Flaps!

The P180 has three sets of flaps... One set on the canard, (foreplane) and two different sets on each wing. (single-slotted flaps inboard and Fowler flaps outboard) I've got them all in their "down" position for these renders, so you can see the configuration.

A little animation

With the flaps and landing gear down, a landing seems in order.

Modo 401 released here, so the model is updated...

With the absolutely brilliant release of modo 401, I've been able to add some more detail, and improve the render quality. Thank you, Luxology!

Using the tube tool along with the background constraint, I made this seal for the windscreen.

A nice render using modo's new environments. (Background motion blur in PhotoShop)

There is one detail I've yet to add, that's important to the overall shape of the aircraft. That is the wing-to-fuselage fairing on the top portion of the main inboard wing. In fact, it continues onto the baggage door, which carries part of that fairing. Once that's done, all the major modeling is finished, and I'll add the last few details on the nose gear, some rivets around the aircraft, and finally, the paint scheme.

And...

It's my opinion that this project needs some animation. I'm especially interested in animating the landing gear, in some taxi, takeoff, and landing sequences. So, I'm going to take some time, learning modo 401's new rigging capabilities, and try to really get it right. In the meantime, I'm going to move ahead with other modeling projects, including prepping some of my previous projects for the same kind of animation.

More coming soon...