The 500C is my all-time favourite helicopter, I've loved them for as long as I can remember (I remember drawing one on one of my first days at school) and it was one of the first addons I got for FS98 (shout out to Ian Standfast). I've been longing for a good one for the modern sims. Thanks to the New Year Marketplace sale and having earned an Xbox Gift Card I splashed out on the Taog model and, wow, is it gorgeous! A ton of paints for both versions including many Kiwi 500Cs. Great fun to fly and looks terrific. It sounds great too but I've only ever flown in one E model so can't speak much to accuracy. I've encountered a couple of small bugs (e.g. mismatched paint, rotor spinning in the wind while blade tiedowns are in place) but from what I've seen on the official forum the team is responsive and eager to fix what they can.
I'm learning how to fly it properly (stopping and landing is the focus right now) before trying out the spray version. Currently I'm flying a tour of old haunts and airports of interest around NZ and having a blast. Flying the length of the Whanganui River at low level was a fun challenge in navigation and control and I'm keen to try it again with better planning and more skill.
Now all I need (aside from some particular Kiwi paints) are some movie star liveries to go with the 500C and Taog's Lama so I can find a friend to recreate scenes from the 1973 TV movie
Birds of Prey and 1982's
Deadly Encounter!