Bay Tower Studio's RV-7 Review by Ray Marshall

[raymar 969]

Due to some limitation of the new Avsim Front Page the last few pages of the review was omitted. Here is the closing.

 

 

So what do I think of the BayTower RV-7 and RV-7A?

 

I think it is a fantastic add on. It has numerous outstanding features, many of them I found and highlighted in the review. It looks good, sounds good, has a nice solid feel, the panel has a clean layout with easy to read gauges and instruments. It is easy to fly and is predictable in its characteristics. I like it a lot. And did I mention it is fast? Yes, really fast, near 200 mph cruise and 64 mph stall speed with STOL capability with a solo pilot. It takes off and climbs like an elevator.

As expected of all high-end add-ons nowadays, the Garmin 530 can be traded out for the Reality XP should you own one. If not, the installed version works just fine. A panel knob or two is mislabeled but corrections have already been made and are just waiting for an SP1 or Patch to get it out to everyone. The manual and POH will be finalized and updated within a month or so.

The developer is active at the forum, repainters are aplenty, and it comes in the Flight1 wrapper with a 30 day money back guarantee. I expect a lot of the Van’s Air Force members to be flying the BayTower edition while they are completing their kits and maybe a few of those hard core simmers will end up building a real one.

 

A few final thoughts about the BayTower Studio’s Van’s RV-7.

 

This doesn’t look like any kit built plane I have ever seen – it looks way more professionally built – fit and finish is excellent.

The FSX version costs less than $40.00 and you can be flying in a few minutes, the real world equivalent will cost you well over $100,000 and take years to build. All Van’s RV-7 aircraft are Experimental and all are homebuilt. There are no two RV-7s that are exactly the same.

I doubt you will find a real world RV-7 with the same level of fit and finish, instruments, gauges, and avionics with an interior as well appointed as the BTS edition.

I would like to see a follow-on floats and amphibian version. It’s Experimental; you can do anything you want as long as the FAA signs off on it.

After a few hours of flying around, it starts to feel like your old Lazyboy recliner – nothing special that you can put your finger on at the moment but nothing to complain about either. Just that easy, comfortable feeling - I guess that’s where the RV Grin comes from.

 

This one is a slam dunk for the Avsim Gold Star recommendation.

 

As a reward for those of you who were interested enough to read this review to the end, BayTower Studio and Flight1.com are offering a $5.00 discount coupon (a 15% savings) towards the purchase of the BTS RV-7 / 7A. This is for a very limited time so here is your chance to save a few bucks.

 

The magic words are SLAMDUNK.

 

 

 

Test System

Intel Quadcore i7- 870 2.93 Ghz

8 GB Installed Memory

Win7 – 64 bit OS SP1

2 TB SATA II HD, 500 GB USB HD

nVidia GTX-460 w/1GB Graphics

Dell 24 WS, Dell 18 LCD monitors

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers

Realtek HD 5.1 Audio, Grado SR-60

Newly added Saitek Cockpit items

- Pro Flight Cessna Yoke & Pedals

w/ Quadrant &Trim Wheel

- Pro Flight TPM Panel, Switch Panel

 

 

 

 

System Requirements: Microsoft FSX with SP2 or Acceleration; DX9 or DX10 - BTS Van's RV-7/7A: Purchase Price: $38.95 USD

 

 

Credits

 

BayTower Studio for providing the download and input.

The small photos or images of the RV history was downloaded from www.vansairforce.net or www.VansAircraft.com. No copyrights observed.

Richard Luycx (Ricardo) and Ron Attwood for the many repaints shown or maybe waiting to be installed. Most can be found at www.baytower.ca Paint forum and many at our www.avsim.com library.

Repaint credit to “knack” for the 7A devil NC67951 and TJ Stanley for RV-7 N69WP Slider.

Those unnamed artists and painters of the ones that I used in the screenshots but didn’t find your name. If it is not in the aircraft.cfg description after installation or in a readme file in the texture folder, I can’t find you name for credit. I delete the downloads after installation.

Screenshot of the LoPresti Fury and P-51 is from the LoPrestiFury.com web site gallery. http://www.loprestifury.com/ media use.

Those that provided comments that I used in the quote boxes.

 

 

Ray Marshall

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Ray, now you know how Tolstoy must have felt after finishing War and Peace. I must say your review seemed pretty objective to me but I noted a little holding back on the enthusiasm. Well done, very disciplined of you.

 

For my part, the RV7 has become the benchmark for all FSX light aircraft.

 

Thanks for the mentions btw. :give_rose:

[pilottj 198]

Great review Ray,

Very interesting that the RV has some connections to the Globe Swift. The N69WP repaint was adapted from a Swift scheme.

 

Cheers

TJ

[awash2002 12]

I want to build a real RV I have the BTS RV7 but my problem is do I want to build the RV7 or RV8?

[raymar 969]

For you folks that may still be on the fence about purchasing the BTS RV-7 for FSX, this is the special coupon for Avsim review readers.

 

Here is the scoop on saving $5.00 on the purchase of the BayTower Studio's VAN's RV-7 at Flight1.com

Go here and find the special coupon (Expires April 30, 2012) http://files.100megabyte.com/baytower/coupons/BTS_coupon.jpg

 

User Instructions:

Right-click on coupon image and save to your desktop.

Run the Flight1 RV7 installer and click the Coupon button.

Browse to the coupon image and open it.

Confirm the Flight1 installer shows a discounted price.

Continue Flight1 install as usual.

 

Ray

[RichardLouis 0]

Thank you Ray for this very complete article about that little gem which is the BTS RV7.

 

About the repaints, I like to make some for this plane.

The Paint kit is very pleasant to use thanks to its conception.

Just two templates, one for the exterior and one for the interior with all the layers that we need.

Thanks to this paint kit I'm a happy repainter ! :dance:

 

Ricardo

[Jim Robinson 122]

Great review Ray, I've been holding off for some reason but I think It's time to take advantage of the SLAMDUNK thingy and add this one to the hangar. Really good review

 

Jim

[WILDHEART3003 8]

Thank you Ray for this complete review. Shame I miss out on the little discount as i bought it almost immediate after reading your review on AVsim front page, should have waited. Been rallying Orbx Aus scenery and enjoy every minute of it with this little gem.

[Luve 0]

I'm a day late and a dollar short as usual!  What happened to BTS and the RV-7??

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

BTS has retired from the business, but you may still be able to purchase the product.

 

I fly it in fsx and p3d (minus the gtx transponder).