First, thanks for everybody on this site who has taken time to teach, encourage, and entertain me and my fellow builders. Now it is time for me to make the leap from builder to designer.
I have dabbled around with Metasequia to design a few models, such as the Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet. My son is heavy into 3d modeling of characters, so I also have access to other 3d software such as Maya, Autodesk 3d Max, Blender, and ZBrush, but have found it's best to stick with one program to keep one's head from exploding. I have used Pepakura for unfolding. Neither of these programs are intuitive, so it was a steep learning curve with lots of visit to Google to find answers. Once the model is unfolded, I use Paint.net
Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing as my primary graphics program.
Now, thanks to CT Ertz's tutorial on this forum,
CSS Texas how to with Google Sketch up. I'm switching over to the much simpler (and free) Sketchup program. I will probably stick with Metasequia for aircraft, but Sketchup is perfect for a quick design for ships.
My primary interests in modeling are unique items. I enjoy researching and building pre-Dreadnought ships, helicopters and gyrocopters, Luft46 style aircraft, and anything else that shows innovative thinking. And of course anything that I have personally flown. I've personally built most of CT Ertz's and Apa-168's line of Civil War ironclads. Although I think that with models the bigger the better (more detail, easier to build, more impressive when finished) after building up a major portion of the Civil War fleet I'm running out of room to display them.
Some of my previous designs were a modernization/repaint of the 737 which I have posted photos of here and over at Zealot.com. I have done an AirTran and a SouthWestern paint scheme. My model of the 737 was originally based on my scans of the GELI 737, so I'm not comfortable with sharing the model plans. I have also done a repaint/redesign of the DC-9/Boeing 717 in Delta and AirTran colors.
Future products you can expect to see from me are:
CSS Arkansas
USS Cairo
Eclipse 500
HH-3E Jolly Green Giant
MH-53 Pave Low III
BAe-32 Jetstream
Schweizer 1-26 Glider
Schweizer 2-32 Glider
Thanks for visiting and come back often.