A couple of guys at the field were talking the other day and the topic of R/C simulators came up. It turned out that a number of the guys had purchased or upgraded to Real Flight G4 since it'd been released. And as we talked, it turned out that a number of us had been keeping up with the free models that are available for the sim. If you're not familiar with the Great Planes Real Flight sim, it's a fairly popular one you see in lots of LHSs. They have a setup that looks like an arcade game right there in the LHS. Got the controller hooked to a kiosk that has a good monitor and the sim is running on a pc that's inside the cabinet. There's usually somebody standing there flying one of the models available.

Anyway, we were talking about how we used the sim and one of our challenged modelers mentioned he had just found a Mr.Mulligan available for download. If you don't know what that means, the deal is pretty kewl. At the support website for the sim, http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/down...?do=cat&id=200 there is a section where users can upload models for the sim. They create the model themselves with 3D shape generating software, give it the physics needed to work on the sim and upload it for other RFlight owners to use in their sim. The models are free. And just about anything goes for what you'll find available.

For example, Mr.Mulligan is an early light plane from the 30s that had the reputation as being the prettiest airplane ever. It was a 2place highwing and was one of the first private planes that was fairly popular that had the performance that also appealed to busineeses. It was fast enough to also be used as a racer. Back then lots of planes were raced.

So it turned out that a almost all of us had noticed the R/C sim one right after it'd become available back a couple of weeks ago. And we'd all downloaded it and were flying it on G4.

For awhile after G4 came out, there weren't too many user created models for it. The ones that had been created for G3/3.5 didn't work on G4. So for awhile that itch for new, free airplanes couldn't be scratched if you had G4. And right now there seems to still be the idea around that there aren't free models available for the Real Flight G4 version.

Well, I figured to help get the word out.

You want to fly a 747 or B52 model? How about a Constellation, also said to be the prettiest airplane ever.

A flying buddy who is still learning to fly who is collecting a huge collection of models, "he'll be able to fly someday and the deal was too sweet to pass up" showed up with one of those E-flite Taylorcraft 450s. That is one sweet little electric. It's a built up, park flyer size that is georgeous. But it's not exactly a trainer. So I've flown it for him a couple of times. He bought it from somebody who had slapped the wrong prop on it and decided it sucked and unloaded it. Turns out that with that tiny prop, it did suck. And the next prop he wanted to try was too big and it still sucked. Well, turns out the sim version somebody did for G4 flies pretty good. We've looked at the specs for the sim one and plan to try that prop next time we get together. It's too pretty a model to not fly. I think some people consider that airplane to be the prettiest airplane ever.

And turns out that there is a "H9 Arrow" trainer available now that has an OS46 on it. One of the newbies was pretty happy about that because it matches what he's learning on.

And the discussion at the field got around to flying off water. Turns out one of the younger guys was surprised by the Boeing 314 Clipper and had questions about it's history. It's a historical icon much like the Spitfire that's just become available. I think a lot of people consider the Spit as the prettiest fighter ever, right? hehehehe.......

The list of freebies in a rut? Just "the prettiest" models available? Nah...... There is one looks like a 3D called "Sharkbait". I'd say it was ugly. And the Flying Boxcar ain't very pretty.

There are a lot of them if you haven't noticed. Seems the dam has burst finally for G4 models. Check it out.