Four and a half years with the Scrapyard Monster

In January 2022, I sat down at Blender with a single question in mind: am I capable of building an aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator? I had been learning Blender since the early Covid days back in 2019 and 2020, and by then I was already reasonably comfortable with the tool. But modelling an aircraft for a flight simulator is another story entirely, and I had no idea what the answer would be. Four and a half years later, I am about to release version 2.4 of the Scrapyard Monster, and I think it is time to look back at how this little ridiculous aircraft of mine became the heart of everything Flying Fries has built since.

A first attempt, on purpose (2022-2023)

The very first screenshots of my Blender file, taken on January 19, 2022, are charmingly awful: blocky shapes, no textures, barely an aircraft. But I was immediately sure this design would be perfect for my crazy project.

I had to start somewhere, and I had given myself one rule: keep the pressure low. That is why I chose a fictional aircraft rather than a real one. A real airplane comes with documentation, expectations, a community of experts ready to flag every wrong rivet. A fictional one comes with freedom. And I like freedom.

The concept was simple and silly: an aero engineer assembles a flying machine from scrapyard parts around a Cosworth RA V12, the engine of the Aston Martin Valkyrie. One thousand horsepower, 830 kilos, with a droppable ballast that weights just as much. A power-to-weight ratio about twice that of a Spitfire, on an airframe made of welded junk. Absurd by design, and absurd was the point.

The first version released on June 1, 2023, eighteen months after that first Blender session. Two weeks later, on June 16, version 1.1 added the Sea Monster, an amphibious variant. Two aircraft in one pack. By the end of July, version 1.2 introduced something I had no idea I could pull off: multi-color aerobatic smoke. That was the moment I started realising this thing might actually be more than a personal experiment.

The reception that changed everything

I did not expect what came next. The Scrapyard Monster, this little freeware oddity, found an audience far larger than I had ever imagined. Pilots, streamers, content creators, all kinds of people in the Flight Simulator community started flying it, and having fun around the world with it. When people talk about the Monster, they smile. I cannot describe how good that feels.

Burstix was the first content creator who really loved it and brought the Monster to a much wider audience on Twitch. Forder came soon after and has been an incredible partner for promoting Flying Fries ever since. Captain Kenobi showed up a bit later, and our collaboration grew so naturally that he is now a full part of the team (not on payroll, because a small studio like mine cannot afford salaries, but very much part of the family). He works with me on strategic thinking, on shaping future projects, and on those epic trailers that accompany every release. TwoToneMurphy joined the circle later, and our partnership is becoming officially formalized this very start of June 2026.

And then there are the testers. Some have been with me since the early days and have moved on; others have joined along the way. Most of them, I hope, will stay for a long time. Those bonds with the people closest to my projects are something I deeply cherish, and I would rather thank them as a group here than risk forgetting anyone, because every single one of them has shaped what Flying Fries is today.

At FS Expo 2024 and 2025, people looked at the logo on my t-shirt, and said "oh, you're the one who made the Scrapyard Monster!". For a small French freelance developer who does not have the size or the reach of the big studios, that kind of recognition is everything. The Monster opened doors that I could never have opened on my own.

Going pro, while keeping the spirit (2024-2025)

By 2024, things had changed. I had finished the XF-11, my first payware and the first real Flying Fries aircraft. The hobbyist days of "Lord Frites" were giving way to a real company, Flying Fries, trying to make proper content and earn a small living from Flight Simulator add-ons.

The Monster had to follow that move. Version 2.0, released on June 20, 2024, was a massive overhaul. Everything was remodelled, refactored, retextured, optimised. The aircraft was now ready for the MS Marketplace as an affordable payware for console players, so I had to remove every brand reference I did not have rights to: BMW, Ferrari, Pokémon, Nintendo, and a few others. The challenge was keeping the same fun, chaotic, junkyard spirit while being properly copyright-clean. There are still a few French YouTubers' names or logos on the Monster, but only because I contacted them and they were happy to allow me to use their brands: Ultimate Making, Boiserie... Thank you so much, guys! Version 2.0 also brought my first sound pack (not amazing, but functional), brand new VFX, some of them working in multiplayer for the first time, and a fully custom autopilot, which was a small piece of madness to build for an aircraft like this one.

Version 2.1 landed in October 2024 under the codename "Purple Fire". It added the fourth livery (Hot Rod), four new aerobatic smoke colors, and a camping kit you can attach to the aircraft: a tent, a campfire, even a little tune that plays when you set up camp. Bush flight pushed to its most ridiculous extreme.

Version 2.2 came in November 2024 to ensure perfect compatibility with Flight Simulator 2024 at its launch. Minor adjustments, thankfully nothing dramatic.

Version 2.3 followed in February 2025. By then the XF-11 was out and the Gabriel was just around the corner. The patch was full of small refinements, custom VFX replacing the borrowed Asobo ones, cleaner code. But the real breakthrough was invisible from the outside: I finally cracked deformable mesh animations, something that had haunted me for years. I figured it out while wrestling with the Gabriel, and I used the new skill straight away to build a proper custom pilot for the Monster. That kind of moment, where a problem you had given up on suddenly opens, is one of the most satisfying things in this work.

The inheritance comes home (2025-2026)

Then the Monster waited again. For more than a year, my focus was elsewhere. The Gabriel shipped and was deeply optimised. The XF-11 climbed to version 3.0. The Quasar, the most complex aircraft I have ever built, released in October 2025 and pushed me to refine my skills in so many disciplines: HTML gauges, aircraft systems, multiplayer-visible effects, advanced sound design. On that last point I owe a huge thanks to Grégoire, my trusted sound wizard, who has taught me an enormous amount about Wwise and proper audio production.

Every one of those projects left me with new skills, new techniques, new instincts. And the Scrapyard Monster, my very first aircraft, was never left abandoned. It benefited from every new feature over the years.

That is what version 2.4 is. The Quasar's brand new auto-throttle, ported over and tuned for the Monster's wildly different speed envelope. A completely overhauled sound pack, with reworked samples, reshaped engine curves, and gorgeous flyby sounds that owe everything to what I learned working alongside Grégoire. An EFB and HTML/JavaScript gauges that are far better optimised than what I could have written two years ago. XML code refactored with everything I now know. Aerobatic smoke effects that finally work in multiplayer. And a lot more besides.

None of this would exist without the people who walked this road with me: Pseud, who has shared so much of the framework and code thinking behind several of our aircraft; Grégoire again, whose audio expertise reshaped how I approach sound entirely; Claude (yes, the AI), my everyday thinking and teaching partner on architecture and code; and of course the testers and the community whose feedback has shaped every patch. Strangely, Steiny never worked on the Monster, but we haven't forgotten you, mate!

Version 2.4 is the Scrapyard Monster receiving the inheritance of every Flying Fries project that came after it. And this will continue...

What comes next

This is not the end of the road. The 2.4 release is the ultimate version for Flight Simulator 2020, fully compatible with FS2024 as it has always been. But somewhere in 2027, I want to give the Monster a native FS2024 version, with a native walk-around, the new windshield textures, and the other modern features that FS2024 unlocks. That will be another opportunity to learn, to sharpen the toolbox, and to bring those new skills back home.

Because that is the philosophy I want Flying Fries to live by, on the Scrapyard Monster as on the XF-11, the Gabriel, the Quasar, and the upcoming Hind. Every new aircraft unlocks new skills, and those skills have to benefit our entire catalog. I want to enjoy my aircraft as much as possible, so you can too!

Four and a half years after that first wobbly screenshot in Blender, the Scrapyard Monster is still here, still ridiculous, still loved, and now more capable than it has ever been. I have no intention of letting it grow old.

Thank you for flying it. Thank you for keeping it alive.