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As I strongly believe that Rhinoceros is by far the easiest program to model with, I use it exclusively when I want to create something in 3D, no matter the purpose. Unfortunately, the program's texturing capabilities are virtually non-existant.
What this means is that the model needs to be exported from Rhino's .3DM file format into something that trueSpace (which has excellent texturing tools and is required for conversion anyway) can read. During the conversion, the file needs to have it's layer data retained in order to have a model in TS that can be used effectively.
So, after much trial and error, I've come up with a tried and true way to model in Rhino for easy conversion to TS and FS2. These methods are geared primarily towards creating non-player flyable ships, simply because I haven't made any of those yet. Much of the information can be easily applied to creating a fighter/bomber, however. So, let's begin.
These are the programs that we'll be using in this tutorial. You may have a different version of one of there programs than I do; if so, you might need to upgrade (or downgrade?) if you want to follow this tutorial step by step. Parentheses are how I will refer to these programs throughout this tutorial.
DISCLAIMER: All programs copyright of their respective owners, etc etc...