ok, all of the above is solved, now I can't seem to get the bugger's maps to work.  I have it mapped properly (per revised image in my first post)  So far, I've saved the image as a bmp, and used imagetool to create the mipmaps.  The setup looks right, and I can even use the extended map bmp in place of the orig, and the model maps fine in Max 6 and gmax.  I then saved the image as a dxt 3 format bmp, which works fine.  I have the bmp in the texture folder for the plane in fs2002, and have edited the aircraft.cfg file so that it refers to the bmp I have in the texture folder, but still no luck.  It flies good though, and I think I'm down to two or three "creases" in the geometry.  Am I missing anything?  Is the map name in gmax to be the same as the bmp, or sumthin weird that I don't understand?  I've read several tutorials, but none really talk about creating a model from scratch, and creating all new maps for it, then compiling it, and flying it.  Any help?  as always please feel free to email me. p-light@earthlink.net

Well, it seems that I post things, and then I figure them out.  I've got the bird flying in FS2002, and the textures work!   I'm on to the animations now.  I've got the gear created and am cutting the gear flaps out.  I've tweaked the aircraft cfg, and got the thing to basically lift straight up for take off!  Throttle up and release the gear, and it hovers.  It accelerates like a bullet, but I'm having trouble w/ the flap controls.  Right now, the flaps at about 200 knots flips the plane.  It's a cool trick, but would rip the plane apart.  Glad u like it hellhound.  I should have it posted for download sometime next week.  I'll post here when it's released.  I'm also open to posting the gmax model if anyone would like to play w/ it.  The screenshot is from a rendering in max, and the project should evolve into an animation using the camera add on in FS2002 w/ adobe after effects to create a realistic little animation.  I'll keep u guys posted.  I'm new to the aircraft design part of this.  This is my first model (for a flight sim)  I've done hundreds of other models, and it's kind of part of my job, so I'm not exactly a virgin to 3d.  Let me know if I can answer any questions on modeling etc.  email as always is open p-light@earthlink.net