Page 22 - December 2019

catching work, it's a great addition to anyone's
freeware hangar, as it's perfect for those longer

cross country flights; plus it has a really decent
Jennifer Kimball Developer Interview cockpit setup (and a G1000 version). It's plain old fun
By Nels Anderson to fly.
Development
Having seen how complicated your desktop looks at
Jenn, when did you start times due to your 3D modelling work, could you tell
developing for flight us what you find to be the most challenging aspect
simulators and what got of a project?
you interested in it?
Animations and cockpit click regions. Getting
As a real-world pilot, I've
everything to function right in a virtual cockpit can
always been interested be a lot of work and tinkering, and it can be
flight simulation, my first
frustrating, but it's always worth it when you can
simulator being Microsoft
start a plane from cold and dark, switch by switch,
Flight Sim 98.
and become immersed in the experience not only of
I started developing for X-Plane 10 in 2015 after I saw all flying the aircraft but of operating it.
of the content available for download and got inspired
to develop my own planes. So, along with my good
friend Alex, I learned the art from scratch starting with
Plane Maker. I soon progressed into 3D modeling,
textures, and animations, and progressed from there.

Could you tell us a bit about your amazing designs?

Sure Dom! All of the projects I've worked on so far have Even though creating aircraft is challenging, is
been smaller aircraft, the most complex being the there a particular project you have worked on
Mitsubishi MU-2. Alex and I have been known for our which you consider to be a favorite?
"grass roots" collections of aircraft including but not
limited to a PA-18 Super Cub package, a J-3 Cub package, The MU-2, because it was a huge learning
experience. I didn't put as much into the 3D work or
an Aeronca Chief and Champ, and even an amphibious
virtual cockpit as usual, but I focused on getting the
flying fishing boat. Some of the projects I did entirely on
my own include the MU-2, Glasair, and Rans Coyote. I systems right. I had a lot of help from the community
(including real MU-2 pilots) in getting this tricky
did the majority of the 3D and texture work on the Cub
airplane to handle and operate as much like the real
and Super Cub as well.
one as possible. In fact, look for a future update with
better 3D modeling and a more immersive virtual
cockpit, because I think it deserves it!

Another favorite project was the Super Cub,

particularly the float version. That was just plain old
fun, and I'm due to make another float plane some
Haha...I remember the flying fishing boat when you time soon.
first uploaded it...that was wacky!

Jenn, out of all the aircraft (and flying fishing boats)
you have created, what do you consider your best or
most popular work?