Simviation Forums

Some quick questions

What design software should I purchase,  or is that a matter of preference?

Also, where do I find the reference info on aircraft I want to design?  

The aircraft I would like to build are rare warbirds circa pre and post WWII.  These are two time frames in my opinion where the technology blossomed.  

And of course what else would I need to animate, make sound files and panels?

Thank You, Kenn

There are no quick answers here, but I'll try to point you in the right direction.

[quote]What design software should I purchase,

If anyone were to write down all of the knowledge we have gathered here over the years onto books, we would most likely have a library of our own.

The Library of Alexandria SimViation

thank you Brett for the input.  Time is something have much of patience and an open mind, I have those too.  I have seen the design links and they look helpful.  as well as this whole community.   I was just looking for someone ot do as you have, point me in the right direction.  I am aware that there is a wealth of knowledge in the sim world as well as he web itself. It was just a matter of getting direction on where to start.  So again  thank you.  

Without breaking any NDAs that may or may not be in force, allow me to go in record as recommending strongly that - especially those who're just getting started - build strictly to the FSX SDK specifications...  

As has already be mentioned, it may take a year or more before one's project is ready for general release, and by that time... 8-)

Translation -

It has already been posted that the next iteration of FS (hereby identified as FS-11) will most probably (as in 99.9999%) have no backward compatibility with models made to FS9 SDK standards.  THe only backward compatibility will be to models made to the FS-X SDKs.  Even then, FS-X models will have to be re-processed to FSX SP2 (which hasn't been released yet)..

So folks, read up on the FS-X SDKs and if you're still building for FS9, "think"  FS-X to make the transition easier.

Ok have fs10 delux and with all the goodies, Now It is time to learn, by trial, and error, and of course lots of questions.  Wish me luck

There are some design links here at SimV.. and you'll find lots of help a references at the FreeFlightDesign forums. But it's really aircraft dependent. You'll have to do a LOT of Googling, searching and reading, and the first, tangible thing you'll have to get ahold of, is a good 3-view (top front side diagram) of the airplane.

Ok ... I have a question: Exactly WHERE might one find these (top front side diagram) of aircraft? I noticed in the tutorial for GMAX that I downloaded, they use a P-38 obtained from aircraft recognition cards. Where might I find diagrams like that?

Oh, never mind. I found a site in the resources area of the design section. I couldn't access them with Firefox so I had to switch over to IE and finally got in. Carry-on gentlemen.  ::)