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"C130 goin' down the strip, Airborne Daddy gonna take a little trip!" Ring a bell with anyone? Instead of jumping out of this beast, you'll get a chance to see what it's like to fly it! Captain Sim, a familiar name to those that are addicted to 3rd party aircraft add ons, and known for their fine attention to the smallest of details, brings us the C130 Hercules.
The C130 Hercules, like the B52 Bomber, is a veteran of the skies, having been in production for over 50 years. In 1951, a USAF decision to acquire a fleet of turboprop transports for use by the Military Air Transport Service (MATS), which was later renamed to Military Airlift Command (MAC). The Tactical Air Command (TAC) wanted in on the action also.
The C130 is set up in what is now known as the typical military transport configuration, with its high set wing that allows for maximum use of cabin space and a hydraulically actuated loading ramp, which when closed, forms the under-surface of the upswept rear fuselage. 1954 saw the first flight of one of the two prototypes that were built, and the first production flight was in the following year, 1955. Since then, well over 2000 C130's have entered into military and civil service, in a many variations. The C130J was the first to feature a glass cockpit, advanced avionics, HUD, and upgraded engines. Here are just a few of the tasks that this "Legendary" aircraft can handle: Cargo and Troop Transport, Electronic Surveillance, Gunship, Coast Guard, In-Flight Refueling Tanker, Ski-equipped for Arctic service, drone launch and control, weather recon, etc., etc., etc..... The list truly does go on! As you can see, this "medium" sized transport gets around a bit! To top it off, I think it's a damned fine looking aircraft too! Lockheed must have done something right for the Hercules to stick around for so long! The big plus, of course, is the adaptability of the aircraft to the many roles that are listed above.
Captain Sim is known for their detailed and accurate modeling of aircraft. In my review of their Boeing 707, I was amazed at both the looks of the externals of the aircraft and the incredible amount of detail in the cockpit. "Eye Candy" doesn't seem to be in the dictionary of the developers that create these amazing renditions of aircraft. Like the 707, the cockpit is FULLY functional, and if you have had the pleasure of flying one of Captain Sim's other aircraft, you'll find that the learning curve isn't quite as "curvy" as it might have been with your first Captain Sim add on. This is because you are now ready and familiar with the complexity and detail that is offered to make the "flight" experience as real as possible. Along those lines, Captain Sim has called upon an outstanding team of add on developers and actual pilots and mechanics who have worked with and flown the C130, and they
have all given this product a thumbs up, both in the flight dynamics, and the way this aircraft is rendered. Let's take a look at what you’re getting, and after, you'll see that it is a product well worth having if you're into the big, prop, transport jobs.
There are two packages of the C130 that are offered, the Standard and the Professional. The Professional package includes these models;
C130 E - 7 Liveries, Canadian, Italian, Royal Australian AF, Swedish AF, USAF Camo 70's & 80's, USAF Current Gray
C130 K - 2 Liveries w/refueling probe, RAF 80's Camo and Current Gray
HC130 - U.S. Coast Guard Livery
The Standard edition consists of the C130 E Model with its 7 liveries. There is now an expansion available that offers 32 model variations and 3 additional liveries.
Once again, the folks at Captain Sim have done an excellent job in all aspects of the detailing of this aircraft. Starting with the exterior, this model is so realistic looking that, well; it looks like the real thing! Is that articulate enough for ya? Detail is exhibited right down to the rivets that hold this aircraft together. Functionality and looks of the working flight control surfaces is outstanding. Emblems and markings on the craft are clear and crisp. The paint jobs are
fantastic, with the right amount of "shine" or the lack of, depending on the variation. Antennae, props, smoke, sparks, fuel dumping, contrails, and a real neat extra, infra-red flares are done extremely well. I thought the addition of the infra-red flares was great, even though in MSFS 2004, I don't think you'll be dodging too many heat seekers!
This model comes with an abundance of working parts. Main hatch, side hatches, emergency hatch, from which appears a flag from the country represented in the livery, and a HUMV appears with a click on the control panel. A ramp control is also accessible at the control panel, allowing you to operate the rear ramp and hatch. Once the ramp is down, you can "order" the HUMV to load or unload, by clicking on the appropriate icon on the control panel. This operation is performed very smoothly.
Some may think it's a waste of time and graphics for a flight sim aircraft to display all these extras that have nothing to do with flying the aircraft. On the contrary, if you're in this for the realism, then loading the cargo and hatches that operate are all part of that "realism package" that Captain Sim has been known for. These extras operate very smoothly, I might add. In other words, they open and close as they would in actual operation, not just "popping" open at the click of a button. Other "extras include working windscreen wipers, smoke effects, and start up and exhaust effects.
Captain Sims
Legendary C 130 Hercules
By Farmboyzim
That's a load of goodies already, and we haven't even poked our heads into the cockpit yet! So, sit down and buckle up, and we'll see what's going on in the flight deck area!
As with all of Captain Sim's products, the cockpit is "virtually real"! If you read the review on the Legendary 707, you'll know that what you see is what you get, and what you get is the responsibility of managing the functions of this outstanding aircraft, in a very real manner. As was stated earlier, C130 pilots and techs were consulted and gave the product a test run or two (more likely hundreds!) and came away with nothing but compliments for the job that the team at Captain Sim had done in the development of this aircraft.
The panel work is done in excellent detail with just about every knob, dial, and switch performing functions in an extremely similar manner to that of the "real deal". The gauges are very readable and clear, and with the SP1, digital readout on the gauges is available with the SP1 update (more on SP1 in a bit). This is simply a readout that is added to each of the gauges making it a bit easier for those that are new to the aircraft or for those with bad eyesight! Wait a minute! If ya got bad eyesight, how did you get a license to fly? Oh yeah, it's a simulation! Sometimes the line that crosses over to reality is a bit fuzzy with these products today! There is a slight refresh rate deficiency concerning the gauges, but not too bad, overall.
Instruments and panels are accessible in both 2D and Virtual Cockpit (VC) mode. Sub-panels such as the Radio Stack, Radar Controls, TCAS and autopilot, to name just a few are authentically reproduced and presumably, since I'm not a C130 pilot and it was tested by actual C130 pilots, perform in relatively the same manner as the actual aircraft instrumentation. The operation of these instruments is not extremely difficult. Even though you may be familiar with the operation of the heavies, you'll have a bit of study to do, but you'll find that even though the manual, which will be discussed shortly, is extensive, the operation of the aircraft is surprisingly easy if you have a few hours of "heavy" flying under your belt. The fact that I was familiar with the operations of the larger aircraft, from learning to fly the 707 properly, and being accustomed to the detailed cockpit that Captain Sim provides, made things easier for me. In other words, this time around, I didn't feel quite as overwhelmed with the operations of a heavy! This may be an exaggeration from someone that wishes they could fly a C130, but I truly believe that with these types of detailed simulations, that if you were to pop your head into the cockpit of a Hercules, I'd bet you wouldn't be a stranger! You may be asked what the heck you're doing on the flight deck, and you can reply that you think you can fly this aircraft, whereupon you're more than likely to be escorted off the flight deck by the friendly Air Patrolmen that have been called!
I was very impressed with the performance of the avionics in this model. For example, the TCAS/Radar system. Functions were very realistic with various warnings in respect to the situations. The Autopilot was another piece of the avionics suite of the C130 that was easy to use. With all these panels, operation is a very realistic experience. Don't be scared off by the functionality of the panels. There's quite a bit for you to do to get this aircraft into the air, but there is also quite a bit that you don't really have to worry about. Total functionality can be used for cold start ups by the hard core flight simmers, who want nothing but the closest possible realism. Checklists are provided to get the C130 started and rolling. Knowing the basics will get you up and flying in no time at all.
The flight dynamics sure felt right! Takeoff, climbing, cruise, descent and landings all "felt" like the real thing, definitely different from how a freeware aircraft would handle. Hopping from the C130 into, say an ATR 72-500, or some other aircraft of roughly the same size, you can tell there is a difference in how the aircraft handles. Flight dynamics are very impressive. You're able to fly this aircraft just like "the real thing" using the aircraft information provided in
the manual. Flying this aircraft is not a difficult task, with the proper preparation. Panels are definitely not of the default variety. I have come to find that there is a great deal to learn from these products that Captain Sim develops. If you want to know how it feels and what it takes to fly the C130 Hercules, this is a great product to sink your teeth into!
Management of your C130 Hercules is performed using the Aircraft Configuration Editor. This utility enables you to manage liveries, of which there are many available for free from the Captain Sim Website, Preflight settings, and Tools. The only thing I found that I didn't care for here was that any changes made are made across the board on all aircraft variations. Not a major problem though.
There are so many paint jobs available from folks that have done repaints of the C130 that it would take quite some time to list all variations. Suffice it to say that you'll probably find something that you'll like listed in their livery library.
We do not live in a perfect world, and this is especially true when it comes to computers and software programs. Captain Sim had their share of problems from the release date in October of 05 until they were able to get a Service Pack put together in November, which requires a re-install of the C130. This SP1 fixes quite a few of the problems that plagued the C130 at its release date.
Sounds were improved, to get rid of the loop effect that could be rather annoying after a time, and the whine of the engines is now very realistic, both inside and out of the cockpit. The forum for the product was non existent at first, partially due to some problems from the e-commerce company that had originally worked with Captain Sim. As you all may be aware, the forums are an invaluable tool for users of any software, especially one with bugs. Simmers that had purchased the C130 after months of anticipation, were confronted with problems with no forum to turn to for support. This amounted to a lot of frustrated users, especially after paying more for a product than the platform that is used to run it! This problem has been rectified and the forums are buzzing! After the re-install, everything seemed to be operating smoothly, although refresh rate on the gauges was a bit slow at times, and popping into the VC mode took a few seconds for the textures to load. The complexity of the model contributes to problems with frame rates, but with some minor, and I repeat, minor adjustments in the settings department of MSFS 2004, things smoothed out considerably. This frame rate problem was heaviest in areas of clouds and in areas where 3rd party scenery add ons were enabled. Once again, a toning down of display settings made everything perform smoothly and you're still able to enjoy both the aircraft and the scenery.
The initial release of the C130 was eagerly anticipated by flight simmers everywhere, for quite some time, due to the media coverage that was afforded to it. This anticipation might have been one of the reasons that they released the C130 before it was ready to fly with no bugs on board. This is only a guess on my part though. Captain Sim did acknowledge the fact that there were problems, and that "fixes" would be on the way. Call me old fashioned, but in my book, you don't put a finished product out there to sell until it is truly finished. Or at least as far along the path of "almost perfect" as you can get. These days though, we live in a rush-rush society, and this bleeds over into all aspects of our lives, even into the areas of flight simming. Humans are an impatient breed, to say the least! "I want it yesterday"! I think if we all took a collective "deep breath", and pack our patience; we might be in for some pleasant surprises, such as products working right the first time out!
Captain Sim has, however, addressed these problems with their Service Pack 1, and all is well in the virtual skies! If you get past the discouragement of the bugs and having to implement the fix, you're going to find that the $51.30 USD that you forked out for this add on is going to be worth every penny! The Captain Sim C130 Hercules is a model for others to follow. It is one of the best detailed and functioning add ons I've seen. I hope though, that the lessons of patience were learned here, by both the sim community and the developers.
My compliments to the development team at Captain Sim for creating an outstanding model of the C130, and for opening up to the suggestions and feedback from the flight sim community. After all, this is how things work with real aircraft development! Design, test, tweak, fix, redesign, test, tweak some more and boom, put it on the lot to sell! A quality, properly functioning (for the most part) aircraft is the end result. This is definitely one of those times though, when the phrase, "easier said than done" comes to mind!
For more information on an aircraft model that sets the standards a bit higher (at last!), visit Captain Sim at:
www.captain sim .com
Install of the product was done through the site by download, and took a few minutes (go get a cup of coffee!). You need to stay on-line and have your product code handy for installation. All in all, a smooth process, although I have read in forums of some problems that were rectified by turning off your firewall during installation.
The Manual is extensive and well written, covering all aspects of the C130. To get the most out of the product, I'd recommend printing out the manual. It is lengthy, with three parts totaling 208 pages, so have an ink cartridge handy! Some of the big pluses about the set-up of the manual are that it is presented in a clear and concise format, excellent illustrations, and illustrations are kept small, but very readable. There is no "background" color or watermark on the pages of the manual either, which saves immensely on ink! Take note here development companies! Those fancy backgrounds and graphics may look great while in PDF format, but remember that ALL of that gets printed also! Keep it simple with pertinent info, and the reader will love ya! Captain Sim manuals for all of their aircraft are written in a manner to be followed as an example for others.
