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gang, here we are in 1999 on our way to the new millennium and the
programs for Flight Simulator 98 just keep coming one right after the
other. I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and
happy New Year. I sure did. Just a day or two before the holidays I
volunteered (I know I've got to quit doing that) to review
Instant Airplane Maker by Abacus. I said okay and
that maybe I might get it out before the holidays but no guarantee...Well the holidays being the busiest time around my house with all the family showing up (including a few that I really wasn't sure about but in keeping with what the holiday is for I let stay) and with the New Years yours truly was commissioned to design and draw up a good size project for this area (I know, what could you build in a corn field). So, things got pretty hectic and I fell a little behind (spelled a lot). To Abacus and all of you I apologize.
The program is called Instant Airplane Maker and it was written by
the Virtual Skunks (you know who they are) and put out by Abacus.
What the program allows you to do is customize your own aircraft. By
that I mean if you want to create your own virtual airline you can
and with this program; it is super easy. You have 18 aircraft models
that are very accurate in both eye appeal and fly appeal (pretty good
eh!) and you can color them, put custom graphics on them (just think,
a virtual airline with your John Henry on it) all with the click of a
button (you do know how to use a mouse don't you?) You also can do
transparent windows and landing lights as well as animated flaps and
3D rendering.
All of the aircraft that are included in the program are of the
passenger type (you know, buses with wings) and to make your own
airline involves just three (3) easy steps. The first step is to
choose the airplane type, be it a 747-400 or a DC-9 or an A320-211.
All you have to do is click on what you want to use for your airline.Step two (2) is to pick the paint job, and with thousands of paint schemes here is where you could spend some time (just remember not to make it so loud that the paint job gets to the airport 10 minutes before the plane does).
And the last step is to of course name your airplane. Now you can get
as mild to as wild as you want with your favorite people hauler or
you can do the freight version. In fact Abacus has one of their
747-400's on the box cover and I have to admit, I never would have
thought a shark would look that good on a jumbo jet, but it does.
You can do that design or one of the many others that are already to be painted on or you can wing it free hand and let your hair down and get crazy. You have all the options open to you with this program to do an airplane the way you want to in the flavor you want...such a deal.
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If you have looking for the program to build your own commercial hauler you have found it. My hats off to the folks at Abacus and of course the legendary Virtual Skunks for putting this together. A job well done. :-)
Curt May
Email: mttly1@clinton.net