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Quickview Review : KDAB - Daytona Beach by Aerosoft / Stairport Sceneries


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KDAB - Daytona Header.jpg

 

Quickview Review : KDAB - Daytona Beach by Aerosoft / Stairport Sceneries

 

There is a lot I like about flying around Florida, it is just a very interesting area to explore and see all the diversity of the state. So any scenery that can impact on extending out the detail of the area is always welcome. This scenery is by Aerosoft, but it is not a created Aerosoft scenery but a hosted one by Stairport Sceneries.

 

Daytona Beach is famous, not for aircraft, but for racing cars and even in the early days for breaking land speed records. A major circuit is built here and this place is also the base of the American NASCAR Series of which the yearly Daytona 500 is a highlight of the racing season.

 

Daytona Beach International Airport

IATA: DAB - ICAO: KDAB - FAA LID: DAB

WMO: 74787

 

KDAB Chart.jpg

 

7L/25R 10,500ft (3,200m) Asphalt/Concrete

7R/25L 3195ft (974m) Asphalt

16/34 6,001ft (1,829) Asphalt

Elevation AMSL33 ft / 10 m

 

This scenery comes with two airports...   KADB - Daytona Beach and a small grass airfield called Lafayette Landings Airport (FD90).

 

KADB - Daytona Beach International

 

KDAB Overview 1.jpgKDAB Overview 2.jpgKDAB Overview 3.jpgKDAB Overview 4.jpg

 

The scenery is spread over a fair area, so you get a lot of detail for the investment. The famous banked Daytona International Speedway (below) that was built in 1959 is adjacent to the airport and is a major visual part of this scenery, it is well done but a bit flat and bland in the centre from a distance. The tourist wheel is animated and there are a few racing associated buildings, leaderboards and pits.

 

KDAB Overview 6.jpgKDAB Overview 5.jpg

KDAB Speedway 1.jpgKDAB Speedway 2.jpg

 

First thing you notice is the ground ortho textures are a lot lighter than the X-Plane native textures? This is very common with Aerosoft sourced scenery and I have lost count on the times I have had to run their textures through photoshop to saturate them with more colour to match up the differences, one bonus here is the heavy density of the trees hide that all the nasty joins.

 

The three runways are all very well done with different texture types well reproduced with great markings and navigation signage, the short 7R/25L 3195ft (974m) is a great GA arrival entry point worth using regularly. There is the 3d grass "hooray" but against the light bland ground textures they look odd.

 

KDAB Overview 7.jpgKDAB Overview 8.jpgKDAB Overview 9.jpgKDAB Overview 10.jpg

 

The main terminal is well done with see-through tinted glass. The developers note that they went to Daytona Beach Airport and matched the textures to photos...  the building is a very light peach in colour so that doesn't really help as it looks bland here in the scenery, the problem is there is no worn or dirt textures, so it all looks like it is 3d modeled with colour than with actual exterior textures.

 

KDAB Terminal 1.jpgKDAB Terminal 2.jpgKDAB Terminal 3.jpgKDAB Terminal 4.jpg

 

That said it is well done, and you get a full interior as well that is very well recreated with hi-roof skylighting, and the glass is tinted.

 

KDAB Terminal 5.jpgKDAB Terminal 6.jpg

 

On the ramps there are six airbridges that are all animated and have Safedock A-VDGSs with their marshallers, and they all work fine. There is an odd parking stand that crosses over gate six, but that parking layout is correct as it is the same as the real ramp markings which are also worn and faded. 

 

KDAB Terminal 7.jpgKDAB Terminal 8.jpg

 

Lots of nice detail and ramp equipment makes the ramps a nice place to work on and to also to arrive or depart from with buzzy animated traffic. Away from the main terminal there is the Interesting UCF - University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program building with a single built in airbridge.

 

KDAB Terminal UCF 1.jpgKDAB Terminal UCF 2.jpg

 

Control Tower is well done and tower view is great and also set correctly.

 

KDAB Tower 1.jpgKDAB Tower 2.jpg

 

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is part of the airport on the north-east corner, but it comes across as a bit bland.

 

KDAB General 1.jpgKDAB General 2.jpg

 

There are a few reproduced shopping malls, and they are all well represented, one large mall has set 3d cars in the parking lots but the other few don't...

 

KDAB General 3.jpgKDAB General 4.jpg

 

Lafayette Landings Airport (FD90)

About 25miles west at De Leon Springs is Lafayette Landings private grass strip. This is a sweet little strip that is just a grass strip surrounded by a few houses and the odd GA hangar.

 

FD90 1.jpgFD90 2.jpgFD90 3 LG.jpg

 

Lafayette Landings is certainly a nice little field to drop into, have drink and catch up on life, then head on to your destination.

 

FD90 4.jpgFD90 5.jpg

 

WT3: WorldTraffic3 generated fine, but there isn't a lot of action coming and going on here at KDAB, my guess it needs a little adjustment to make it more interesting and busy (any chance K-Man?), the ground routes work fine so all is missing is the actual traffic...  but be careful when you arrive or depart to the west of KDAB as the close by airway V267 is a major north-south corridor and it is busy with a capital B.

 

Lighting

Lighting is poor here...  Only RWY 7L/25L has the main approach lighting, the rest of the runways and taxiways are just outlined.

 

KDAB 5.jpgKDAB 6.jpg

 

Terminal lighting is also really average...  the ramps are okayish, but the see through grey glass comes across as quite average.

 

KDAB 1.jpgKDAB 2.jpg

KDAB 3.jpgKDAB 4.jpg

 

Overall, don't come at night. The wasted opportunity here was not to light up the Speedway? It would have looked great on arrival...

 

Summary

There is no doubt a lot of work in here and you get a fair quota of buildings and objects. Overall it is well done and well laid out, but there are a few areas that tone it all down. The ground textures are too light and need more saturation compared to the surrounding native texture mesh, ditto the buildings that although they are matched to the local colours correctly, still they come out all bland and very 3d modelly, X-Plane scenery users are now used to and expect quality textures as with say like ShortFinal's KABQ - Albuquerque International Sunport. This aspect is emphasised with like the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University which should look realistic, but it like many points here it just misses the mark. Lighting is also very average. Lafayette Landings Airport (field) however is a little hidden gem.

 

The big question is would I fly and use KDAB - Daytona Beach? That answer strange enough is a definitive yes, as it is a great link around the Florida State with my highly used KRSW - Southwest Florida, KMCO - Orlando and KMIA - Miami, and it adds in very well for both GA, Interstate and regional routes, so there is no doubt I will be very actively coming in and out of here. And that is the context here in summing up the scenery. In that any scenery that will get a lot of use has value, it is then in that aspect certainly worth the investment.

 

_____________________________________

 

X-Plane Store logo sm.jpg

 

Yes! KDAB - Daytona Beach by Aerosoft / Stairport Sceneries is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :

 

Daytona Beach International Airport

 

Price is US$28.99

 

Features:
  • Highly detailed recreation of Daytona Beach International (KDAB)
  • Accurate, highly detailed building models
  • Detailed terminal interiors
  • High-resolution textures based on photos taken at the site
  • Detailed, accurate ground layout
  • High-resolution ground textures with PBR effects
  • Photo scenery covering most of the environment with current aerial images
  • Custom models for city buildings (e.g. university)
  • Animated environment
  • Custom bridge models
  • Animated jetways, Safedock A-VDGSs and marshallers at all eligible gates (with the free AutoGate plug-on by Jonathan Harris)
  • Detailed recreation of Lafayette Landings airfield (FD90)
 

Requirements:

X-Plane 11

Windows, Mac or Linux
2Gb VRAM Minimum, 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended
Downlaod size: 530Mb
Version: 1 (May 11th 2018)

 

Installation
Download scenery file size is 502mb. With the full installation installed packages in your custom scenery folder are:
 
  • Aerosoft - KDAB Daytona (667mb)
  • Aerosoft - FD90 Lafayette Landings (Lite) (309mb)

 

Documentation

One Aerosoft Manual is included in German and English. (11 pages)

 

  • Manual_Daytona_Beach_International_XP11_de-en_web

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton

16th May 2018

Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews

 

(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

 

Review System Specifications:

Computer System: Windows  - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD 

Software:   - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20

Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose  Soundlink Mini

Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.07 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9  effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95

Scenery or Aircraft

- Boeing 737-800 X-Plane11 by Laminar Research - Free with Simulator
 

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Let's hope they can work on a few of the things you mentioned. Also Lake Lloyd, in the centre of the Speedway in your pictures is grass, so I don't know what's happened to the water? It is a bit like going back in time - the stand on the back straight of the Speedway was torn down several years ago when they rebuilt the main stands.

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