Viper MK2 Sharp Corners

[under9stars]

Been meaning to post an update. I started the wings this week. I expected the worst since I was warned about them being harder than they look. I have found that everything has been harder than it looks. I have to admit, some things, like the top fin have been pleasantly easier than expected. The hardest thing about this model, absolutely and overall, has been trying to interpret the darn references and identifying the differences from the life size prop to the CG model. Let me tell you, there are many. So many times have I had to go back and add something or redo it because a detail or some info was revealed later by coming across more references or noticing something that I didn't before. So, advice to anyone, spend that extra time to study your refs and understand as much as possible what you are seeing.

[Pearse]

The part I found most difficult to model on the wing is the tip with the running lights. The way the cylindrical shape merges seamlessly with the rest of the wing structure was just too hard for me to do in the end. I've resolved to go back to that when I'm better at modeling. Do you have a plan for that area?

I agree about the top fin, by the way. It's got to be the easiest part of the ship to do.

[under9stars]

Hi Pearse,

I spent the last couple of days building the wing, and yes, the tip was the hardest part. The running lights did prove challenging at first. I knew I wanted to merge two cylinders to the rough wing structure by using some of Modo's boolean tools and then rolling up my sleeves to make cuts and join up parts vertices, and do a lot of clean up. I failed the first time because the base cylinders I used only had eight sides, which is enough to create a beautiful rounded result in subD in most cases, but because of the funny placement of these shapes, I found that cranking up the sides to 24 gave me the geometry I needed to make a successful automatic and manual union. This part of the model really took some time and patience. As always, looking over the references over and over and over again was essential. I still feel like there are some parts I had to do some guessing on, but what I came up with make sense. Like you said, better to do the best you can and not get held up on perfection. We can always revisit. I have to say, this model might be finished by now if there was not so much trouble interpreting the images.

[D.M.J.]

Check your PMs

Good progress, keep it up, you're on the final straight now for modelling.

[under9stars]

Anyone have good refs of the engines, inside and out?

[Pearse]

I'll pm you some references I used.

[under9stars]

Just an update:

gun barrel
landing gear bay and doors
thruster
revised fuselage and engine

[RedSquare]

@under9stars. Excellent progress your skills are much improving.

[Davide_sd]

wow, great work!
now i want to create my viper...

[under9stars]

Thanks for the compliments!!!

Here are just some updates.