I don't think I'd call it a "sweeping decision". We base all our plans on cold hard fact. When one is faced with sales figures that indicate that a change is necessary, one acts. Or one dies.
Sales of the little Cessna 140 for example, outstrip our warbirds by a ratio of 5:1. So, why would we plough our meagre resources and precious time in building for the lesser market?
We run a Facebook page to gauge interest in the market and among our customer base. By far the greatest interest has come from anything we post on subjects like the Caravelle, DC-3/C-47, Socata MS and others.
We built the originals for Just Flight's HS748, BAC 1-11 and the Comet Jetliner along with many more. Models are ageing, some are 10 years old. We feel it is time to bring a new generation to the market.
We have a new range of Spitfires (MkV and MkIX) and a new Hurricane being built. The C-47 "That's all Brother" would be classed as a warbird surely. There's probably around 9,000 hours of work in those three alone.
A new simulator is on the horizon in 2020. We will know more in August. Any guesses on how long it will take developers to learn any new processes required to build for it? Or do you think we just wave a wand and it all happens? That takes time. Time we will not be building anything.
Another point is that this page is named for "Combat flight simulation" so of course the bias is toward warbirds here. No surprises there. The thing is that there are other sites devoted to flight simulation which tell very different stories.
For us, it is time to move on. We've done our homework. We see what's coming.
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