Piaggio "Avanti II" P180

Several years ago, I built a P180 in Carrara Studio, (the image at the right) and it's been one of my most popular 3D models. Now, with better tools, it's time to update this to the "Avanti II", adding considerably more accuracy and detail. It's got everything, this time.

This project was possible only due to the help of two fantastic people in Genova, Italy, who were engineers at Piaggio. When I did the first model in about 2001, there was over a year of communication between Livio Cavini and Paolo Chiarlone, who provided me with outstanding documentation, as the basis for building a flying model at 1/6th scale. I've put together a separate gallery for those images, which you'll find below. I want to also thank the wonderful people at Piaggio Aero., who provided further documentation.

In addition to a civilian version, I'll also be finishing one in the Italian Air Force colors There are lots of gorgeous civilian color schemes, like the one below..

For comparison, here are a couple of renders of my old Carrara version of the Avanti.

I have a LOT of time with this aircraft. Beginning back in 1995, I communicated with Piaggio engineers, built parts for a physical (radio-controlled, flying) version of the aircraft, and also built my first 3D model of the Avanti. I could not have done that without the tremendous communication I had with two engineers from Piaggio, Mr. Livio Cavini, and Mr. Paolo Chiarlone. In a kind of tribute to them, I've put together an article showing those things, which you can find here... My history with the Avanti P180

All new, and all modo, from here on...

The original Carrara model was accurate in outline, and is still sold through Viewpoint Digital for $895. But by today's standards, it has some weaknesses. The window and windscreen openings didn't even exist on the original Viewpoint version of the model, and were only added years later. (I no longer have that file... lost in a hard drive crash) It had no cabin door, emergency exit, or landing gear doors, and the landing gear was not scale. The control surfaces were faked with texture maps, and so could not be animated. The new version has all those features, and many more. It's more accurate too, due to better software, more RAM, a larger monitor to work with, and better documentation. As of mid 2009, the Cessna T-50 and the P180 are my best scale projects.

The model you see on the following pages is completely rebuilt from scratch, in modo... Click the "Page 02" link below, to continue...