Caramba, o brinquedo deve custar em torno de 5000U$.
Um tal Slap esteve na feira Air Show e experimentou os controles:
"Well I got my hands on her (not the wife...no chance...) and it felt very good, no, it felt superb. The elevator throw from all the way back to full forwards must be near two feet; the aileron throw is different because it is works separately from the main stick, it rotates left and right around it’s own axis just like the real thing, I reckon the ranges must be from 0 to 70 degrees either side. Rudder pedals work very well and are totally smooth. I tried pushing the stick forwards and then letting go to see how it would re-centre itself and due to the dampening effect of the hydraulics it took a little while unlike that of a modern PC HOTAS with springs only. I would say that I felt a slight increase in tension in the elevators when push in the extreme ranges, this is due to the springs being under tension. I spent what seems like hours just going through all the ranges with the stick, full left and then right, forwards and back and combinations of the two (full right whilst pulling back etc ) and it felt absolutely fantastic! Not having flown a real Spitfire some quite some time now it was hard to tell how close this set-up replicated the real thing, but I had the opportunity to try a wired stick, throttle and pedals at RAF Hendon last month on an old jet fighter. I also have had hands on in a Tigermoth and have flown a glider; the first thing that struck me when I fiddled about with the throw was the “feel” of it; you instantly got the impression that you where manoeuvring a real aircraft’s controls; it really was something very special to feel and it made me think I was handling the real thing...All you really needed was the rest of the aeroplane and you was up up and away.
The throttle controls etc where absolutely smooth with finger touch finesse; they glided into any required position with ease.
The trim wheel was another fantastic piece of design that work effortlessly; turn the wheel one way and the corresponding trim would adjust the control column into a new position (e.g. forward trim of the wheel would reset the control column forwards a tad)
Did I mention the spade grip? Wow! This was the crowning glory of this set-up; it looked and felt fantastic and very comfortable to hold with it’s unique and classic shape; the firing button was superbly crafted and "clicked" silently when pressed. And of course that lovely military looking paint job just gave it the right look.
One criticism I would make was the ruder pedal set-up; because they where mounted on an adjustable sliding metal frame which was no that wide; there was a sight wobble or play when you applied foot pressure on either side of the pedals. I don’t know if it was just a question of the really tightening the adjusting screw, but I felt that this might be problematic (heavy pedals/legs apply to much pressure for the given support they had). Also one has to remember this was not the finished product.
BTW, here is a response I got from Bill the creator by way of email yesterday:
“will have some prices for the various control configurations within the next few days and I will let you know when they are finalised. Most of our existing MRVC fittings will fit alongside, and integrate with, the Spit controls.
The controls will be pre-programmed mechanically and electronically to represent the closest possible feel to the original aircraft. In reality the controls will always be more realistic than any available Flight sim software, because they have been constructed and fabricated to the same original aircraft design and are therefore fully developed, where as flight sim software and visual display development is ongoing.
If by
FFB, are you referring to the so called Force Feed Back system? If so, then here is some useful information on the subject that you can pass on to your flight sim enthusiast friends.
FORGET IT ! This is the most useless, unrealistic, addition you could possibly add to any serious flight simulation controls. It was originally introduced as a games enhancement for kids, and has never been developed for serous applications within the flight sim concept is very quickly dismissed by anyone who knows what it feels like to fly a real aircraft. It works very well with race car controls , but that’s about it.
We are in the first stages of developing a future live stick system that will operate in a totally different way to anything currently available. In the meantime we have incorporated our well proven (adjustable oil displacement option to the Spitfire controls.”
All in all I was really taken in by this wonderful piece of craftsmanship, so much so that I did a tour of all the other exhibits and came back for second helpings…
If I had the money to spare would I buy one? Dammed right I would! But you would have to take into consideration the fact that you are buying into a Spit or Hurrie type control set-up and it would not carry over to Falcon 4 or another plane type if you where trying to being authentic. But who cares if all you want to do is fly Spits and the likes. Also take into consideration that you most probably have to start adding extra control boxes of sorts due to all the buttons and switches you would lose compared to modern dedicated flight sim setups; but if you bought one of these it would go without saying.
The chap who had it on display reckoned it would be in the region of three grand and when I win the lottery this Wednesday I am putting in an order for one for sure.
This will most probably be as close as I ever get to feeling the controls of a Spitfire and it was a privilege.
This set-up is in a different league to anything I have ever seen regarding HOTAS controls for a flight simulations, I want one real bad..."
Bem, se ganhar na Megasena, é coisa para se considerar...
Outra "coisinha" da feira:
Sokol1