing about is that once your info is in, you can super-easily check out on any website that uses it; all your address info, etc. is there for any Shop Pay service.

You don't have to sign up for it separately or anything -- it's just the back end service sites like iniBuilds use.
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Thanks for the info. I am still on the fence. Everybody is coming up with their own "PayPal" look alike. Google and Apple have their own pay systems. Now this one. I have PayPal set up for a direct payment from my checking account.

The main reason I don't want to use my credit card is that I seldom use it and I forget to pay it off. I hate getting charged interest because I forget to pay it off. I use a separate credit card for my “Hobby Funds” than our main card.

You are right, though. The more companies that have your information the more chance one of them being hacked and your info sold to the highest bidder. The state of Louisiana recently had their entire database hacked. We were informed that our identities were part of the hack. Fortunately, our credit cards and bank account were not part of the info stolen.
 
Vulcan. Did someone say Vulcan? I think Just Flight is several months out but the previews are superb. There is a B2 for FSX, I think from Area 51? Had it and found it to be quite unremarkable as I recall.
 
John, have you considered a debit card? I have one for each of my checking accounts and have had no issues, other than one time when someone managed to get my physical card and run up a bar tab before I realized it was missing. But not only do I know the bar manager, I also work at the same bank, so getting everything straight only took a couple of days, plus a couple more while I waited for a new card. After that, the real PITA started when I had to update all my recurring services like Netflix, car insurance, etc. with the new card number. Banks are getting very good at spotting charges that are out of the ordinary, but this one was at a place that I'm at just about every weekend, so it looked normal.
 
jmig said:
What the heck is "Shop Pay"? I tried to buy it but insteed of PayPal they had something called Shop Pay. I don't like using my credit card for these purchases. So I use PayPal.
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John - it looks like you might be able to pay with PayPal after you login to the IniBuilds Store. I'm still on the fence about this one but I'm pretty sure I bought their P-40 via PayPal.

Chris
 
Tom Clayton said:
John, have you considered a debit card? I have one for each of my checking accounts and have had no issues, other than one time when someone managed to get my physical card and run up a bar tab before I realized it was missing. But not only do I know the bar manager, I also work at the same bank, so getting everything straight only took a couple of days, plus a couple more while I waited for a new card. After that, the real PITA started when I had to update all my recurring services like Netflix, car insurance, etc. with the new card number. Banks are getting very good at spotting charges that are out of the ordinary, but this one was at a place that I'm at just about every weekend, so it looked normal.
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Thank you! Yes, I do have a Debit Card. I just never use it, except when overseas. It is connected to the same account as my hobby fund. I will set it up for CC payments.
 
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