Well everyone knows the point of this game is to create planes. This guide focused on how to build a plane is good rather than how to get upvotes. I believe, that once you have mastered the art of building cool and functioning stuff, the recognition will come naturally. So let's get into the guide without further adieu!

Step 1: Having the right mindset.

It is foolish to think that the stuff you build deserves upvotes just because you think it is good(well for your standards maybe but not for others). Instead, we should build planes because we love what we build and sharing it is secondary. Whether others appreciate it is other issue beyond your control. What is in your control is the desire to make better planes! So if you are one of those people yapping about not getting upvotes, maybe you have the wrong mindset. This place is not for self-glorification, so what if you have little upvotes? Will it affect your life? No it only affects you if you let it. Now that we have covered the mindset part let's move to the next part!

Step 2: Passion

Well you've probably been the many cool looking designs on the website and admired them. (If you haven't you should! It is good to see what others build and rip them apart to learn how they do it) The key to making realistic looking and cool stuff is passion. There is no rush to upload some half built thing just to get 1 or 2 upvotes, that's having the wrong mindset. Change your mindset find your passion. You have to really want to build something in order to make it good. Not for others, but for your own enjoyment! The most fun I get from this game is the process of building the plane xD occasionally you may find yourself not wanting to continue building something. In that case you shelve it for the moment and work on something else until you find the desire to complete it. If you force yourself to build something, it won't turn out good.

Step 3: Gathering resources

You simply cannot built something from memory, if you think you can do that, you are wrong! The key is to get images of the plane you want to build from different angles. I refer to 4/5 images of one plane personally, and keep them open so you can compared how your plane looks vs the original. If it looks off, redo it! Remember, you are building it for yourself, not upvotes Once you have gotten all the images you need you can start building!

Step 4: Building

The next part is probably the part you guys came to see. To start off building, choose a part of the plane you want to build and start from there. I usually start from right at the back or right at the front so that the proportions are easy to gauge. Do not start from the cockpit. (PS I think the stock cockpits provided are pretty terrible for making replicas so ditch them!) Always refer to pictures and think of how your fuselage placement affects the colouring of the plane. For more detailed stuff, XML modding is inevitable as it can help you place a block exactly where you want it to be! It also provides flexibility for the dimensions (that is how I made my R2D2) and different angles(other than the standard 90° turns) For a detailed XML guide you can check out Walrusaircraft's one (I don't have the link maybe someone can provide it). In this step, we ignore the mechanics of flight, we just want the main shape and look of the aircraft to be good first.

Step 5: Fine tuning

Once you've got the shape of the aircraft and it looks exactly as you want it to, it is time to make it fly! You can bring up the COM and COL and COT display to this. Basically you want the COM to be in front of the COL so that the aircraft doesn't flip. The key here is repeated testing. To get the best results I adjust the position of the COM by adding fuel or dead weight and test it out until I get the desired flight characteristics. The COT plays an important role in manoeuvrability, you have to test this out by moving the engines forwards/backwards(using XML) and flying it to see how it affects it. Such fine tuning isn't usually needed but for some unconventional designs they are required! For VTOL aircraft the COT has to be right on the COM or it will generate a moment and cause the aircraft to flip. In addition, if you find that your plane can't fly, be creative and find ways to affect the flying without affecting the looks(this includes hiding wings in the body and etc)

Step 6: Final touches

After all the things have been finished. Take your plane out for a spin! If you find some problems, like it blowing up when you pull up, find the source and fix it! Sometimes it's harder to weed out and can only be found after you uploaded it. The key to releasing planes I think is timing! To maximize the number of people seeing your plane, you can choose to upload it at a time where the most people are online. Because of poor timing, I've seen a few cool planes get less amount of attention than they deserve because they've been buried by the other newer designs.

Alright this is the end of the guide! Happy building! If you feel that there are any additions that need to be included in this guide, please comment!