I think I saw on discord he aims for this week.
Is there a place to follow the progress? Could not find anything about the dev and/or his J3…
Out now on Contrail and SimMarket!
Hope they release the plane in other areas. I dont want to install yet another app to get my planes.
Same here, but it is also on SimMarket if by chance you already use it.
It’s up on simmarket now too fyi
$17.76 usd
I’ve been enjoying flying this aircraft and getting to know it over the past couple of hours.
Here is a run-down on its features and operation:
TABLET:
The tablet in the cockpit, which can be added/removed, provides four different screens covering all of the different options, engine monitoring and settings. . From the tablet, you can load/unload pilot/passenger (and choose whether to see them in the VC or not), add fuel and oil, monitor the engine health, and many settings to customize visual and dynamic aspects of the aircraft inside and out.
STARTING:
The fuel on/off control is operated by holding down the mouse button and pulling/pushing the lever forward/aft (same as with the carb heat control).
The primer pump is operated by clicking once on the primer handle to unlock it, then clicking and holding down on the mouse to pull/push the primer pump. Then clicking on it again to lock it. The amount of strokes of primer required, based on conditions, is stated on the engine tablet screen.
The magneto switch is located on the upper left of the cockpit, and can be rotated by using the mouse wheel.
To actually start the engine, you have to pull on the prop clockwise (from the cockpit).
If the engine is flooded (the engine tablet screen will let you know), the method to drain the fuel out is to open the throttle fully, and then rotate the prop backward by pulling on it counter-clockwise (from the cockpit).
UNIQUE FEATURES/ANIMATIONS:
With regard to liveries, there are both clean and weathered versions of each of the four liveries included (so eight in all). The main four paint schemes are yellow with fuselage reg, yellow with tail reg, black with tail reg, and white with tail reg.
The physics-based animations are fun to watch, such as the side doors when in-flight. The bottom door never latches, so it will flop up and down based on the prop wake as well as G-forces generated in flight. The upper side door, when opened, should be latched on the underside of the wing, but if it is left unlatched it too will flop all about based on various dynamic conditions.
The aircraft seems to have very accurate flight and ground dynamics. In the air, it has the very accurate and noticeable yaw instability when banking just the ailerons left/right. You can also slip it really nicely with the rudder. On the ground it requires some practice to get it to turn well (brakes, power, rudder, and sometimes even some forward stick to lighten the tail).
If you load the product developer’s female passenger in the front seat, you can watch her sway from side to side based on the attitude of the aircraft. Also, using the mouse, you can push her from side to side in order to see the instrument panel, and when you let go she’ll center herself again.
The cowling can be removed, but you have to unfasten each and every one of the cotter pins around the cowlings in order to do so (there are a couple that are partially hidden by the exhaust). Once you remove the last pin, the cowlings will come off automatically.
You can check the oil level by taking the dip stick out from the starboard-side of the engine (you can also open the fuel filler cap).
The luggage compartment behind the pilot’s seat can be opened by releasing the catches on both sides of the baggage door and then lifting up on the center handle. Inside you will find the wheel chocks, which you can use by clicking on them. (If you forget to properly latch the baggage compartment door, it too will flop around when you’re flying depending on G-forces/attitude).
From the in-cockpit tablet, you can remove/install various pieces of equipment inside and outside the aircraft, including wheel chocks, pitot tube cover, tie-downs, wheel spats, different engine rocker covers, different instrument options (including installing/removing bank/slip indicators in two different locations), and you can choose to remove/install the limited modern avionics. You can also change how the registration numbers are displayed (or not displayed) on the wings.
There is damage modeling for the engine, prop and landing gear.
And now it would be awesome if we could have a SuperCub version, on wheels, skis and floats !
Nice review - thanks for taking the time to write that. What are the sounds like?
Just had a nice flight with it. I really like it. The passenger swaying caught me off guard, but it is really cool actually. The whole experience is very immersive.
I think the sounds are excellent, and they’re very dynamic depending on the health of the engine. You can hear and feel when the engine is running rough because it’s cold or damaged, etc. From the cockpit, the sounds also change depending on if you have the side window or doors opened. I also really like the accuracy of the sound of when hand-propping the engine.
Awesome, thanks!! I’m definitely gonna pick this up tomorrow thanks to your review. It seems very complete. And an extremely fair price on Contrail.
Can never have too many bush planes! Thank you again!
Dev says he doesn’t see why not but he has not approached Asobo about it yet.
Can confirm. The quickstart pdf is mostly about how to start the engine and what to do when you get it wrong. It’s up to you to figure the rest out
Also, the “limited modern avionics” is a transponder, a coms radio, and 3 unlabelled switches. There’s no autopilot but as suggested in the discord the autopilot keybinds will work when reality needs you to get up and do stuff, or you can set up an autopilot in Flow.
My first ‘flight’ (after the dev in discord had helpfully told me where the magnetos were and what the 3 switches on the electrical panel were - master, transponder master, comms master, but maybe not in that order) I headed off with the pitot cover still on. It’s tiny, if you don’t know it’s there you won’t notice it. Also the tiedown still on one wing. It didn’t end well, and the plane suddenly plunged through the scenery and the engine went bang and started smoking. I wasn’t expecting damage to be on by default so that caught me by surprise.
Got the plane back to the hanger and reset the engine, couldn’t turn the prop. Chris was still in the discord and suggested going in and out of slew mode as slew resets all damage effects. That worked and it has been logged as a bug to investigate.
Second 'flight" I had a heck of a time starting it, had to pull it about 10 times before it caught. The tablet tells you when everything is right and it should start, and there’s a “prime” button on the tablet which does the hard bit for you so it probably will start. Once it was running I got everything untied and took the pitot cover off (you can take it off by clicking on it if you ‘walk’ there from the cockpit view) and did actually manage to stagger into the air, and 15 seconds later I stalled and rolled over and faceplanted into the scenery. Cue another dead smoking engine and this time most of the propeller gone.
Then reality intruded and I had to stop, but I downloaded a real J3 manual to get some clues, and I LOVE what I’ve seen so far.
10/10 recommend if you like bush planes / planes that won’t start if you say the spells wrong or they just don’t feel like it.
one thing to be aware of, like the real cub this thing’s brakes are not great. you can certainly takeoff in a short distance but landing you might need more room than you think. the dev has stated that he plans to release a version with a larger tire and it will have better braking but for now, you should be cognizant of this “limitation”
Agreed. The brakes aren’t cosmetic, but they aren’t far off. They are able to stop the plane from rolling even at full throttle, but even at idle on landing they can’t stop the plane if its a gentle downhill.
Heheh thanks for the tip. That’s what hangar buildings are for!