Step 2:  Loading the AIrcraft in FG 1

The aircraft is loaded into FG 1.. Notice the orientation :  The right wing is down. 

Rotate aircraft 90 degrees left (roll) or set the X Z axis swap off

Make the windows and propeller disk transparent

Color the outside of the aircraft and cabin

Smooth out the wheels

Add a pilot

Step 3 The Pilot

The pilot figure is found in FlightGear /Data/Models/testpilot.ac

Converted to a.obj  format using the online tool described earlier and then added materials in WIngs 3D.

The pilot model also had to be rotated 90 degrees to the right.

Step 4 : Aircraft Colors and Transparencies Through Materials

Step 5 : Interior Colors and seats, controls

Step 6: The Difficult Part: Instruments

As the aircraft, the Cessna 172p loads,  it starts with a black box in the middle of the dashboard.  This is the magnetic compass.  By changing the X, Y and Z values of this object inside its configuration file  comp.xml, I was able to find out the direction of the X, Y and Z axes:

X:  Front to Rear, from middle of cockpit,  + is in the direction of the tail

Y: Left and right,  plus is to the right,  0,0,0 is in the middle of the cockpit

Z: Up and down,  0,0,0 is in the middle of the cockpit, plus is upwards

Next we add the air speed indicator.  The relevant files are located in the folder Data/Aircraft/3d instruments/asi/.  The configuration file is named asi.xml.  Add this file name to the c172p.xml file as follows: 

<!-- Added ASI to here -->

<model>

  <name>ASI</name>

  <path>Aircraft/Instruments-3d/asi/asi.xml</path>

  <offsets>

   <x-m>-0.35</x-m>

   <y-m>-0.35</y-m>

   <z-m>0.05</z-m>

  </offsets>

 </model>

At once, the needle of the ASI shows up in the panel.  The ASI works, as can be verified by flying the aircraft. There is no dial for reference,  we can create this and add it to the aircraft 3D model in WIngs 3D (c1723ds3.3ds) and make sure that the needle is correctly placed.