Nice Job ! Really enjoyed Mark Kolo's review of Real Air Simulations' Beechcraft 60 Duke, as it is a model I was thinking of buying and have always been courious about. The real early B60's had expensive (jet like) NiCad batteries way back when they were designed and the airplanes tended to eat those $2,300 + batteries often due to cooling problems and voltage regulator issues. When I asked around why these airplanes had these (unnecessarily complex and expensive) systems I was told that it was because they were originally intended to have Pratt PT-6 turbine engines installed and the battery was there to provide the energy needed to start a PT-6. Later Beech sold the B60 with conventional (cheap and tolerant) Lead Acid type batteries. Don't know if the comments about the B60 being designed for turbines was true, but it makes sense. Today there are shops modifying the B60's with PT-6's and the result is N I C E. Real Air's SF260 was a great add on and this VC really looks good for the Duke. I appreciate the comments about the modeling of the engine nacelles.One very small point is the flight controls on the Duke are driven directly by cables to bell cranks which act on torque tubes attached to the flight control surfaces themselves. The connection is direct. The servo tabs are connected via bell cranks and torque rods to the wing and stabilizer structure. The servo tabs move in proportion opposite the aileron movement to reduce the control forces in roll. On the elevator the tab should be a trim / antiservo if I recall correctly. The maintenance manuals are in a downstairs closet if anyone really wants to know. It seemed as though you might be thinking the Duke has free floating controls like the DC-9 / MD80. One way to tell is if the control surfaces move at a stop, or if only the trim tabs move.Real Air got the servo tabs done right on the SF260 and they work in a similar fashion in the Duke.To sum all that up very succinctly - the Duke's wing is mostly a P-Baron wing. I thing the Ailerons are even interchangeable parts with the Baron.Another question I had was whether they modeled the turbocharged engines correctly. Of course, the controllers worked so poorly in most Dukes that "normal operation" might be a source of debate. http://www.lycoming.com/support/publicatio...dfs/SI1257G.pdfOne of the tough things about reviews these days is learning all the systems on the airplane. I bet if a reviewed bothered to memorize Limitations and Boldface items they could pass a real aircraft Type Oral with no problem.Thanks for your contribution to AvSim.

I agree, really excellent, enjoyable & informative review of the RealAir Duke by Mark.The only negative on this lovely model (as Mark covered) is that it is quite a bit heavier on frames that other RealAir offerings.Good work Mark !David.

I can't believe how long it's been since I was on the forums. I am glad you guys enjoyed the review and thanks for pointing out the small errors I made (Servo tabs vs. free flying control surfaces). Again, thanks for the feedback.