Review - GKS MiG-21 for MSFS

Review - GKS MiG-21 Bis for MSFS

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 was a hugely successful Soviet design, dating back to the early 1950’s. A contemporary of the English Electric Lightning and the Lockheed F-104, with many of the same pros and cons, its continuous development has seen it comfortably outlast those competitors, with many examples still flying around the world today. In fact, this aircraft holds the record for the most produced post WWII fighter, with 11,496 examples being built in Russia, Czechoslovakia, and India. More that 2,400 of a Chinese development, the J-7, have also taken to the skies.

Croatian MiG-21bis-D in flight (Gojanovic123456789)

A lightweight and simple design, with relatively small delta mainwings, the Fishbed (as it was known to NATO) shared the maneuverability of the F-104 with the range of the Lightning. However, it also shared the Lightning’s phenomenal rate of climb and despite its seemingly small size, the single Tumansky R-25-300 gave the aircraft a thrust to weight ratio of around 1:1 when emergency power was selected. This could give a skilled pilot a chance of bettering the next generation of American FBW aircraft such as the F-16 and F-15, especially when making use of the fact that, thanks to its lack of fly-by-wire controls, it was possibly to reach unprecedented angles of attack - but at the cost of bleeding energy at a huge rate and at the risk of departing controlled flight.

GKS, a Ukrainian developer, has just released its version of the MiG-21 Bis for MSFS 2020. GKS had already developed a model for Prepar3D and this was obviously a great learning experience that fed into their MSFS effort. It is clear that a lot of work has gone into this model, and they have made extensive use of a real MiG-21 simulator in getting both the cockpit and flight model as close as they could get to the real thing. So how good is it?

Visuals

Externally the model is good, making full use of the rendering available on MSFS. The textures have depth and look ‘real’ on all of the liveries offered. These are mainly Eastern European examples, but an Indian Air Force example has just been added to their website. The examples that come with the download include plain metal as well as camouflaged aircraft and they all look good.

Having said that, there were a few initial issues such as the Czech markings being applied upside down - but these were quickly fixed. The video below shows a stock Polish livery.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2022.06.23 - 14.30.38.02.mp4

The Cockpit

The cockpit is a marvel of 1950’s engineering. It is well laid out, but there are rows and rows of clickable switches on either side of the cockpit, and good old fashioned analogue dials at the front. The cockpit modelling is possibly the best I have seen in MSFS, with a real sense of depth and every switch and button faithfully recreated. It is both impressive and daunting - and has some impressive functions.

The main challenge is that everything is labelled in Russian, but the developers have helped here as when you hover over a button you get an English translation. However, the translations do not help with the metric instruments and it takes a while to stop trying to translate Km/h back to knots and metres to feet. Just read the basic manual and get used to it!

On a friendly visit to RAF Leeming!

Flight Model

The Mig-21 is an easy aircraft. It is easy to lose yourself in the complicated cockpit, surprisingly easy to spin, and very easy to get way behind the drag curve!

Its small wing and large thrust to weight ratio means that the MiG is happiest in the vertical plane, where it can climb as fast as a clean F-16. It is fair to say that turning is not its strong point, although its manual systems allow some surprising manoeuvres - but it always feels on the edge of biting you.

It might seem strange to say, but while in emergency power the MiG can climb with the best of them, without reheat (which nearly doubles the engines thrust) the aircraft feels dreadfully underpowered. This can become obvious in the circuit, which is flown at a very high speed (apparently in hot and high conditions, touch downs could be as high as 450 km/h!). If you drop below 400 km/h on finals it is hard to get the speed back without dropping the nose and the aircraft just sinks like a stone - a stable stone, but a stone nonetheless.

In short GKS have captured the feel of a vintage jet. The pilot has a high workload, the aircraft has definite vices, but it can be a hugely rewarding aeroplane to fly.

The aircraft has all the buttons and facilities for an interesting weapon load - but Microsoft’s Marketplace policies mean that you will have to buy it elsewhere to make full use of them. Early adopters buying direct from the simulator will have to make do with the droppable tanks and playing with the realistic (and very necessary!) drag chute.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2022.06.23 - 14.24.15.01.mp4

Sound

The visuals are great, the cockpit fantastic, the model realistic, and the sound is shockingly poor. Perhaps that is unfair. The sound is distinctly a long way behind the rest of the aircraft. It is neither loud enough outside the aircraft, nor realistic inside. The noise level does not change with the opening of the canopy (though I do like the pilot resting his arm on the side of the cockpit) and the clicking of the buttons is a little off. I know that this is something the developers are aware of and I hope to see improvement soon.

Support

GKS seem to be dealing with the teething troubles and listening to their customers. Within two weeks of the original release there is a patch dealing with various minor issues. The manual - https://www.aviasimhd.com/wp-content/uploads/download-manager-files/GKS%20Mig-21%20Bis%20Manual%20MSFS2020_v0.1.4.pdf - gives you everything you need but could give more details on the aircraft’s handling rather than just systems.

Departing Krakow.

Price

$39.99 is a pricey model for MSFS and it is a valid question as to whether this is too much for a product that does not quite feel finished. If you are into real flying then the flight model and the cockpit ‘feel’ make this a good buy. If you just fly for fun and judge your purchases on sound, then it probably is not for you - yet!

Stars - 4.5

Challenging but rewarding - certainly more fun to fly than the F-104 - and a great Cold War addition to the sim. Would have been a 5 if the sound was better!

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