WIP - Short Stirling

 From:  JPBWEB
2966.4 In reply to 2966.3 
It takes a while to “think Blend”, but for me it is the easiest way to ensure continuity and smoothness in models. As I model planes and ships that are semi-organic hard surfaces, it is important to understand G1, G2 and G3 continuity. MoI does a much better job of that than my eye-hand coordination. I try to use Blend as much as possible to generate the curves and surfaces that I will use. To do that, is is often enough to draw a few input curves, blend them as appropriate, extrude, blend again etc.

Here is an example: this is the top turret of the Stirling, a FN7A early model.

To make the dome shape, I generated a blended curve that matched the blueprint, using the “Bulge” slider as a way to adjust the shape. I also drew a half circle. I then extruded the two curves, then blended the extrusions. It is important to match edges. That is a limitation of the current version of MoI, you cannot yet blend between two sets of edges, like Rhino can.


Then it is a matter of mirroring and repeating the process for the rest of the model.