Republic RC-3 Seabee!

G

Gibbage

Charter Member
Just wanted to drop this quick update and get some user feedback. Here is the final model of the 1947 Republic RC-3 Seabee! Please look it over and if you find any errors, LET ME KNOW ASAP!!! Its best to fix them NOW then after I put in the cockpit and get textures on it.

Also, an update for all the customers who purchased the SportStar. Service Pack 1 will be out VERY soon!!! The service pack includes 5 new livery's, enhanced cockpit details, and bug fixes. This will be free to all current and future customers! Sorry for the delay, but I had a computer crash and a family emergency. Silver lining is, I had everything backed up, and I did get to visit Oshkosh out of it. :d

Please note, before commenting, that this is a factory fresh 1947 Seabee. In the past 65 years, owners have done EXTENSIVE modifications to there Seabee! If you find something you think may be wrong, please make sure that its not a modern modification. I will be making a modern Seabee with modifications (extended wings, bigger engine, modern gauges and much more) later, so customers will be getting TWO aircraft for the price of one!

View attachment 48677View attachment 48678View attachment 48679View attachment 48680
 
Now I didnt buy your first model, but this one is on my list. I need a Amphib hopper for parts of Arctic Canada. This one is a oldie and perfect fit.
 
Looks great & will be on the shoppinglist for sure i gota a soft spot for amphibius aircraft,the Goose Redux Expansion pack was the last thing i had the crayons out for but this might just get me back in doing a few non total overhaul repaints

look forward to checking her out

Cheers
steve
 
Railrunner130 said:
Lookin' good!!

Any chance of a Twin Bee to accompany it?
Click to expand...

Sorry, but no. The cockpit would be a complete re-do forward of the seats, and considerable work to be done on the external. Only 60 of the twin Seabee's were made so they are very rare. I may do the V8 engine mod though, along with the Lycoming. The V-8 would put out as much power as the twin (180HP x 2 vs 350-400HP x1) without adding to the complex control's and gauges.

You can read a lot about the twinbee here, http://www.seabee.info/twinbee.htm

I think I will leave the Twin Bee to Piglet ;)
 
Look at them wheel rims! How many polys in that model??
Too bad the Seabee at my airport has left.
 
She's looking great thus far! :ernae:

There's one major thing missing though, perhaps the thing I remember most about this aircraft, the ridgey tail. The rudder and vertical stabilizer would look a LOT better if the ridges were modeled rather than painted on.
 
Piglet said:
Look at them wheel rims! How many polys in that model??
Too bad the Seabee at my airport has left.
Click to expand...

Honestly, not that much. Right now im at 51K tri's and I think the cockpit wont add more then another 20K or so. After modeling aircraft for 10 years, I have found ways to keep the polycount low and the detail high. The good thing is, FSX can push a LOT of polygons. The P-38 I did for FSD had over 200,000!!! Im making these with performance in mind, and the SportStar had 60K TOTAL (external + cockpit + pilot!).

Are you interested in doing the twin bee Piglet? Ill lend you my model once its done and you can convert it and give the twin bee out for free!
 
Kiwikat said:
She's looking great thus far! :ernae:

There's one major thing missing though, perhaps the thing I remember most about this aircraft, the ridgey tail. The rudder and vertical stabilizer would look a LOT better if the ridges were modeled rather than painted on.
Click to expand...

I did a small scale test modeling in the ridges/corigation and it would shoot the polygon count through the roof. I really want performance to be first on this thing, so I nixed modeling the ridges. I will have then on normal map and it will look good, trust me! I will do some previews later once I get the UV maps set and do some normal mapping test's.
 
Gibbage

While I am not an expert on the Seabea, I did note one glaring error. You are using the wrong kind of lug nuts to hold on the wheels. What you have now are left hand twist, semi-fine thread lug nuts made of case-hardened silly-putty. To be totally accurate, the lug nuts should be right hand twist, semi-course thread lug nuts made of tempered cold-rolled steel. There aren't many folks around who can tell the difference between case-hardened silly-putty and tempered cold-rolled steel, but I am one of them!

Seriously...the Seabee looks amazing! Can't wait to see it with some textures wrapped around it. Just took another look at the pics...those rolled edges on the window frames are super smooth and flawlessly executed.

OBIO
 
OBIO said:
Gibbage

While I am not an expert on the Seabea, I did note one glaring error. You are using the wrong kind of lug nuts to hold on the wheels. What you have now are left hand twist, semi-fine thread lug nuts made of case-hardened silly-putty. To be totally accurate, the lug nuts should be right hand twist, semi-course thread lug nuts made of tempered cold-rolled steel. There aren't many folks around who can tell the difference between case-hardened silly-putty and tempered cold-rolled steel, but I am one of them!
Click to expand...

Good eye! I will fix it right away! I was hoping to slip one by yall, but your good!

Since you have a good eye for detail, can you check to see that I have the proper nuts and bolts on the wing brace and outrigger?

View attachment 48716

Now, in the above renders, you will notice that this area is covered in a fairing. I made sure to model this for the later "modern" Seabee's since a lot of pilots remove them because the area is prone too corrosion and needs to be inspected often. Last thing you want is corrosion eating away your wing brace in mid air just because you wanted a cool looking fairing covering up that nasty bolt!!!
 
Looks great Gibbage! Incidentally I used to work for an Aviation company that gave full time support to the Columbus-America Discovery Group. At the time they had a pilot who flew surveillance/security over the shipwreck site off South Carolina and for some time they operated a Seabee. This was before GPS was up and running and the pilot would fly out very low(50 ft asl) using Loran and Dead Reckoning out to the wreck and back checking the area for vessels that were capable of mounting dives which could pirate the gold discovery when there were no CADG vessels available over the wreck. They later replaced the Seabee with a Piaggio Royal Gull. They used to "tripwire" the USCG, Customs coastal surveillance and usually a 30 mins after either the Seabee or Gull had landed, we'd get a heated visit from Customs Special Agents or DEA. LMAO! That Seabee was the only one I ever saw up close and after 23 years, I can't remember squat about that plane except the basic outline. Always liked the plane.

:salute::applause:
 
Kevin:

Nicely done, great modeling, I look forward to this one. BTW will it be available with the Flight1 installer, I hope so.

Jim

Gibbage said:
Just wanted to drop this quick update and get some user feedback. Here is the final model of the 1947 Republic RC-3 Seabee! Please look it over and if you find any errors, LET ME KNOW ASAP!!! Its best to fix them NOW then after I put in the cockpit and get textures on it.

Also, an update for all the customers who purchased the SportStar. Service Pack 1 will be out VERY soon!!! The service pack includes 5 new livery's, enhanced cockpit details, and bug fixes. This will be free to all current and future customers! Sorry for the delay, but I had a computer crash and a family emergency. Silver lining is, I had everything backed up, and I did get to visit Oshkosh out of it. :d

Please note, before commenting, that this is a factory fresh 1947 Seabee. In the past 65 years, owners have done EXTENSIVE modifications to there Seabee! If you find something you think may be wrong, please make sure that its not a modern modification. I will be making a modern Seabee with modifications (extended wings, bigger engine, modern gauges and much more) later, so customers will be getting TWO aircraft for the price of one!

View attachment 48677View attachment 48678View attachment 48679View attachment 48680
Click to expand...
 
regarding the ribbing, the Sibwings birddog has ribbing on the tail and I must say that it looks brilliant, much better than any painting can ever hope to achieve. Maybe have a look there for inspiration?

 
jankees said:
regarding the ribbing, the Sibwings birddog has ribbing on the tail and I must say that it looks brilliant, much better than any painting can ever hope to achieve. Maybe have a look there for inspiration?

http://media.photobucket.com/image/sibwings birddog/rogera/birddog-2.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats what I considered doing, but on the Seabee, its not just on the control surfaces, but on the entire wing, tail, and elevator PLUS the control surfaces. It would easly double the polygon count and drop the performance.
 
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