Adding the bubble canopy...

[Wing Nut]

Can one of you guys point me in the right direction for getting started on this?

[Felix/FFDS]

It's looking good, go with your instincts (and BACK UP)!!!

[Wing Nut]

Thanks Felix,  after some more tinkering, I came up with this, which seems about on par with late FS98 or FS2k.  

There's an interesting thing I don't really understand though.  I figured out how to make a transparent texture, but I had to apply it to the areas I had intended to be opaque.  Once I did that, the rest of the canopy became transparent.  Why would that happen?

Also, am I right in assuming I'll need to split the front and back pieces off?

[Felix/FFDS]

Yes - My approach tends to be to create the canopy, taking into consideration the framing required.

If I create the full canopy as one piece( instead of a front and rear bubble), once I'm satisfied with the final shape, I'll split off the frame(s) from the "glass".  I'll set the glass material appropriately, then texture - or not - as appropriate.  Since I've set the glass material to be transparent, I'll only worry about the alpha channel in texturing the "glass" part if I want some sheen or reflectivity, since the transparency is in the material, not the texture.

[Wing Nut]

Felix, what happened here?  It was clear in FSDS, but when I compiled it into FS9, it turned opaque.  ???

[FoolyCooly]

Wow! Its been a while but its looking great! Awesome!  :o

[Wing Nut]

Thanks Fooly, it still has a LONG way to go...

[FoolyCooly]

Is it going to have a VC?

[Wing Nut]

Well, the idea is to use this as a kind of a test bed to teach myself how to do this.  One month ago, I had never even touched FSDS.  The plan is that it may not be the most accurate plane ever, but it will have everything that I need to learn on it.  So it may have some lind of a rudimentary VC, but don't expect it to be jawdropping.  :)

[FoolyCooly]

Okay, well good luck.  :)