TWA Moonliner

Nando

Designer Extraordinaire
Hi to all.
It's long time that I have post my last built, but finally I restarted modeling and I'd like to share with you what I did in the last month.

Last december i looked at the first landing of the Falcon 9.
It was an astonishing spectacle and a great achievement.
It recalled to my memory the image of the great rocket that stood at the entrance to Tomorrowland: the TWA Moonliner. I was a child in the 1955

but that image made me dream a bold future of regular and easy space travels.
After sixty years it seems that that dream could come true, and in a way very similar.
So i realized that i can reproduce this scenary putting both beside: the moonliner and the falcon, showing the evolution of the original dream.
So i started this new project from the Moonliner @Disneyexperience.
 

Nando

Designer Extraordinaire
I decided to build the model at half size.

About the final scale I found that there's a problem because the rocket at Disneyland is also a model, at 1/3 of the missile envisioned so:
the missile at Disneyland was 80 feet tall (near 24 meters )
the missile envisioned could be 240 feet tall ( near 73 meters )
the model @Disneyexperience is height 25 inches ( near 0,64 meters )
My model could be 12,5 inches ( near 0,32 meters )

So the scale are
1/75 referred to the Disneyland one
2/228 referred to the envisioned one.

First I did the body.

20160222_205756.jpg 20160223_011433.jpg
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
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This looks really good! I like the stand as well. Are you going to include it in the resource section?
 

Tonino

Well-Known Member
Ciao Nando!
Happy to see you back at work.
It's always a pleasure to see how, with a little bit of graphic skills (or not so little...?), any project you can be able to imagine is suddendly converted in real things...

I greatly admire the ability of people used to working at 3D drawing softwares... I really would like to push myself a little forward from my limited "orthogonal" skills. What do you think would be a good start point for a guy pretty familiar with vector - 2D - graphic software (like my "old" Corel Draw) to try something more complex?
 

zathros

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Nando, I saw this model, and the build was not so good. Now that I see how excellently you have made it, "I has got to get me one of these!" ;)

I was a child in the 1955

In 1955, I wasn't even the two parts that make up a zygote!! ;)
 

Nando

Designer Extraordinaire
This looks really good! I like the stand as well. Are you going to include it in the

resource section?

Rhaven, I conceived this project only for my personal use, but i have no problem to share the model, as usually I do with my projects. However the base isn't fitting with the original model: i reduced at one half the model, and I'm not thinking about another version that could fit with the original one.

What do you think would be a good start point for a guy pretty familiar with vector - 2D - graphic software (like my "old" Corel Draw) to try something more complex?

Hi Tonino, It's a pleasure follow your awesome models!
What do I'm thinking about the 3D adventure? First of all you have to answer to another question: How much do I would pay for the tools? There are many professional tools around, but they are very expensive for an hobby, at least for me.
So I choose, some year ago, to explore the world of the chip or free tools. I immediatly found that what you save from the cost side you have to pay on the other side of with the complexity and the manuality of the process. At the end I defined my set of tools and the process that I described in the tutorial of the "Sopwith Swallow" project.

Img_6671_1024.jpg


The original set evolved in the current, with the addition of Imcold's (David Pethes) PDOTools tha converts in vector format (SVG) the output of Pepakura designer. Then Inkscape for manage it and Gimp for the textures.
Some knowledge in the field of the graphic tools is needed, mainly in the final part of the process. About the difficulty of the use of the 3D softwares, it's mainly a question of practice. There are today a lot of tutorial around the net.
When you succeed in the first projects the satisfaction is the best prize for your effort.
 

Nando

Designer Extraordinaire
Back to the model.

I cut out the jig to give the right shape to the railing of the balcony.

20160406_095640.jpg

Then I cut out the railing and I've covered the template with vaseline to prevent the railing from sticking, when I'm applying cyanoacrylate glue to stiffen it.

20160406_113503.jpg 20160406_123333.jpg

When the cyanoacrylate glue stiffened enough the railing, I used the jig to position the railing on the base and I glued it in place.

20160406_214233.jpg

Finally I did three holes in the base and I inserted the pivots of the legs.

20160406_220400.jpg

The model now is completed and I'm quite satisfied, but we are the most severe judges of our work, and this helps to improve.

20160406_220301.jpg 20160407_092453.jpg 20160407_092528.jpg

Best, Nando :)
 

zathros

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Nando, I have sent you a P.M. regarding your incredible tutorial. This Sopwith you made is beautiful. I would love to see that model made available. It is superb!! All you do ends up Superb!
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
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I like the stand that you have created. I think that it gives it that "FINISHED" look.
KUDOS TO YOU ON A FINE JOB WELL DONE!
 

zathros

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It's fine by me!! Thanks Nando!! Kind of a late reply, but the Falcon 9 was a great achievement. A milestone in the potential and feasibility of Space travel. ;)
 

lizzienewell

Well-Known Member
Ciao Nando!
Happy to see you back at work.
It's always a pleasure to see how, with a little bit of graphic skills (or not so little...?), any project you can be able to imagine is suddendly converted in real things...

I greatly admire the ability of people used to working at 3D drawing softwares... I really would like to push myself a little forward from my limited "orthogonal" skills. What do you think would be a good start point for a guy pretty familiar with vector - 2D - graphic software (like my "old" Corel Draw) to try something more complex?

Tonino, your work is gorgeous. My thought, for what it's worth, is that the most expressive art uses the simplest tools. It's hard to beat charcoal drawings on Japanese brushwork for expressiveness. If tools and materials are expensive, the art can comes across as more about money than skill. Although with some art such as Faberge eggs, the preciousness of materials is part of the appeal. Some art isn't about skill but about ideas. The tools used always affect the outcome. Andy Goldsworthy is one of my favorite artists. One thing I love about card models is the handmaid quality, the interplay between precision and randomness. Nando, your work has a wonderful interplay this way.
For my own work I stick with Coreldraw which limits the kinds of shapes I can easily make . Truncated cones are difficult to layout accurately, so I have to design around the limitation, and it leads to different solutions. For example with Nando's lovely little airplane I would have designed the nose differently to avoid a truncated cone and this might result in more of a compound curve with the paper softened and stretched into shape. It's a different look with or without 3-D software.
 

zathros

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I have been pushing water forming, and Dan B. King used it to perfection on his 2001 Space Odyssey model. Truly a work of art. I have to say I am a fan of Nando's work also, he also is a man of extraordinary fine character. :)
 

Tonino

Well-Known Member
(...) My thought, for what it's worth, is that the most expressive art uses the simplest tools. (...) Some art isn't about skill but about ideas. The tools used always affect the outcome. (...) One thing I love about card models is the handmaid quality, the interplay between precision and randomness. (...)

I agree with you Lizzie, the thing that most intrigues me in this wonderful hobby is the way every modeller face the challenges that every original project offers. Everyone take the way he prefer because there are a lot of possible solutions for every problem. The creativity is in the way you use your skills and capabilities to reach your goal. In this forum we have seen a lot of fantasy put on the field. And also I have ever found a way to realize my little personalizations without using any 3D software. So perhaps this is the answer, take the simple way and be creative.

I love cardmodeling! :D

BTW, @Nando ! I've downloaded your nice tutorial. I'ts very well done and clear in the explanations. I think I should give it a try (when - and if - I have some time to spend on it..!) If I don't bore you I'll ask some more advices (especially about how to choose the cheapest way to explore the 3D tools world ;) )
 

zathros

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The many different ways to make these things boil down to use of some very simple tools to achieve the desired end. A compass, a rule, and a square. Combined with good sharp scissors, cutting blades, and glue, you can build almost everything.

I had to recreate parts for some of the first helicopters ever made when I worked at Sikorsky aircraft. These parts where made by hand, and I had to digitize these handful of parts of decades past. By using radius gauges, I was able to interpolate the compound curves into parabolas, and "connect the dots" with a built in feature of this $400,000 dollar 4 axis CNC machine. I successfully reproduced the parts, and created a hard copy of the program. The parts were done with Dykem Spray for scribing the shape onto the metal, Radius gauges, a compass, and a square, and a comprehension of some trigonometry, that helps, but is not absolutely necessary. In the end, the machine did the cutting, faithfully reproducing 40 each of these parts, each exactly the same. The originals ones worked fine, they were not each exactly the same, and I had to "average" these parts out to come out with a final part. There was a time when machining was almost an art form, and in many ways, it still is. Something is gained, but something was lost. That which was lost, I regained in modeling in paper, and in multi-media model building, I am not a paper purist. :)
 
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Nando

Designer Extraordinaire
... For example with Nando's lovely little airplane I would have designed the nose differently to avoid a truncated cone and this might result in more of a compound curve with the paper softened and stretched into shape. It's a different look with or without 3-D software.

You are an artist and surely your models (can i name them this way? ) are a good compromise between expressiveness, skill and handmade quality.
I'm not an artist, rather an engineer. We say that an engineer doesn't live but functions, so my models are more expression of quality and attention to details rather than of creativity.
About the nose of my plane.
When I designed and made the Sopwith I was concentrated on the drawing side of the project. I wanted define my way to design a model, rather than make it accurately.
The problem of round surfaces in the paper modeling is a problem i met sometime and i solved in different ways, as you can see in the examples below.
Img_3567.jpg Vostok_005.jpg

... I've downloaded your nice tutorial.... If I don't bore you I'll ask some more advices (especially about how to choose the cheapest way to explore the 3D tools world ;) )

I'm always happy to share my little knowledge and help someone if i can. So there are no problem if you ask me some advice.

The many different ways to make these things boil down to use of some very simple tools to achieve the desired end. A compass, a rule, and a square. Combined with good sharp scissors, cutting blades, and glue, you can build almost everything. ... :)

I agree.
I started my trip in the world of paper modeling ( too many ) years ago. At the beginning they were very simply models, drawn by pencil, rule and compass, for reproduce something that had caught my interest, like sport cars, planes, boats.
20160413_191340.jpg

Then i discovered the possibility to draw and build models using a different approach that is similar to that is described here ( I captured an image from the file ).
DrawWithoutCAD.jpg

It is a method closer to that i Used in my wooden models.

With the advent of the digital era i found this page at the Lower Hudson Valley eGift shop, where Jonhatan Leslie described the basic mathematic rules and the digital tools useful to design a model with a more "scientific" approach.
My first models available on internet were designed this way. Then Sketchup, Pepakura, ...

About mathematics behind the paper modeling.
lizzienewell, you said: "Truncated cones are difficult to layout accurately", but there are more developable surfaces, that are useful to design paper model.
Here are some link that deepen the mathematics behind. It is an argument not always so easy, but i think you are interested at the geometrical aspect.


Ruled surface
Tangent Developable Surface from Two Intersections of Curved Surface
Tangent developable

I stop here my rambling speech. I'm an engineer inside and not always I can avoid being nerd.
I apologie for my english.

Thanks for your attention and happy modeling to all.

Nando :)
 
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