Starting another detailed jet project: F-101 Voodoo
I’ll be using my typical technique of making a base mesh and then cutting out panels using knife tools.
Current thumbnail:
Base mesh complete…
Canopy showing cutting planes used to make individual panels:
Resulting parts after cutting:
Its a nice smooth looking guide mesh and looks the part. Looking forward to seeing this one develop with your panelling technique.
Your panel lines on the canopy look a little more prominent than adding a edge bevel to the principle shader, are they modelled ?
@kevjon : Good eye on those edges. For the time being, I’ve added a bevel modifier to the shader to help the edges pop out a little bit. I thought I might help me more easily identify issues. They’ll be toned down later.
A little more about the project…
I was contacted to help create a model for an F-101 flight simulator. The guy who asked for my help has actually rebuilt an actual F-101 cockpit with working instruments and electronics.
Nose gear modeled. (Still using procedural textures at this point)
Turntable video of nose gear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWIupSXrJ0A
Century Series! I’ll be keeping an eye on this one!
That’s great. It is always nice to see some unusual rigs in action 
What is roughly your budget in term of vertices ?
I haven’t given any thought to how many vertices there will be. I assume there will be a lot since I’ll be doing a full cockpit, wheel wells and crew.
Very nice indeed!
I envy your attention too the obvious minutiae for precise detailing 
Thanks a lot for sharing your complete rig setup, always interesting to see mechanical ones being built
I was just wondering why you don’t use the type of setup with parents as targets for pistons (like the one depicted in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xgw-mutOv4 ), as it prevents circular referencing leading to some awkward positions from time to time. It adds more complexity, for sure, but it is not so much to my mind, as it is similar to the setup you use with empties for the springs.
@YannK: I don’t have a specific reason for not using his method other than I don’t like working in x-ray mode when I don’t have to.
Updates to the project… Major fuselage panels complete. Wing panels about 50% done…
I’ve also uploaded a YouTube video demonstrating how I rigged the nose gear…
Hi Mark06GT, you mentioned in your Nov 2022 post that this model is intended for a flight simulator. I can only imagine how enormous the final file will be. Will your client use this for static animations or is it intended for a specific game engine?
I don’t know the details of that yet. I suspect there will be a couple versions of the model; a very detailed version and one that has much fewer polygons and baked texture details.
Rotary weapons bay test:
Mark : Could you please post some wireframe picture for this jetfighter ?
This is looking great. What all is left on your to do list?
Afterburners and engine details next. Flaps after that, then cockpit and crew.
