BlackBox Simulations Bulldog First Look Review! - MSFS 2020

The latest aircraft from Blackbox Simulations, the Scottish Aviation Bulldog!
Let's take a look at this military trainer/GA favourite!
Available here:
www.blackboxsimulation.com/in...
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[@espolete]

I really enjoy your reviews. One suggestion, tho... Could you also show us how internal illumination at night look like on the airplanes?

[@zeberdee1972]

Like this Aircraft , old enough to remember chipmunks and these Bulldogs . Of course now the tutor grob , the prefect grob . I'll certainly be adding this one to my collection . Thanks AvAngel 😊 great review as always .

[@DasTubemeister]

I purchased this recently after reading your review. This has become my favourite Low & Slow plane due to the bubble cockpit, openable canopy, tricycle undercarriage,and steam gauges. I prefer first person cockpit views to flying in third person outside view. I only use that to occasionally admire the aircraft .I also bought the Stearman after reading your excellent review.

[@hobiegal]

I’m a new sim pilot and not a real world pilot. I love your videos and watch several a day to catch up on those I’ve missed. I especially appreciate your humor and your review of weird aircraft since those are the one I gravitate to for some reason.

[@AvAngel]

Thank you!

[@captaincrash9286]

I've had a soft spot for the Bulldog since watching a pair of them mock dogfighting over the airfield I was gliding from in 1982.... they were pretty modern at the time! I may have to buy it now.....

[@Mets747]

I think you should also include external night lighting and internal night lighting in your reviews. Other than that, they are always great!

[@TheCirrusflyer]

Nice review, many thanks. The stall in the real aircraft is very benign and mushy as you demonstrated. Love the sounds......

[@russellharris5072]

Perhaps they could do the Chipmunk as well,a great little trainer................................

[@AvAngel]

Love those things!

[@SparkySven]

Great. Saw this release and was thinking to buy and make a video about it too. You are faster :-) I love your reviews so I'm gonna watch it now in all it"s details

[@Dynasaur2010]

I think I'll give this one a try, as I'll probably never get to fly one in real life. Have flown a few hours in a Beagle Pup (also a fun little aeroplane), the slightly older stablemate of the Bulldog, about 30 years ago.Thanks for the review.

[@alexbanahene7512]

Hi Avangel I love your reviews you turned me from a fast jet guy to a bush pilot. I spent far too much Time this weekend getting my c170b into the tiniest strips in the prettiest country I could find

[@AvAngel]

Ayy! welcome to fun flying! That 170 is a blast :D I can't wait for a 185 for some serious power!

[@nickroyle4805]

Just downloaded it. Flew it a fair bit whilst in the Air Cadets 20 years ago. Always been some of my best memories. I'm actually a little emotional at the prospect of flying it again in VR. Thanks for the review.

[@jep1103]

Tempted to purchase this, what's your opinion of it please

[@nickroyle4805]

@@jep1103 it looks beautiful on the outside. Textures on the inside get a bit rough with certain lighting in and out of VR. No VR control column but that's not a big deal. Most switches operable. Seems to perform very much like the flight manual says it should. Correct rpm drops when checking the mags, full start-up sequence (though I've not tested every variable to see if it fails to start if you go wrong), fades to black if you exceed the "never exceed speed", seems to climb about right, maybe a bit quick. Mostly I feel it flies a lot like the real thing, I'm just not a hundred percent convinced about the aileron rolls. The plane itself is lovely, the grob is going to be more manoeuvrable but reviews didn't impress me do I've not tested it, the Bulldog has a much better view from the cockpit with the huge unobstructed canopy. I use the saitek throttle quadrant and the prop speed and mixture levers seem to have the right effects. I still want to test it thoroughly against the flight manual but it is definitely recognisable/what you expect after reading the manual. To be honest, I don't get as much time on it as I'd like and when I fire it up and put the VR headset on I just enjoy doing little leisure flights from Headcorn and throw in some aerobatics and try to test myself a bit. It's an enjoyable aircraft to fly and it's nice to have the prop speed. It may not be perfect in every way, I don't know for sure, it's been a long time since I flew one, a more experienced Bulldog pilot might have a very different opinion to me, but for 20 quid I say but it now!

[@jep1103]

@@nickroyle4805 Ok thanks for thst very informative so I 5hink I will buy her...thanks again

[@nickroyle4805]

@@jep1103 no worries, would be interested to hear your opinions once you've tested it. I'm sure it's worth it for the money but good feedback might help them improve it.

[@ianharrison2340]

I was in the chipmunk while a member of the cadets...

[@airpac1873]

Just love your colorful reviews and spicy comments to ASOBO!

[@AvAngel]

I try by best and I keep it light but sarcastic!

[@AviatingWithMel]

Ahh the aircraft I had my first ever flight in as an Air Cadet (the RAF had moved onto the Slingsby Firefly by then with the Chipmunk retired by a couple of years) I don't remember much of it other than I was mesmerised as it was my first ever flight in anything. I was lucky enough to have a share in a T67M Firefly for nearly 3 & 1/2 years chalking up 96 & 1/2 hrs on type. I wouldn't mind getting my mits on a real Bulldog just to get a comparison. Back to the sim...other than those textures you mentioned it looks fabulous and sounds great too, I may just slot this into my "buy in the future list". In true ASOBO fashion they managed to break bits again, I have noticed that when the F/A-18 hits BINGO fuel the left engine shuts down...yeah go figure that out.

[@volkerjansen3901]

Nice first look review, thank you! I might get this one for the great visibility due to the canopy. Still miss the SF.260 from FSX days ...

[@Sekuru_Dread]

I miss the RealAir planes as well as a2a in msfs.

[@AvAngel]

I'd love to see the Duke back! loved that baby! sadly they broke apart as a group.

[@peter-mv5gk]

could you always do a stall test? (: i think that is something that says SO MUCH about the design of the flight dynamics of an product...and with an experienced pilot like you it would be awesome to look about that

[@AvAngel]

Can do!

[@aurel42]

Excellent review!

[@peterthomas9919]

well been waiting for this will be buying this aircraft

[@wout123100]

nice review, looks good, on my list.

[@rdaxthedog]

The Building fuel selector was on the floor in front of the left hand seat, it didn’t have a throttle on the left wall. Spin it then you’ll know how realistic it is. I also recall the instructors joystick had a paddle type intercom switch. Perhaps they have been modified after being put on the civil register.

[@spatialpro]

I don't recall the throttle on the left wall either. Perhaps it is worth contacting Black Box to ask for modifications.

[@MojaveHigh]

I picked this up day one based on looks and BlackBox's reputation with the Islander (I don't have the Birddog). I love it so far! Waiting on your head tracking video. Not TrackIR? Interesting. I want to go the head tracking route so can't wait to see what you chose.

[@AvAngel]

I'm still getting used to it... i want to not look stupid and make it look bad by being so thrown off by the experience first :D

[@Foxtrot_EW]

This just went up on sale at marketplace for only $13 American! Now's your chance to pick up this fantastic aircraft for over 50% off!

[@mikecoffee100]

Ahh another good review perhaps for me bday Ill have a go at it in June 2023

[@monostripezebras]

Oh, its beautiful

[@khrdina]

I feel your pain at about 14:10 regarding unnecessary little changes! On that note, at 5:03 don't get too excited about head tracking since they screwed up TrackIR support in SU7, too. Lovely review, as always - looks like a fun aircraft.

[@AvAngel]

It’s just a toggle on off, plus the system I have works fine… just getting used to it

[@khrdina]

@@AvAngel I'm glad you have your system working for you and look forward to seeing you use it in future videos. As for my system, it's not just a simple toggle. On my TrackIR, I have F12 to re-center tracking and F9 to pause tracking. A lot of people, including me, use pause tracking to help with clicking on cockpit switches. Otherwise small head movements can cause you to click the wrong switches. With SU7, if you pause tracking (or simply look out-of-range of the sensor), the sim immediately disables tracking and re-centers your view which makes it useless for clicking on switches. I've not really had any luck mapping a key to make that switch toggle, not that it would have been much improvement anyway. I spent an immensely frustrating hour yesterday unsuccessfully trying to deal with this instead of flying, and reacted about the same as you reacted to the zoom changes you found at 14:00. The system worked perfectly fine for a lot of us before SU7. I spent a little more time today before deciding to go do something else.

[@tobylarone3831]

Just found your channel the other day. Been a bit obsessed with your videos watching 2 or 3 a day. Do you have a top 10/5 list of best payware planes out there?

[@grahamwaterfield731]

Thank You Angel

[@chriswatt89]

Hahahahah i wonder who she is talking about... brilliant video

[@ianharrison2340]

Just bought it in the Christmas sale 2022..

[@phil_nicholls]

I watched the video, and bought this - not necessarily because of the video per se, as I was going to have to buy this anyway, having spent a few happy years flying the Bulldog whilst on NUAS. I’ve given it a quick spin, flying in VR in MSFS, and have a few comments on my initial impressions. Firstly, and most noticeably, the wings. This is not a fabric covered Jodel! In real life, you cannot see every rib with the aluminium stretched between! In the video, at 07:29-ish, you’ll see what I mean, with the red painted area looking like a canvas covered wing - when flying in VR, the entire wing looks like that - and it’s just wrong. The wing surface should look more like you’re average Piper, or Cessna - not some fabric covered jobby! Then there’s the handling. It feels like they’ve just used a generic Cessna/Piper model. The roll-rate is far too slow - I mean, it’s no Pitts, but it is a highly capable aerobatic aircraft, which could just about manage Intermediate Aeros (just watch the 10-second inverted limitation on the engine). Try a hesitation roll in this model - it can’t really be done; likewise stall-turns, tail-slides, and all sorts of other manoeuvres the real aircraft could comfortably do - this model can’t. You can’t even spin this thing! The real aircraft would readily spin, and you’d need the correct anti-spin controls to get out of it - unlike your Cessna’s which, if you just let go of everything, will recover! There were even established techniques for achieving true flat spins, which were always pre-briefed on the ground, not something to just practice on a whim as we did with regular spins, and we’d always start the flat spin at 10,000ft as the recovery could take a while! Into the cockpit then. I was disappointed to see that even the most basic cockpit had a VOR and other kit. I’m going to show my age here, but, when I flew the Bulldog, we had a basic T, and that was it - zero NavAids, just one VHF radio, and one UHF (military) radio. And one final thing, in the military version, we didn’t have a stall-warner, we had a couple of angular bits of leading edge, which generated natural buffet. It also generated a pronounced, well-defined, stall - I’m not sure where people are getting the idea that it just mushes like a Cessna - yes, it’s benign, (unless you’ve got some rudder in), but it’s not a mush, it should drop the nose in quite a pronounced manner. Speaking of rudder, the turn and slip indicator doesn’t appear to be working very well - I can apply right rudder, say, and the ball will follow my rudder input - it should be heading in the other direction! It does, sort of, sort itself out eventually, but initial indications are wrong! That’s about it for now. I’ve only flown it for about 40 minutes so far - and I’ll have a fly again later this week - but am sadly disappointed. TL;DR From a distance it’s obviously a Bulldog. Close up, there are a number of errors, that, granted, if you don’t know the aircraft, you wouldn’t know any better. And it doesn’t handle anything like the real thing, being too Cessna like (it is nothing like a Cessna)! 3/10 from me.

[@tintinmeyer1968]

Hey Av Angel, amazing review as always. What airport is this that you are flying at?

[@AvAngel]

Kors, orbxs’ orcas island

[@Stwutter1973]

Nice review as ever. I was thinking of of picking up the JF Warrior at some stage, but I may look at this instead. I fly the Islander and l love it. I think BBox nail their releases, save for texturing. I wonder why that is? Presumably just a minor hole in thier dev. skill-set? Anyway - I'm waffling....

[@AvAngel]

Perhaps, I think you're right, but they certainly update and patch a ton, really work hard which convinces me they're worth going with.... good but not carenado beats carenado but... yes...

[@SparkySven]

Great review. I'm convinced and think I'll buy it. I don't own any Black Box planes yet. I do own all others. If you would pick one of the 3 which one would you prefer?

[@AvAngel]

For me personally I love the utility of the islander

[@SparkySven]

@@AvAngel Thanks. Are the sounds as good and Authentic. I'm a massive Just Flight fan so the bar is set at the highest level :-)

[@colourwheel20]

I'm really enjoying this one. Well worth the money. Real hands on flying, and it models the P-factor better than others. The textures aren't as good as many though. Question: How do you bring the GPS unit up?

[@AvAngel]

Hit the Garmin sticker :)

[@Capriboy1972]

Nice video 👍👍How do you make the co-pilot visible?

[@TheCirrusflyer]

Its controlled by loading - just set copilot load to zero and its invisible. Put a load number back and its visible. Blackbox have done that with all their aircraft so far. Nice touch.

[@graandpapi_emu]

Quick question- does anyone know what to do if part of the new sim update is not showing like the volocopter

[@pe1pq]

Hi, sorry to say this but it looks like you will need to (sigh), reinstall.

[@teddykinz6988]

You can probably check under "Content manager" in the profile tab Might be able to install it from there

[@AvAngel]

Just go to content manager, things are usually there

[@kokoeteantigha389]

Spicy, eh?!

[@BananaDave89]

I bought the Islander straight away and couldn't wait to fly it but it was a total mess. Looked amazing but it wouldn't fly at all. push forward on the joystick and it'd go vertically up and pull backwards and you'd go vertically down. trying to roll you just slewed left and right. I removed every mod I had and tried and still didn't work. tried it all, was such a shame really it was horrendous. Even my friend on the Xbox was having the exact same problems. I tried contacting Blackbox about it but the never got back to me. Gutted as there product look amazing but after the BN-2 I didn't really want to spend money on them again.

[@AvAngel]

That sounds like slew mode not the aircraft...?

[@BananaDave89]

@@AvAngel Yeah I thought it was in slew mode so pressed Y and it put it into slew mode. Really strange and could not for the life of me work out what the problem was. But I believe Xbox doesn't have slew mode and my friends did the same. I re-installed multiple time to make sure it was a clean install and still did it. I just wrote that one off until any updates that are made and try again.

[@SuperGoldenv]

The wing profile is too flat looking out of the cockpit. The real one has more airfoil

[@microsoftflightsimulator2052]

FSX was my first though also. But the internal shortcomings are more than made up for by this models aerodynamics, especially replicating ground effect.! Makes one realise just how badly modelled the JF Pa28's are...

[@foolinjection]

Now I have a dilemma... This Scottish Bulldog or the BN2 Islander. 🤔

[@AvAngel]

Islander

[@foolinjection]

@@AvAngel Yeah, think you're right.

[@confuseddad2865]

BlackBox treated the community so badly when they released the utterly broken BirdDog and then went after the reviewers who gave valuable input. I hope they have changed their approach because that lack of customer care made me avoid them like the plague.

[@AvAngel]

They did? Never came after me… the msfs onr?

[@confuseddad2865]

@@AvAngel yes indeed it was really horrid. Perhaps your more moderate approach to most products would have them not as triggered but wow it was ugly to see a developer burn the bridges with the very people who consume their content.

[@rollonsummertime]

Does it have an auto pilot?

[@AvAngel]

Nope, but the real one doesn’t

[@rollonsummertime]

@@AvAngel Ok, thanks

[@hobanagerik]

The downward pointing propeller looks very close to the fuselage. I’ve had the same starter issue with my Logitech panels. One plane will not start, and I have to press, and hold the virtual cockpit button to start it. Texture wise the Islander has some rough areas also, but nothing egregious. On touchdown this reminds me of the Piaggio P.149D.

[@MegaPeedee]

"Screw you Asobo ...". My sentiments are mirrored in this exclamation. Why does Asobo screw things up every time they provide an update. Quality Control was so vital to good customer relations and the continuance of a viable business, so where is it with Microsoft and Asobo? If they don't have anyone on their team to ensure quality control is paramount then they should hire someone who can ensure this. Why is that so hard? They take the shine off their otherwise mostly outstanding work.

[@AvAngel]

Huge game, brand new software and source... it's going to be a bumpy ride... i expect some, but not still lol.

[@hivewasp]

Beagle -> Bulldog ? :D

[@AvAngel]

Scottish Aviation is the comps that built it longest and is associated with it.,. Like Ryan Navion…. Nobody remembers it’s the North American Navion

[@hivewasp]

@@AvAngel I meant it as Beagles and Bulldogs are both dog breeds :D

[@jstring]

No offense but you cheat by clicking your switches on your honey comb set up as most of us are looking for proper start up procedures

[@AvAngel]

How is that cheating when all im pressing is the battery alternator, avionics and rotating the key? I’m sorry but in a basic ga type it’s that complicated… not cheating, you literally see the switches in the cockpit move as I use them, why do I have to click them on screen?

[@jstring]

@@AvAngel not everyone has your set up. I watch and really like your content but part of what I watch for is to learn start up procedures etc. what switches do what, where the locations of things are. Not everyone has your exact set up, and it causes weird things you would t do in real life like dual starting engines. Don’t get me wrong I’m a huge fan, wasn’t meant to offend or as a shot across the bow.

[@AvAngel]

Only on twins, which I don't fly much... I mostly fly GA singles, and the procedures are correct... if i wasn't using a honeycomb, i would be using switches and toggles on my saitek panels, I'm sorry but i won't click cockpit switches just to show it... they move in the cockpit when i do it, and I usually talk through it as I go, its a good compromise.

[@jstring]

@@AvAngel I agree to disagree 😋 I like your content and take on things regardless

[@AvAngel]

That's fair enough, I'm just not sure what I can do to remedy that short of using stuff on screen only which makes the tools pointless XD

[@Putti509]

i am usally dissapointed with blackbox products so i just stay clear of this one

[@AvAngel]

Their MSFS 2020 ones have been really good to be fair.

[@Putti509]

@@AvAngel and thats fine, however that is not what i feel about their aircraft products. (in MSFS) I've spent so much money on addons, airports, aircrafts and there is just a handfull of aircrafts that is really worth it for me. There is so many youtubers out there that are giving reviews of planes and other content that are sponsored by the creators and are handed out free product. Not saying you are one of thoose but most of theese planes are still not worth half the price they are charging you for.