Hi Scott,
Here's a video of how I made the example.

http://youtu.be/LtElXqa6dDM

In the video, I talked about a poor decision in my model to create a "radiused curve" in the originating curve, instead of a hard edge.. This can create problems later.

I tried to make note of showing how the red curves from your original model are trying to mimic what the fillet creates. Trying to hand model those would be hard. I suppose the trick is to figure out what the original shapes and orientations are that would have the fillet edges match a "picture" or somthing...

I also think that if you are trying to "totally match" from a picture, you may get better results by using a revolove, instead of the blend i use, on the initial pod shape.. Revolving half of that curve, then turning on control points will allow you to change the shape in a way to match your base curves you started with...

BurrMan,

After trying many different beginning shapes and tools, I finally went with your suggestion and started with a basic ellipse shape.


Then, I created a bulge via the blend tool, mirrored it and shaped it.


Next I created 3 ellipses that matched the shape of the upper section.


I then did a loft through those three curves.


From there, it was easy to merge those two pieces together.


Then came the small camera in the front. I did have a small issue with creating a fillet and had to do it manually. Thanks Jason.


This was all part of a model of LUNA, a German UAV that I'm building for one of our customers.


Thanks for all your help.

Scott