PA-38 Tomahawk (MSFS)

One final message prior to the release of our PA-38 Tomahawk MSFS this week.

It's been a long time coming this one, with the odd obstacle to contend with along the way but once the decision was made to bring it fully back in-house as a Just Flight developed product there was no doubt that this was only ever going one way, to join the ranks of our other top quality GA aircraft.

We're confident that all who purchase the PA-38 will be in for something pretty special, Thursday can't come fast enough!

Before then, further product videos will be released along with more preview coverage from FS streamers so keep an eye out for those.

And here is one final set of the latest screenshots to enjoy as we build up to the release. Enjoy!

Here's a new in-development update for our PA-38 Tomahawk (MSFS) and a new milestone accomplished! We are excited to showcase some of the work we've recently been undertaking on the Tomahawk!

As mentioned in our previous in-development update, we have been focusing on fully retexturing the exterior of the aircraft. However, as is always the case these days given our strict QA procedures, the task grew and has included some remodelling of parts of the exterior, as well as modelling some parts of the aircraft that were previously missing. This work has now been completed and we now have a Tomahawk that not only looks visually stunning, but is also incredibly accurate to the real aircraft. Our in-house artist has taken great care to ensure that not only are all panel lines, rivets, and text on the exterior in the correct locations, but that they also appear crisp thanks to the 8K textures used throughout.

A subtle amount of wear and tear has also been applied to the exterior, ranging from water stains stemming from panel gaps and rivets, to the build-up of dirt on the underside of the aircraft from soft field operations.

All of this work means that not only will the aircraft look the part when in the air, but it’ll also look great when you get up close and personal during the walkaround checks that you'll be completing using the interactive walkaround mode that we showcased in a previous in-development update.

A complete retexture of the exterior also means we have to recreate the liveries included with the product. Our livery artist is currently busy working through our selected livery list and is ensuring that all liveries are created to the highest possible standard. Many of the liveries selected you will have seen in our previous in-development updates, but some have recently been added, such as N2426N in its deep blue and the Blue Angels livery (yes, this is a real livery!).

Elsewhere, we have been evaluating the latest flight model build we received from our flight model developer. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive, with the aircraft matching the numbers quoted in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) across a selection of situations, take-off distance, engine performance, and glide performance. Make sure to allow the best part of an hour if you would like to get the aircraft up to it’s service ceiling of 13,000ft!

These tasks are the last great hurdles we have to overcome ahead of the release, so we can firmly say that we are on the final stretch now! We effectively have a feature complete aircraft and our focus will now turn to testing, bug fixing, and maybe a little bit of feature-creep if time allows.

We're not quite ready to share a release date with you just yet, but you will be pleased to hear that we do have one pencilled in, so that should hopefully give you an indication of how close to release we are on the long-awaited Tomahawk. Stay tuned to our in-development and social media pages for more PA-38 Tomahawk (MSFS) content in the run up to release!

Today we bring you another exciting In-development update for our PA38 Tomahawk in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Over the past few weeks our development team have been dedicating a large amount of time working on the Tomahawk, with developers working on the systems coding, modelling, texturing and sounds, along with adding even more additional features that we're yet to show off.

One of the main features that has recently been added to the Tomahawk is an interactive walkaround mode. Accessible via the EFB, you will be able to navigate around the exterior of the aircraft and interact with various components as you perform your walkaround. Clicking on a camera position on the EFB will move your camera to that position on the exterior of the aircraft. Once you are at one of the preset positions, the mini checklist on the EFB shows you which components can be checked and interacted with at that position. As evidenced in the screenshots here, interactive components range from the fitting and removal of chocks, tie-downs and tow bar, the former of which actually appear in the aircraft’s baggage compartment when not fitted, as well as other interactable components such as control surfaces, stall warning tab, and the propeller. Just promise us you’ll be careful not to hand crank the prop with the magnetos switched on!

You might also notice from the screenshots that a wear level is now displayed in the lower corner of the EFB, and that is because we have also added wear and tear simulation! Not only will the wear level and fluid quantity of components be affected over time, but it will also be affected depending on how you treat your aircraft. Are you the type of pilot who looks after their aircraft, and greases every landing on a smooth asphalt runway? Or are you the type who likes to fly on rough dirt strips and prefers a ‘positive’ touchdown? These types of behaviour will, for example, directly affect the wear and tear on your tyres. And as the tyre wear increases, your braking performance and handling quality will decrease. If a component has too much wear, you may need to repair it before you can get a “tick” next to an item to indicate that it has been cleared for flight.

Moving back into the cockpit, the instruments are now also affected by the amount of suction in the vacuum system. This is particularly noticeable when starting the engine and the attitude indicator and direction indicator wobble as the suction increases. During shutdown, the attitude director will initially remain in its correct position, before slowly rolling to one side.

Whilst this update focuses on the recent systems coding advances, our texture artist also has been busy re-texturing the entire exterior of the aircraft. The current screenshots show the old texture set which is serving as placeholder until the new textures are complete, so be aware that this isn't representaitive of the final product. Although the textures may look perfectly fine in these screenshots, there were areas we weren’t satisfied with, so we took the decision to begin the re-texturing. Fortunately, the timing has worked out for us on this occasion and the re-texturing as well as the creation of brand new liveries, will tie in quite nicely with the completion of the systems coding.

We hope this in-development update has scratched an itch for those who have been eagerly awaiting another update on the PA38 Tomahawk. The finish line is not quite in sight just yet but it is getting much closer. More updates coming soon!

With the new year upon us and our Development team back raring to go, we’re excited to be able to share this new update to show-off what we have been working on in our upcoming PA-38 Tomahawk for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The Tomahawk is now our main focus and the last few weeks has seen some significant progress being made inside the cockpit covering customisation options and systems coding.

The cockpit lighting has now been implemented which provides a lovely cozy feeling when you load the aircraft at night. The cockpit lighting is a fairly simple affair compared to recent projects such as the Avro Vulcan B Mk.2 and F28 Professional, with just two rotary knobs on the lower instrument panel controlling the interior lighting, one that controls the brightness of the overall cockpit instrument panel and instrument pillar lights, and the other that controls the brightness of the radio panel lighting. The exterior navigation, anti-collision and landing lights are also controlled by switches on the lower main instrument panel, we’ll be showing those off on the exterior when our artist has completed a full rework of the exterior textures. We’ll be sure to show those off too in a future in-development update!

As usual we’re keen to offer as many different customisation options as possible starting with the GPS units. By default, the aircraft loads with no GPS selected and an avionics stack of GMA340 audio selector, SL30 and SL40 nav/comm transceivers, and GTX 328 transponder. We are then providing additional options to equip the aircraft with more modern avionics including the Working Title GNS430/GNS530, PMS50 GTN750 and TDS GTNXi. To make use of the two NAV radio channels in the GPS units, we are also providing the option to fit an additional OBS to the main instrument panel, so you can track the position of two navaids simultaneously. If navigation options weren’t enough already, a KR85 ADF unit can also be fitted to the right side of the main instrument panel, along with an ADF indicator on the left side of the main instrument panel. All of these equipment options combined mean you can customise the Tomahawk to suit, whether it be in a basic trainer configuration, or a cross country tourer.

These customisation options are controlled by the Just Flight EFB which has now also been integrated into the aircraft. The EFB will feature much of the same feature set that is included in our other products, including Navigraph and SimBrief support, and an “Aircraft” page that houses these extensive customisation options. We are still working on some interesting new features that will be added to the Aircraft page prior to release, we will be sure cover the EFB in more detail in a future in-development update.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this update. More to follow soon...

The popular Tomahawk has long been a part of our In Development section, and as previously mentioned, due to circumstances out of our control, the project has somewhat stalled over the past year or so.

We’ve had to wait patiently for a gap to appear in our busy development schedule and that gap has thankfully now arrived. The Tomahawk is now at the centre of our attention and will be our next GA aircraft release.

Our in-house development team is currently focusing on upgrading the interior and exterior modelling and texturing in order to bring the product up to our usual high standards. The core aircraft systems coding is now complete, pending testing and bug fixing, and work has now turned to integrating the EFB from our other aircraft and adding some additional features and improvements where necessary.

One area we’ve yet to show is the avionics stack which includes a GMA340 audio panel, SL30 and SL40 nav/comm transceivers, and a GTX328 transponder. All of these avionics are fully functional and operate as per their real life counterparts.

As with the other Piper aircraft in MSFS, we’ll also be sure to include various GPS options that you can toggle between on the EFB as well as other customisation and quality of life additions. We’ll provide more information early next year but for now, please enjoy this small selection of screenshots.

Alongside the much larger and more complex 146 Professional, our development team have also been busy working on the next GA aircraft to join our MSFS fleet – the PA38 Tomahawk, here's the next update for you.

As with our other MSFS aircraft, the Tomahawk has undergone an extensive upgrade to bring it up to the latest MSFS standards, especially in the areas of modelling and texturing. Work on those areas is very nearly complete as shown in these screenshots, with the focus now shifting to the systems coding, flight dynamics and sounds. Our testing team, including real-world Tomahawk pilots and instructors, have been evaluating all those visual upgrades whilst our sound artist recently spent the day recording a real Tomahawk for the brand new Wwise sound set. It might not be as complex as a 146 but there is still a lot of work and attention to detail required to bring you our best GA aircraft yet!

Please note that default radios are shown here, which are to facilitate testing whilst we work on our custom avionics.
 

Here's the initial Development Update for the PA-38 Tomahawk showing off the interior and exterior visuals. All shots at this stage should be treated as WIP but you can start to get a feel of what's on offer here in terms of quality.

Enjoy the shots.