The announcement is out and 1CGS is now offering pre-order sales for the, Sopwith Snipe 7.F1, Siemens-Schuckert D.IV, as well as revealing the mystery variant. It’s a unique variant of the Spitfire XIV. Let’s have a look.
Mystery plane revealed
A few days ago I posted about a note that Jason left on the forum about a plane that the team were working on that would be offered up for pre-order sale. This aircraft would be a variant of an existing type. Not everyone read the variant part as the speculation ranged far and wide across a massive selection of aircraft.
What we are getting is a bubble canopy version of the Spitfire XIV. When the XIV arrived, many asked for a bubble canopy. Some even said they’d pay for it. Now there is that opportunity.
The differences between this and other versions of the Spitfire XIV on offer are minimal except for the bubble canopy which requires both a significant change to the rear of the cockpit as well as offering the benefit of much improved visibility. Like many Collector Planes in the series, this bubble canopy version offers something a little bit unique. But its not a requirement to get into action with Battle of Bodenplatte (or Normandy) and mixed formations of these would be easy to pull off.
If my research is correct, this is also the first time that a bubble canopy Spitfire has been on offer in a combat sim since Dynamix’s 1992 Aces Over Europe.
Snipe and D.IV
We also have the two late World War I fighters up for sale. Not to be overshadowed, these two aircraft have long been on the wishlists of WWI sim enthusiasts and we’re finally on the way to getting them.
Being created by Ugra Media following the completion of the Flying Circus Vol 2 aircraft, both aircraft are currently in development.
Pre-orders begin today
All three command the same price and the same pre-order discount. $19.99 USD for each with a 20% reduction on price during the pre-order period. Check them out if you’re interested! You can also read the store announcement here.
Stormbirds 
I cant understand why they woud choose a spitfire that only saw service for some short time at the end of the war. A later spitfire mk5 with clipped wings and upgraded merlin45 engin woud serve the new map very wel. I think they do know we are many that wants this or the earlier mk9 spit so I bet they have a plan for those planes later. 😁
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I suspect this is more of a project/business decision. Both for sales but also its a 3D model that they more recently worked on.
I do hope we see those variants too! And we might!
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Bit boring. It’s gorgeous and basically the apogee of wartime Spits but interest level will likely be low. I’ll nab it but….pft.
A 1943 Tiffe would have been a lovely surprise.
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So I was a bit off by hoping the mystery variant was a wildcat, zero, pacific map, and a Yorktown carrier?
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Maybe a bit 🙂
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re: Aces Over Europe. Hmmm… checks current 1946 install. Two MkXIV & four MkXVI bubble canopy versions on offer. How soon we forget? 😉
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All of those were modifications and they came a while after my time so I suppose I did not consider them. So I amend it to the last commercial product to release with a fully realized, non-mod, XIV bubble canopy is likely Aces over Europe.
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Not to stir the pot here, $16 US for just a Spitfire Mk. XIV variant which the difference is minimal save for the canopy is quite steep. It’s like charging $16 US for the Bf-110G-2 with the 37 mm cannon.
I’m not arguing that this should be free, but the price is quite steep and should be like $5 US
Some people may be willing to pay this price for the Spitfire XIV variant (which is what matters) but I won’t be buying it unless it’s on a sale.
No offence
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None taken! For some its an opportunity to get a special version of the XIV and for others its not compelling enough for the purchase. Everyone will have to make that decision for themselves.
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From the way Jason worded the announcement it sounds like the bubble-top will be getting the rear fuselage fuel tank, I suspect that’s going to bite plenty of pilots as they spin out of the sky if they run a full fuel load! Also going to make for some FM work for the devs.
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Yes, it sounds like we’ll have a little extra range and potentially some unwanted handling attributes. I’m intrigued 🙂
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The RAeS in UK had a lecture on the missed opportunity for a long-range Spit. Basically it could have had the rear fuselage tank, some wing tanks and wing as well as fuselage drop tanks but this was never pursued. IIRC that would have got it to mid-Germany from UK bases. Not Mustang range but up there with Thunderbolts.
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Still no clickable cockpits?
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From what we’ve been told, those are not on the horizon. Early on in the initial product plan they did not plan for clickable cockpits (you may or may not remember that the original IL-2 BoS release was attempting to skew closer to War Thunder and steal some marketshare).
Apparently trying to put them in right now would be a major engineering project and then a series of revamps across all aircraft cockpits. Probably not a financially viable move from what we’ve heard.
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What I greatly want to see is the ability to hover the mouse over an instrument to know what it reads if it’s in a language you don’t know or if it’s very tiny. You can do this in sims without clickable cockpits as it’s possible in Wings Over Flanders Fields: Between Heaven & Hell II.
Occasionally I’m flying a plane in IL-2 GBs and I look at a gauge and greatly struggle to know that it says. Having the ability to hover the mouse over the instrument and instantly know what it says makes life a thousand times easier and makes me want to play IL-2 GBs more.
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That would be a really nice upgrade! Agreed.
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Man that bubble could have been ah mod in spit14 like they do normaly i call this a money grab
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It actually can’t be done that way because its a major change to the geometry of the aircraft and the flight model. There’s a limit to the mod system. Same reason the Yak-9 and 9T were broken into different airplanes.
Its existence might be a money grab, its a possibility, but technically it has to be done separately.
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True, but they could just charge $25 for the Yak-9 and Yak-9T and $25 for the Spitfire Mk.XIV variants instead of $20 for each plane.
The Hurricane Mk.II included 5 variants (A-D and Soviet Mod) and it was $20 for the Hurricane Mk.II plus all the variants and not $20 for each variant.
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Hurricane is just armament rather than a big geometry change. And their standard price is $20 so that just seems to be the pattern.
Right now most of those aircraft are on for 50% off and many are 75% off. That’s definitely when you get the best bang for the buck.
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