History in the making

How this addon for Microsoft Flight Simulator was started

2/4/20211 min read

When Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was released, I couldn't believe the level of quality that it achieved. I was amazed.
The aircraft in the game were incredible, and I loved the fact that all their cockpits were 3D and of high quality as well.

I started looking online how to make my own simple plane for MSFS and found some really good basics tutorials like the MSFS: Development Series from Jonx Simulations.

I started thinking about doing some simple aircraft just to test the process and looked online for some inspiration on what to do. Instantly I remembered the hydroplane from Riders of the lost ark. The next logical step was to remember the Trimotor from Temple of Doom. Since I was a kid I always thought that was the best representation of the planes of that era and a perfect description without words of "Adventure".

After that there was no other plane that I could think on making. I wasn't aware of the scale of the task ahead of me.

Modelling, unwrapping, texturing, rigging and animating the exterior and the interior was a big undertaking because I was my worst critic and wouldn't settle for OK. What started just as a fun project, became a measure of my own skill, ability to investigate and to learn....It was still fun...