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There is some kind of rectalinear object on top of the fuselage between the engines. Can you tell me what it is and whether it's shape is actually box-like (very streched box, but I mean mathematically speaking) or more complex?

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

That's called the doghouse. It is rectangular, nothing complex about it. It has only the top and sides, the front and back re open for the ECS intake and exhaust.

Hmm.. the engine pylons are extremely tricky too, I won't elaborate on the exact difficulties, but the only concrete question I can ask and that you can answer easilly would be this one:

Which is the right cross section of the engine pylons at the place where it is attached to the fuselage? (looking at the qualitative features, not the actual length/height)

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/51988737/

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

I nailed down the cross section, I won't spend more time on it. Time to attach the pylons to the engine (there is a quite impressive blend between them I noticed. darnit)

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

It was a HELL of a lot of work (30 hours, I had to find a new modeling technique) but I've finished the engine pylons and smoothly attached them to the engines, within my perfectionistic demands. (The turbine exhausts are quick sketches, so I know they are not alright)


WIP 9-1:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52215701/

Engines seen from behind. Is the aft edge of the pylons too sharp/blunt? also, I don't know how great the inner diameter and diamater of the turbine are compared to the diamater of the housing. I can't tell this from the close up pictures I have.

WIP 9-2:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52215927/

Engines seen from the front. What are the pits on the cone holding all the fanblades? The fanblades have been moved foreward (initial depth reduced by 10%). I forgot to sharpen the intake lip, but I can fix that tomorrow.

WIP 9-3:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52216107/

Introducing the 2nd story piece, another A-10 for the South African forces. Jelani is Swahili for 'Mighty'. It is one of the 16 aircraft borrowed from the USA. If your first reaction is \"blech!\" just say so - I need to weed out any bad characters now that I still can.

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Next on the agenda:

-Attach the 'dog house'
-Take a break of a few days
-Create the wings accurately.

\"Hellbender Turbulence - Lordi\" is one great song, I think I'm going to use this title as the name for my 3rd A-10. 13 more left to name.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

MODEL FINISHED!!!!! yayayaya!

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52217849/

Reflection -

I have put hundreds of hours of effort into this. I have consulted many experts in the field of digital animation and special effects, and Industrial Light and Magic has kindly provided me its entire library of high end shaders which were also used in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. I am very proud of the end result, and I think it can stand up to the best a profesional digital sfx studio has to offer. I dedicate this piece to the A-10 community.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

The way the aft cowl attatches to the fuselage is pretty smooth, not as sharp as yours.

I cant believe I didn't think of this earlier, but my room-mate reminded me. He is really good at Lock On: Modern Air Combat, and I had totally forgotten how good the graphics are on that game. Whenever I try and play it (I suck at it) all I do is wind up looking all around the cockpit and outside of the jet amazed at how realistic it is. If you don't have that game, check it out, it's well worth the money, and it is VERY specific.

(Cowl = engine casing?) (By fuselage you mean the pylon the the engine is attached to)?

I don't have a close up of the aft cowl's mergence with the pylon. A single shot would solve it.

I also thought it's best to ask questions about things *before* I model like crazy:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52271548/

I put the questions in \"artists comments\"

As for the Lock-on Combat 3D model, I trashed it in a fairly early stage because it has low geometry accuracy. The aft section of the cockpit for instance has been grossly oversimplified to the point where it sent me down a wrong path.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

(Cowl = engine casing?)
yup.

(By fuselage you mean the pylon the the engine is attached to)?
The fuselage is the actual jet part. the cowl just covers the motor. The whole thing is called the nacelle. I'm sure I'm just making this more complicated but it's hard for me to even think of them by different names.

I don't have a close up of the aft cowl's mergence with the pylon. A single shot would solve it.
I can do that.

I also thought it's best to ask questions about things *before* I model like crazy:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52271548/
I put the questions in \"artists comments\"
That is where the elevator pivots, and those are the hinges, Two on each elevator. The bottom cross section is closer. It isn't curved to match the profile of the leading edge of the elevator on the inside of the horizontal stab, but there are small panels which cover the gap.
A picture is worth 1,000 words:

Just posting to mention the A-10 wing is another heck of a job, especially the shape of the planel that covers the landing gear is a bit awkward. I will need to find out just how that landing gear looks in general. Does the Lock-On combat A-10 show the landing gear in action well?

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

I'm fried for the moment, I'm going to spend my free time on a simple model tomorrow or I'll be in a coma soon.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

I've finished developing a technique to merge multiple objects fluently. Just a quality check: can you see any seams or irregularities in the merging between the fuselage/wing ridge and fuselage?

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52594830/

One question: Look at the profile of the bottom of the wing at the wingtip, is it correct? I cannot derive the bottom of the cross section at the tip from *anything*.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

The wing/fuselage joining looks good.
You didn't post a pic of the wingtip, so I cant comment on that.

Sorry, forgot to post that.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52638690/

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I did a rather unpleasant discovery today; I cannot texture, nor light, nor animate. This A-10 will end up as a static display model until I can do it.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

Neither one looks right, but I could be wrong. I've never really imagined what a cross section of the wing looks like. I'll look on Monday and compare your picture to a jet. Unless someone else has some feedback before then...

By drawing some paralels in long distance shots I already know the cross sections are wrong, the top of the wing is fairly flat, and horizontal too. (paralel to ground plane).

Anyway, here are some views of my best try at the gearpod. I fixed the weird looking back end, and actually remodeled the whole thing now that I'm at it anyway.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52674376/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52674438/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52674610/

Figuring out the wing's cross sections will take me some time, but I'll get something reasonable eventually. I'll post my best guess sunday for you to compare. With the wings my basic model will be finished. Then it's time to start tweaking minor errors away and add details.

I understand now why other artists are so much faster than I am. They do not demolish their model's basic parts 10x before slapping on the eye candy :/

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I saw 300 yesterday. The graphics were so good I think I think I chewed up the can that came with my coke out of jealousy :/ I want to make graphics like that! Ofcourse, there's no room for A-10's in a gin, whiskey and rye coloured world filled with super heroic greek men.

Argh if that Xerxes guy has listned to me he'd at least have won more quickly. I'd have said: \"Send your archers up closer: 10 or 20m behind slowly advancing infnatry and begin firing the arrows horizontally. Then, have archers 300m back fire at maximum range! The spartans cannot defend against arrows coming in horizontally and diagonally at once, the angular width of their shields is insufficient! Now, this may fail. If those partans form an impenetrable mound of shields, how about sending in that huge rhino of yours? Force the spartans to defend by firing arrows at long distance, then send the thino. They can't ward of the arros *and* kill the rhino at once.\" Damn did that guy ever play starcraft? You got to combine units!

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

WH '

I just went thru and looked at your progress on the model, by any standards it a DAMN FINE JOB.
I was looking at your gear pods, they look very nice but were you planing on finishing them with the wheels up? Because remember with wheels retracted part of the Tire assy, is still exposed.
But you did a great job.

Goose

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\"Live Free Or Die\"

Well, the gearpod still needs some chirurgical cutting to create a movable panel and an opening for a wheel. Problem is, that panel has a rather weird outline, I still need to pin that down before I begin cutting up the gearpod.

I intend to create a simple animatable landing gear or I can't film any take off scenes or landings. (crash landings pherhaps)

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

Jackb: if you are planning to take a picture of the wing's cross section, try to use the lines of sight that I've sketched. The L shapes indicate 90 degree angles. When you use these lines of sight, the profile curves I get will only be squached in the vertical dimension.

I'd also like to know if the shape of the wing remains constant in the part between the fuselage and the gearpod.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52720532/

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

OK


Yes.

Alright jackb, thanks for the pictures I got 'em. Though I couldn't derive the wing cross section I did see that once the flap disappears under the top panel of the wing it no longer follows its shape. I somehow failed to notice that earlier. Got to back up and scrap a flap now, since they will be visible when down. I'm going to finish the cockpit canopy tomorrow, I *finally* found the correct surface topology to model it.

Aanyway, now that I've accepted my best guess for a wing and the cockpit will be alright soon, I'll need to worry about additional models that I need. bombs and missles. The question for today is, where can I find standard weapon configurations for A-10's? (What am I going to hang under the wings?)

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

Browse the other threads in this modeling forum. There has been some pretty good stuff posted.

The cockpit canopy is complete. After 6 hours of non stop modeling I have to admit I'm totally and utterly wasted and its 4am. I'd like to hear any comments, I will use the comments for future parts of the A-10 because I willl leave the canopy as it is unless there is a *serious* flaw.

WIP 12-1

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53168961/

WIP 12-2

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53169037/

There is a little panel missing at the aft of the canopy. I'll add it later.

WIP 12-3

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53169115/

Hmm.. I think it looks a bit more like a hog than last time. I think now, that the front window does not extend upward far enough. Is this the case? (Serious flaw if it is)

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

WOW. Looks GREAT.


I did notice that, I thought in my head, well, this is not a big deal, its barely to low, I wont say anything. But then I kept reading and if it is your opinion that it is a serious flaw, then the answer is yes, its a touch (just a touch) too short.
Really, it looks AMAZING.

Alright, I'm adding the window legth to my list of final tweaks just like the aft cowl/fuselage joining. I also noticed that the aft of the plate the canopy is attached to is not fully embedded in the fuselage, appearantly it needs to be able to slide over it a bit, just like the tiny plate at the aft of the canopy covering the (hinge?).

Now, I'm going back to the wing. It's been bothering me for a week. After the wing, it's time for the list of final tweaks, and then detailing.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III