Development

When did you start developing for flight simulators?

I started back in 2006, before that I had no previous experience repainting and asked my friend Alex Colka (who has some of his work uploaded to FlightSim.Com by the way) that used to paint for FS98 to make them for me, however my wishlist was so big that I asked him to teach me how to paint instead of making repaints for me. Even though we didn't meet each other in real life and living in different cities he gave me the general idea of how to repaint and then it has been a process of "self-educating" since then.

How many repaints have you done?

It is hard to account how many repaints I've done so far and some of my unpublished work was lost after my old computer broke down, but so far I've uploaded 195 files, plus I've done some other work for third parties that even paid me. I've made work for an air crash investigation and made the Ecuador Presidential transport repaint after a request from the original designer.

What do you consider your best or most popular work?

I've a personal attachment for every work I've done and sometimes I remember a few challenges I had to face with some things I didn't know how to do and have memories of every repaint since there is so much time I invest in the making of each and this includes research for photographs and detailed information for background. But my most popular work for sure is my 737-200 panel with more than 6000 downloads, It was a fantastic experience since it involved a lot of research, modifications and the help of a real airline that used to fly the B732 here.

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of a project?

Regarding repaints for sure I think is the matching parts, when you have a project most of the time it has many parts and those parts are put together in the aircraft to be shown in flight simulator, and you have to paint those parts separately and it is rather difficult to make them match in continuity with the other parts a task even more difficult when you are painting camouflaged patterns like my Ecuadorian Air Force C-130.

What are your favorite projects?

As I said I have a special attachment for all my work, but my favorites are definately the repaints of old extinct airlines. People tend to forget them and flight simulator is a great way to keep them alive in the minds of the old people that remember them and the young people that never heard of them but are interested in aviation history.

What software packages and tools do you use?

Repainting in terms of "what you need" is simple, I use:

• The good old reliable Adobe Photoshop CS2.
• Abacus FS Repaint. I don't use this to paint but it is so helpful when I have to match lines and what I paint in each separate part.
• DXTBmp the only tool I know to convert painted bmp's to Flight Simulator recognizable files.
• For my few panel designs I use Abacus FS Panel Studio which I love since it is so simple and intuitive.

Who would you consider to be your mentors or inspiration in the repainter world?

As I said before my friend Alex Colka from Guayaquil, he ignited the spark that in the past years had made done almost every aircraft I want for flight Simulator.

The Team

Do you work with any teams?

Yes and no. I don't work with people who are directly involved in my many projects however I'm part of Tame Virtual, the Ecuadorian most important virtual airline, one of the oldest in the region and we have formed an enormous community of flight simulator and aviation fans in my country, and there are a few people who had made a lot of work for the community.

What other developers or teams have you worked with and what where their rolls?

I've received request from many developers, but the most important were the Caravelle developers. That sadly dissapeared after their Caravelle release. I've made a lot of repaints even before the release of their models. And I worked with Historic Jetliners Group that asked me some of my work for old and extinct aircraft.

Real Life

Do you have any experience, interest in real aviation?

Yes, I'm starting my aviation career early next year. I don't have aviation experience yet but as many people I've learned a lot from flight simulator and I'm really hoping to apply everything I know in my new career. I've a Finances Engineering and I'm currently studying law too, but at last I have my necessary funds to start doing what I love to do the most... flying.

Any memorable flights in real life?

I had the chance early this year to fly jumpseat in a flight from Loja (SECA) to Guayaquil (SEGU) in Tame's ATR 42-500. It was memorable apart from the fact that I was in the cockpit that the procedure and the flight plan was the exact same thing I've experienced in Flight Simulator before, and that is really encouraging.

Would you like to share what you do in real life?

Now I'm currently unemployed since I quit my job a few weeks ago because I'm in the final stages of applying to the flight school abroad. That is why I wanted to update all the work I had pending for flight simulator and pubilish them. But professionally I was working as a contractor for the local electrical company replacing energy meters and reducing costs due electrical failure and energy stealing.

Have you ever considered doing flight simulator development full-time?

Yes, I even give it a try a few years ago but it demanded a lot of time I didn't have to learn and I encountered many things I could not resolve so I didn't go further on that.

Future

How do you choose your next new design or project?

Now that I'm currently retired from doing repaints or work for flight simulator I'm interested in teaching how to repaint. Many people seem to be interested and sincerely since I'm one of the very few people making repaints for flight Simulator in my country I would like for someone to continue making them.

What simulators do you repaint for now and what ones do you plan to do repaints for in the future?

All my work was done for Flight Simulator 2004. Many people have said that I should repaint for FSX but I always say that FS2004 offers me everything I want to have and FSX does not. Sadly now that many developers quit making good stuff for FS2004 I guess in the future I will continue to paint for FSX.

In what ways do you see development changing in the future?

For me development has been a sad issue, specially after seeing many developers not making anything for FS2004 anymore, except from Carenado that made a lot of people like me very happy, I guess we all have to move forward but development of good free stuff for FSX or any future flight simulators will never be as good or we will have as many work like we have for FS2004.

Your Thoughts

What can sites like FlightSim.Com do to support the hobby?

I never thought about that, since I always consider FlightSim.Com the top site and with everything a new or experienced flight simmer may want. But in my developer wannabe moments I found it difficult to find step by step tutorials to make sceneries and aircraft, forums and sites I found they all talk between people that already know how to do them and for newbies like me by the time was so difficult to understand or try.

How do you feel about the future of flight simulation in general?

I'm not really sure about this matter, since I'm a hardcore FS2004 user I'm not really into looking for alternatives, however I found the latest MS simulator more like an arcade game than the learning tool we are used to and that is really sad. I hope one day in the near future serious flight simulator developers continue to offer more advanced flight simulators instead of "gaming-style" flight simulators.

What are some of the most important things a site or community can do to help the developers?.

As I said before the best thing would be something like "repaints for dummies" or "aircraft/scenery developing for dummies" forums and tutorials. Then this will encourage people to start developing and sharing good stuff for free.

What would you like people to know about you and your work?

I always developed and shared my work for free, and I always considered that if life put me in the path of flight simulation that helped me knowing hundreds of good friends, tons of nice experiences, and has lead me in the path of making aviation my way of living in the future I had to contribute somehow. My contribution to the flightsim community is there for free, to fly, to enjoy and to remember the past and the present of our aviation. I wish this encourages many people to think beyond their own desires and wishes by sharing. There's nothing as receiving emails from people saying thank you for your work or thank you for contributing or watching your first 1000 downloads of a good work you've done. The art of repainting is like a drug, once you start it is really difficult to quit. Sometimes I spent more time repainting than flying and sometimes I even dream of how to improve my repaints or how much I wanted to paint one or other aircraft. All I want for people to know is that I'm thankful for your appreciation, support and acceptance of my work.

Rodolfo Estrella
View Rodolfo Estrella add-ons in the FlightSim.Com file library