Simviation Forums

The wheel proportion is good, and for the purpose of an fsx model the steering design will work, but if it were a real aircraft... Its tough to explain in just words but let me try. Using the vertical cylinder at the nose of the frame, through which the steering fork is attached, this would be the rotation axis of the steering. Because the point of contact where the tire touches the ground is not in line with the axis of rotation, this would have a castering effect. Imagine the front wheel on a shopping cart. If the wheel is forward of the axis of rotation, it will want to swivel around 180 degrees when there is forward motion on the cart. That is what would happen here. For a proper castering nose wheel, the contact point with the ground must be either in line with the rotation axis, or behind it. What i would do is this...try to get it in a straight line. Similar to the front fork of a bicycle. You see if the front forks on a bicycle were raked forward but the fork tree was at a different angle the bike would not steer. Now picture a chopper style motorcycle. The forks are raked forward, but the angle of rotation axis in the fork tree is also raked, to be parallel or in line with the angle of the fork tubes. This way the whole assembly can rotate about the axis. This way the tire will pivot about the ground contact patch rather than trying to swing in an arch around a displaced axis of rotation.

Now all that being said... Because this is a model for a game, and there is no actual contact between a tire and a runway, you could leave it as is and it will work fine. But if you felt inclined... I would try to closely copy one of the designs i pointed you to for this portion, or at a minimun try to design it as if it were the front fork of a chopper or bicycle in miniature. Just pick which one you like best! All in all the whole fork should be strait, even if raked at an angle. If the fork is bent, it would not steer well at all. Hang in there, this is coming out great, and with a little design guidance we will get it there together! Its tough because you are trying to design pretty much from scratch. Copying a design would not be bad, and even if you copied the quicksilver exactly, i don't think younwould run into any trouble if you dont call it that in the finished model. Especially if you are not making it for any commercial gain.

Hi Tom!

Here is an update to the aircraft. I have fixed the front landing gear and I have started on modeling the seat.



Thanks, Kris

Oooooooh!!! WOW! VERY VERY NICE! the Lighting really add depth and life to the model! Especially the way the fabric on the upper camber appears to be stretched on to the wing ribs!! Very well done! And very nice work on the nose wheel!!! Looks very realistic, and the geometry will be very convincing! This thing is looking fantastic! I like where the seat is going too!! Keep those pics rolling in! I can't believe how nice this is looking! This will be well into the higher end of the Freeware models!

I have to say... Don't be shy to try modeling a pilot... Faces are the hardest part, and you know what? That is easily avoided with a motorcycle style racing helmet. Just like the one Microsoft used for their default Air Creation trike. it simplifies the model considerably, and its actually a common way to dress in open cockpit ultralights. I think you could do a great job after seeing how those wheels came out! Give it a shot, you just might surprise yourself!

How about a logo?

tomvaillencourt wrote:How about a logo?

Hi Tom!

That logo looks very nice! Is that what you want put on the aircraft?

Also Thank you on your remarks.

Here are a couple more images of the aircraft. I have added rudder pedals. I am getting into areas that are going to take me much longer to work on now. Like control cables, brake lines, structure cabling, and the engine is going to take the most detail. So it will probable start taking me a couple of days to post images of what I have completed.







Thanks, Kris

Ill be here when you have more to show! its looking really slick so far! I talked to one painter today, but he basically said he has no interest in ultralights. Thats fine we will figure it out. The logo was just a quick thing I did on my ipad, so if you have any suggestions I would be happy to try and come up with something different. Any other ideas?

tomvaillencourt wrote:Ill be here when you have more to show! its looking really slick so far! I talked to one painter today, but he basically said he has no interest in ultralights. Thats fine we will figure it out. The logo was just a quick thing I did on my ipad, so if you have any suggestions I would be happy to try and come up with something different. Any other ideas?

Hi Tom!

I will try to have an image of the aircraft by Friday. I am working on the Engine.

If we can not find anyone willing to help with texturing, we will do our best ourselves.

Thanks, Kris

I would certainly love to give it a shot myself, if you put on some very rudimentary textures just so I can open them and see how the textures are positioned I can add lots of detail to them. Just make then in the same format as default textures. I can't do photographic textures, like painters who use photoshop, But I will do my best to make them look as good as I can.

tomvaillencourt wrote:I would certainly love to give it a shot myself, if you put on some very rudimentary textures just so I can open them and see how the textures are positioned I can add lots of detail to them. Just make then in the same format as default textures. I can't do photographic textures, like painters who use photoshop, But I will do my best to make them look as good as I can.

Hi Tom!

No problem, when the aircraft gets to the texturing stage, I will send you the UVW texture maps so that you can work on the texturing. Thank you Tom!

Here is an image of the engine that I am modeling for our aircraft. I have a lot more work that I need to do to finish it.



Thanks, Kris

WOW, very impressive! You're putting a lot more into this than I imagined! Thank you so much for doing this project! This looks amazing so far!

tomvaillencourt wrote:WOW, very impressive! You're putting a lot more into this than I imagined! Thank you so much for doing this project! This looks amazing so far!

Hi Tom!

Thank you!

And you are very welcome!

Here are a couple of images of the engine and the engine positioned in the aircraft. I steel have to model the pull start for the engine and the muffler system. But other than that it is as far as I am going to go with the engine. I do not want to use to many poly's on one item.





Thanks, Kris

Very impressive! I'm very surprised you are timid with modeling the pilot, obviously you are very good at it! This is really great! I've been waiting since FSX first came out for one of these, and this is way better than I could have expected or asked for!

tomvaillencourt wrote:Very impressive! I'm very surprised you are timid with modeling the pilot, obviously you are very good at it! This is really great! I've been waiting since FSX first came out for one of these, and this is way better than I could have expected or asked for!

Hi Tom!

Thank you for such kind words. I am very happy that you are pleased with the aircraft so far. I will keep doing my best.

I have tried to make people before and it is very, very hard. It is much easer to model geometric objects compared to organic objects. You have to be an incredible modeler to make people.

Here is another image of what I have done. I have added the pull start for the engine, and I have added the drive shaft with the propeller shaft and drive belt.



Thanks, Kris

Nice! I'm at a loss for a pilot, but I'll see if I can find someone who is interested in helping with that. What again was the name of the modeling program you are using? And the 3D format?

tomvaillencourt wrote:Nice! I'm at a loss for a pilot, but I'll see if I can find someone who is interested in helping with that. What again was the name of the modeling program you are using? And the 3D format?

Hi Tom!

I am using Blender. 3D format is .blend, but I can import most 3D formats.

Thanks, Kris