Just landed in grass, set park breaks. Took off and I didn’t see anything. Trimmed fine and everything
I think it may only happen in certain places. If you want to replicate it as I have and how Flight Replica’s did in order to get the issue. Take off from Topcliffe (in the UK) make sure it’s the non-airshow varient, set your departure from the main runway (the longest one) and take off from not from that runway but from the grass next to it. (This may sound REALLY specific but Flight Replica’s when teasing did notice it elsewhere it’s just I fly from Topcliffe 99% of the time and that’s where I definitely noticed it)
Nice if it can be pushed to the limits! Glad you corrected yourself, this is something that should be done more often, I will consider this aircraft based on your opinion thanks!
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I was definitely too harsh on it in my initial post. I still fly it regularly and since its release it’s the P-40 I fly the most =) The L-4 and Pa-11 by Flight Replicas are also a lot of fun to fly. I think with Flight Replicas you get wonderful visual models with convincing/nice flight models. Their aircraft would be perfect with more systems depth and custom sounds, but they are very enjoyable as they are =)
I totally agree!
So two more paints emerging from the paintshed:
Streamline (0008) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
grade a (0004) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
3 Likes
Bought it on sale, but only recently had a chance to jump into it. Does the flight model seem off to other people? It does to me, so I pulled out a stopwatch and notepad and jotted some things down. This is with modern flight model (not legacy! I’ve learned that lesson long ago!), crash and stress damage turned on, and all assists (rudder, mixture, etc) turned off:
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the published stall speeds are 75mph in landing configuration and 85mph clean, but with full ammunition load and 50% fuel (default loadout) it stalls at around 65mph in landing configuration and 75mph clean. (admittedly, I had to eyeball this, with the airspeed indicator not having any tic-marks between 50 and 100, I’m assuming that halfway between these two values is a rough “75”)
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In every other plane --especially warbirds-- there is a pronounced vibration and buffeting when approaching stall and during the stall. That’s not present here. At 10,000 feet and idle throttle, when entering a stall the plane will simply dip its nose and roll right slightly.
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the published turn rate at full deflection (left and right) at 10,000 feet at 200 mph should be about 85 degrees/second, but my stopwatch shows 94 degrees/second, which IS its optimal roll rate, but only at 260mph.
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Dive behavior is also confusing. Pilots reported needing to apply continuous left rudder input during a dive to keep the slip indicator centered (“P-40 pilots are easy to spot, theyre the ones with the overdeveloped left leg”) but in a dive the FR P-40N doesn’t need much – if any-- rudder input either way.
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In sustained turns (260mph, 10,000 feet) the plane barely bleeds any speed at all, maybe a loss of 5-10mph, and with very little rudder input needed to maintain attitude. That’s highly unrealistic.
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I do not have specific published figures about maximum g-loading for the P-40 (I have heard it was about +12 G), nor do I have an in-cockpit g-meter, but I do have pilot G effects turned on. If I pull out of a dive around 300mph and use full stick deflection, I will trigger a “you overstressed the airplane” crash message, but I will not see any pilot G effects. One of the hallmarks of the entire P-40 family is its structural toughness, so it breaking apart during acceptable maneuvers seems unrealistic.
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Very little, if any, rudder input is needed on the takeoff roll, both on paved and grass strips. Earlier, “short-tailed” P-40s had a p-factor issue, but the USAAF solved this by lengthening the tail. Still, some amount of rudder input is expected on takeoff and none is needed.
My experience with warbirds both in this sim and other sims had me expecting a radically different experience than the one I actually got. Does anyone else have any input on this? Am I hideously off base?
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I have to be honest, I don’t really enjoy this addon. The flight model does indeed feel quite strange. It just doesn’t seem to have any “personality” that would mark out as a P-40. It just feels generic, this is simply based on personal observation. It’s unfortunate because it’s a really beautiful model when the cockpit shadow and glass flickering doesn’t appear.
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We can only hope for some manner of a flight model update. At full price I wouldn’t recommend this addon in its current state.
I’m no professional reviewer but I do own both the Big Radials P-40B and the Inibuilds P-40F. So I picked up the Flight Replica version of this iconic warbird, well, “because.”
As has been expressed by others here, the flight model is very vanilla. One person described it as "generic’, which I think is about as accurate as I can think of. I’m no real-world pilot, and almost no one on these forums can truthfully state they have hours on a real P-40, but I have read scads of material on all sorts of WWII warbirds, including the Warhawk. What always seems to come out in these accounts is the fact that the P-40 was a hand full of airplane, needing a firm hand, and that she could bite you really hard if you didn’t treat her with respect. It was also very prone to ground loops, and the only reason the P-40 does not have the reputation of, say, the “Ensign Eliminator” or other inherently dangerous planes was that she rarely killed her pilot. She mostly settled for just maiming them.
This add-on portray none of these characteristics. We have a Stearman Trainer available that doesn’t fly with this degree of stately elegance. It almost feels as though you are flying through molassas. Nothing moves, no shudders, no jitters, no bumps, nothing. Takeoff is nearly effortless. I have only landed in it once, so I wont opine on the aspect of the planes handling, but overall, this otherwise beautiful airplane has more Cessna DNA than Curtiss.
On the good side of the ledger- and I cannot overstate this- the visual model of the P-40N is, IMO, better than any other iteration of the airplane I have ever seen, in any sim. And I go back to the original MSFS back in '82. The cockpit is simply world-class. I love the textures and the liveries, but mostly it is the depth and detail of the visuals that impresses me the most.
I truly hope Flight Replicas does something with the P-40N, because with a bit of love this could easily beat out the Inibuilds offering in accuracy and quality. But my favorite P-40 to date remains the Big Radials P-40B. The visuals of the FR bird beat even this outstanding add-on, but the flight model of the BR keeps it in first place as far as I am concerned.
Here’s hoping the N gets the TLC from it’s developer that it deserves.
PS, does anyone know where we can get a manual???
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The FlightReplicas website (Downloads) has manuals for all of their products.
I registered at Sim Outhouse and inquired there, since the developer(s) seem to post there, but they haven’t responded yet. But it’s been over a week so I have no idea what the story is on it. It’s souring me on purchasing future Flight Replicas products, I can say that much.
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Yeah, I bought the Grasshopper directly from them. It’s been updated since I purchased it. I didn’t receive an update email. I’ve emailed them three times through what they say is their support portal asking about the update and for a link to it, including the sales#, and I haven’t heard a peep from them.
I own all 3 P-40s in MSFS. I don’t enjoy any of them. For me, I find that the Big Radials P-40B provides an acceptable piloting experience. The Big Radials just doesn’t look or sound as nice as the other two. Specifically, this Flight Replicas P-40N looks fantastic.
I don’t regret buying any of them. All 3 were appropriately priced at what I consider a high quality digital model and skin - so I can see others who acually fly them in multiplayer.
The P-40 still doesn’t exist as a flying experience for me in MSFS, but I do enjoy seeing others flying it in multiplayer. I can only pray that A2A has truly arrived in MSFS 2020/2024.
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The Big Radials P-40B could be better if we had more skins for it. I am told that is likely never to happen since the paintkit is borked.
As far as the way it flies, I love the challenge it gives me on takeoff and landing. I can now perform both with better than 99% confidence, but this only after much practice. By comparison, both the Inibuilds P-40F and the FR P-40N are childishly easy to fly and offer no real-world analogue to the actual P-40. I’ve never flown a real one, but there is a pile of historical evidence that the P-40 was a very challenging plane to master.
I hope we have a P-40 someday for MSFS that is closer to study level, but IMHO the BR P-40 B comes closest right now.
2 Likes
100% agreed
Luckily, there are quite a few liveries for the Flight Replicas P-40N and the iniBuilds.
For me, If Jankees/PBY5A doesn’t create a livery for an addon, that is enough of a “review” for me regarding the addon (Military aircraft addons). There is a 95% probability that I won’t be buying it. If the addon has such significant shortcomings in the digital model, there is a high likelyhood that the addon also suffers from flight model, systems/avionics, and general fidelity ommissions. I probably wouldn’t enjoy it.
Most addons don’t come with a historical livery I want to pilot and see in the virtual skies as it once was in real life (before having been ditched, shot down, or placed in a museum). The Flight Replicas P-40N is no exception. However, Flight Replicas does have the best selection of default liveries out of the box - of the 3 P-40’s IMO.
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I have all three P-40s as well, and the only one I regret buying is the BR. It’s flight model is the only redeeming quality (for MSFS standards anyway) and why it’s a dead end for me. Shapes are off, landing gear too long, tailwheel too short, cockpit detail not to standard for MSFS, and that’s where I spend the most time. Pilot seems weirdly underscale too. And, as others have said, no paintkit. What you see is important too, IMO. I prefer the P-40N at the moment, but as has been said, the flight model leans simplistic.
Having said all that, I appreciate having options and have supported all three developers by giving their products a buy.
Inside the cockpit of the FR P-40N, there is to the port side of the canopy a small, hinged window. If you do a mouse-over on the window, the tooltip “Ice Window” appears.
Does anyone know what this particular window was for? Please provide a source-
I need help, I bought the N on sale last night & fly in VR using a reverb G2 however I can not get into the VC, my VC eyepoint sits on the nose just aft of the exhausts not in the seated position in the cockpit.
Is anyone else having or solved this issue?
Problem solved, error in the VR cameras config eyepoint xyz locations.
Mind letting us in on the fix?
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You need to change the following 2 lines…
Camera definition 13 which is the VR specific camera def.
InitialXyz = -0.0, 0.0, 0.0
InitialPbh = -7.623856, 0, 0
this config needs to be edited in both the warbird & airshow aircraft folders found in the community folder…
C:\user\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Official\OneStore\fr-aircraft-p40n\SimObjects\Airplanes\Curtiss_P40N
C:\user\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Official\OneStore\fr-aircraft-p40n\SimObjects\Airplanes\Curtiss_P40N_airshow
2 Likes