WIP - Short Stirling

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 From:  JPBWEB
2966.1 
Hi,

I just thought of sharing my current WIP, a model of the first (and largest) 4-engined RAF heavy bomber, the Short Stirling. This underrated aircraft was admittedly rather ugly, far less handsome anyway that everybody’s favourite, the superstar Avro Lancaster, or even the supporting actor Handley Page Halifax, but the Stirling was simply massive. See the human character in comparison of the wheel. This flying behemoth is very attractive in a weird sort of way.

The model is a first draft only, to get a “feel” of the subject. I am starting from scratch again now that I have a better grasp of the particular issues of this deceptively easy looking subject. For the first time to build a fuselage, I am making extensive use of MoI’s superior “Blend” function, which allows me to avoid unsightly seams and to generate large simple surfaces and solids, always a good thing for post-production (3d-printing in this case).


The “Shell” function is superb to detail flaps and other moving parts.

All in all, a nice weekend project.

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 From:  eric (ERICCLOUGH)
2966.2 In reply to 2966.1 
Impressive work! Thanks for the preview ... I'm looking forward to the next phase.
cheers,
eric
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 From:  Marc (TELLIER)
2966.3 
Nice model!

I don't know the 'blend' function very much, I'd be curious to know in what circumstances you have use it in your plane.

Marc
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 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.


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 From:  Marc (TELLIER)
2966.5 In reply to 2966.4 
Thanks for your example jpbweb, very instructive!

I will try this...

Marc
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 From:  Frenchy Pilou (PILOU)
2966.6 
Very soft smooth result!

EDITED: 5 Oct 2009 by PILOU

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 From:  Anis
2966.7 In reply to 2966.4 
Hi JPBWE,

Nice to follow your project.
Just one note here :



Maybe you have to modify to get smooth connectivity ;)

thanks !
Attachments:

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 From:  JPBWEB
2966.8 In reply to 2966.7 
Indeed.. The discrepancy was a very slight misalignment of the original two curves on which the cone is based. This meant that I had to start from scratch, which is just as well because the first version was not accurate according to photos I just found. This model of turret was only on the original batch of Stirling bombers, and as such not all that well documented.

I am not sure whether this new version is any more accurate, but at least it is smoother!

EDITED: 5 Oct 2009 by JPBWEB

Image Attachments:
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 From:  JPBWEB
2966.9 In reply to 2966.8 
Maybe I should add that this turret is only 3.08 mm high.

I pride in pushing MoI (and Flamingo for rendering) to the maximum, but it is unlikely that a very slight curvature glitch could be rendered in the real world even with current leading edge 3d printing equipment. Even for a screen rendering of a completed aircraft, the bump maps alone would probably cover the glitch, even in a close up view.

Nonetheless, this shows that utmost care is required if going for top smoothness, but the tool can do it. I love MoI !
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 From:  DannyT (DANTAS)
2966.10 In reply to 2966.1 
Looks like a good start there Jean-Paul, keep it coming.

Cheers
~Danny~
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 From:  angeliclight
2966.11 
Thanks for posting this - it is very educational.
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