DC-3 (Again)

[Gil]

Hi John,

The good news is that I haven't initiated any new projects lately. The bad news is that the existing list is depressingly long...,

The C-5B is files are safely stored in an archive. The C5 surface detail at any conceivable scale size is low enough to not require things like rivet detail. Just achieving a believable fuselage shape in paper is challenge enough...,

+Gil

[Gil]

Panel lines that work are actually pretty simple. Projected lines onto the surface then used the single rail command to form a very small rectangular polysurface line on the surface. The polysurface line was then assigned a somewhat transparent shiny black material in the object editor. This was repeated for each panel line shown below. This allows the surface shape to be left whole which is preferable. The panel lines can then be handled as a layer group making things a lot easier. Another item is the background image has been assigned in the renderer and can be seen in the reflected surface of the image. For a surface to be perceived as metallic aluminum it must reflect something...,

+Gil

[Willja67]

Looks great Gil. Maybe I would find the answer if I looked through the entire thread but do you have any of the rendering plugins for Rhino or are these done with the Render that comes with Rhino?

[Gil]

Will, It was rendered using the Flamingo Raytrace plugin.

+Gil

[Gil]

Hello All,

Finished some experiments on achieving rivet line detail and came up with a method that's not too difficult to achieve. The results below show an artifact of a low resolution image for the reflected environment but it's enough to show the effect of both the rivet and a the panel line detail. The rivet detail is accomplished by laying down the row as an "array along a curve" which is a projected curve on the nacelle surface. Although a little tedious it is simple and can be retained within a 3D layer...,

+Gil

[Leif Ohlsson]

That is just great . For once, aircraft rivets like they should look - possibly recessed just a tiny bit, but not protruding. Actually, they need not be that much recessed, just a shift in colour is enough. After all, they are made not to create air resistance.

L.

[maurice]

I think this is how you are supposed to be seeing them.
Recessed the way that you are seeing them they would be lethal sources for crack propagation.

[Gil]

Rivets are a very distinct detail of the DC-3 requiring a certain amount of attention to their detail in order to obtain the right look...,

Rivet patterns and the size and type of rivet used varies according to the airframe support structure underneath and in some cases a unique purpose on each aircraft. Notice also from the image above the way in which the skin overlaps in a typical shingle pattern "over" down to bottom, fore to aft and that not all rivets are round headed.

In general flush head riveting was considered too expensive for use in transport aircraft production until the 1950's when jet powered transport aircraft mandated their use. High performance fighter aircraft of this same general period used flush riveting for the performance gain giving this genre of aircraft a sleeker look...,


+Gil

[shrike]

And just as a aside, there are a few aircraft whose performance can be increased by replacing specific lines of flush rivets with button head rivets

[Lex]

Gil, I've never managed to get Rhino to render panel lines, yours is a really nice idea!! Great rendering!