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  #21  
Old 06-10-2013, 01:33 PM
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Diderick A. den Bakker Diderick A. den Bakker is offline
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The English Birdmodel designer you mean is Matthew Topp. He is no longer active (retired and in good health, glad to tell you), but his nine unsurpassed bird models are still on the market. I have met him several times since I started importing his models for the Dutch market. He is indeed an artist (used to teach at a London art college), and also had ample experience in the world of printing and graphic design. All this, and a 'bird watcher' as well. The models were designed in the '80ties. Did we have photocopying machines in those days?! Certainly not scanners and printers...
In these days of computer assisted design, designers regard a multi-curved surface as an accumulation of flat surfaces. They make use of software to break down such a shape into a large number of small, flat triangles. This results in very unnatural, angular shapes: clever, but certainly not very aesthetic. Older designers like Malcolm Topp took the possibilities (and limitations) of the material (paper) as a starting point, thinking in terms of curving rather than folding, and ended up with lovely results.
Of course this approach took time. As his wife Anita told me: 'When he was working on the osprey he came downstairs every night with a new white model of the head, announcing 'this is it' for a month before he was satisfied with it'...

The pictures show the osprey (1/1 scale), ca. 6 ft wingspan. My first model was getting scruffy (but not discoloured, superb printing!) after nearly twenty years, so I wanted to build a new one. The picture shows my wife launching the old one - it came down very gracefully, and we repeated this several times to get good pictures.

And by the way: in ten years time I sold over 10,000 of these models in Holland only, via my internet shop www.zeistbouwplaten.nl. Alas, I think the market has now been saturated... They have helped finance quite a few of my Zeist Bouwplaten / Paper Trade publications!
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Apollo lunar rover-visarend.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-osprey-2.jpg  
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  #22  
Old 06-10-2013, 01:56 PM
kenlwest kenlwest is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Diderick A. den Bakker View Post
The English Birdmodel designer you mean is Matthew Topp. He is no longer active (retired and in good health, glad to tell you), but his nine unsurpassed bird models are still on the market. I have met him several times since I started importing his models for the Dutch market. He is indeed an artist (used to teach at a London art college), and also had ample experience in the world of printing and graphic design. All this, and a 'bird watcher' as well. The models were designed in the '80ties. Did we have photocopying machines in those days?! Certainly not scanners and printers...
In these days of computer assisted design, designers regard a multi-curved surface as an accumulation of flat surfaces. They make use of software to break down such a shape into a large number of small, flat triangles. This results in very unnatural, angular shapes: clever, but certainly not very aesthetic. Older designers like Malcolm Topp took the possibilities (and limitations) of the material (paper) as a starting point, thinking in terms of curving rather than folding, and ended up with lovely results.
Of course this approach took time. As his wife Anita told me: 'When he was working on the osprey he came downstairs every night with a new white model of the head, announcing 'this is it' for a month before he was satisfied with it'...

The pictures show the osprey (1/1 scale), ca. 6 ft wingspan. My first model was getting scruffy (but not discoloured, superb printing!) after nearly twenty years, so I wanted to build a new one. The picture shows my wife launching the old one - it came down very gracefully, and we repeated this several times to get good pictures.

And by the way: in ten years time I sold over 10,000 of these models in Holland only, via my internet shop www.zeistbouwplaten.nl. Alas, I think the market has now been saturated... They have helped finance quite a few of my Zeist Bouwplaten / Paper Trade publications!
Thanks for posting this. The designer who I was refering to is Johan Scheft. I made his free Bird of Paradise, and was so impressed, I ordered and built his Hoopei (spelling may not be correct).

I have heard of Matthew Topp, but had no idea where to get his models; now I know; thanks!

Ken
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  #23  
Old 06-10-2013, 02:58 PM
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billy.leliveld billy.leliveld is offline
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Johan Scherft's models are amazing, check out his solar-powered hummingbird;
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  #24  
Old 06-10-2013, 05:08 PM
kenlwest kenlwest is offline
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Billy,

I saw that on YouTube.

Amazing! I wondered how he designed the wings to prevent self-destruction?

Ken
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  #25  
Old 06-10-2013, 05:13 PM
kenlwest kenlwest is offline
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Here is a picture compilation that I will use as a reference when hand painting the wheels.

Notice that in direct sunlight, the wheels are somewhat transparent on the inboard side, and rather opaque on the outside.

This is the best solution to try and render a realistic set of wheels.

I'll post pictures along the way; and in the end, if I fail, we can all laugh together...!

Ken
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  #26  
Old 06-11-2013, 10:57 AM
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It looks like the opacity is a function of the light being reflected off the mesh. The larger picture depicts this well. The closer wheel is in direct sunlight and the reflection from the mesh appears to obscure the inner stiffening structure while the distant wheel is in the shade of the LRV itself, allowing the stiffening structure to show through a bit better. I'm guessing that in the same light, inside and outside surfaces would exhibit very similar amounts of transparency. Of course, this may be exactly what you're saying anyway. If the final model will assume a specific light source, painting in the difference makes sense.
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  #27  
Old 06-11-2013, 06:26 PM
kenlwest kenlwest is offline
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OK, here is the first of many design iterations that will be conducted to try and develop a realistic looking LRV Wheel. Anyone who has contemplated designing this vehicle already knows that the wheels, being semi-transparent, wire mesh, is probably the most challenging; which is why I started here.

This is the outer half; made from thin paper - a quick study. I am not satisfied with the shape, so tomorrow, I will take another stab at it.

Ken
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Apollo lunar rover-finals-004.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-finals-005.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-finals-006.jpg  
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  #28  
Old 06-11-2013, 07:04 PM
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It's a pretty good start. I think a good round of burnishing should make it a bit more realistic.
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  #29  
Old 06-11-2013, 07:50 PM
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Corvettenutts Corvettenutts is offline
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Ken
Hi, love your work!

Pic of the wheel...

Bill :>)Apollo lunar rover-lrv_nasm2009rk_05.jpg
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  #30  
Old 06-12-2013, 07:53 PM
kenlwest kenlwest is offline
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Here is Design Iteration #2:

I improved the shape, changed the color, and tried to create a more realistic graphics.

I won't be adding any shading to this until the fenders are done.... they cast a very dark shadow over the top of the wheels.

Ken
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Apollo lunar rover-lrv-001.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-lrv-002.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-lrv-003.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-lrv-004.jpg   Apollo lunar rover-lrv-005.jpg  

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