They say it's
an ill-wind that blows nobody any good. Well, as a result of my little
spot of bother referred to elsewhere, I discovered a website that offers
add-on modifications to the NHP/CSM radio-control flight simulator that
is still regarded by many as the best of them all for real training
purposes. I can't say either way, as I have only ever used the CSM simulator
and am unable to make any comparisons with any of the others, although
some of the latest do boast some very good specifications as well as
some most impressive scenery that leaves CSM's graphics looking very
much out of date.
Anyway, if you go to Steve Lewin's site at http://slewin.clara.net
you will find him offering a range of additional helicopters and planes
for you to download and add to those which come with the simulator.
These items have been designed and programmed by various enthusiasts to
try and simulate the flight
characteristics and general appearance of a whole range of models for
both versions 9 and 10 of the simulator - there are some 41 planes and
17 helicopters being offered for the latest version (v.10) for instance.
In addition, there are even a few different field layouts on offer.
Unfortunately, there are no pictures on the site for you to see what the
models look like, but the range is certainly impressive.
Cessna panel for FS2000
If
you like to make your flying environment in FS2000 a bit more life-like,
then you might be interested in this panel from Dreamfleet. This is the
main panel for the Cessna 182 RG, fully operational and very finely
detailed. It has a novel facility in allowing you to zoom in on some of
the flight instruments should you find them a bit small. Once installed, it replaces the default 182 RG panel, although
Dreamfleet do provide unsupported documentation to make it possible to
have both versions available.
The panel also has an alternative view of the lower half of the
cockpit as you see here. This is not
a view you are likely to use very often, but it is fun and very pretty!
The trim settings are operational from this view. The cockpit interior
and exterior views are equally detailed. This panel is another of the
incredible free add-ons made available from very gifted designers purely
for the benefit of flight-sim enthusiasts. It can be downloaded fromhttp://www.flightsimmers.net/airport/dreamfleet
and the download includes comprehensive documentation and installation
instructions. You also need to download the Dreamfleet 2000 Manager. Installation needs to be done with care, but it is
straightforward if the instructions are strictly followed. It is a large
download and you really need a fairly high-spec PC to use the panel, but
I thought it was well worth the time and effort. These screenshots are thumbnails
and were taken off my own PC.
ModelFlight is keen to hear from you if you have any
contributions to make on the subject of flight simulation - whether the
mainstream 'games' or the dedicated r/c model versions. My favourite sim
remains FS2000, hence the fact that it features so much on this page,
but it would be really good to have items on some of the others.
Click on the post-box to e-mail me now!
They say it's
an ill-wind that blows nobody any good. Well, as a result of my little
spot of bother referred to elsewhere, I discovered a website that offers
add-on modifications to the NHP/CSM radio-control flight simulator that
is still regarded by many as the best of them all for real training
purposes. I can't say either way, as I have only ever used the CSM simulator
and am unable to make any comparisons with any of the others, although
some of the latest do boast some very good specifications as well as
some most impressive scenery that leaves CSM's graphics looking very
much out of date.
characteristics and general appearance of a whole range of models for
both versions 9 and 10 of the simulator - there are some 41 planes and
17 helicopters being offered for the latest version (v.10) for instance.
In addition, there are even a few different field layouts on offer.
Unfortunately, there are no pictures on the site for you to see what the
models look like, but the range is certainly impressive.
If
you like to make your flying environment in FS2000 a bit more life-like,
then you might be interested in this panel from Dreamfleet. This is the
main panel for the Cessna 182 RG, fully operational and very finely
detailed. It has a novel facility in allowing you to zoom in on some of
the flight instruments should you find them a bit small. Once installed, it replaces the default 182 RG panel, although
Dreamfleet do provide unsupported documentation to make it possible to
have both versions available. 
