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Jim McNeill is the leader of Shade Tree Micro Aviation (STMA). Many of you know STMA as one of the oldest designers of payware aircraft for X-Plane. STMA has established itself as the bush planes specialist thanks to detailed models of the DHC-2 Beaver, Piper PA-18, A1-1 Husky and others.
What is Shade Tree Micro Aviation, what's behind the name?
- My family has always been tinkerers and do-it-yourselfers who are also frequently known as "shade tree mechanics". So when Shannon Boatman, my original partner, and I decided to start selling X-Plane models the Shade Tree appellation seemed a natural fit. I added Micro just to make sure there wasn't any confusion with any real world aircraft companies. Shade Tree Micro Aviation, or STMA, now consists of the associates listed on the contacts page of our website. Shannon is on extended sabbatical and we've just added a new graphics artist, Kerry "Kezza" Cross.
When did you start using X-Plane and what was the 1st plane you modeled with x-plane?
- In the spring of 2002 I was severely injured in a helicopter ground mishap. While recovering from the 1st shoulder surgery of what ended up being 3, and a 2 ½ year recovery, I was looking for a way of keeping up instrument currency and happened upon a demonstration that Austin was giving on TV. I wasn't happy with Microsoft Flight Simulator and X-Plane appeared to be an attractive alternative. It was, and I was very quickly hooked. But I wasn't happy with the models I'd downloaded so I started modifying them in Plane-Maker and before I knew it I was making them from scratch.
The first complete model I did is still one of my favorites, The Piper PA-31T Cheyenne II. Jason Chandler was gracious enough to help me over some early hurdles and was instrumental in giving me the idea of paying it forward, which I've continued to do.
How many hours a week do you spend on x-plane?
- Hmmm, I think it would be easier asking how many hours I don't spend. I don't get to do all the modeling I want because, as the front-man for the company, I end up spending a lot of time helping our retail customers and answering questions from prospective buyers, doing flight tests, gathering materials we need to design the models, and working with our contract customers. I also am mentoring a couple of model makers who I think are going to impress a lot of people when their designs come out over the next few months.
Overall, I try to limit my time to 10 hours a day and no more than 6 days a week because I still like to go flying at least once a week, weather permitting.
How many hours do you take to design a plane?
- Wow! However many hours it takes to get it right. Seriously, when I first started, it would take 20 to 30 hours to create a model, but that was before all the features that X-Plane now offers and before the advent of 3D modeling. Between the research to find the best data we can on the model, creating the "skeleton" of the model in Plane-Maker which drives the physics engine, and then doing the 3D modeling which creates the highly detailed visual model you see, animating all of the instruments and controls, and finishing it off with high resolution graphics it takes 500 man-hours or more to create a basic model. Sometimes that increases by a factor of 2 or 3, depending on how complex the model is and what special features our contract customers want to add.
What tools do you use besides X-Plane to create planes?
- I always start with the FAA Type Certificated Data Sheet (TCDS) or equivalent, which spells out the basic design features of the aircraft. That's supplemented by engineering drawings, if I can find them, or at least a quality 3-view (Left Side, Top, and front) of the aircraft. I then acquire a pilot operating handbook (POH) or pilot information manual (PIM) if I don't already have it in my library. If we can't find those items, or equivalents, we won't model the aircraft. Doing the Southern Cross, the modified Fokker F-VII-3m, that Kerry Cross flew in his recreation of the initial Trans-Pacific flight from Oakland, California to Brisbane, Australia by Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, was very challenging because we had to piece that information together form bits and pieces of internet documents and by arm-twisting museum staff, etc.
Detailed photographs of design details are essential; and I love parts manuals when I can get them because they have detailed drawings of parts and schematics that show how everything fits together. Of course nothing is better than actually sitting in and crawling around the real airplane. So whenever possible we do that.
On top of that we use all sorts of programs and utilities, like Ben and Sandys X-Plane SDK, airfoil design software (I use Design-Foil), and a couple of different programming languages to create plugins and custom avionics . And we all use AC3D, by Inivis, for our 3D modeling which uses Ben Supnik's X-Plane plugin to make converting the 3D structures into objects usable by X-Plane a relatively easy process.
Most of the guys use Adobe's Photoshop for their graphics work. Having started with Corel's Paint Shop Pro, I've stuck with it, which sometimes makes me a pariah. Shannon used to mutter that he's seen 4-year olds do a better job with crayons than I do with a mouse.
I'm sure that I've forgotten some essential tools but right now I can't think of them. Of course there are all sorts of tips and tricks we've learned over the years that supplement this basic list but I can't give everything away, now, can I?
What is your real-life experience in flying planes?
- Well, let's see. I made my first flight as a passenger in 1954 and as a certificated pilot in 1962. I flew in the military (U.S. Army) for 24 years, as a Department of Army Civilian (DAC) pilot for 9 more years, and as a corporate, charter, and air ambulance pilot for a final 10 years. I've been a certificated flight instructor (CFI) since 1970 and was a designated pilot examiner (DPE) from 1995 until I formally retired in 2006. As a pilot, I have flown many planes: AS-350BA A-Star, UH-1B/D/H Huey, OH-58 Kiowa/Bell 206 Jetranger, Cessna C-172 , C-182 Skylane, C-210P Centurion, C-310 (U-3 Blue Canoe), C-421B Golden Eagle, C-550 Citation II, Piper PA-31T Cheyenne II, etc.
I currently own a 1969 Cessna C182M, which we modeled in X-Plane V8 and will upgrade to V9.5x, in partnership with one of my sons and am working on teaching as many of my grandchildren as want to learn how to fly.
What are your future projects?
- We tend to specialize in bush planes so we're going to continue upgrading our existing fleet of those. We're very close to releasing a new Beaver and will follow that with upgraded Otters and probably a Turbo Beaver. I've also been working on a Convair CV-580 which we initially did for a contract customer who wanted only the 2D cockpit and which now needs to have a 3D cockpit completed. Peter is working on an updated Cessna C206 and we're working on an upgrade of our PC-12 which has an amazingly accurate avionics suite and cockpit layout thanks to a long-time PC-12 pilot, and upgrades to our Diamond DA-40 and a hi-tech Diamond DA-42. Beyond that we'll continue upgrading the remainder of our fleet to V9.5x, or more likely, to V10 as time permits. Our late V8 models continue to fly very well in V9 and as long as they do we're going to concentrate on what we see as priority projects.
That doesn't mean we're abandoning our customers. We're committed to providing the best possible customer service to our customers so we continually fix bugs as they're identified and provide incremental upgrades to all of our models as time permits.
