X-Plane. It feels like such a lonely little corner of Mudspike. But I like it here. It’s quiet and dark (I think maybe the admins have turned off the power…or there’s a light switch in here somewhere…).
Cowan keeps getting better. I skipped his B206s because I felt that separating the two models was a bit of a cash grab. But with Dreamfoil allegedly out of the picture and no current H125 on offer I didn’t feel I had much choice other than to roll the dice.
It’s a very well done model. The exterior is second to none. Where his 500E showed some laziness in rotorhead artwork and rivet scaling, I can find no errors except a slightly exaggerated “orange peel” effect in the paint. Airbus might take some offense at such characterization of their paintwork but it actually gives the H125 a more pleasant look in the sim.
I do wish that the cabin, especially the panel showed a hint of wear. Not that it is Cowan’s fault but the instrument panel, as conceived by Airbus, is a big slab of dark grey. Why they felt the need to shut out the world with so much panel space is a mystery. IT’S A VFR HELICOPTER! Fresh from the factory, that dark grey wall probably is every bit as stark and featureless as Cowen has painted it. To me, it could benefit from some artistic abuse. Make her the mountain workhorse that she is.
Flying-wise, it feels plausible. There is gobs of power! My favorite flight so far has been climbing the spine of the Matterhorn until I hit ETL and had to turn away from the wall at the last hut. It’s nice to have a right power pedal since the helicopter I am building has the same “wrong turning” rotor. The H125 hovers right skid low with decent stability. My only comparison is the R44. The AS350/H125 as imagined here is slightly easier which would be expected.
There are dozens, maybe by now, hundreds, of livery options. Cowan has been more than generous with every imaginable configuration of winches, spotlights, cargo, passengers and equipment. The available power of the H125 makes it a great choice for winching light loads but I haven’t yet figured out how to get the function to work. X-Trident has spoiled me in making winching easy.