De Havilland Tiger Moth 82 and Waco Classic

By John Denby (19 October 2003)

The flightsim model by Bill Lyons fills a gap in vintage planes for FS2002, which was only really filled by another freeware Tiger Moth out there, which was good, but didn't, frankly, stand up to the quality of this package. Many flightsimmers will be aware of Bill Lyons' planes, which include the Fleet Canuck 80 and the Cessna Bobcat, both of which are available in the file library here. He also made a series of "Custom Classics" planes for F.S., which were payware downloads, priced at around $12, which is comparatively cheap in the world of add-ons. This plane was part of the Custom Classics series, but they have all been made freeware and can be downloaded, again, from this site. There are several other planes in this package, that Andrew Herd already reviewed, and the J-3 Cub is excellent, but let's get down to business.

The plane comes in a large 8 MB download, which is manageable for the 56k users, and you get two9 separate models and a big choice of liveries in exchange for your download time. The two models are, unsurprisingly, a model with floats and one without, and each model has several brightly colored liveries. The installation is very straightforward, just unzipping the file to the main FS2002 directory, and then you're ready to go flying. The model shows up under "de Havilland", and when you install the plane you get a large choice of flights, mostly around Barton Aerodrome, which has historical significance for the Moth.

When you load the plane, (which is quick, because it's a no-frills model), the first thing that you see is the 2D panel (were you expecting anything else?), and from a first look it doesn't bode well, because the 2D panel is pretty dire, and you won't be inclined to fly much from in here, and to put you off even further you can't see out at all. The instruments are all there, but the bitmap is basic and a little fuzzy, and for this it doesn't deserve a screenie in the review. Many people will say that given that it's freeware, you shouldn't moan, but it wasn't always free, and a nicer 2D panel would certainly be welcome, but it isn't really a big deal.

Bill's area of expertise, however, is virtual cockpits, and once you move into it it's clear that he knows what he's doing in there, because it's really good. All the controls are animated, and the textures are basic but still very clear, which gives this VC excellent frame rates. The instruments are all very clear, and the magnetic compass is set in the traditional de Havilland style, which is to say horizontally. This is a compass, not a heading indicator, by the way. The tachometer doesn't work until you switch the lights on, for some reason, but you can switch the lights off and the tach will still function, so it's no problem. If you look out the side, the flying wires are all there and nicely done, but they don't have the excellent animations that they do in the J-3 Cub, but the wing textures aren't fabulous; OK, certainly but a little fuzzy sometimes. Pilot visibility is excellent once you are in the air, but take-off is a little tricky, and requires you to judge your path along the runway by using a reference point to the side. And there's a surprise in there, not least the fact that the joystick has the DH logo printed above it. Satisfied? You got it.

Before I start talking about how this plane flies, I will again point out that I'm not a pilot, because you would be amazed at the amount of people who email me to criticise my comments on flight dynamics. I do my best from reading, watching and asking questions on postboards. Anyway, the flight dynamics don't seem to be too far off the mark. Bear it in mind that this critter was designed as a training plane, so docile flight characteristics were important, and that's how it turned out in this model. You will need to push the elevator trim down a little before take off if you don't want to stall, crash and burn, but if you get it right she flies herself off the ground at 60 miles per hour. Not knots. This plane travels a lot more slowly than you would expect for such a light plane with 130 hp up front, but it isn't a streamlined design so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. Once you reach altitude, this one cruises at about 85 miles per hour at 2200 revs, so you won't be going anywhere fast. I have been told by some flightsimmer that not all planes have roll stability, and for this email I would like to thank them for correcting me. The wings don't stay banked, but they don't fight their way horribly out of a turn the way that many flightsim models do, and it is certainly flyable, and enjoyable as well. One thing that struck me was how quickly it accelerated with no power and the nose down, which struck me as odd given all the drag there must be with two sets of wings, the undercarriage, and the flying wires. (I'd like to thank the "Biggles" series of novels for teaching me about old time aviation terms as well). All in all, it flies nicely, but you won't want to do anything more than short cross country and easy VFR in good weather, because even in a light wind it is buffeted wildly, and trying to do a 200 mile journey in this cockpit will bore you. And it takes practice to fly this one to the runway at 55 mph. (Incidentally, Amy Johnson flew to Australia from London in a Moth not too dissimilar from this one. Impressive, eh? She also crashed quite a lot during this journey).

Moving outside to the external model, the quality of the VC carries through, because it is again very good. There are animations all round, and the textures shine nicely, but I have my doubts that Air Force training planes looked so clean in the 1930s. There isn't a whole lot to say out here, except that it's above average, pleasing to the eye, and you will be inclined to spend a lot of time out here to admire the details. I did, and I don't usually spend much time in spot view, being a fan of VCs. When all's said and done, I loved this little plane, and I can live with a few glitches like the tachometer issue and the fuzzy wing textures, and now that it's free, there's no excuses for not having this jewel in your virtual hangar.

Any reviewer will tell you that some planes are easier to review than others. When I was doing my usual flight tests, circuits, et cetera for this review, I knew that the Moth was going to be a much easier plane to review than the Waco Classic. I'm not sure why, but it may be because I'd never heard of a Waco before this, and it doesn't have any of the character that the Moth.

The Waco, despite it being a bi-plane, is not old. It isn't even very aerobatic, despite it having the appearance of some newer aerobatics planes, say some of the Pitts beasties. It is again one of the Custom Classics series, and is now freeware, and there are no prizes for guessing where you can download it. It is a much smaller download, about 3.5 megs, and it appears that as the file size goes down, so does quality. Before you start planning my demise, I'll point out that this is a matter of opinion, and that this is not "bad" freeware or even payware, but it didn't bite for me.

The Waco, as opposed to the Moth, is not an elegant or good looking plane. Its wings and fuselage are very stocky, but it does move a lot faster than the Moth. It has a whopping 275 hp radial engine, so you really know all about it when you open the throttle and accelerate down the runway.

When you load the Waco, you get a whole bunch of liveries, and again you have the choice of a wheeled or float version. There is also an option advertised as a bush plane, but it doesn't seem to fit the bill for flying in remote areas in the opinion of this author. The 2D panel shares a lot in common with the 2D panel of the Moth, and of the Canuck. It is clear that this is not where Bill Lyons prefers to spend his time, for again the bitmap is straight ahead, and you see what you get. Many of the gauges are default, but all are readable. Again, the 2D panel takes up a lot of space so you can't see out, and you won't really want to fly from this view at all. If, and I say if, you were going to use this plane for IFR work, you would fly from the 2D panel, because all the gauges are in front of you, but ultimately, the FS2002 scenery isn't that bad, and most of us would like to see it.

When you move into the virtual cockpit, you are in for a bit of a shock, because it is excellently done. The textures on the body of the plane are a bit bland, but entirely livable with, and in the floor of the 'pit the textures are missing and all you see is pitch blackness, but that's where all my critcism ceases. The wing struts are modeled perfectly in 3D, you can see into the 2nd cockpit if you want to, and there are all the usual animations, including the rudder pedals, which are often excluded from VCs for some reason. There is a nice shine to everything in there, as you can see in the screenshot of the VC, and for the first time, the reflections on the glass of the instruments have been done really, really well, and I spent many happy minutes maneuvering the plane and admiring the light moving across the artificial horizon. The view outside is excellent. The animations of the ailerons are very nice, and you may have figured out by now that I really like little details like that. It's the small things that make a good package, and while I don't adore this plane, it has many touches that make it fun to fly.

How does it fly? Again, I'm not really qualified here, but the flight dynamics don't feel bad. It has a lot of oomph, as I mentioned, so it climbs fast and hard when you leave the ground, and after flying the Moth for a while it certainly comes as a shock. The wings stay banked a little more than in the Moth, so turns are very controllable, and whilst it doesn't buck like an Extra 300, it is capable of some slower aerobatics if you turn up the sensitivities in the Control Settings menu. I tried several stalls, and it cracks like a whip, with the nose plunging down. I understand that this is what happens with older aerodynamic engineering, and that modern aerodynamics have made it a little softer, with buffeting of the airframe to warn you, but I'm not sure how this goes for the Waco. She lands nicely at about 55 mph, but it takes practice to get it right, particularly if you're used to flying tricycle geared aircraft. On the subject of drag, it appears to have more of it than the Moth, and when you close the throttle and drop the nose, it doesn't accelerate much. As a whole, the FDE are nice, flyable, and I imagine realistic. If anyone knows, incidentally, I'd appreciate a response on this one.

Before I talk about the visual model, I feel the sound sets on both of the planes are worth a mention. Sound isn't something that I consider to be very important, but they are very good here. The Moth has the sound you would imagine... that is a clanky engine sound that crackles when it's idled and more so when you open the throttle, and in my opinion, it's how all piston engines should sound, because it is a thing of beauty. The sound set of the Waco is also excellent, but given that it's considerably more powerful, it whines when you open the throttle, and you can almost imagine you're sitting there for real.

Now the visual model: It's the same as the Moth's, perhaps a little less sophisticated, but it has excellent frame rates. The textures are sometimes a little bland in comparison to some of the better models, for example, any of Carenado's planes, but it is excellent and some of the detail is astonishing, and I can recommend a trip to look at the engine cowlings, because you can see the cylinders beneath, and the whole thing shines as if it's just been washed. To put it simply, the modeling is excellent, but the textures could handle a revamp. That aside, the only real fault I can find is that on the wheeled model, the wheels don't turn, but as they are covered by them big doohickies whose name I don't know (wheel pants?) you won't really notice that.

And so...hmmm. I loved the Moth, but to me the Waco was not my plane of choice, not because it is badly done, because it isn't, but more due to the fact that I don't like it as a plane. However, go and download it, you've nothing to lose, and you might love it.

John Denby
johndenby@eircom.net

Download the Tiger Moth
Download the Waco Classic