TAIMODELS Releases EGCC - Manchester Intl. Airport

Visually it looks good... But an update is required to fix the terrain data TAIModels have used. It's completely off and the runway is as flat as a pancake!

Echo "youngii"'s comments about the terrain, and I have my own two-pence to throw in, from the perspective of someone who has worked airside at this airport for 9 years to date.
The scenery itself is mostly well-represented, however there are a couple of things that a modern EGCC scenery should get right from the off.
- Terrain data. EGCC is famous for having "the hump" at the touchdown point of 23R. A friend of mine with 3 stripes flying for a little orange airline often talks about "flattening the hump" when justifying a hard landing.
- TCX Hangar. Hasn't been a TCX hangar since TCX went bust in 2019. This is now an "STS" hangar. There was a nice little tweak to MaccoSim's EGCC that changed the texture from TCX to STS hosted on here, but it doesn't carry over.
- Pier 1 (new T2 pier)'s gates and stands are the wrong way around. E.g. stand 104 has A3 on the pepper-pot (doors under the airbridge), 106 has A5 and so on. The "A" gates represent the respective stands: A4 = 104, A5 = 105, A6 = 106 and so on.
For the most part, the airport is visually very well put together. C Pier (between stands 21 and 32 / the satellite) is very well done and I believe one-up's that of MaccoSim's. However, MaccoSim has the edge with B Pier (between stands 1 and 15).
TaiModels makes excellent work of T2 (besides the above comments), with the fully modelled check-in area and drop-off points. I must take nothing away from TaiModels for their version of T2 as they have done a fantastic job of rendering this terminal in particular.
Both MaccoSim and TaiModels have decent renditions of T3, though again MaccoSim edges it for me personally.
TaiModels does a lot of things right that MaccoSim doesn't, and vice versa. Landside areas are superior in TaiModels' scenery, but airside accuracy is edged by MS in many areas.
TaiModels has the opportunity to be a great alternative to MaccoSim's long-standing EGCC scenery, but it isn't quite there yet. I suspect that this will plug the gap for most simmers until MaccoSim releases V2 of their EGCC scenery, which hopefully looks to put right some of the teething issues that this scenery has had for some time.

Thanks for your detailed review - it really is useful to know these things when there is an alternative. i've had the Maccosim version since it was released and am generally happy with it. As you say the v2 update will improve it.
I was working on developing the surrounding scenery (warehouses, etc) but saw that the TaiModels version covers a larger area. I may now return to my work as I think I'll stick with Maccosim for the present and see what v2 brings.
Again, many thanks.
Skell300 (https://flightsim.to/profile/skell300)

Thank you - this is such a useful review! Does MaccoSim have "the hump"? I'm leaning towards grabbing MS based on what you say above.

Hi archibalduk,
MaccoSim’s terrain data is accurate, the hump provides quite the challenge on the approach to 23R but yes, it exists within MS’s version.