Development of P-51B with Blender

[Panic]

Hello Yall,

I wanted to start this thread to show off my P-51B as I use Blender to create it.

 

[hairyspin]

Good to see someone else having a stab at modelling. Should you need any help with awkward bits, there are a number of Blender users building stuff for FSX at FSDeveloper: they're a friendly bunch too.

 

[Panic]

Yeah,

Ive talked with the guys at FSDeveloper before in terms of Blender, nice group of guys willing to help

 

[huub vink]

Its nice to see new people still step in to develop new models . I'm sure there will be a lot of support from both the community here and at FSDeveloper.

Success,
Huub

 

[eagleye100]

Good luck Panic and don't panic!

 

[Dutcheeseblend]

Hiya!

Good start, keep going, but first: enable Backface Culling (Display or Shading section in the 'N'-tab), and subsequently invert the normals of the fuselage. You can observe a darker, odd shading on certain parts. That indicates the outside of the faces is pointing inside, simply said.

As I said, good start and keep going!

 

[Panic]

Hey Dutch!
First off got to say I love the aircraft you have made using Blender. Second, with FSX Steam Edition not having the SDK, I substituted the Prepar3d SDK, is there anyway to direct the FSX Toolset for Blender to that SDK?

 

[Panic]

Ok, so after turning on Backface Culling and correcting a lot of normals, I have made progress on the landing gear.

 

[Daveroo]

awesome...good to see you workin on a P51 ...but how about an A36...dont think we have one?...lol...i know i know...no beggin..lol...good work man..

 

[Panic]

I said I was making a B model, but I planned originally on the A-36, Just need to change the nose and belly scoop

 

[SpaceWeevil]

I said I was making a B model, but I planned originally on the A-36, Just need to change the nose and belly scoop

The skills some of you people have leave me speechless! A P-51A, XP51 or A36 for FSX / P3D would fill an enormous hole.

 

[Dutcheeseblend]

Hi Panic,

For questions regarding the correct SDK to use, I refer to the FSDeveloper forums. I've never investigated this since I've had the luxury of an SDK-equipped FSX:Gold.

If you decide to use the P3D SDK for a higher P3D version, there is a guy (ronh) working on the Blender2P3D toolset.

Nice progress! Do you know about the smooth shading function?

Cheers!

 

[Panic]

Hi Panic,

For questions regarding the correct SDK to use, I refer to the FSDeveloper forums. I've never investigated this since I've had the luxury of an SDK-equipped FSX:Gold.

If you decide to use the P3D SDK for a higher P3D version, there is a guy (ronh) working on the Blender2P3D toolset.

Nice progress! Do you know about the smooth shading function?

Cheers!

No I don't believe i do know about the smooth shading function

 

[Panic]

Here is an early Render of the P-51A

 

[Panic]

Gear Doors

 

[Dutcheeseblend]

No I don't believe i do know about the smooth shading function

When in Object mode, it's in the 'T'-toolbar, section Tools.

 

[Bomber_12th]

For future clarification, the difference between an A-36/P-51A and a P-51B/C is not only in the nose and radiator scoop/doghouse areas (and of course many other small details), but the whole fuselage is narrower along the vertical/z-axis on the Allison-engined variants than the Merlin-engined variants, since the lower longerons are designed and spaced differently between these types. The wing on an Allison-engine variant (A-36/P-51A) actually forms the floor in the cockpit, where as because the wing is mounted lower on the Merlin-engined variants, floor panels were added, compensating for the difference in distance.

On the A-36/P-51A, the lower longerons jut-upward from the lower engine mount locations, so that the wing can be mounted high, making everything as streamlined as possible. On the Merlin-engined varaints (P-51B/C/D), the lower longerons were redesigned to carry almost straight back from the lower engine mount locations (same locations as on the A-36/P-51A), so that the wing would be mounted lower - this was so that with the mounting of the vertically-larger Merlin, the lower cowlings/forward carb ducting wouldn't dip below the line of the wing, blocking airflow to the radiator scoop. By mounting the wing lower on the B/C/D, there could be a clean line from the carb intake, down over the bottom of the engine cowlings, over the bottom of the wing, and up to the radiator scoop.

A-36/P-51A fuselage (note lower longeron design):



P-51B/C fuselage (note lower longeron design - the firewall is the same between the A-36/P-51A/P-51B/C, but was shorter above the upper longerons on the D, requiring different upper cowl panels than the B/C):



Again, a P-51A fuselage...



And a P-51B/C fuselage...

 

[Panic]

So what your saying is that the fuselage of the P-51A/A-36 is smaller in terms of the vertical height?

 

[Panic]

Here's a quick update.
After purchasing the Virtual Airplane ebook by witold Jaworski, I decided to redo my P-51A model. Here is what i have so far using different methods from before.

 

[TuFun]

Excellent, Jaworski book will help you a lot with the use of blender. I follow his work at Military-Meshes.com

Check out his latest work...

http://www.military-meshes.com/forum/showthread.php?7296-SBD-Dauntless/page24