Cessna T-50 "Bobcat" - Better results on the truss...

I'm getting some great help on this project, and am correcting details, as I go. At this point, most of the tubing structure has been corrected, and so I'm moving on to the many nuts, bolts, fasteners, and "gadgets" (pumps, hoses, etc..) in the plane.

This is a fun project from an aviation fan's point of view, but it's also teaching me a lot of new uses for tools in my 3D software. Fun stuff, and really interesting to see it grow. Stay tuned!

Click here to see a (5.7MB) rotating-view movie of the model, as it stands today. (11-05-09)

More landing gear and firewall detailing...

The wing structure

This job took all day. But... That's not a complaint. It would've taken longer with most software packages, so tedious or not, I'm quite pleased with these results. I began with drawings from the maintenance manual, aided by photos of actual T-50's during restoration. I then added the truss structure of the ribs. For those of you who care about such things, you might notice that the little plates that connect the rib parts actually have the correct nail pattern in them. (and, on both sides)

Not just ribs...

A lot of virtual spruce, plywood and nails were used here, for the ribs. and they're all positioned according to the Cessna drawings, backed up by photos. The position of the leading edge sheeting and wing tip sheeting is correct. Some of the ribs and leading edge sheeting were left out, where the engine truss joins the spars, as it is on the actual aircraft. The "primer green" ribs shown here represent what I first thought were metal ribs on the actual aircraft, where the engine mount/landing gear area is located. Actually, they're "special" ribs, in that they represent a junction of many parts, but they're not metal. There are a variety of sheet metal and tubing cross braces within the wing, and some wires. (wires not added yet)

I'm tweaking the tubing structure in the next two images, so you'll see a tube out of place, here and there, while I'm working on them.

The basic structure of the wing is together. One of the details I have to adjust now is the shape of a couple of the ribs, to accommodate the internal tube braces. They're modified on the actual aircraft, by moving the braces slightly out of the way, so I'll follow the same plan.


Click the "Page 05" link below to continue.

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