F-16 Falcon

[Arjun]

I've seen a few models on this forum, and I've tried to model one myself. So far, I've encountered one problem too many: I used one of the blueprints on the Russian Air War website. I crossed the top, side, bottom and (useless?) front views. The fuselage cross-sections are tough to align, so I carried on without them. I initially scaled them to fit in side view. How do I scale the cross-sections? That engine vent in front is a problem area. I've got some messy finishes. How do I get that formation of two cylindrical shapes merging into one? Do I extrude the wings from the sides or build them afresh? The set of blueprints I have are really exhaustive, but using them to good effect is tough. All along, I've used low-poly and not touched splinecage at all. What is a better method to model?

[jkbon]

Hello,

Here is a 3DS file with my bleuprint setup and the pictures. Have a look on it to see how to do.

Imagine your plane is 20meters long, 10m wide and 5m high.

In max, create a box which has the size of the plane. Delete the polys you don't need.

In Photoshop, scale your original bleuprint picture in a such way that 1 pixel equal to 2 cm for example.
So it means that your front pix will be 500*250, top 1000*500, ...

The trick for the cross section is to use the front picture in photoshop as background then you past, as layer, every cross section (on your blueprint there is always a line or a cross in each cross section to help you to align them to each other - I drew it in red in my pictures).

Once it's done, you crop the picture to minimize the size, and you save each cross section separately.
As you know that 1 pixel equal to 2 cm it's easy to create a plane in max with the right size.

[Arjun]

That front view is a troublemaker. When I can match and cross the top, side and bottom, the front is tough to align, especially with landing gear down. That, however, doesn't seem to be a problem with this aircraft. Scaling will be a puzzle, and I often scale from the left view, where all the markings are provided, where each cross-section fits.

[deltacharlie]

well, one thing to bear in mind is that people post all sorts of "blueprints" online that may or may not be accurate. There's no shortage of bad blueprints where things don't line up, or are rotated a tiny bit, or are just wildly inaccurate. Sometimes finding good blueprints is one of the more challenging parts of the process! I'd suggest trying to find some more in case there is a better set out there than what you have, or asking some of the knowledgeable folk here if your blueprints are any good. I'm sure there is someone here who knows a ton about F-16s.

Best of luck,
~DC

[Arjun]

I get all my blueprints from the Russian Air War site, or the-blueprints.com, particularly those by Richard Ferriere, which have bottom views, both side views and cross-sections. Those blueprints seem to be cleaned-up and translated versions of the Russian pages. Having read a few posts here, I find that these are the best places to get blueprints, and I try to use all blueprints from the same set or scanner.

Recently, I tried to make polygons out of those cross-sections, and then tried to bridge edges, and didn't like the result much. Getting the flow lines was a problem.

I may upload screen grabs or scans here...is there any such facility? Maybe the Gallery section?

[deltacharlie]

What you can do is to upload a picture to imageshack:

http://www.imageshack.us/

It should give you a set of different links, and one will say "thumbnail for forums"...if you just copy and paste that into a post here, it will show up.

the link will look something like this (I added extra spaces so the forum wouldn't grab the image):

[ URL = http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php ? image=55za01du1.jpg ] [ IMG ] http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3323/55za01du1.th.jpg [ /IMG ][ /URL ]

and show up in your message like this:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3323/55za01du1.th.jpg (http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=55za01du1.jpg)

[Arjun]

Here's a second attempt- this whole mesh is one monolithic model
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/Arjun_Mohan/Max%20Out/Render_01-1.jpg

[deltacharlie]

you should probably move this to the aircraft WIP forum (Aviation Hangar).

One big mesh is usually not the way to go...texturing will be a nightmare for sure. Also, odds are you'll want to move parts of it (like ailerons and flaps).

That said, it does look like an F-16 for the most part.

~DC

[Arjun]

I don't know what meshes or elements to make separate. Panel lines are usually a good reference, but there's one panel line too many here.

The confusing part is where the cockpit and the front/bottom vent, both more or less cylindrical, fuse with the wings, and then into a cylindrical rear exhaust.

I've modelled three airplanes (Boeing 707, Airbus A320 and MiG-29 Fulcrum) and never paid much attention to details in moving parts- mostly because these were texturing exercises. Modelling accessories has not been my best aspect, but I guess I can start from here. I've also thought of modelling it in such a way that it can transform into a robot-like figure (Skydive)- with the Transformers movie coming in soon.

[raf]

I don't know what meshes or elements to make separate. Panel lines are usually a good reference, but there's one panel line too many here.

I don't think that it makes much sense to divide mesh of F-16 along panel lines, it is too smooth.

The confusing part is where the cockpit and the front/bottom vent, both more or less cylindrical, fuse with the wings, and then into a cylindrical rear exhaust.

Good photos should help you with that sort of problems. That joint between main fuselage and bottom intake is pretty sharp, and though it may not seem that way, it is not unlike those on MiG-29.

Making detailed model definitely gets anyone in confusing situations. I'd probably make central fuselage with intake in one piece with separate tail, wings and tail plane (it actually is separate on the real thing). Separate wing in this case helps with cutting out leading and trailing edge flaps and ailerons.
Some finer details like those antennas in front of cockpit and navigation lights on intake would look more than fine as separate mesh pieces protruding from the main mesh.

Try looking here at Challenges (http://www.military-meshes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=36) for some ideas. Phantom Airscoop and EE Lightning Canopy challenges should be useful.