A FW190 Praise and Review

[mjolner]

Greetings
This will be a long winded post as to match the enthusiasm I have for this flight sim product. I have been flight simming for over 12 years and have been waiting for a really fine German aircraft such as this to come along.

First I will say that after many hundreds of hours of flying both sim and real aircraft I have only limited experience in aviation in reality and this applies particularly to Warbirds. However I am an aviation history buff like many of us I am sure and I am particularly fond of German aviation and its impact on the world in both scientific and historical ways. Blah Blah Blah….

Anyway, the CH FW190 has the finest gauges I have seen in a FSX product to date, marginally better than RealAir and A2A, and lightyears ahead of the rest. The gauges are smooth, responsive and detailed and when combined with 6DOF and trackIR 5 the result is an immersive flight sim experience.

Along with a fine cockpit, the CH FW190 has detailed modeling inside and out. I am very familiar (book wise) with the various versions of the Tank’s FW190. I have built several fine scale plastic examples over the years, so I have a fondness for the Butcher Bird’s line with its roughness combined with a slight lack of thoroughbred refinement like that of the Spitfire.

For me, the FW190 was an example of exquisite engineering on the brink of new technology yet still holding on to the past. She wasn’t built to be the fastest or fly the highest but was built to do a job well both in combat and on the ground with maintenance crews tearing into her. CH has captured this spirit well.

In flight with everything combined, the sounds, the detail of the cockpit combined with a FM that just feels right, it all comes together. The BMW 801 was not the most advanced radial of its day. It was available and Tank used it. It does not have the smooth power of the big P&W super/turbo monstrosities and the engine feels and sounds right in this sim.

Bravo, and thank you for your hard work and appreciation for aviation history.

I am both excessive compulsive and eccentric so I have a few minor quibbles and questions/comments on a few details. Please humor me. These are at the very most, minor and ridiculous but such a fine product deserves a detailed review.


Much has already been said about the ground wobble, understood.

In my install the A1 sometimes requires an autostart before fuel pressure will kick in, and/or to allow a manual start.

Fuel Cutoff lever starts in the OFF position when loading a running engine.

When idling engine on the ground, full feather will stall the engine? This correct?

In addition to this there is no animation for prop pitch.

No attenuation in engine noise upon closing the canopy.

Propeller/ and spinner misalignment sometimes occurs after engine is shutdown. (very minor I am sorry)

ENGINE RESPONSE and TACHOMETER: I am not familiar with the BMW801. However, it being a naturally breathing engine I would expect a pretty responsive throttle which it does have with the exception of the RPM gauge. With engine at idle a subtle advance of the throttle results in a jump of about 800 to 1200 RPM without so much as a whisper change in engine bark. Is this a characteristic of the Kommandogerat? In any case it is a minor curiosity.

My FSX install is updated with Acceleration and a clean install of Vista 32 service pack 2, running an E8400 and a 9800 GTX with 4 G of system RAM.

If you read all this thank you and to Classic Hangar thanks again for the FW190. I am a late comer here so I am sorry if any of above mentioned equates to long dead horses.
V/R
Sean

[Mathias Pommerien]

WOW, my pleasure, Sir, you're most welcome!
Yust a quick one as I spend the night on the road, just returning home.
The issues you pointed out are valid, and I can tell you that
all of it has been adressed with the current late variants we are developing.
Most noticeably, we have now implemented a meaningfull rpm v. throttle code and also the Kommandogerät's rich/lean lever that is setting up mixture and prop pitch at startup is now implemented and working as it should be.
The early variants will get a free patch accordingly so the A-1 issues that you experience are history shortly.
Thanks again Sir, there's nothing better than a satisfied pilot!

[Mathias Pommerien]

Ok here's a more detailed response on the issues you're pointing out:

In my install the A1 sometimes requires an autostart before fuel pressure will kick in, and/or to allow a manual start.

I think that is due to idle settings in your saved flight, respectively your previous flight situation.
Solution would be to hit CTRL+Shift+F4 and CTRL+F4 before running the startup procedure.
The new version we're working on has the Kommandogerät-Lever implemented which will take care of the issue.

Fuel Cutoff lever starts in the OFF position when loading a running engine.

That's a design decision really.
FS always starts it's animations at zero. If you look up the stock planes in a cold and dark cockpit (needs a pre-saved new default flight) you will find that the fuel cock is always in position "all" since that's the default MS position.
I thought many boot FS from a cold and dark cockpit and it would be nice to have the lever in the off position.

When idling engine on the ground, full feather will stall the engine? This correct?

ENGINE RESPONSE and TACHOMETER: I am not familiar with the BMW801. However, it being a naturally breathing engine I would expect a pretty responsive throttle which it does have with the exception of the RPM gauge. With engine at idle a subtle advance of the throttle results in a jump of about 800 to 1200 RPM without so much as a whisper change in engine bark. Is this a characteristic of the Kommandogerat? In any case it is a minor curiosity.

Suppose these two can be answered in one go:
I will check back with our airfile guy if this is correct behaviour.
Just, why would you want to play with prop pitch? It has auto prop pitch.
You would only change prop pitch manually in an emergency event, say you want to feather the prop due to a dead engine or malfunction of the Kommandogerät.
To do so you would first switch from auto prop to manual using the appropriate button on the left console.
This is now implemented into the new version along with correct auto rpm versus throttle.

In addition to this there is no animation for prop pitch.

Hmm, pitch should be visible on the still_prop blades, not on the blurred disk though.
Will have to check if one or two propellers slipped through. Thanks for the headsup!

No attenuation in engine noise upon closing the canopy.

Looks as if we're getting a license for a sound module which will allow us to implement such stuff.

Propeller/ and spinner misalignment sometimes occurs after engine is shutdown. (very minor I am sorry)

That'll get adressed with the update.

[mjolner]

Greetings

Thank you for the prompt response to my quibbles. I will say that many of these issues I noticed I did not test on every single model, there are simply too many. I should have clarified that before I claimed to have done a detailed review. Most of my concerns I noticed in the A1 of JG26 if that helps.

For additional clarification, any of the issues I mentioned were conducted from the free flight mode with engine running. I then would shut the engine down and do a cold start.
As for prop pitch, you are absolutely right in that there is no need to take manual control of the prop. But I like to play with something if it is there and so I did. I only noticed the lack of prop pitch animation on the first A1.

Appreciate the detailed reply and your time. Looking forward to the Late Variants as well as the Destoyer.

V/R
Sean