I’m fairly new to flight sims and so was looking for a little advice. With PMDG’s DC-6 released and Aeroplane Heaven’s DC-3 coming up, i only have money for one of them and am trying to decide which to chose.
So far, it seems like PMDG have released a great product, minus some bugs (like the multiplayer issue). Communication from them seems pretty good and it looks like their responsive to issues.
With Aeroplane Heaven, it seems like reviews are fairly positive, but seem to highlight more issues. Their PR is a bit…interesting, which makes me a bit hesitant (with how the Spitfire delay was handled).
If all factors were equal, i’d probs chose the DC-3 'cause it seems like the more historically significant airplane? Obvs there will be differences though, so i was wondering if i should get the PMDG DC-6 now or wait 'till the Aeroplane Heaven DC-3 comes out and see how they stack-up against one another?
Any advice would be welcome, especially from people that have had experience with both Aerospace Heaven and PMDG payware. Thanks a ton!
I would go for PMDG as they have the best products out of any 3rd party dev, it is also a study level aircraft. PMDG always have and always will be the king!
The DC-3 and DC-6 are rather different aircraft, and I’d say that the choice comes partly down to your preferred style of flying. If you are more of a seat-of-your-pants, follow-the-railways kind of guy, the DC-3 can do that, whereas the DC-6 is an airliner in the modern sense.
get both, yes i saw only money for one, but we dont know what the 3 will cost.
i dare say the 6 has the better quality, but much more difficult to fly, without afe ofcourse.
if you are not willing to spends a few hours learning the 6, its a waste of money, then better wait. the 3 will be better for smaller fields too, you cant really compare.
I can only agree with what was said so far. I’m more of a GA pilot and fly short distances and the complexity of the DC-6 and the CRJ are too much work for me ATM. So I will wait for the DC-3 although I abdolutely love what PMDG have created with the DC-6 and would love to simply have her in the hangar. Would be wasted money though
well i got it too, and i mainly fly small bushplanes…just fun to have an look at that cockpit.
i will not be flying it too much tho, just a cruise around an airport is fun too, some small flights with afe, but i ma not going to study for hours to fly it liek it should, i knew that
beforehand, so money wellspend, awesome plane. lest say the price helped…haha
much more and it was a no no for me, altho i say this is easily worth 75 to 80.
the dc 3 will be less indepth, but thats ok for me.
Oh, i didn’t realize that they’re very different airplanes. I may have just assumed they were similar since they both look pretty alike >.> As you can see, i’m very well-versed in airplanes haha
The complexity is fine; even if it takes me a while to learn things, that doesn’t bother me. Learning to fly some of the other historical/vintage planes has been pretty fun, even if they’re a lot less complicated than this
Personally, i’m more of a GA/vintage girl it turns out, but when i’m flying with friendos they enjoy airliners and jets. The way you guys are putting it, the DC-3 might be better for more just small stuff, whereas the DC-6 is more for long-haul flights?
The DC-3 can be flown like a long-haul airliner. That’s what it was originally designed for. It is a lot more flexible though, and is capable of operation from short(ish) grass fields in the way that the DC-6 can’t. There are lots of them still flying, and their flexibility has much to do with this. That, and the fact there were so many made. An iconic aircraft.
The DC-3 first flew in 1935, while the DC-6 first flew 11 years later, in 1946, and technology had moved on quite a bit over that time, too. The DC-3 was a twin-engined unpressurised taildragger. The DC-6 had four engines, a pressurised cabin, and tricycle landing gear. Both had autopilots, but while both were primitive by modern standards, the DC-3’s was even simpler.
Well good news! PMDG seems to be interested in developing DC-3 for MSFS in the future. It is not confirmed yet but it is highly likely. And PMDG operates a dc-3 aircraft irl
Here is a quote from Robert Randazzo
"Yes- in fact I would LOVE to do a DC-3. The rest of the team brings it up in discussion as well. DC-3 would be more of a vanity project for us than a revenue maker. If we are to do one, I see it sliding into the lineup after we get our core product lines update for MSFS. I think MSFS would be just the finest platform for a good, honest, well modeled and highly detailed DC-3.
And access for data collection certainly wouldn’t be a problem. LOL - RSR "
The AH DC3 could still be some time away from release. I would buy the DC6 today…right now…are you still here?
Seriously, the PMDG DC6, while not perfect, is a work of art. There is a lot to learn of course, but you have the Flight Engineer to help run the checklists for you. It is a very different airplane from the DC3…a lot more advanced in many ways but still a piston airplane with all that involves.
PMDG have done a great job with documentation and the tutorial videos on YouTube are top notch.
I too was disappointed with how AH handled the Spitfire release…. Lots of hype, ‘On Short Final’ etc etc, and then deciding that the market already had one too many Spitfire’s available. Anyone who knows their Spits would tell you the Mk1A and Mk IX are very different animals. I would have bought the Mk1A and Mk5 on day 1 of release despite already having the Mk IX by Flying Iron. I probably still will but I won’t be jumping on the pre-release hype train for AH products anymore.
I would have liked a DC3 as well… But… i bought the DC6 last weekend, and it is all Iam flying right now.
The flight engineer who helps a hand and the in depth details, they are just stunning.
Watch this promo video of the DC6 and if you get a smile on your face… well lets say, your heart knows what to do.
Coming late to this thread, but I’ll throw in my two cents, based on lots of hours in the PMDG DC-6 in FSX/P3D, and even more in DC-3s/C-47s (I was a very small part of the beta team for Manfred Jahn’s freeware C-47 and flew the AH DC-3 as well)…
For me, the difference between the DC-3 and the DC-6 isn’t so much long-haul vs. short-haul. You can fly the DC-6 short-haul - I’ve been wringing out the MSFS version on flights between KDCA and KPHL, about 150 nautical miles and never getting above 7,000 feet. No, the difference is that the DC-6 is a more procedural airplane. It’s faster and more powerful, and there’s a bigger gap between its cruise speed and its approach speed. That means it needs more planning - you have to work out the descent distance, and then make sure you’ve allowed another 20 miles or so to bleed off speed at platform altitude before the initial approach fix.
The DC-3, on the other hand, is more seat-of-the-pants. It cruises at about 150 mph and flies the approach at 90, so it’s pretty easy to scrub off speed. You can handle the descent by feel - maybe do some S-turns if you’re too high entering the airport area - and still arrive on the approach where you need to be. You can reasonably fly it single pilot (there was even a modified one that flew in Alaska that had FAA certification for single-pilot ops - they moved the cowl flaps controls to the left side of the cockpit and that took care of it). You can fly flag stops the way they did in the 30s - fly over the field and see if the station manager has raised the flag. If he did, there are passengers or mail to pick up, and you land. If not, you keep going.
So in the sim, they’re really for different preferences or different moods. I’d fly the DC-6 when I want to have that experience and get into the planning as part of the fun. I’d fly the DC-3 when I’m too tired for that or don’t have enough time, and just want to motor along until I arrive someplace.
I’ll buy the Aeroplane Heaven DC-3 when it comes out. And if and when PMDG delivers a DC-3… well, at that point I’m probably done buying airplanes for a while.
That’s exactly what I thought about my preference too, for years now. The first time I got into the pilot’s seat of the DC-6 I was overwhelmed. I thought, “Drat… I’ll never use this airplane… this is why I don’t fly airliners.” However, it’s all I’ve flown since Friday… almost forty hours in the left seat as of this writing.
PMDG has produced a model that is an order of magnitude better than anything out there presently. The POH is superb. The AFE (Artificial Flight Engineer) makes flying the aircraft very manageable, if not simple. I’ve even turned off the Garmin GPS unit, using the set of Bendix NAVCOM radios instead. The Gyropilot works great, and is similar in function to the AP found in Piper’s Arrow models, but with more sophistication and better control of climb and descent.
As far as short hops go, I flew from KAPC (Napa CA) to KSTS (Santa Rosa CA) yesterday. (That’s a 30+ nm flight.) It was fabulous! The DC-6 flies by hand so well I find myself doing that more and more, and I usually fly below 10,000 feet. Landing is all about the proper setup and approach. Once you get the “sight picture” down it is really, really fun. I’d say some of the best landings I’ve ever made in MSFS have been in the DC-6.
So… I’d suggest the PMDG DC-6 to anyone looking for an aircraft you’ll (quite likely) never get bored with. It is truly stunning. Take a look at the YouTube tutorials - produced by PMDG - to get a feel for what you’ll be flying. You can’t go wrong with this one… I can’t say enough good things!
I’m probs gonna wait and see what all comes out, since it’s not like there’s a limited stock of virtual DC-6’s haha
That’s great to hear that PMDG might bring out a DC-3 later! One thing i just realized is i dunno how well my computer would handle the performance hit that seems to come with the DC-6. I’m getting somewhere in the 24-30fps usually, so i’m not sure how badly that would tank
It’s great hearing everyone’s perspective on this though ~ it’s giving me a lot to think about!
If it helps, I don’t see much of a performance hit at all: max 15% CPU and under 60% GPU at all times - I have way worse number with say the Emb-110, playing on a 1440p monitor with 30fps locked, with a mix of high and ultra settings.
I have an i7-10700 (non-k), 32GB and a 3070, all at stock speeds.
I was having a look at the impact on resources during a flight the other day, with live weather and time, the numbers above apply to this scenario at around FL120 - both in the cockpit and outside:
(Please note: seems the forum compresses the images a lot so the quality is way worse than what I actually have. The pics are just here to ‘tie’ aforementioned numbers with what was running in terms of weather)
