Epic. Means ive not gotten v1.1 yet 
As my initial flight had bigfoots feet poking thru my seat
I’m elated they released a patch that soon after release
Edit: yup, spam folder had the new patch link 
Well, I just “patched up” and would like to share my thoughts about this airplane. This is not a professional review by any means and should not be regarded as such.
After purchasing this product on the day of release, I admit to having been a bit underwhelmed. It cost $30 US, a tidy sum, and at the time I felt it was definitely overpriced. Although my views on this are evolving, I must say, a somewhat lower price point is still indicated as far as I am concerned.
That being said, post-patch, the majority of the switches and buttons appear to be working now.
You can actually turn your magnetos off and turn them on again, alternator and battery switches now work, as do several other sundry mechanisms. Good job Black Box. Several controls do actually function but lack an animation, such as the radio tuning knobs. The textures (which wax very FSX) have, so far as I can tell, been left untouched. The external and interior textures, as has been noted, are not necessarily bad , but will find no counterpart in the current stable of stock aircraft in MSFS. I do not know if the developers have a solution to this or not.
In any case, I will concentrate now on what is good about this little stringbag, which seems to be growing on me…
Takeoff is smart, short, and believable. The engine sounds are also authentic-sounding. She is a light ship, and thus, pitches about in even moderate wind conditions just as one might expect of an aircraft this size. While not exactly heavy on the controls, she responds to control inputs in a believably reluctant way, as one would expect from an observation/liaison aircraft designed for stability. Put too much muscle into the stick and you will hear a delightful cacophony of creeks, grunts, and groans from spars to fuselage, which only adds to the immersion. As far as visibility is concerned, this is accurately reflected in the model, with an almost unhindered view throughout 360 degrees as well as directly above you. This is one of the reasons I love military spotters, and even more so in MSFS, since there is much beauty to behold in this new sim. As for landing, she does seem to want to linger in her natural element as long as possible before settling, but, not being a “real” pilot, and having never flown the actual kite, I can’t say if this is authentic or not. I will simply say, she may not win any beauty contests, but her very noticeable “personality” at least somewhat makes up for this.
One thing I do wish the devs would consider is tossing that repugnant “formica” instrument panel for a black one, at least for the military variants. Most of these ships you see at airshows and museums have a black instrument panel, and I believe the model would be better and more immersive if this could be changed.
If the price of this add-on were dropped by even a few dollars, a few additional liveries added (such as a US Army Vietnam-era Olive Drab with a big white “ARMY” on the side) and the textures touched up at least a bit, I sincerely think Black Box could have a seller on their hands. As it stands, I can only recommend this to people such as myself who are enamored with military-style liaison aircraft, and for whom $30 isn’t a big deal. While it will certainly be a black sheep among it’s home-grown MSFS cousins, it truly is a fun airplane to fly, and by no means the worst kite I’ve had in my flight sim stable. If Black Box ever does a Stinson L-5, I would almost certainly pick it up, even if it were no better than her Cessna cousin. The Bird Dog , for me at least, is “good enough.” Not enough to keep me from hoping for further improvements, but good enough nonetheless.
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I can’t seem to find the patch? Not in my spam or junk mail. Have others received the patch?
EDIT: I logged back in via my purchase email, and now see 1.1 able to download.
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@ NightMercury358, thanks for the super-quick patch! Plane looks fantastic and flies really, really well.
I did notice a few issues with 1.1, however:
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The switches do work now, and are animated! Nice. However, the keyboard commands for the lights and other switches no longer work, nor do the controller assignments. If I try to flip on the landing light using the switch on my yoke, or via the keyboard command, nothing happens. But it does come on if I turn it on via the panel.
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Even in 1.1, I’m still getting the back-seater’s feet through my chair. (I never even installed 1.0.) I can solve for now by just //commenting out the copilot in aircraft.cfg.
Also, that’s a mighty plush seat the back-seater’s sinking into. 
Flight model feels great, and it looks fantastic from the outside. Not sure why all the complaints about the interior – it’s a simple plane with a sparse military interior, and I think it looks fine. Not as detailed as the Asobo planes, but certainly good enough to fly around without it feeling overtly “game-ish.”
The only thing that bothers me visually in the interior is what I assume is a big round non-functional mirror on the right of the panel. If that can’t be made it reflect, would be nice to just remove it. (Field mod. ;-))
This fault appears to be with the Flightsim Starter … Please use the MAG Switch for starting until we can rectify it …
Thanks
Blackbox Simulation Cessna Bird dog V1.10 Released
Within 48 Hours of initial release we have listened to the customer concerns and issued Patch V1.10
This features the addition of
Working Pitot heat + Switch
Working Batt Switch
Working ALT Switch
Working Volt/Amp Switch
Working Start Button
Working Boost Pump + Switch
Improved MAG Switch
Fixed Transponder digits 3 & 4
And Moved Passenger feet
We hope this improves your enjoyment of what we think is a cool little VFR Bird
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Any plans to address the concerns with textures & low poly model? I really want this plane, but don’t think it currently is up to par on the visual front when comparing to base-game planes.
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This is horrible 
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Imho addon planes should be AT LEAST on par with Asobo’s default planes when it comes to graphics. This plane might have been nice in FSX/P3D but in MSFS…? I don’t think so. Not even close. How dare they ask 25 euro’s for this ported crap…! 
Imho stuff like this should be forbidden. MSFS needs some quality control when it comes to addons. I certainly hope this won’t make it into the market place and fool new users.
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Not even talking about the model, which looks like some sort of bad joke, but the controls and mechanics are absolutely butchered. Watch David’s review and save your money.
To be honest, its not THAT bad. But I agree: The days of easy ports from ancient FSX models to P3D to msfs are over. FS 2020 upped the bar considerably. Rushing a port to be under the first devs to support the new plattform is just utterly destroying the reputation. Devs should be aware of that fact and act accordingly. Porting 1:1 is no more sufficent IMHO. Especially when we pay the full price again.
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Personally (as stated in video, although I realize the negative takes precedent) I found the exterior model very pretty. More than acceptable. Great even. I loved the liveries.
I loved how the tires drooped down when flying.
It even felt ok to fly (in fairness I didn’t get much flight time in 5 hours)
Its a $40.00 model… Its not worth $40.00 in a broken state. That isn’t my fault, and I reject the notion that it is. (not talking about you Cello, just in general)
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Hi Cellinsky (lovely nickname, a fellow musician?) I’m usually very forgiving when it comes to add-ons, and supportive of 3rd party developers, but this product shouldn’t be sold in its current state, let alone for €24.99. Did you watch the video review?
I could overlook the bad interior model but I cannot condone the rest and pretend it’s alright. And that’s the updated Bird Dog v1.1. My sincere apologies if I sound harsh but this is a rip-off imho and people should be aware. Thank God for Youtube!
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I could’ve sworn I tried starting with the mag switch with no luck, but I’ll try again later. The engine turned and turned but never fired, so I assumed it wasn’t getting fuel. I’ll have a chance to spend more time on it later.
Thanks Capt Clarence… let us know when it’s safe to unfasten the seat belt and move around the cabin.
Nicely written… thanks for the review.
As I predicted… black box strikes again with their shocking quality and high pricing
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Did I get it right, that this plane with floats is not able to land on water?
Buyers, can you verify this?
That would have been my only reason to buy this to be able to land and take off from water.
-eelis-
Just like the Kitfox on the market place this plane is not up to MSFS standards. This should become clear to third party developers. Gauges and cockpit items should be smooth with no polygons visible. Aircraft should at least be the quality of the default aircraft or better. Bugs can be fixed but a bad quality cockpit needs to be redone.
Great reviewer, one of the few I watch. I believe he is right that it’s too expensive atm seeing what you get.
1 Like