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28th September 2010, 10:28 AM | #1 |
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Aircraft prop blades
Hello all,
I have started my new model in ac3d for a free flight sim called Flightgear. I am getting on well but seem to be a bit stuck on how to make a propeller blade for the aircraft. I have tried to create this by using a cube, cutting it then dragging it into the right shape and using a sub divide to get it smooth but I just cant seem to get it right, also I am trying to keep the polycount down on the model. As an added extra, the blade has a twist to it If you need details on the model itself it is a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and here is a link of the plane itself http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...w=1420&bih=731 Many thanks for any help Simon |
30th September 2010, 07:10 PM | #2 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
I would start with the airfoil shape. I could only find airfoil specs for the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk wing (NACA 2215 at root, NACA 2209 at the tip) but Clark Y is used quite often for props.
Here's a cross section: http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/a...ots/clarky.gif Extrude and slightly modify it with every section. Remember that at the root the cross section would be a circle. peter |
30th September 2010, 07:13 PM | #3 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
I just found a source which may help you getting the shape into AC3D: http://isoar.ca/~andrewm/rc/airfoils/13.html
It has a DXF file of Clark Y. |
1st October 2010, 03:48 AM | #4 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
Many thanks for the info captain peter, Ill start on the props asap.
Here is a screen shot of what I have so far I have redone the main gear and landing gear strut pods, the spinner on the front is not correctly done it's just there for cosmetic reasons till I can do it low poly. Simon |
7th October 2010, 06:22 AM | #5 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
I have now updated the model to be less poly in some areas, now I have run into a new problem I have areas like rudders/ailerons/flaps ready to cut out but once i do cut them out I need to have a curved area as shown in the picture, see the horizontal stab on the left how it is curved and how the vert stab is curved before it attaches to the rest of the tail.
Could any one offer any advice how to go about doing this Many thanks |
7th October 2010, 06:24 AM | #6 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
forgot to add picture link http://www.militaryfactory.com/image...yhawk;%20color
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11th October 2010, 05:36 PM | #7 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
Hi, this is how I make propellor blades:
start with a cylinder and extrude the walls a bit, shape these vertexes in the blade shape extrude and rotate in the desired shape untill you have 1 propellor than use the replicator: This is the result:
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14th October 2010, 05:13 AM | #8 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
Many thanks for your help and tips guys much appreciated. I have now removed the wings as I wasn't really happy with them, they seemed to thick where the flaps and ailerons should be, to do the wings I used a cube, did a couple of cuts, shaped it then did 2 subdivides but cant really get it how I want, any tips on that?
Many thanks |
14th October 2010, 11:59 AM | #9 | |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
Quote:
I would use a cylinder you can drag it in a perfect wing form and extruse it to lenght desired. just make 1 and mirror it. (but I expect you to know that ) The way you work sound like you have 3d canvas also...
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14th October 2010, 12:01 PM | #10 |
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Re: Aircraft prop blades
For wings I try to get a cross section of the airfoil. This I extrude and "thin" all the way out to the tip, taking care to segment for easy isolation of flap and aileron cutouts as I go. This normally creates one inner wing, one center wing, and an outer wing.
On the fuselage join end, I'll usually describe the join area on the fuselage with vertices, and cut it out to make a hole. Then, manually create the faces between the join area and the inner wing. If there's a scallop between the fuselage weld and the inner wing, I may need to do a Knife cut or two and drag/scale the rows of vertices to fit, using the front (head-on) view as a guide. On the wingtip end, I use an odd method, but it seems to work for me, better than trying to simply round off a airfoil shape: After extruding the wing all the way to the start of the rounded tip, I first draw an outline of the tip in Top View using the Line tool (not a poly). This I copy and paste directly below the original outline, then position and rotate both outlines to create the proper taper of the wingtip. I Merge the outlines and the outer wing into one object, weld the tips' innermost vertices to the closest corresponding vertice on the open ends of the outer wing, then manually create the top, side and bottom faces of the wingtip, one at a time, taking care to create the faces by selecting vertices counterclockwise, so as not to create inward-looking faces. (you're usually well advised at some point to make the whole object one sided, so you can see any facing problems as you create them.)
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aircraft, flight simulator, propeller |
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