mighty gorgon

Ugh! That would be a *REAL* challenge, but I should have to do it anew... Let's see what the VF-11 looks alike when I start modelling it Regds, Gorgon,

Hi, I am using LW 7.5 and I am following Ethangar's excellent tutorial on WW2 aircraft as a guide (check it at lwg3d.org, even if you do not use LW). Basically I do a rough vertex model, SubD-it tweak it in Sub-D (here you go back and forth of the SubD mode), until I am satisfied with the overall shape. At that point, the mesh is "frozen" and subdivided. Frozen means that no major shape changes will be done after this moment. for the VF-4 I modeled separately wings, fuselage, tailfins, etc. which allow you to tweak each part to satisfcation. The Mig-3 of the lwg3d tut was modeled as a single solid, hence you "freeze" the whole mesh at once. Hope this helps... BTW, did some work on the engines and tailfin surfaces. Not finished yet, but looking closer and closer...

Actually the F-117X compares "better". It has a rounded canopy! Anyway, the VF-17 is not yet on my schedule. I'm still struggling with the surfacing of the "4". Man... in the modeller any improvement is immediate, but when surfacing, for each minor change you must run the renderer. As I already told before... I hate the surfacing... Regds, Gorgon.

I't's not Macross but it is almost science fiction... These are some images of both planes here. They're only projects. But if you go "radical" as in the A/F-117X... why not adding the intakes of the "F-117C"????

I did not mention it, but all lights are modelled in the wireframe (example below), hence they can be used independently. The "dusk" reder below is a bit lousy, but I hope you can see the lights (really?). There is even a "lightbulb" inside each anticollision tinted glass. The effect however, is far form perfect. I must clean a couple of surfaces and I will *DECLARE* the model finished. Hope to finish this week so I can start with a VF-11 and a (non-Macross) F-117 variant (A/F-117X, with F-117C intakes!!!!). Thnx, Gorgon

Here it goes, this evening render (usual image/angle/background). (did I already mention that I *HATE* the surfacing part of modelling?) Regds, Gorgon

Mmmm... Three weeks of heavy work are finally over. I could finally get back to the VF-4. Not much really (and that's why I reduced a little the image posted). Just added position (based on the F-14 distribution) and anticollision lights. I know this can be a little "controversial", but I decided to add the anticollision lights of the tail fins (upper and lower) in the leading edge, rather than the other way around (as most profiles suggest), as the screengrab I got from 2012 shows them this way. Comments welcome, before going to the next step... FINISHING THE DARN MODEL!!!! Regds, Gorgon (already fed up with the surfacing of the VF-4)

Like Amidala "SR-71-minus-wings"!!!! (sorry but I could not miss this one!!!!) Regds, Gorgon (p.d. now that you mentioned the A-10, I love it too...)

Well... you know, the F-117 should be named "A"-117 or "B"-117 actually, isn't it? The pic below SEEMS to show a jagged line between the two greys, but I can't tell for sure... Those are the only photos I got, and from the "official" source. The hi-res images should be available HERE.

The "Bird of Prey" was designed to test several ideas on "daylight stealth", including the strange white spot in front of the engine. It interesting to note that the heat of the engine is "visible" as the turbulent wake from the exhaust...

The A.F. may be changing it's mind... I've found these 2 pictures in the Air Force website... they seem to be fairly recent (Dec. 2003?), and show an experiment of painting an F117 in a two tone gray scheme, as they plan to operate the F117 in daylight also. This is a quotation from the original article: "The chief of staff wants to have a 24-hour stealth presence over future battlefields," said Lt. Col. Buck Rogers, Det. 1 operations officer. "We know our current black paint scheme wouldn't be a good color for daytime operations." ( Lt. Col. "BUCK ROGERS"??????????? ) Regds. Gorgon (stealthhhhhh)

The bird was the "have blue". Check HERE. The non black F117 is HERE. BTW, I built a 1:72 F117 painted in "my intepretation" of the HAVE BLUE Camo. It did not came out very well.... Regds, Gorgon

I would be very happy to model anyone, but I must finish the VF-4 and the VF-11 (just started) and of course I NEED 3 VIEWS!!!!!!

I must confess that I am more of a fan of the VFs that of the storyline, but Mac+ has a great story (singing included), IMHO the best of all (the few) I've seen, included M0... It even made me forget the VFs.

Definitively! Will start retracing again! BTW, that scheme is very nice... Should do it in 3D.

This is irresistible... "...Wo-o-oh! Yea-ea-ea-eah! I feel so high, I even touch the sky Above the fallin' rain! We-e-ell, I feel so good in my neighbourhood So: here I come again!..." (B.Marley, Kaya)

...somehow the images are not showing up ... I'll try again from home... FINALLY!! They were jpgs, but... CMYK jpgs...

..HERE goes the image...

Here I scaled the linedrawing and Nied's profile to get a better match of the front part of the VF-11...

I've prepared a couple of examples... The leftmost "top" is a photo of the Bandai instructions, then a line drawing got from the web (I don't have the excat reference with me now), and on the right side a reduced version of Nied's profile... Somehow the Bandai planfor looks OK, but it does not match exactly Nied's profile... In example one I fitted the three drawings using the total length. Several inconsistencies are evident.

In Yukikaze it seems they applied heavy cel shading to 3D animations of planes. IMHO it blends better with the rest of the animation. In M0 some elements are "over rendered", while other are plain 2D. Even if the planes look great, they stand out too much of the painted background. Yukikaze handled the animation better I guess... Also I love the Yuki birds... even the Banshee (only the Jam suck).

Ouch!!! You're right! I have the desktop at 1024x768 and I did not notice the lousy exhaust!!! I'm trying to get a better effect (turbulence ideally), but it's still miles ahead... *** I 'VE UPDATED THE IMAGE ABOVE ***

First (public) attempt at weathering. Main surfaces look OK, but I am not completely satisfied with the drips in the horizontal ailerons... It is exactly the same as in the wing leading edge, but it stands out too much over the white... Must improve that. *** UPDATED *** following Doktor Gonzo observation (below) p.d.: I rendered it too large... I'll keep the other WIP smaller...

Hi folks. After fiddling with textures in the VF-4, I would like to get back to the modeller for a new subject. I have a Yamato VF-11B so I thought that would be a nice model. But, apart from a hi-res profile from these forums I don't have decent 3-Views of the VF... Any help? Directions? Thnx in advance, Gorgon (at low AA)

You are right... the AA was a bit low (LOW was the precise setting). Somehow I could not get the CPU above 50% and I did not used a higher AA. Now it is Ok (Enhanced High). Other schemes? Yes, but give me some time... I would like to make first a couple of flanker schemes and another mesh also (see my other post!). And of course a scheme of the SVF-999 "Norwegian Blue Parrots"!!!! Regds, Gorgon (at low AA)