FlightSim Magazine i9 | Page 6

STUNNING SAAB 340 __________________ FROM VIRTUALCOL I picked up my copy of Virtualcol’s Saab 340 about 3 months ago, and so far I’ve already picked up some serious hours in it. Initially, before I purchased the addon I had my doubts about it, based off of the screenshots available online of the virtual cokpit, but I assure your that it’s worth every penny. This add-on really fills the gap between an amazing freeware model and a decent payware add-on. I thought that the price of about $15 US dollars was very fair for what I experienced in the virtual skies, a decent flight model, awesome exterior, and an okay virtual cockpit. Another key reason to purchase this add-on is simply because it’s the only Saab of this quality available on the market. The model rivals Flight 1’s ATR which they charge well over $40 US dollars for, and to be completely honest although it’s also an okay add-on I wouldn’t really be able to honestly recommend that you ‘throw away’ roughly $45 US dollars on it. Really I have nothing bad to say about this add-on, it’s really fun to fly and the price is pretty much unbeatable. Exterior By far the best area of this add-on is the exterior, it features good textures and a very well done 3D modelling job. The model rivals any payware add-on available on the market, and far exceeds most other models that are in this price range of about $15 US dollars. The add-on comes complete with plenty of variety in many different real world operator schemes, and is also really easy to do repaints on if that’s something that interests you. Overall Virtualcol did a very nice job modelling and texturing the exterior of this outstanding add-on, and I would easily give the exterior a 9 out of 10, the textures not far behind at an 8-8.5 out of 10. Interior The only downfall that this add-on has, which holds it back from being and absolute classic propliner is the interior modelling and texturing, most specifically the job Virtualcol did on the virtual cockpit of the add-on. Again, for the price (at least that I found it for) of roughly $15 US dollars at most sim stores, it isn’t bad and is actually very fair for the quality of the rest of the add-on. I can’t really say anything good about the vc of this aircraft, it certainly works, and most of the important stuff, if not all of it is functional, however it appears as if little to no time was put into the virtual cockpit modelling or texturing of this add-on.