Piper PA-28-180 Archer (DGA conversion/repaint)

[kwc]

I wanted to build a model of a Piper PA-28-180 Archer that I got a ride in a while ago, but the closest thing I could find was the PA-28-140 Cherokee designed by Guido Van Roy of DGA (available on Ecardmodels). So I started trying to make my own conversion, using an uncolored version of the Cherokee as a starting point, which Guido kindly provided when I asked.

The differences between the Cherokee and the Archer include a stretched fuselage, wingtips, and stabilator, which were not too hard to change on the 2D pattern. There's a third window on each side that I've added as well, and I also reworked the windshield and redrew some panel lines I wasn't quite happy with.

A more difficult change is the engine cowling: the Archer's nose is shaped noticeably differently than the original Cherokee's. You can see the difference clearly in these two pictures: Cherokee, Archer.

So I took a shot at modeling something closer to the right shape in SketchUp (which I've since decided is not really an ideal tool for this job, but hey, it's free), and eventually ended up with this:



Unfolding that and cleaning it up in Inkscape gave me this:



And finally, here it is in paper:



Looks pretty good, I think. Next step is to add some more printed detail to the part, and soon I'll be ready to try a test build before starting on the coloring.

[John Bowden]

Hey! Cool! Looking very good so far!

[NOBI]

Awesome :-)

[avbuffs]

Great ! You tackled the complex curvature in the engine cowling very efficiently. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

Guido
Design Group Alpha

[Jan Kytop]

Interesting conversion!
Good idea.

[RyanShort1]

What are you using to unfold right now? My old copy of Waybe was great, but they haven't updated lately and when my computer went down, I couldn't re-register.

Ryan

[kwc]

Originally Posted by RyanShort1

What are you using to unfold right now? My old copy of Waybe was great, but they haven't updated lately and when my computer went down, I couldn't re-register.

Ryan

I used Flattery. You have to do the unfolding manually; it works, but I would definitely want to find something better if I wanted to do this routinely.

[RyanShort1]

Originally Posted by iprefermuffins

I used Flattery. You have to do the unfolding manually; it works, but I would definitely want to find something better if I wanted to do this routinely.

Yeah, I have Flattery as well.

Ryan

[kwc]

Coloring done; time to try building it for real!



I'll be doing it at my preferred scale of 1:72, so it'll be quite a bit smaller than the rough partial test build in the picture, which is in 1:48. If it goes as planned, it should end up looking like this:

[YOAVHOZMI]

you are doing a good job. like.