I love when a plan comes together but I think I love it a little bit more when its not really a plan at first but it comes together anyways. This is the impression that I have of the Emerald Scenery Designs Mini-Max 1500R Sport for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The project is the first aircraft offered by Emerald Scenery, who typically does scenery (as you can probably guess), and is a joint effort that also involved the Got Friends team, Sal1800, Lord Frites, Hans Hartmann, and Smitty from eSTOL. That’s a great collection of flight sim development talent and experience to have in your corner for a first airplane project. Today, I’m doing a little preview of what you can expect from the Mini-Max.

Beta disclaimer

Emerald Scenery Designs set me up with a preview of the aircraft that is currently still in beta. There are a few items that are still being worked on though its already feeling quite complete. Still, I write this with the disclaimer that this is a beta preview build and there may be a few changes between now and release.

What is the Mini-Max?

The idea behind the real world Mini-Max is to offer a small aircraft that can be easily constructed by amateurs in a minimum amount of time and offer a maximum amount of enjoyment. Its cheap and cheerful is what it is!

Mini-Max variants have been on offer since 1982 and kits are still available in 2026 with over 1,800 having reportedly been built. About 200 of the 1500R Sport offered by Emerald Scenery Designs have been built in the real world.

Simple, simple, simple

I’ve taken the aircraft out on a bunch of flights so far and the thing that is most striking about the airplane is that it is very simple. It has a handful of gauges, a transponder with built in altimeter, a switch for the battery, a switch for the avionics (such as they are), throttle, choke, stick and pedals.

I’ve set out a goal to enjoy some more “pure flight” moments in flight simulation this year and this airplane is definitely it. It’s you, a tiny engine, wings, stick, and the wind over your wings. Not much else!

If you want to avoid a lot of complexity but love to sightsee in different places in the world, the 1500R is going to get you up and flying with minimal fuss and you’ll be able to maneuver around quickly enough to stop and enjoy what’s on offer around you.

That all said, you do have some options. Even in this beta build, you can do the aircraft walk around, take off the covers, remove the wheel chocks, click the foothold to jump up into the cockpit. Once there, a blueprint style sheet can be clicked and pulled up (with a nice smooth animation) where you can choose from a few features.

I highly recommend the headphones on as the engine is (understandably) noisy at high throttle. I also recommend turning on the choke simulation so you get a little extra fun out of managing the engine. It will sputter if you don’t continue to work to find the sweet spot.

Fit for purpose

It’s important to understand what this aircraft is and isn’t. The 1500R is just a few pounds over the ultralight category but it is basically that style of airplane. Open cockpit, small size and weight, tiny engine, and limited avionics.

Its an airplane that you fly out of an airport that you want to spend some time around. You aren’t going to cover long distances, at least not quickly, with your cruise speed often hovering around just 60 knots. There’s no autopilot either so this is a hand flying affair. Crosswinds are potentially deadly too so you need to make sure that the live weather is calm or punch in your own weather preset if you need to.

Ideally, you want to start at an airport that is near to where you want to be. Take off, explore the area, take in the details, check out the scenery, and appreciate the day around you. Its very calm, its very relaxed, its all about flight and the pure enjoyment of it.

Review coming later and final thoughts

You won’t need to wait long for the Mini-Max 1500R Sport as Emerald Scenery Designs is targeting release sometime later this month. At $14.99 USD, it should be well priced for this kind of offering!

I’ll give a more fulsome review of the airplane once its out.

Learn more about the project here and check out my previous reporting on it here.