It never fails. I begin what I expect will be an quick project -- say, a few hours work -- and then it spirals out of control. What began as a simple "point release" upgrade of the Tigershark, my simple addition of a HUD attachment, turned into a major revision.

This week I've put in countless (and often frustrating) hours testing and rewriting the Tigershark flight script. The controls now use a gradual, cumulative force in the angular motors. Instead of slamming into a full-force turn when you press an arrow key, the force is applied gradually, which ensures a smoother flight.

Like the Talon, the Tigershark now has a HUD attachment which includes, altimeter, speed, artificial horizon, throttle, status indicator, and assorted buttons. The status indicator was interesting to make -- it shows which parts of the plane are damaged by highlighting that part in red on an overhead view.

And since I was rewriting most of the scripts anyway, I thought I'd make a few modifications to the Tigershark's appearance too. It now features a WW2 style canopy, larger engine pods, shorter fuselage, and a new tailgun design.

I'm not done yet, either. Give me another week of testing and bug-fixing, and it'll be ready to take to the skies.