Comet 4c - Exterior Revision
13/09/11 15:00
Work has kept me away from the Comet for weeks, but giving the project full throttle whenever I can. I’ve just finished extensive revisions to the external projections.
Fig. 1: The fuselage used to have 32 vertices per cross-section. This caused an unsightly crease 2/3 of the way down the passenger windows, so I’ve increased it to 64.
Fig. 2: The fuselage nose is very much smoother than before, and it was an opportunity to improve the seam around the windscreen reinforcement. The front shock-strut has more detail, too.
Fig. 3: A smoother fuselage means smoother door skins (passenger door shown slightly ajar). Note the remodelled exhaust “silencers” and smoother engine nacelles.
Fig. 4: Smoother engine intakes.
Fig. 5: Intake detail with heat exchanger, engine #1 and streamlined landing lamp.
Fig. 6: Intakes and wings. The recessed taxi lamp is new, and the main gear has new detail and animations. The wheels and tyres appear bright in this screenshot because they are lit separately, with a non-directional light source (because they rotate).
Fig. 7: New winglets for the nacelle tanks.
Fig. 8: Nacelle tank winglet and duct.
Fig. 9: New wing tip.
Fig. 10: Underneath the new wing tip, showing the NACA duct and balance weight. The wing has been re-modelled with leading edge-droop, which gives the underside a concave shape for the first 25% of the chord. This was introduced on the Comet 1 after a ground-stall incident at Calcutta.
Fig. 11: Shadow effects with split flaps fully open. The wheel rims are now shown with aerodynamic covers, as worn by Comets fitted with Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock braking.
Fig. 12: Showing the shadows on the top surface of the flaps and the air brakes.
Fig. 13: I first modelled this years ago. Since then, keyframe animation has made it possible to animate the undercarriage, including servo-jacks and linkages.
Fig. 14: All wheels and tyres improved, with smoother tyres and far greater rim detail.
Next step: Updating and improving external paint textures.
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GMM-P (13/09/2011)
Fig. 1: The fuselage used to have 32 vertices per cross-section. This caused an unsightly crease 2/3 of the way down the passenger windows, so I’ve increased it to 64.
Fig. 2: The fuselage nose is very much smoother than before, and it was an opportunity to improve the seam around the windscreen reinforcement. The front shock-strut has more detail, too.
Fig. 3: A smoother fuselage means smoother door skins (passenger door shown slightly ajar). Note the remodelled exhaust “silencers” and smoother engine nacelles.
Fig. 4: Smoother engine intakes.
Fig. 5: Intake detail with heat exchanger, engine #1 and streamlined landing lamp.
Fig. 6: Intakes and wings. The recessed taxi lamp is new, and the main gear has new detail and animations. The wheels and tyres appear bright in this screenshot because they are lit separately, with a non-directional light source (because they rotate).
Fig. 7: New winglets for the nacelle tanks.
Fig. 8: Nacelle tank winglet and duct.
Fig. 9: New wing tip.
Fig. 10: Underneath the new wing tip, showing the NACA duct and balance weight. The wing has been re-modelled with leading edge-droop, which gives the underside a concave shape for the first 25% of the chord. This was introduced on the Comet 1 after a ground-stall incident at Calcutta.
Fig. 11: Shadow effects with split flaps fully open. The wheel rims are now shown with aerodynamic covers, as worn by Comets fitted with Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock braking.
Fig. 12: Showing the shadows on the top surface of the flaps and the air brakes.
Fig. 13: I first modelled this years ago. Since then, keyframe animation has made it possible to animate the undercarriage, including servo-jacks and linkages.
Fig. 14: All wheels and tyres improved, with smoother tyres and far greater rim detail.
Next step: Updating and improving external paint textures.
--
GMM-P (13/09/2011)
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