Month: June 2021

702: Airport Enhancement – REX vs Zinertek

| Tom Tsui

After Zinertek released its Enhanced Airport Graphics for MSFS a few months ago, REX Game Studio just follows to announce their Real Global Airport Texture for MSFS as well.  To me, it’s pretty similar to what they compete in FSX/P3D environment before.AirportTexture_REX AirportTexture_Zinertek_resize

In terms of pricing, REX’s version is $17.95, which is about a dollar more than Zinertek’s $16.97.

Does that extra dollar makes REX’s new product better than Zinertek’s?

Let’s put aside the quality of enhancement first, the extra one dollar does give users a choice of 4 combinations spawned from New & Used Taxiway Markings and Heavy & Light Rubber Buildups, against Zinertek’s only one universal style.

How are they different and are they better ?

Followings are two sets of photos briefly comparing the two products.  I’ll give my choice at the end of the story.

Since the size of the photos are a bit large (1,800 x 1,100) , be patient if your network isn’t fast. Continue reading →

News: RealSimGear Refurbished Sale

| Tom Tsui

RealsimGear currently is offering discounts on a limited quantity of refurbished components, which are in perfect working condition.   They come with a 12-month warranty and full customer support.

https://realsimgear.com/collections/refurbished

If you are longing for one, this is a good time.

BTW, the GMA350 Audio Panel is not recommended for MSFS.

News: P3D v5.2 Released

| Tom Tsui

Just noticed that Lockheed Martin had released P3D v5.2 a few days ago.  Descriptions sound good with more than 100 new features and fixes and improvements.  https://www.prepar3d.com/news/announcements/2021/06/120786/

Hope this update solves the many issues reported before.

701: Flight Velocity Trim Wheel Pro Review

| Tom Tsui

If you have ever used any trim wheel circuited with an encoder before, you should have experienced that the last position remembered by it could be very annoying if you forget to set its position back to the center at the start of a flight.

TrimPro_01b_resizeSince I got the Cessna Trim Wheel from Saitek many years ago, I’ve been looking for a solution to this annoyance.   But search is futile.

So when I found out Flight Velocity was soon to release a new product called Trim Wheel Pro which would use new software last Decemeber, I was quite excited, hoping that it could be a remedy to my agony.

Unfortunately, after checking with the company, the new player is no exception.  The issue seems to be unsolvable. Continue reading →

700: My Cockpit Rev #30 – Trim Wheel Pro

| Tom Tsui

Yesterday, I got the Trim Wheel Pro from Flight Velocity, which I am planning to replace the Saitek Cessna Trim Wheel which has been in service for many years.TrimWheelPro_01S

A unique feature that distincts it from the Saitek one is an adjustable control knob on the unit, thru which users can vary and finetune the elevator trimming pitch during a flight.

After Logitech chopped the production of Saitek Cessna Trim Wheel since its acquisition, there aren’t similar trim wheels on the market one can find for a long time.

Is this Trim Wheel Pro a good replacement ?

How does it perform ?

Is the adjustable knob useful ? Continue reading →

699: Payware Meshes are still worth it

| Tom Tsui

Unlike the way I spent for FSX and P3D, I am quite cautious about getting airports and sceneries for MSFS these days as the overall presentation in the simulator is quite good already.

One exception, however, is the enhancement addons, such as Meshes.
SwissMesh_01W
No doubt, there are some pretty good freeware meshes or DEMs available as mentioned in my Post 689. But I must say that many payware products are still worth of what they are — the New Zealand Mesh from Orbx and the Switzerland Mesh from FSDreamTeam are two good examples. Continue reading →

698: Aerolite 103 Bundle Gauges

| Tom Tsui

The Aircreation SL582 in FSX/P3D was one of my favorite aircraft since I like low and slow VFRs.  In MSFS, I prefer the Aerolite 103 by Nemeth Designs over it for similar flights.  In particular, the dynamic rotary-style ADF and ADF Signal Reception Features are fun and useful.
MSFS_AL103_ADF_GIFS MSFS_AL103_ENG_GIFS
The other three gauges Continue reading →

Cockpit: Philippe aka 1L2P (LFPN, France)

| Tom Tsui

Philippe aka 1L2P in France spent a lot of time on flight simulators about thirty years ago.   He decided to come to fly again when he saw the early versions of MSFS 2020.  Followings are what he built so far.

Builder: Philippe aka 1L2P
Location: Île-de-France, France
ICAO: LFPN, Toussus-le-Noble Airport

21-0606_Chet_00
Project Notes: Continue reading →

697: My Full Forward View Update

| Tom Tsui

After months of tuning the Full Forward View adjustments described in Post 638, I have standardized the settings of the following three (3) paramters in “LandingPilot” [CAMERADEFINITION.2] on all aircraft as follows:
FullView01
InitialZoom = 0.6
This gives me a zoom level generally the same as the external aircraft view.

InitialPbh = 0, 0, 0
This puts all aircraft on the ground horizontally without any tilting.

InitialXyz = x, x, x
These three values are aircraft-specific, in which I adjust: Continue reading →