The Flying Machine (Turbine)

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Hey Everyone. This is a repost of an earlier project because it's changed so much since the beginning. The earlier post was building a flying machine for a character. From here on out, I'd like to create a commercial for a flying machine of my own design. Here's a render from the back of my current progress. There aren't any materials yet, and I'm far from finished on the back end of the turbine machinery, but I think this should be done early next month.

Hit me with what you've got, gentlemen!

[Henry_B]

nice, post some more angles.
and a little brief on how this Flying machine works

i saw your WIP of this one, and have to say that its a shame to have that much detail under that covers, but still looking good man!
keep up the good work!

[ugursahin1234]

Hmm I must tell its looking really good so far, my concern would be the balance of the machine since it ll be flying, such a big engine is great but the wings would probably not hold it in the air (is there any possibility to move them a little more to the front so that air flow and the balance would look believable when someone sees the render). just and opinion...

even though u might not really go for the real life physic rules and leave them like that, I had the same comment when i was modelling such an aircraft see attachment),

more than that I would love to see the front, keep up the great work, I love it!!

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Sure thing Guys:

To me, the most un-balanced thing about this machine is the fact that it doesn't have any wheels. Sub-flight speeds would mean that it would just be scraping along on the ground before it got airborne. A cessna 172 goes 124 knots, which is about 140 miles per hour, and the thing weighs 1400 lbs. Let's assume that since the wings are smaller, my craft has to go 250 or 300 miles per hour provided it weighs about the same, and simply has smaller wings. So as soon as it reached the 2 or 3 hundred miles per hour it would need to get lift , it would be able to stay afloat no problem. I can put more wing-things up front if that would satisfy the engineer in you all or I could also make these one's double decker or perhaps just larger in general.

Next, the device was borne of me sitting in traffic one day being really board and wishing I could get to work faster. The device is basically a turbine engine with motorcycle parts fitted around it to allow it to fly at incredible speeds while still being a stable transportation machine. One sits in the form-fitting seat and uses the controls (to be devised tomorrow) to pilot the thing. The controls will alow the nose to tilt up or down (back fins tilting together), the machine to speed up or slow down (throttle simplex in the control wheel), and the machine to roll left and right (back fins tilting separatly). Since there is no tail-fin type device (yet...) the machine cannot change direction without changing pitch first. I think I may add this in...

The controls are all in the dash which will have a display readout of vital information (Fuel, load, speed, thrust, mix, altitude, etc). below the pilot on the right will be additional controls for manualling altering things like gear, mix, and throttle aside from the controls provided on the actual steering wheel.

I plan to put in some seat belts of course.

Finally, some storage is needed to put your backpack when driving this bad boy home from school or work. I'd also like to include more cool wires and neat stuff like...oh...fuel tanks? Who knows. I'll just keep adding things until my head explodes. Then it's on to texturing!

[homemacai]

IT COULD LAND AND BEGIN THE FLIGHT IN A SMOOTH VERTICAL WAY...just a crazy ideia

[Rashika-3DT]

hmmmm. why not make it hover-able? the elevators on that are really quite large, and i would assume by looking at it that it does hover... (think pod racer) at any rate, it needs a vertical stabilizer.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Here's a quick update. I added in some more wires (of course), along with the steering mechanism and I increased the size of the wings by about 8 percent. That should get me closer to the end of the modeling phases. I have a bit more machinery to put in, and I need to include the elements in the back of the turbine, but other than that I'm close to being done. (Which is to say, I've saved three dollars, and I've almost got enough to buy a BMW).

The steering works like this:

1. Left Turn/Right Turn: Push Right only, push left only.
2. Nose Up/Nose Down: Pull Both handles, push both handles.
3. Left Roll/Right Roll: Twist writsts in the direction intended. "\ \" rolls left, while "/ /" rolls right.
4. Speed Up/Slow Down: Goooood question...
5. Power Settle: Tweak for palms down.
6. "Jump Up": Tweak for palms up.

Any ideas for quick throttle control?

[Drew Carey]

Hi Guy,
Very cool stuff! I like the design.
I was wondering, how did you go about modeling that metallic netting seen on the second image? I hope you understand what I'm referring to .

Also, personally I would remove some of the front covering (mainly from the sides) in favor of exposing more components, as they seem cool.

Keep it up!

[limion]

for the throttle wy not add a cool slider in the midde or use the Formula-1 solution (extar buttons on the handles. like left throttle down, right throttle up).

i smell a 3dt frontpager!! 5* from me

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Quick Reply
Hey guys. I won't get too much modeling done today- I'm on my way out to the beach at the moment (San Diego, USA).

Drew Carey You're the guy who modeled that incredible dino-bot a few months ago. I remember asking you about spline modeling, I never suspected I would have the opportunity to return the favor. The grilling you see on the underside protects the connections between the mix canisters and the hose connections. I made it by creating a 2d plane and copying/welding edges and vertices to have it curve and conform. I then applied a material in 3d studio max that combines the same opacity map and bump map to create that drilled effect. I know it's lame, but I saw someone else do the same trick and I wanted to start combining a little texturing into my modeling to get these more complicated effects without ending up with a 50,000 polygon object. Hahaha!

Limion Good thinking. I might end up doing that button idea. The problem is that foot pedals wouldn't work for the posture the pilot is in- while every possible control on the wheel is already taken for some kind of directional manipulation. I'll see if I can include some kind of button, though I may end up using a lever of sorts to facilitate take-off. Theoretically, even though the handles of the steering work independantly for left/right rolling motions, if you were holding one, you could still keep the machine on an even keel when taking off. I'll keep looking into it- the most important thing is that this machine is easily maneuverable- stunt flying should require no retrofitting.

Thanks for the great replies fellas. I'll keep at it!

P.S. I should start doing some calculations on G-Forces when accelerating, huh? It'd be a shame to shell out a cool million bucks for this machine, and be thrown off the first time you try to ride it. lol

[Drew Carey]

haha, Thanks man, the grill does look good...
I had a few guesses as to how you might have done it, but I wasn't sure
Keep it up!

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Reach out and touch it? I think this is nearing completion for modeling. I finished the back end of the turbine (compression and expulsion of heated gasses). I also replaced the windshield with some glass so you can start seeing where the different elements will come together. Finally, I duplicated the winged portion, so now there are two sets of wings, instead of just one.

I also see where there's a big hole in my modeling- I didn't include parts inside the dash between the glass and the steering unit. I'll fill that in next, and then I'll revamp the bottom for hovering units and some final touches. Other than that, are there any other pieces that need to be put in for the modeling phase?

I'm still a little shakey on the accelerator and decelerator methods. I liked the button idea, but I don't know where I'd put it on the controls. Would it be like a cruise control in modern vehicles? Or like a spring-loaded button where the harder you press it the stronger the acceleration? I dunno, but I think it may be an issue when I animate...

Oh yeah, and I still have to start on those seatbelts...

From what I can tell, accelerating from 0 to 230 miles per hour will move you from 0 to 337 feet per second. This devided by 32 feet per second yields the G-Forces spread out through the total accelerative drive. I figure if this can go from zero to 230 miles per hour in about five seconds, that's not only pretty freaking cool, but also physically endurable.

Here's an update for you gentlemen illustrating the changes listed above.
I don't know how, but I also managed to go from 300,000 polygons to 900,000 very quickly- disturbingly quickly. I'll have to keep myself in check for the extra details I plan to add.
**Double Edit** I found the culprit- the wires under the seat connecting the plasma polarizer to the engine complex takes up 190,000 polygons!! I need to optimize that...

[LeSria]

This is one of the coolest models that I have seen :O

[limion]

great update there! can i ask you how you made--> textured the glass. it never looks right when i make glass. keep up the updates. btw if your planning on manufacturing this baby i'll preorder a copy right now 3+))

[pepperoni90]

yeah let me preorder aswell, it's a great machine. I just think the windshield makes it look a bit like my grandma's bicycle if you know what i mean . Apart from that i really like it