First of all, I would like to thank Jorg / Asobo studio. We received wonderful high-quality, premium helicopters for MSFS 2024 from the developers Asobo / Carenado.
One of the most well-known and widespread helicopters is the HUGHES / MCDONNELL Douglas MD 500 series. In my opinion, it is the great dream of the helicopter community that Microsoft contact the McDonnell Douglas helicopter manufacturer and, as part of a partnership, Asobo studio produce one of the following helicopters in premium quality:
I have bought several helicopters from developer Cowan. For me, the quality of the developer’s helicopters is not good enough.
Cowan’s MD 500 E helicopter is inaccurately modeled, lacks details, full of errors. I will not buy Cowan helicopters in the future, because they are not good enough for me in many ways. Check out a comparison. Cowan H125 helicopter vs Asobo H125 helicopter. I think there is nothing to talk about. The difference is heaven and earth.
In my opinion, the community needs a professional Hughes / MD helicopter. This would require cooperation and permission from McDonnell Douglas Helicopters. Jorg’s passion is a guarantee for the community that the wish will come true. Asobo can create a perfect helicopter in every detail using the 3D scanning process. Premium quality exterior model, premium quality cockpit, professional sound package, appropriate flight dynamics.
I’ve never seen a default plane/heli, or one from Caranado/Asobo that was better than a high quality 3rd party. Most of Caranado/Asobo stuff is missing a lot of depth.
What exactly about the default H125 is better than the Cowan one?
Even Captain Sim? The high quality bit is kind of skewing the statement though. But there are many developers that create worse products than default level. Choose wisely, and check out online reviews before purchasing.
can you elaborate on what you don’t like or what inaccuracies you’ve found. everyone I’ve seen talk about the cowan sim 500 likes it. just curious
@wcc96387 My friend has an MD 500 E helicopter. I have flown it several times, I have quite detailed knowledge about the helicopter. You can only see the mistakes and differences if you have knowledge about the real helicopter.
Cowan left out a lot of details and parts during the modeling. The helicopter’s modeling is inaccurate in several places. This is true for the exterior model and the cockpit. There are a lot of angular elements and parts. He used few polygons. In addition, the textures are spotty, blurry or missing in several places. The sound package is also faulty.
It would be great for the helicopter community if there was a collaboration between Microsoft and McDonnell Douglas helicopters. I would be very happy if Asobo would scan the helicopter and then we would get a completely “realistic” helicopter.
I’ve never seen angular elements or parts on the Cowan 500, I’ve never experienced spotty or blurry textures either. I agree the sound is not true to life but most sim aircraft suffer there. I have some knowledge of the real 500 line of helicopters as well, not intimate knowledge but I don’t think Asobo would be the dev of choice for me.
A collaboration with MD would be great but I don’t think a full 3d scan would get us noticeably closer to real life over the cowan 500, the scan is only visual, the avionics, engine and flight model are a whole different league than the visual model. I have a 3D scanner that’s accurate to 0.1mm that’s only a small part of making an accurate model.
I’d like to see it but with the Cowan 500 being pretty widely liked and enjoyed I don’t see much room for another dev to spend the time and money to make a new aircraft that could only be slightly better, especially when most people aren’t playing with dedicated heli controls and just use a joystick that already has limitations when it comes to helis.
Helicopters are also low number, hand-built production machines. There are improvements and fixes that are implemented during production runs, and it’s almost safe to say that no two are built exactly the same. There are probably details on the helicopter that you are familiar with, that are not the same on the helicopter that the devs. had access to when they were building the model for their addon.
Avionics suites are also decided on by the buyer at the time of order/purchase.
I actually had a discord discussion on exactly this topic with the devs. from Cowansim about the R-22. Specifically the fact that the governor switch rotates with the throttle. The one I flew does not.
…but it was much newer than the one he had access to for modeling, and that one did rotate. You also have to consider that there are repaired/replaced parts and ADs that change aircraft all of the time.
They are not at all like the cars that we are familiar with. Of course if you are unhappy with the sounds, or textures or whatever, that is your personal choice.
As a real world helicopter pilot that also worked ground support for years before earning my cert., I’ve had broad hands on experience with lots of aircraft. I enjoy the CS500E and am very happy with CS and their products in MSFS20/24’ and XP12. I would prefer that Jorg and team place their resources elsewhere.
Also noteworthy to mention, the heli in the photo posted has an HA registration, Hungary? Different contries will have different regulations and requirements for import of aircraft, what’s commonplace in Hungary might be foreign elsewhere in the world.
@belatu42 I’m not talking about parts, but specifically about the modeling of the helicopter’s airframe. Cowan made an inaccurate, disproportionate model. We can argue about this for a very long time, there is no point. The differences are only seen by those who know the type. For the vast majority, the 500 E made by Cowan is completely flawless.
I don’t like Cowan’s work, because for me it is inaccurate, it lacks details. Those who like it should buy his products and use them.
I note that this is not only about the MD 500 E. It is about the MD 500 series helicopters. The cooperation of Microsoft MD helicopters could result in wonderful models. The classic HUGHES 500 C, or the classic 500D model. Let’s not forget the special 520 NOTAR, 600 NOTAR, or 900 NOTAR helicopters. In my opinion, the classic Hughes 500 C or D model cannot be missing from the MSFS 2024 simulator. I hope that Jorg reads the forum, which could open up a chance for collaboration.
@wcc96387 Original manufacturer model, no modifications.
You are assuming that you have more intimate knowledge of the H369 because “you’re friend has one” and you are coming off in a condescending way to other simmers. I thought I should point that out because there may be a language barrier or other factors.
I can find inaccuracies on any aircraft, in any sim, if I look hard enough. You are kind of missing our point.
I’m sure some users may vote for this thread, and I will always be happy to see more high quality aircraft. I will, however, keep my opinion that Microsoft/Asobo should concentrate on fixing things like the inflow being able to react with more than one ground plane and leave the aircraft to other devs.
The high quality bit is kind of skewing the statement though. But there are many developers that create worse products than default level. Choose wisely, and check out online reviews before purchasing.