Bugatti 100P

[dhk79]

This is very quick & dirty. I modeled the basic fuselage shape accurately, but only added rough wings and stabs (without control surfaces). The purpose was to get just what was absolutely needed by RF to check out the physics.

I know this is a bit backwards from the way things are normally done, but I wanted to play with the design concept. Bottom line is it's workable. I used twin AXI 4120-18 motors, with 4200x6S LiPos, and co-axial 13.5" pattern props. 1/5 scale gives a wingspan of 5.4 ft. and a flying weight of 6.4 lbs. Straight & level, I got scale speeds of about 375 mph. I should be able to get some more out of it with a little tweaking, but over-all she handles pretty well.

For the first time RF had the exact wing section I needed for a custom plane. This is a banner day.

Back to the 3D editor to add details to the fuselage and finish the rest of the model correctly.

 

[rcplanefubar]

SLOW DOWN speedy gonzales LOL

I have a really cool idea for the cockpit. The one made by the old guy with the ZZtop beard was in a R/C mag a few years back You could see the motors and homemade gearbox if I remember correctly. I'll make a quick 3D model so you can see what it looked like.

 

[rcplanefubar]

here you go

 

[pplace]

At this rate you'll have it on the swaps tonight right Doug??haha

No it's looking really good though!

I don't want to "sway" your thread too off track but I had a question for you (and others might be interested also.... so I'll ask here)

I noticed you have the canopy opening set as a "hard" line in Wings3D

What is the effect, purpose, need, benefit, etc?? I guess I've never used them and seemingly haven't had any troubles?

On the other hand I've seen people put "hard" lines on all their control surfaces edges etc.

I'm assuming it just helps "hold" the shape of the object when you "cut" the canopy from the fuse?

Again sorry for this question in your build thread

 

[rcplanefubar]

At this rate you'll have it on the swaps tonight right Doug??haha

No it's looking really good though!

I don't want to "sway" your thread too off track but I had a question for you (and others might be interested also.... so I'll ask here)

I noticed you have the canopy opening set as a "hard" line in Wings3D

What is the effect, purpose, need, benefit, etc?? I guess I've never used them and seemingly haven't had any troubles?

On the other hand I've seen people put "hard" lines on all their control surfaces edges etc.

I'm assuming it just helps "hold" the shape of the object when you "cut" the canopy from the fuse?

Again sorry for this question in your build thread

RF likes to smooth things out so, if you make something a hard line it holds it shape. A perfect exsample is on my new Podracer. I made the electric binders with all hard line to keep them looking like lighting and I used it on the back of the motors inorder to produce the flat panels on the exhaust. On the enclosed pic I made the left side all soft and the right has some of the lines made hard.

 

[dhk79]

RF like to smooth things out so, if you make something a hard line it holds it shape.

Exactly I also use hard lines on openings into the aircraft (like vents), metal objects that you want to have clearly defined edges, and any places where two objects must meet and close perfectly (like gear doors). In the door (and canopy) case, the edges on both surfaces need to be set to hard lines.

Use a quick render to see if you have any areas that get deformed with smoothing, then add hard lines where needed. Control surfaces are usual culprits. By doing this you can keep your total poly count really low. Most of my newest planes are less than 8000 polys and don't use collision meshes at all.

 

[dhk79]

At this rate you'll have it on the swaps tonight right Doug??

Not likely, but it's good to hope.

 

[pplace]

Okay thanks for the responses. It pretty much does what I assumed.

Now though.....would I still be alright (get the same effect) if I add the hard edge to the canopy and the "canopy opening" on the fuse after I have already "loop cut" them apart?? Or should I from now on do it first??

 

[dhk79]

rcplanefubar,

Good looking gear box. That was pretty much how I had envisioned it as well. Although, I had the motors offset and pointing in the same direction. I like your idea better. Getting the main gears to spin is easy (make them part of the spinners), but I need to figure out a way to make the pinion gears spin as well.

 

[dhk79]

Now though.....would I still be alright (get the same effect) if I add the hard edge to the canopy and the "canopy opening" on the fuse after I have already "loop cut" them apart?? Or should I from now on do it first??

That's actually how I do it with canopies. I make the canopy cut from the fuselage and move it up out of the way, so I can get to the underside. On both the bottom of the canopy and the resulting pit in the fuselage, I first select the meeting faces and make them "holes", then (while still selected) change to line mode automatically selecting the edges and make them hard.

The pit in the fuselage (sorry didn't know what else to call it) can also be selected and loop cut again to give you a plate that exactly fits the opening (be sure to change it back to a non-hole). This can then be extruded down to form a cockpit enclosure. Leave to top edges hard and don't touch them. Adjust the middle and/or bottom of the cockpit to fit within the fuselage. Now you have a cockpit, canopy, and fuselage whose edges exactly match.

 

[rcplanefubar]

rcplanefubar,

Good looking gear box. That was pretty much how I had envisioned it as well. Although, I had the motors offset and pointing in the same direction. I like your idea better. Getting the main gears to spin is easy (make them part of the spinners), but I need to figure out a way to make the pinion gears spin as well.

Thanks but it was not my idea. It was the ZZtop looking dude lol. The flat aluminum panels that suround it also had lighting holes drilled in it.

About the other gears. Could you just call them spinners as well and use dummy engines with no props and no torque. Or maybe the wave genorator could be used( I really have no idea how to use this fuction )

 

[maxkop]

You might want to have a look on my post in this thread if you are interested in surface smoothing when using 3dsmax.

Greets,

Max

 

[BigGuyJT]

SLOW DOWN speedy gonzales LOL

I have a really cool idea for the cockpit. The one made by the old guy with the ZZtop beard was in a R/C mag a few years back You could see the motors and homemade gearbox if I remember correctly. I'll make a quick 3D model so you can see what it looked like.

Bob Shaw is his name I believe...

 

[dhk79]

About the other gears. Could you just call them spinners as well and use dummy engines with no props and no torque. Or maybe the wave genorator could be used( I really have no idea how to use this fuction )

Something like that might work. I'll play with it and see what I can come up with.

 

[rcplanefubar]

Bob Shaw is his name I believe...

Close it is Keith Shaw and man he is one hell of a scratch builder here is a pic of his model.

 

[BigGuyJT]

Close it is Keith Shaw and man he is one hell of a scratch builder here is a pic of his model.

Yeah thats it. I remember now. Thats real nice...

 

[dhk79]

Thanks to the nifty drive concept discovered and then shared by rcplanefubar, the Bugatti will have this visible (and moving) scale power train. Although I used a 1:1 gear ratio for my design of it.

 

[dhk79]

Making progress. She now has a real wing, and I got the main gear and gear doors done tonight. Also finished setting up the gear motion for the drive train.

 

[rcplanefubar]

Don't forget about the vents on the front and back of the wing roots and there are some on the front of the stabs of the V-tail

 

[dhk79]

I won't. By working kind of backwards on this one, I haven't added much in the way of fine detail yet. Although I do like the way the gear came out.