Ivan's Workshop - AF99 Tutorial - C205 Veltro

Radiator First Intersection

From a side view, we can see that the Radiator opening falls between BulkR0274 and BulkR0379. It is roughly 1/3 of the way between the two.

From the front view, we visually extend the edge of the opening upwards until it is about 1/3 of the way between the the two Bulkheads. Although my cursor does not show up in a screenshot, the location upper left of the screen shows where the cursor was located. It is my estimate where the opening should end. (1.05 Left, -0.98 Down)

The second Radiator cross section falls at 0.390A which is fairly close to the Bulkhead at 0.379A. The Radiator is all rounded shapes and moving this intersection forward does nto greatly affect the shape, so this is what we will do. Its height is estimated by a projection up to the Bulkhead at 1.24 Left.

The third Radiator cross section is done the same as the first: Project the side view up between the two Bulkheads it is between and make a good guess.

BulkR0565 is between the last two cross sections. Remember that while the lower edge of BulkR0565 was only determined by matching angles with the Bulkheads ahead and behind this part, so we have great flexibility in changing things without affecting anything else. Note that while the actual intersection is around -1.12 Left, we will push this out to -1.14 Left to make the part a more gradual curve.

As a side effect of moving the vertex on BulkR0565, the edge of the Radiator exhaust falls almost exactly on a line connecting BulkR0565 and BulkR0805.

Next, we create all the pieces for the Radiator Component.

- Ivan.
 
Any Width

Here is a further explanation of the intersection between BulkR0565 and the Radiator.

Note in the First Screenshot (Also shown in the last post) that the Dimensions shown in the upper left corner show where my cursor is located. The cursor isn't visible in the screenshot, but it was over the intersection of these parts on the screen at 1.12 Left and 5.65 Aft.

I decided that although 1.12 Left was the intersection, I would move it out to 1.14 Left to make it a bit curved. Remember we are approximating curves with straight lines so any additional points should improve the shape if possible.

The Second Screenshot shows how we have great flexibility in reworking the underside of BulkR0565 to any width we want. The actual part with a width of 1.14L is shown in Blue. The white outlines show some of the range that we COULD have used and that is just with keeping the underside of this Bulkhead at a constant angle. You can see that if we varied the angle within the range of the Bulkheads fore and aft of this one that we have LOTS of room to work in.

- Ivan.
 
Connect the Dots

How we got lucky with the Radiator exhaust.... A further explanation.

When we decided that the intersection between BulkR0565 and the Radiator would be at 1.14L, we still needed to figure out where the Radiator exhaust would end up.

The First Screeshot shows the panel line connecting the underside of BulkR0565 and the equivalent point on BulkR0805. The front end of this point is guaranteed to be on the edge of the radiator because that was how we placed it (1.14 Left).

The Second Screenshot shows how closely this panel line comes to the edge of the Radiator. If the end of the Radiator were completely square, it would be at 1.05 Left. This line would put the end of the Radiator at 1.07 Left which actually improves the shape a bit. Narrower would not work, but slightly wider works well.

Time to get ready for work.
- Ivan.
 
Smoothing the Curves

In the attempts to blend in the Radiator, I noticed that one of the stringers on the aft fuselage looked like it was wiggling around a bit.

Now keep in mind that what looks odd in a front view COULD be a Left-Right inconsistencies or Up-Down inconsistencies or both. In this case, looking from the top showed things were pretty much correct. The side view showed a slight bump that was hardly noticeable unless you are looking for it. The fix was to adjust a couple points down a bit.

Note that a LOT of stuff needs to be changed after this. Points on TWO Bulkheads need adjusted and 2 Tail and 4 Fuselage Parts were affected.

I fix what I find when I find it because if I don't, I'll forget.
- Ivan.
 
Radiator Component

Here is what the Radiator looks like as a Component. Note that the top of the Radiator next to the Fuselage is nearly the same, but the lower edge is narrower and now has a sharp keel.

- Ivan.
 
Cutting Virtual Metal

After spending a lot of time on Templates and Jigs, it is time to cut some more virtual metal that will actually go into the finished model of the aircraft.

I figure there will be around 5 rows of Fuselage Parts between the Tail Parts and the Nose Parts. Creating the Fuselage05LXX parts between BulkR1050 and BulkR0805 is trivial and process won't be illustrated here. I tend to number rows of Parts from Front to Rear, so Fuselage05 would be the last row of Parts.

I also tend to number Parts starting at the Top Center of each row. If a Part is not in the assembly, I will typically skip that number so that the numbering between different rows is maintained. If a row of Parts has something which suggests building from the bottom up, I will start the bottom Parts at 11 instead of 01 for the top. There may be parts that deserve a 21 number as well. There isn't necessarily consistency, but finding the part being modified is easier if you know the general numbering and naming scheme.

The First Screenshot shows Part Fuselage04L11 being connected to our reference points. Note the location of the outer edge lined up with the top of the Radiator.

The Second Screenshot shows an arbitrary break (Halfway) on the centerline of this Part. This is where we will cut this Part rather than right up against the Radiator exhaust.

The Third Screenshot shows Part Fuselage04L12 added to flatten out the underside of the fuselage at the Radiator outlet.

The Fourth Screenshot shows Part Fuselage04L13 being created as nearly a triangle but with an additional vertex at the edge of the Radiator.

The remaining Parts of the Fuselage04 row are trivial to create. I did not create a Fuselage04L01 because that part will be under the Headrest for the plane. (Fuselage05L01 IS created because it isn't entirely covered by the Headrest.)

The Last Screenshot shows an area outlined in Blue that is made up of some assortment of parts which isn't all that easy to determine yet. There are lots of combinations that will work, but if given a choice, always try to align the edges of Parts in a reasonable fashion.

Time to go build more stuff.
Good Night.
- Ivan.
 
Triangles

There are many cases while building a Component that we need to join together the corresponding vertices in two consecutive stations and the resulting polygon is not planar. When a polygon / Part is not planar, it will disappear at shallow angles and very often the shape will appear to change with different views. To correct this situation, the Part needs to be "Triangulated"; it needs to be split so that it becomes multiple Triangles.

To divide a 4 sided polygon, two opposite vertices determine the line of separation. Since there are two sets of these vertices, it helps to pick the correct set. In general, it is a good idea to pick the vertices that make the Component CONVEX rather than CONCAVE.

The Front section of the Radiator Side Wall will be used as an example here. There are already screenshots showing the choice that I made. Here we will do a comparison of the results from choosing the other set of vertices. Note that Simulator screenshots show the Radiator inverted.

The First Three screenshots show the choice that was made.

The rest of the screenshots show the less optimal choice. Notice that there are bleeds and that the side walls seem to fade away without meeting the bottom of the Radiator.

- Ivan.
 
Assembling the Pilot

The Pilot in my projects (PilotB) is normally composed of two components: The Pilot's Head and The Pilot's Neck and Shoulders together. I keep this as two components because of texturing limitations; I want to have as big a texture file as possible for the Pilot's Head.

The creation of a PilotHead Component is not critical. It is a completely Convex Component and the order that the Parts are entered does not make any real difference.

In contrast, the PilotShoulder Component is a Concave Component and although bleeds here are not very noticeable, they can be entirely eliminated by choosing the correct assembly sequence. The sequence of assembly is also the sequence of display, so the Parts that should be displayed on top of everything else should be listed last.

In the case of the PilotShoulder, the Red area should never be shown over anything else, thus we enter these first into the component. The next set of Parts that should be entered are the Blue Neck Parts. The last pieces which should be entered are the Green Chest Parts. The Chest parts will never show through the other parts because of their angles and facing. They will also prevent the Neck Parts from showing through the shoulder area.

Time to get ready for work.
- Ivan.
 
Nose / Cowl Parts

Creating the Nose Component is quite easy after spending the time to get the reference parts correct.

Just draw the vertices of each part in their approximate location by using side and front views in the Parts Shop and then use the "P" key to snap to the reference vertex.
The Nose has a LOT of non-planar polygons which need to be triangulated.

Assemble the first four rows into a Component. Note that my first try was with three rows but I later chose to use the first four rows because although both had problems, the Component with four rows presents fewer problems.

With Four Rows, the Wing Cannons and Pitot Tube will need a different treatment. With Three Rows, The Exhausts and Air Intake will need special treatment.

Glue Parts need to be created to split the Oil Cooler from the Nose. The Glue Parts created and shown here are not really optimal and will need adjusted soon.

Note the Assembly Sequence of the Glue Parts with the Nose and Oil Coolers.

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Propeller Bleed

This Screenshot shows the newly created Nose Component in the Simulator. Note that relying on Automatic Glue didn't really work for the Propeller. See how the Blade bleeds through the Nose Component. We will need to add Glue Parts here to replace the Automatic Glue that AF99 uses if two parts are not explicitly connected.

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Fuselage Parts

As we did with the Nose Parts, the Fuselage Parts are quite easy. All the difficult stuff was done while cutting a hole for the Radiator. This screenshot shows all five rows of Fuselage Parts.

Good Night.
- Ivan.
 
The HeadRest Part 1

The Macchi C.205 Veltro is a bit odd in the fact that the back side of the Canopy doesn't match up with the Fuselage Spine / Headrest that is aft of it. The Headrest is an inverted "U" shape and the sides of it are close to vertical.

The First Screenshot here shows an attempt to draw a profile view of the headrest. I believe that the Fuselage Bulkheads are a little too far apart to give this area a good contour, so I arbitarily added two more Bulkheads that only extend as far as the bottom of the "U" shaped portion.

The Second Screenshot shows BulkR0565 modified to create a narrower U shaped section. The Three Bulkheads behind this are basically the same shape copied three times. Note that there are Five Bulkheads related to this section of the aircraft:
BulkR0565_Aft
BulkR0655 <--- This one will move around a bit.
BulkR0805
BulkR0925 <--- This one will move around a bit also.
BulkR1050 <--- This one is easy. The relevant section is only a single point.

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The HeadRest Part 2

After the BulkR0565_Aft Template was created, it became obvious that there needed to be a slight break between the Canopy and the HeadRest. This is needed because the width of the vertices on the HeadRest don't match those on the Canopy. On a truly round Piece, this would not make a difference, but since our parts have angles, it is a good idea to have a slight bit of clearance to avoid a point on one piece showing up past a flat on the piece in front of it. Thus we get Version 2 of the Canopy Template as shown in the First Screenshot.

Part Fuselage05L01 starts at Location 8.05 Feet Aft. Here I check where a headrest cross section would intersect with the top Fuselage polygon. The APPROXIMATE width is gathered here.

Note that I use the Left Side of the Bulkhead as a reference for creating Parts. The Right side can be used as a Backup Copy. Here I mirrored BulkR0805 and copied all the right side vertices to match the current version beforre messing with the left side.

The lower section of the Canopy Template needs to be modified yet again because it will intersect around the middle of Part Fuselage05L01 rather than at the outside edge.

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The HeadRest Part 3

For each inverted U shaped HeadRest bulklhead, there are 4 points that need to line up with the other bulkheads. There is one additional point that between the HeadRest and the Fuselage that also needs to line up across the bulkheads.

To check this, create Parts (which I called Y21 - Y25) which connect corresponding vertices betwen the bulkheads. Try to get them to look like gradual curves in all three views (Front, Side, Top). Adjust the Bulkhead points to meet up with these stringers. Make sure all lines on corresponding Bulkheads are aligned at appropriate angles.
Adjust the Stringers, Adjust the Bulkheads..... This step took me around 1.5 hours to cycle through about a zillion times.

Note that in the Front View, the blue line shows the separation line between HeadRest and Fuselage.

After I was satisfied with the lines, I created all the HeadRest Parts in just under 5 minutes. The last screenshots from the Simulator show the results.

- Ivan.
 
Cockpit Parts

Most of the Cockpit Parts are pretty easy to make.

The Rear Wall of the Cockpit needs to match up with the HeadRest and the Fuselage that extends up past the Cockpit Sill. One thing I have observed is that although an untextured Part can have concavities, a textured Polygon will often lose its concavities in the simulator. To address this The Cockpit Aft Wall needs to be done as two separate Parts.

The Cockpit Panel is also easy to create by referencing the first row of Fuselage Parts at 2.74 Feet Aft.

The Cockpit Floor is located at the Cockpit Sill at 2.90 Feet Up. Note that it meets with the Bulkhead at 3.79 Aft as well.

The Macchi C.205 Cockpit has a piece of armour at the back that is shaped like the Aft wall. From observation of photographs, it appears to be a couple inches in front of the Aft Wall. To create this armour which I wanted to be smaller than the Aft Wall, take each Part of the Aft Wall and Rework / Magnify it to 0.97 (from experimentation) and then adjust the top and bottom points so they meet each other and the Cockpit Floor.

The Glue for all these Parts is a simple Triangle within the Part. They don't even have to be nice and symmetrical but I adjust them in the Point Editor to be so anyway.

I added a Glue Part for the Radiator here as well because I believe it will be assembled as part of the central fuselage.

- Ivan.
 
Windshield Frame

The Canopy Frame is used as a reference for the front section which I call the Windshield Frame. Technically this is probably incorrect, but naming doesn't really matter all that much as long as the author knows where to find things.

There really isn't a detailed description of the process. It is entirely a matter of creating parts and making them meet up with existing pieces. This was done by looking at pictures from the Squadron Walkaround book on the Veltro. Cost me $5 as part of a large mail order. This Windshield Frame probably took me around 2 hours to get to the shape it is in now. I also adjusted the Fuselage Parts in this area to meet the new pieces.

Note the Blue Highlighted Part on the Side View. On the real aircraft this looks to be a completely vertical piece. I tilted this slightly aft to make it behave properly in texturing.

Note that this is a radical simplification of the pieces of the actual aircraft. The frame is all rounded shapes and we can't do that in AF99.

A new technique I have been using here is to use a second project file to look at new parts. In these two screenshots, I adjusted the center of rotation to be within the piece I intend to look at so that I can rotate the assembly within the sim and be able to see it at any angle.

- Ivan.
 
Playing with Sharp Objects

Folks following along may have noticed that the Canopy Frame just changed colours.
I leave all components as "Sharp" during the design phase to emphasize the contours and edges of the Polygons. Certain colours show up highlights and shadows better. Red,Light and Olive,Light and Blue,Light all seem to work well.

- Ivan.
 
Cockpit Assembly Part 1

The most complicated part of an aeroplane in AF99 is usually the Cockpit / Mid Fuselage are. This is where a LOT of parts come together but if planned properly and executed with some discipline, it can generally be built without any serious bleeds.

I generally have a pilot in my simpler planes and that is where I start. Each of the screenshots attached show just one or two additional pieces being added.

On the last two screenshots, the Control Panel looks like it disappeared. It really didn't. The Control Panel is an "Insignia" Part in the AF99 Assembly process which means it only faces one direction: Aft. That means when viewed from the front, it does not display.

You might noticed that during this assembly process, I sometimes change colours for various pieces. The reason for this is that I might want some pieces to have greater contrast to what I am about to add so that I can see if there are bleeds.

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Cockpit Assembly Part 2

My first idea for the Cockpit Side Walls was to do add a Component to duplicate some parts in front of the Canopy Frame. That basically didn't work. The alternative solution was to simply Glue EIGHT INSIGNIA Parts to that area. There are Four Parts facing inward that are coloured Gray. There are Four parts facing outward that will eventually be textured.

Though it isn't obvious here, I removed the four triangular parts in the FuselageMid Component that these Side Walls duplicated.

Why not just use Four Double sided Parts????
If Double sided Parts are used, the Textures (Camouflage) would show up in the Cockpit Interior and look strange.

The "Fix" to the Bleed of the Windshield Frame was to adjust the Glue Part inward at the Front and to add a new Component in front with the Low parts on the Windshield Frame.

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Cockpit Assembly Part 3

Here we see the Radiator Inlet Part (Insignia facing Forward) and Radiator Component added with the GlueRadiator Part that was shown a bit earlier.

The reason why this was added as part of this Assembly is because it currenly appears to be the cleanest way to do things. (That still may change.)

Attached is a screenshot detailing the order of assembly. The only thing that isn't on the screen is the Radiator Component.

The Cost for this little Assembly thus far is 7 Components and 240 Parts or so. That is a whole lot of stuff crammed into a little tiny area....

- Ivan.
 
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