Romulan Warbird from the Star Trek ToS era

 Woah!  It's been a while since I last touched this blog! 😆

Anyway, I was re-organizing my apps, trying to see if there were any programs that I could uninstall, when I accidentally clicked on Metaseq.

When metaseq started, I got a notification that there was an update. So I went to the metaseq site to download the latest app.  After playing around a bit, I decided to 'try' and make a quick design.  At that time, I was binge watching ST: ToS.  

So there, I decided to take a shot a the Romulan Warbird.

It's been years since I last used Metaseq.  It was kind of a struggle to get up to speed again.  But luckily I was able to get up to speed.

For texturing, I used Inkscape.  It was a pain to get the bird's wing design to align properly.

Once done, I fired up Pepakura.  

After doing a quick unfold and trying to make the parts fit on 4 sheets of card stock, I was ready to print and build.

And it's done!

Hopefully, I'll keep the momentum and start re-visiting all the unfinished designs I have. 

Philippine Army Air Corps P-26 Peashooter (part 03)

Unwrapping in Pepakura

When the model was initially loaded in Pepakura, I was greeted with the dreaded warning message telling me that 100+ nodes were deleted, 100+ faces were merged, etc. etc. etc.

I went back to Metaseq to fix the problem (OBJECT -> Merge Close Vertices) until Pepakura stopped complaining.

Afterwards, I proceeded with unwrapping and set my scale to 1:72.

UV-Mapping

From Pepakura, I exported my UV Info (File -> Export -> Texture Editing -> 3d Model with UV Info).  I'll get back to this later.

I also saved my Pepakura file as a PDF.  

I then opened the PDF in Inkscape.  From Inkscape, I generated a bitmap file (PNG).  I set the size of the export to be 8000px wide.

Now for the actual UV-Mapping!

From METASEQ, I opened the OBJ file that I recently exported from Pepakura.  I then created a new Map object, and set the image to the PNG file that I exported from Inkscape.  I then assigned the map onto the model.

From there, I went to Metaseq's MAPPING mode.  Pepakura has done a good job in exporting the UV info.  The scale/position is a bit off.  A small bit of scaling an translations solved this.

Skinning / Texturing

Once I got the UV-mappings in place, I went back to Inkscape to draw the actual seam lines, camo, liveries, etc.  Switching back and forth between inkscape and metaseq allowed to check if the textures are aligned correctly.

Once all the textures are completed, I got this:

I then went back to Pepakura and refreshed my original unwrap with the updated textures:

And yeah, I added some last minute fuselage and wing formers...

Now the model is ready to build.

My next update will show the build process.

Philippine Army Air Corps P-26 Peashooter (part 01)

Although my blog is focused on Luft'46 designs, I've decided to veer off a bit.  I chose to make not only a non-luft'46 concept, but an Allied one at that!

I've decided to make a model of an aircraft served my country in WW2 -- the P-26 Peashooter!

I'll be targetting a scale of 1:72 instead of my usual 1:48.

Framework

After a little bit of googling, I found a suitable 3-view diagram.  I converted the diagram into a 'skeleton' on which I will build my model on:

Low Poly Model

First, I make the low-poly fuselage:

The goal here is to keep the shapes as simple as possible.  Hence, you'll notice that I did not include the rudder, headrest nor the engine.  Think of it as modeling using playdough.

Next, I do the headrest:

Just in case you're curious, here's how the headrest looks like without the fuselage:

Later on, I'll be performing some boolean operations between the fuselage and headrest to cut out the unneeded faces.

Next, I do the wings and the rudder like so:

Then the stabilizers and engine:

Landing gear spats and the engine cowling:

And finally the various doodads like the wheels, props, visors and antenna:

Here's a quick picture of the parts before being put together:

When you put them all together, you'll get this:

In my next update, I'll convert the low poly model into a wireframe.  Once I get the wireframe, I'll do some simplifications to make the model 'card-friendly'.

Bachem Ba-349 'Natter' - Part 01

Introduction

It's been a while since my last update.   It's been very difficult to get enough free time to engage in my new design.

Anyway, with the little free time I had, I was eventually able to make progress.

Here's where I'm at right now:

You can see it's almost done.  :)

But I will still create and share my work log, starting with this new entry. 

What is the Bachem Ba-349 'Natter' anyway?

Unlike my previous work, this one is technically not a Luft'46 plane.  This one was actually built, tested (unmanned), and flown (manned).  Unfortunately, the first manned flight also resulted in the death of its pilot, Lothar Sieber.

The plane never went operational.

The Natter was designed to be a manned missile.  It would have been launched vertically from a launch platform with the help of four solid fuel rocket packs and its main engine - a Walter HWK 109 rocket.  This is the same engine that powers the ME163 'Komet'.

Initial launch was handled by a crude guidance system that was meant to bring the Natter in the flight path of the approaching Allied bombers.  Once there, the pilot takes manual control and directs the Natter to the bombers.

When within range, the pilot fires the Natter's payload -- an array of 24 Henschel Hs297 Fohn rockets -- stored in the nose section.

Anyway, enough of that.  This is a design blog and not a history blog.

You'll find more about the Natter just by googling.

Creating the framework

In the past, I've always relied using the 4 window panel system of Metaseq: top, front, side, free.

I'd take an image from the 3-view diagram and use it as the background image for the top, side, and front panels.  

But though it gets the job done, it gets a bit difficult to get the exact shape of the model.

This time around, I took the 3-view, and then I created a new flat shape by tracing the outline of the plane like so:

I then 'traced' the other parts - the wings, rudders, tail fins, and fuselage side views.

Once done, I rearranged the parts to create a crude skeleton of the Natter:

Skinning the framework

With the framework completed, I proceeded to "skin" the skeleton by creating a subd surface, using the "skeleton" as the guide.

I started skinning the fuselage:

And after that, I worked on the wings and rudders:

Okay, based on the image above, you'll notice the canopy is wrong.  :)

I tried as hard as I can but I just can't seem to get the boxy canopy correct using subd surfaces.

So instead, I did the canopy manually after converting the subd surface into an actual wireframe:

I'll have to stop at this point for now.  

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 12 (All Done!)

All done!

The trolley was a bit of a challenge to assemble.  But, a little bit of patience saved the day.

Now, the only thing left to do is to clean up the diagrams so I can upload to PM.com. :)

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 11

Time to give the P.1080 some legs...

I based the design of the trolley on the one I used for my earlier model, the Lippisch P.13a.  But of course, I had to make some adjustments to the width and length, based on the size of the plane.

Here's how it looks like with the plane.

Looks like I'll have to wait till the next weekend to work on the textures and build.

Heinkel P.1080 - Part 10

Finishing the Engines

It turned out that the engines were the most challenging parts of the model to assemble.  

 Almost done...

Finally, with the last engine completed and attached to the fuselage, the remaining parts -- canopy, wings, rudder and landing skid should be easy.

Finishing Touches

Canopy done!

Wings -- notice the minimal use of formers on the wings.  Actually, for the whole model, only the central fuselage and the wings have formers.

All Done!

III.JG-11 receives the first delivery of the Heinkel P.1080 from Eric Flugzeugwerke!

Actually, I'm not yet done

I still need to work on the trolley that the P.1080 uses for taxiing and takeoff.