Junkers Ju EF128

Taking a break from the ME1110 design... I decided to try something else.
This time, I did the Junkers JU EF128.  I got so interested that I managed to complete the whole thing from the initial wireframe, to skinning and finally the beta build.

Should you wish to build the model yourself, you can download the diagrams via this link:

Junkers EF 128


This blog entry shows the build process.

The first part involves assembling the front fuselage.

Then go for the wing former.

Once the glue dries... you can start sliding the tip of the wing formers to the slot in the fuselage.

Keep sliding until the middle part of the wing former locks into place.

Now proceed to build the rear part of the fuselage.

Test fit before gluing into place.

Build the rear fin former and the rear fin.

Here's how it should look like when complete.

If done correctly, it should fit snugly into the alloted slot.

Assemble and attach the canopy.

Here's how the exhaust should look like.

Assemble the wing and rudder parts.

Be careful cutting the slots on the wing and the rudder....

Glue the wings to the fuselage using the wing formers as a guide.  The wing formers should ensure that you've got a consistent wing angle (dihedral?).

Don't forget to attach the nacelles.

DONE!

Please forgive the filthy/untidy build.  :)  I was in a hurry to complete this.  Hehehe...

ME P.1110 Part 4 :Canard wings continued...

Before proceeding further with the wing shaping, you'll want to make some small adjustments to the way the wing is structured.  These adjustments are aimed to make for a less messy boolean operation later on.

To start things off, look at the image above.  The yellow cube with the red arrow pointing to it is a point or vertex on the fuselage.  It would be a good idea to align one segment of the wing to that point.  In this case, the wing segment is circled in red.  I start by getting the Y and Z coordinates of the point I mentioned, then writing it down on a piece of paper (or on a text editor).

Then, I temporarily hide the fuselage to be able to select the points that make up the segment that I encircled in the previous image.

With all three points selected, I bring up the "Align Selected Vertices" dialog box of Metaseq.  I then select the Y and Z checkboxes.  If the Y and Z coordinates are already available in the MIN/MAX button selections, click those.  If not, then manually re-type them on their respective position text boxes.

If done correctly, it should look like the image above.

Do the same for segment indicated above.  Align it with the vertex indicated by the red arrow.

And again, for the segments indicated by the arrows in the image above... 

All done.

After doing those adjustments, the chord (or is it foil?) of the wing will now be a bit deformed.  You will need to reshape it a bit as indicated above.

Now, go to the front view display, then thin out the right edge of the wing as indicated in the picture.  Try to match the way the wing tapers down in the picture.

Done!

Now select the points indicated in the picture above.  Then, by using a combination of resize + move along the Z axis adjust the size and position of the wingtip to match the drawing.

Next, we'll need to round out the wing tip.  Start by slicing a vertical strip using the knife tool at the points indicated by the arrows indicated above.  Then select and join the vertices encircled above.

If done correctly, it should look like the image above.

Here's how it looks so far.

Notice that the segments we tried to align early on are now again misaligned.  That's okay... It will be easy to re-align once more after we do the boolean operation later on to remove the part of the canard hidden inside the fuselage.

ME P.1110 Part 3 :Making the canard wings

Before starting to work on new objects, I always "lock" the current object to prevent any accidental modifications.

In addition to locking the fuselage object, I'll assign a meaningful name to it.  In this case, "fuselage".  Also, while I'm at it, I might as well change its color to make it easier to identify.

To start with the Canard wing creation, I create a new object called, "elevator".

 I then add a new Cube object.  Unlike the cylinder object, I choose to use the default settings.

 Next, from the top-view panel, move the cube so that it covers just the right  canard wing.  Make sure the left edge of the cube lies inside the fuselage.

Now, in your mind, draw an imaginary line along the front  edge of the canard wing going towards the fuselage until it intersects the left edge of the cube.  Then, move the bottom edge of the cube so that it meets the point where the imaginary line intersects with the left edge of the cube.

Do the same for the rear edge of the canard. Move the top edge of the cube so that it meets the point where the imaginary line of the rear edge meets the left edge of the cube.

Lastly, move the right edge of the cube to the left so that it touches the right edge of the canard.

That was really hard to describe....   Anyway, if done correctly, you should have something similar to the image above.

Now, switch to the front view panel.   Move the top edge of the cube so that it touches the highest point of the top of the canard.  Do the same for the bottom edge of the cube with the lowest point of the canard.

If done correctly, you should have something that looks like the image above.

The next step would be to reshape the cube to form a foil (or whatever you call it).  Start by switching to the side view panel.  Then to make it easier to see what you're doing, 'hide' the Fuselage object as well as the background diagram.

Using the knife tool, make two vertical slices - one near the left edge of the canard, and one between the center and the right edge of the canard.

Now switch to the perspective view.  Notice that I've encircled the four corners of the cube.  The two vertices in each of the four encircled corners should be joined together.

If done correctly, it should look like the image above.

Now, go back to the side view.  Then, move the left and right edges of the wing downwards by a small amount. 

If done correctly, it should look like the image above.

Now, using the knife tool, cut a vertical slice just between the left edge of the canard and the left slice you did a while ago.

 Now, resize the slice so to 'round up' the left edge of the canard.

Here's how it should look like.

Now, take a break and go back to the perspective view panel.  Then unhide the 'Fuselage' object to look at the progress so far.

That's all for now...