"CAD for Modelers, Volume Three" coming in late November, 2009
Hi everybody, For those of you interested in 3D modeling, I've got a new DVD coming out at the end of this month. It includes a variety of tutorials on aircraft modeling, using various methods. Like previous disks, this one includes a great deal of text/image content, in the form of HTML pages. New though, is quite a bit of screen-capture video/audio, so you can actually see the details of how things were done. The entire DVD was done using the "modo" software package, from [link=http://www.luxology.com]Luxology[/link], but since it's similar to several other modern 3D tools, (like LightWave, Maya, etc.) users of those software packages might also find it useful. Latest preview page is at [link=http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/cfm_03.html]http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/cfm_03.html[/link]
Posted on: 11/2/2009 7:19 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9223515

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, Thanks to the release of modo 401, I was able to add some detail, and improve the renders. The first image shows the nice windscreen seal (black) I was able to make, thanks to the improved background constraint. The next two use modo's new environments, along with a (4 pixel) motion blur done in PhotoShop. ( Full article begins at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 6/23/2009 4:00 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8873449

RE: Piaggio
I spent some time cleaning up the details in the cockpit area, which you can see in the first image. I was preparing to bridge the interior window areas with the exterior skin, and realized that I wasn't getting the fit I wanted, especially around the forward cabin door and emergency exit. So, I rebuilt the interior liner, then bridged all the window areas. It looks more realistic now. Aside from a few details, the biggest part of the modeling is finished now, and it's on to paint and textures.
Posted on: 6/16/2009 2:27 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8854241

RE: Piaggio
Thank you, ps2727! The first image is just for fun... Couldn't resist doing a takeoff shot. New... I've installed offset hinges on all of the fuselage doors, added a color map for the instrument panel, finished the canard, wing, and tail tip fairings, and did some cleanup of the cabin interior. I'll do as much in the cabin as memory allows. We'll see... The other renders here use Global Illumination, and show off the landing gear areas. ( Full article begins at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 6/14/2009 4:50 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8850369

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, Got the main gear sorted out and installed, and also got all the doors open. (cabin door, nose gear doors, main gear doors) Still have to add the hinges. I've started to detail some of the various vents and hatch lines around the plane too. At this time, it's all geometry. There are no texture maps (except for the instrument panel) - All the hatch lines and paint lines are just colored polygons. ( Full article begins at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 6/11/2009 1:17 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8843023

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, I built a slightly larger hangar than the one in my previous project, and put the P180 in it. It let me easily light the model more realistically. The main landing gear is pretty tricky, but I've finally got it figured out. Lots of small details to add, but the major parts and pivot points are correct. (Red markers indicate where I have to add hinge pins and bolts.) Having the gear worked out means that I can start opening all the doors that were cut in earlier. That's next. Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 6/8/2009 1:45 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8834435

RE: Piaggio
Thanks very much, Sam. I've been involved with researching this aircraft, and building 3D models of it, since 1995, and am amazed that no one has gone to the trouble of building a large scale version. At scales of 1/6th or larger, (due to the foreplane size... Reynolds number issues) it should fly very well, and in a scale contest, could really wow people with it's shape. Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone making scale plans. In about 2000 or so, I seem to recall someone building a one-of-a-kind RC model in Germany, (I think) but I haven't heard about it since then. It's a beauty, and it's fast.
Posted on: 6/6/2009 1:10 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8830415

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, A couple of images mapping out the instrument panel, and showing some of the new cockpit parts. There's a brief "assembly" movie at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/modo_media/modo_wip/p180_09/p180_09_128_060509.mov Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 6/6/2009 3:40 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8829704

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, More work on the landing gear, and some new furnishings in the cabin... The P180 landing gear has two things that make it a bit intricate, compared to others I've modeled. First, it has a unique, rear-folding mechanism, somewhat like the main gear on the F-16. It also has "sequencing gear doors", meaning that after the gear comes down, two of the gear doors close, to reduce drag. I've already finished the doors, but am using some proxy geometry to help me work out the lengths of the components, and their hinge points. These are nearly correct. Once they are, I'll accurately model the shapes, based on other drawings and photos I have. In the meantime, I'm also gradually replacing all the old (Carrara) parts in the cabin, cockpit, and lavatory, with new ones. Here are the new seats and lavatory.
Posted on: 6/5/2009 7:05 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8828736

RE: Piaggio
Working on the landing and taxi lights, as well as some of the internal structural bulkheads. Here are a few renders, and a QuickTime movie, which is a "pull out" from a pitot probe near the cockpit window to a long shot. The movie: http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/modo_media/modo_wip/p180_09/p180_09_110.mov (5.7 MB) Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 5/31/2009 6:52 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8814323

RE: Piaggio
I've added the 2-piece flap fairings on the wings, similar fairings under the canard, improved the fuselage-to-canard fairing, added intake ducting for the engine nacelles, and exhaust pipes at the rear of the nacelles. Had some fun making these renders, at the end. using modo's "physical sky". Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 5/29/2009 7:08 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8808233

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, The main landing gear is quite complex, so while working on that in the background, I've gone ahead with the cabin interior, as well as some more detail on the exterior. Next, flap fairings, engine details, and more on the landing gear. Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 5/25/2009 6:59 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8797743

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, Working on some structural parts for the landing gear mounts here. The nose gear detailing is nearly done. The main gear struts (in white) are just stand-in parts, while I refine the retraction geometry. Fun stuff! ( Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 5/20/2009 9:07 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8784172

RE: Piaggio
Hi everybody, Thanks for all the nice comments. It shows that a lot of us feel that this is a really gorgeous aircraft design. The "Avanti II" I'm modeling here is slightly different from the first "Avanti". Subtle, but brilliant changes that make the aircraft even slicker. This round of editing includes refinement of the fairing around the canard, along with positioning the wingtip, fuselage, and tail-mounted lights and antennas, and more detail around the vertical fin cap. I also rebuilt the propellers, and the engine nacelles, after switching from sub-d to regular polys. Although I'm not finished with the exterior, I think I'll go ahead and start on the interior next. First step, which I'm starting on tonight, will be to create a basic interior shell, with all the window and door openings bridged to those on the outside. That way, I'll know where the cabin items go, versus the structural items. Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 5/17/2009 11:10 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8777706

RE: Piaggio "Avanti II" and King Air B200 in 3D
Hi everybody, Here are a few renders in the aircraft's basic shiny white color scheme, so you can see some of the nice reflections you see on the actual aircraft. This update is on the external scale details... shape of the engine nacelles, and vertical fin "cap". the fairing around the small wing at the front, (canard, or "foreplane") various antennas and lights, wingtip caps. and the angle of the rear ventral fins. I still have a little error to fix at the tip of the nose, (should be round, not flat) and a couple of very small curves to correct in the windscreen shape. Once those are done, I'll be moving on to the interior, which will be a lot of fun in modo. The original model I did back in the late 1990's (in Carrara) took months. This one only has about 10 days in it, and it's already much better. Thank you, Luxology! (Full article at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html )
Posted on: 5/15/2009 3:40 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8771690

RE: Piaggio "Avanti II" and King Air B200 in 3D
Hi everybody, I'm doing the P180 first, so... Here's what I've done so far, in the last few days. This is going much faster than expected, thanks to the documentation, and modo's great toolset. I used boolean cutters in the "stencil" mode for all the fuselage openings and seams, and it worked very nicely. If you'd like to follow along, the article on my site begins at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html
Posted on: 5/11/2009 1:56 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8759835

RE: Piaggio "Avanti II" and King Air B200 in 3D
Since this is a scale 3D model, and not an RC project, I'm using the profiles of the actual Piaggio airfoils, from the wind tunnel model. (wing root and foreplane root sections shown here) There have been some small changes over the years to the design. The early P180 had a "stall strip" extension to the leading edge, inboard of the nacelles. Later, this was modified to have a slight droop, via a change in the actual airfoil. For model-size use, I'd recommend something like an Eppler 197. The horizontal stabilizer uses an inverted airfoil.
Posted on: 5/4/2009 11:08 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8741412

RE: Piaggio "Avanti II" and King Air B200 in 3D
Thanks, Dan. Of course, I have no way of knowing what plane is flying over your area, but the two most likely choices would be the P180 or the Beech Starship.
Posted on: 5/3/2009 7:01 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8737459

Piaggio "Avanti II" and King Air B200 in 3D
Hello everybody, Years ago, I built scale 3D models of both the Piaggio "Avanti" P180 and the Super King Air B200, for RC use. Both projects failed, due to the labor costs in manufacturing. Today, with better 3D tools, I'm rebuilding and improving both models, which will be released later this year. If you'd like to follow along with the new versions, the Piaggio article is at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/p180_09_01.html , and the B200 article is at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/b200_09_01.html I have great documentation for both, so these will be highly accurate, and highly detailed. Although these are not RC projects per se, these will be suitable for printing orthographic views, from which RC plans could be made, as well as other kinds of visualization.
Posted on: 5/3/2009 1:35 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8735812

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Yikes! After adding only about 500k of UV maps, I'm running up against a memory wall, when trying to render this model. I've already deleted all the internal parts that don't show, turned off Global Illumination, and reduced some of the rendering settings. It's getting tight! Regardless, here's what I'v got now, with the proper colors applied to the bottom.
Posted on: 4/18/2009 9:39 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8692494

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
With the wings finished, all the major markings are finished. Only UV maps for stitching and dirt to go, so I've been doing some test composite images. Finally...
Posted on: 4/16/2009 10:06 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8686544

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
After a lot of experimenting with UV maps, I found that, for these markings, I got better results with simple planar projects on polygon selections. I do expect to use UV maps for the stitching and other simulated details though. Here's what I've got so far. Wings are next, which will be easy.
Posted on: 4/14/2009 9:34 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8680003

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Thank you, Paul! I enjoyed the conversation too. I spent a couple of hours after that, looking at all of your fabulous videos. Just so you know I'm working in the background... Here's a brief QuickTime movie of what I've been doing over the last couple of weeks. (3.8 MB QuickTime) [link]http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/modo_media/modo_wip/cessna_t50/041009_t50_tests.mov[/link]
Posted on: 4/10/2009 11:34 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8669559

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Hello Zipman, and thank you! Yes. Among a very long list of things I'd like to show in animation, the gear is one. I'm starting on the texture refinement now. Once that's squared away, (two paint schemes) I'll move on to the animation.
Posted on: 3/26/2009 8:10 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8619933

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Hi everybody, Here's a not-so-serious animation of the build process on my Cessna T-50 model, which is now finished, except for texturing. (17.9MB QuickTime) http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/modo_media/modo_wip/cessna_t50/t50_build_sequence_sm.mov
Posted on: 3/26/2009 8:19 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8617986

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Oops! Typo... I've fixed the link now. Thanks for the heads up. The movie here (3.5MB QuickTime) http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/modo_media/modo_wip/cessna_t50/t50_215b_rivets.mov shows what I've been doing for a LONG time... Rivets! And some images, to show the results.
Posted on: 3/23/2009 12:27 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8607198

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Hi B. I'll be doing some of those animations, for sure, and will post a link here when they're ready. I'm almost finished with the last two "build" items, which are the cabin interior, and rivets... LOTS of rivets. Have to add some more around the overhead windows, and on the engine cowlings, then I'm ready for "paint". (images attached) I believe there are fewer than 50 T-50's flying today, but more than that exist as "parts" planes. As a result of communicating with Terry Sullivan so much on the research, I'm now doing his web site at http://www.cessnat50.org/ and you can find more info there, on the "Links" page. Terry, who is in the final pre-flight stages on his T-50, is sending a new batch of photos tomorrow, which will appear on that site in the next few days. His is painted in the squadron colors of his father's B-17 group, (image attached, which is how his T-50 looks today) and that's how mine will be done too.
Posted on: 3/23/2009 11:21 AM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8605987

RE: tell me how to make F3A???
I designed this one a few years ago, and the article might at least help you plan some of the layout. http://www.nextcraft.com/j48_2m_01.html
Posted on: 3/20/2009 9:14 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8598949

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Thank you, B! Unless somebody wants to pay me what it's worth, which won't happen, this model is destined for two other purposes, both non-RC. It will be for sale, to 3D modelers, on my site at some point, and I'm also creating images and animations for display alongside actual T-50's, in museums. It has been a huge pleasure to build, and I'm happy with what's done so far. Just a few more details, and then the "paint". For those of you interested in the whole (lengthy) article, it begins on my site at http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/cessna_t50_01.html Enjoy, everybody!
Posted on: 3/20/2009 9:08 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8598933

RE: Cessna UC-78 "Bobcat 3D project
Thanks, Paul!
Posted on: 3/17/2009 11:36 PM by Author "Mike James" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8589440