Raptor 3D Project - Edits 07
Major operations on the wing and fuselage...
With the exterior wing shape in good condition, it's time to do a wing-joining operation. The main reason for this is that, once the new wings are mated with the (also new) fuselage, there will be some work to do, to create the smooth transition in shapes, between the two parts. (as on the actual aircraft) This is a case where many small operations need to be done, in a certain order. I'll try to point out the "why", as I do each step, so this makes sense.
Since I have a separate set of cutters made, for the flap, aileron, and leading edge flap, this step is to strictly to improve the fuselage/wing joint. (For this set of steps, I'm working on just the left half of the fuselage and left wing. They'll be duplicated and mirrored later, to make the right side.)
So, I duplicated the left wing, and joined it to the fuselage with a boolean operation. Then, I used my "fuselage/wing separation" cutter to slice through the wing, at the scale location. You can see that cut in the image to the right.
You can see that this now leaves a fuselage that has a scale joint area, and also (at the outboard edge) it now will match better with the wing curvature.
I then deleted all of the wing that's outboard of the cut.
With the fuselage prepped, back to the wing.
First, I added the actuator fairing bulges to the bottom of the wing, using a boolean operation. (in red, above)
These leading edge parts are discarded, since they're now part of the fuselage.
Next, I used all the control surface cutters, and also the "fuselage/wing separation" cutter, to create the sliced-up shape you see here.
Here's the wing, ready for action.
Good results!
Because the actuator fairing bulges were added before all these cuts, they were also cut at the same time as the control surfaces. That's intentional, so the control surfaces can all be animated later, as on the actual aircraft. (I'll have a demo movie of that ready, right away.) So, here's the wing, now cut to the scale dimensions, and with separate control surfaces. Nice!
From below, the actuator fairings can be seen.
Most of the major exterior work is ready for detailing now.
Here's a test animation, showing all the control surfaces moving.
Then there are a few more of these major "bumps and bulges" to add, including the bump in the wing/fuselage, where the main gear doors are, the depression where the gun door is located, and the actuator fairings at the tail, for the tailerons. I'll also be creating the intake ducts, and various doors and other details on the exterior. Big things first, small things later.
Click the "Edits 08" link below, to continue.