my christen eagle II - Page 2 - Simply Maya User Community

# 16 16-03-2010 , 01:52 AM

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Some shot of the cabane struts ...

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 17 16-03-2010 , 09:44 PM

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Here is the proper "hero" final cowling.

This more closely matches a Christen Eagle II cowling. I stylized the front air intakes a little.

I also cut out the left and right hatches.

It came out really nice.

Here is the proxy cowling. You can see it's quite simple compared to the final version.

To do:

- flying wires and misc hardware
- cockpit (maybe)

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 16-03-2010 at 09:57 PM.

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# 18 16-03-2010 , 09:53 PM

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really nice work and so fast...........dave

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# 19 16-03-2010 , 10:04 PM

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Thanks Dave. That cowling was a really tricky shape to model. I am quite proud of how it turned out.

Just have the flying wires and maybe a cockpit. Thinking I will save the cockpit until after I texture what I have as the cockpit will be fairly complex. I might just make a simple proxy cockpit though.

This type of model would make a very good tutorial. There are a lot of modeling techniques employed but there are not a lot of surfaces to model so you can cover a lot of things in relatively short amounts of time.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 18-03-2010 at 05:27 PM.

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# 20 16-03-2010 , 10:56 PM

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really great modeling. user added image

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# 21 17-03-2010 , 01:15 AM

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Details are coming in nicely! Looks great.

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# 22 17-03-2010 , 01:58 AM

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Modeling is almost finished. All that is left are a few misc items (antennas, horizon guide, vents, access covers, etc).

Once I finish the last bits to be modeled I will start laying out the UV's and texturing.

I will save modeling and texturing the cockpit for another time. But I will probably quickly create a proxy cockpit.

front 3/4 views

back 3/4 views...

Here is a closeup of some of the details in the tail wheel area.

To do:
- misc bits (antennas, vents, access hatches...)
- proxy cockpit
- uv layout
- texture paint

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 23 17-03-2010 , 02:44 AM

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For those that are interested here are some wires...

Total poly count
unsmoothed == ~15000
smoothed == ~272000

note: in the top down 3/4 view the surface below the cowl is penetrating in unsmoothed model (at the back top edge). When smoothed the surfaces are correct.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 24 17-03-2010 , 07:22 AM

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As said befre, very nice modelling.

Great work.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 25 17-03-2010 , 08:58 AM

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Thank you for the complements guys.

I like the way this model turned out. The cowling was the only tricky bit. The canopy was fun I use birail 3+ and then cut the glass from the frame with a curve projection from the side view and a trim, and finally converted the nurbs to poly using count. There was just a small amount of clean up and the result is very clean.

The drawings were not 100% and the bottom wing is shown going through the body. In the actual airplane the wing attaches to the bottom and is a single piece.

Rather then remodel everything I simply added a wing root faring rather then have the wing just stuck through the fuselage.

I also modeled the site gauge (the star shaped thingy).

flying wire brace and pitote tube

3/4 views...

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 18-03-2010 at 02:52 AM.

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# 26 17-03-2010 , 12:44 PM

As Zbrushiac sounds stupid!
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Very nice. Wires look great. Can we expect an interior?

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# 27 17-03-2010 , 01:39 PM

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Thanks Mayaniac.

I will do a simply interior and engine proxy (so you cannot see straight through the cowling intake.

I'll be laying out the uv's as I do that because this eagle needs its feathers.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 18-03-2010 at 02:53 AM.

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# 28 18-03-2010 , 04:09 PM

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I finished up the canopy frame. The actual canopy has a flange the sits just round the edge. In the actual airplanes this over hang can be quite pronounced. But in my model it's a very tight fit.

The canopy is also now rigged to operate properly for opening. From closed the canopy lifts up slightly, then slides back quite a bit (so the front clears the trailing edge of the wing when open and also for safety in case of opening in flight), and then hinges open from the right edge.

Here is a short video describing how I rigged the canopy and showing it in operation...

I'll probably model a simple hinge assembly when I get to modeling the interior.

Note: This also allowed me to fix a pucker I was getting at the back lower corner of the canopy opening in the fuselage that was vexing me. Nice tight corners all around now which more closely matched the actual aircraft.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 18-03-2010 at 08:53 PM.

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# 29 18-03-2010 , 05:08 PM

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Added antenna and did some minor cleanup here and there (feeling anal today!).

3/4 views ...

I am currently searching the web for the paint scheme that I have on my plane. Which I can make it into vector art so I can scale and use it for my texturing. Having no luck finding it though and really don't want to draw it out from scratch (lol). If anyone knows a site that would this kind of art work please pass it on to me.

Over all I am quite pleased with the way this turned out. If there was one thing I would redo it would be to make the wings a bit thinner (again this is because the referene drawings were way off on the cord thickness of the airfoil cross section). and I'd make the fuse just a tad narrower. Also the bottom surface has a tighter corner along the side fixing it would cause a problem with the lower wing and the cowling and in the end would not really be worth the time.

But these are minor issues in the final the proportions all look good to me and I am really looking forward to putting the feathers and my name on it!

Thanks

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 18-03-2010 at 09:11 PM.

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# 30 19-03-2010 , 03:07 PM

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Just a fast paint test. I got the idea from an RC model of an eagle promoting the air force reserve.

I fully plan to do the actual paint scheme on my airplane. The 9 color christen eagle pattern but I will have to recreate it from scratch in illustrator since for the life of me I cannot find a decal image that I can trace over. user added image