Question for our 3d modellers?

G

grover1

Charter Member
Hi,

I'm just wondering where those who model get the three views of an airplane?

And I'm just wondering what program you use to modify those pictures to fit in a calibration box?

Thanks,

Chris
 
Google, searching for "blueprint" keyword usually.

Microsoft Office Picture Manager for cutout and resize images.
 
There's also 3-views from books or magazines, scanned at a fairly high resolution on my old flat bed scanner. The Tempest was built from scans I did of A L Bentley's scale drawings: these come on great big sheets and are very detailed. The very best are ready-made documents for PC viewing and can be copied and pasted straight into a bitmap editor - these are almost as rare as rocking horse droppings and always cost money. Some of the serious payware developers use original manufacturers' blueprints to build accurate 3-views from: that is another level of seriousness altogether!

Any half-decent bitmap editor will do. Gimp, Paint Shop Pro, Paint.NET, Photoshop if you insist.
 
hairyspin said:
... Some of the serious payware developers use original manufacturers' blueprints to build accurate 3-views from: that is another level of seriousness altogether! ...
Click to expand...

But much easier to use as a basis for your aircraft!!
I usually spent more time researching, measuring, comparing, extrapolating etc. than modeling itself (and then I still keep redoing parts after coming across a better reference). I would have loved to use real blueprints but the set I came across was about 5000,- ($ or €, can't remember). So you either have to go for payware (not viable for CFS3) or be seriously deep into this thing... :biggrin-new:

There are/were some good 3-view artists around but I found that even they make mistakes or combine characteristics of different versions of the aircraft of choice. So collecting plenty of reference material is always a good thing. The aforementioned mr. Bentley has a good rep. Wylam and Paul Matt also come to mind. There are some Eastern European book series on aircraft that seem to have pretty good scale drawings inside that may serve as a backdrop. Most of them seem to be Polish or Czech. Scans can be found on the internet but unfortunately they are not always of usable quality.

Pilot Flight handbooks and Erection and Maintenance manuals may also contain dimensions and exploded views of parts etc. Collect all the info you can and store them in a file, including the webaddresses where you found the info (in case you want to revisit the site. It has happened more than often that you can't remember where you found the info).

If you have a specific aircraft in mind, I could have a look in the developer's library and see what we have.
 
Bear in mind that 3-views are not the end of the story: cross-sectional details give you other information that 3-views can't. As Frosty says, the more info you have, the more you understand the shape you're aiming for. Did I mention it's rare for two sets of 3-views to agree? Sometimes even plan and front views disagree on wingspan!

There are however rewards when all the research and work produce something with an uncanny resemblance to what you're building, especially if seeing the real thing on a museum or airshow visit gets like visiting an old friend. And if you can do that with a well-known type like a P-51 then my hat is already off - there's scarcely a single straight line on that beautiful fuselage!
 
Thanks guys. I've been slowly but surely dipping into the realm of 3D modelling.

I think I'll start out with a Tiger Moth and work my way up to doing something more complicated
 
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