i think the red blue label Flag is too big
This cross section addon looks very interesting and simple to use
happy cl
I agree it does look big, but the roundel was pretty big on the wing tops of most RAF spitfires. I scaled it from a camouflage layout plan so shouldn’t be too far out of proportion.
It looks like some pics seem to show it very big on that plane!
would be nice on a WWII scene !
happy cl
Though I am not finished with the airframe and outer skin, I thought I would have a break from that part of the aeroplane and model some of the internal details. First off is the cockpit.
Lovely modelling on the cockpit there!. Just one word of advice, the refraction through your glass is way too much, i guess you have no thickness for the glass - so blender assumes the glass is solid, i.e. the whole cockpit between the outer glass polys is one solid and refracts appropriately. To cure this you have two choices; extrude the glass faces a small amount, or better still, add a solidify modifier, but don’t check “Fill Rim”, or you get strange refractions and light bending near the edges. Hope this helps you! 
Cheers, Clock.
you could try to add some transp node on the glass with mix shader
might help if no refraction is needed
happy cl
Thanks both for the comments.
It is funny how when you start to concentrate on a small detail, you completely miss the bigger picture, how did I miss that glass refraction issue! I will certainly look to try and sort that out before posting the next render, and thanks for your pointers on how it can be corrected.
Cheers, Rob
A little bit more modelling details added to the cockpit and UV mapped some dial faces onto the instrument panel.
The advice on using the glass shader properly has certainly helped the canopy. I now need to work out how to get the light to transmit through the glass properly as it is much darker behind the glass.
Here’s my glass in a blend file. It lets light through, and you can vary the mix quite easily.
glass.blend (545 KB)
Just tab into the “Glass” node. I use the same material to apply textures to the glass, by adding a texture node of some type and a Math node and feeding this into the Displacement socket. You can change the individual colours quite easily to change the look of the glass, but I tend to make only subtle changes from white, as this can have big effects on the final rendered look. Basically you have to have some Transparent in there to let light through. 
Cheers, Clock.
That’s brilliant, thanks Clock, the node group has made a massive difference.
Once I have finished modelling I am going to have to sit down with a good book on Blenders material nodes to get myself up to speed with this.
Thanks again
Rob
You’re welcome my friend. You might want to back off the Gloss colour - it is 0.9 red, 0.9 green, 0.8 blue by default - perhaps up the blue to 0.95 and up the red and green to 0.97 if you want to take off the greenish tinge. If you like it like that, then leave as is.
Cheers, Clock.
A little bit more progress with the undercarriage, cannon, fuel tanks and more detailing in the cockpit added. Its slow going, but starting to take shape now.
depends which model your doing !
see
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=rVREr3mC&id=5B749CE71BE04B57CEFC22BDA500FE6B627DC800&q=Spitfire&simid=607999042185792625&selectedIndex=74&ajaxhist=0
wings seems to have more details but could be different on different models!
also under the front there is an air breather I guess!
but it is looking high res and very detailed
don’t know where you got the references but they look good
happy cl
Hi Ricky, the skin on the starboard wing is just a basic diffuse image used to check the UV’s it will have a lot more detail painted in, together with a spec and bump map by the time I am finished.
Most of the references were from google images and the linked websites, that was until I found a used copy of “The Supermarine Spitfire A Comprehensive Guide for The Modeller” on Ebay. The book is packed full of plans, illustrations and photos and has helped no end.
Regards
Rob
I think most of the internal components of the wings and fuselage are now in place on the model. I am looking forward to moving on to the engine bay and getting to grips with the merlin engine next.
It’s looking pretty damn good!
Thanks NeilF92
I have been gathering reference images of the Rolls Royce merlin engine over the past few days, and it’s proving to be a really complicated shape to model cleanly. To think all this was originally designed on paper without the aid of 3D modelling. It is a shame that most of the old drafting skills are slowly disappearing, but it is understandable given the efficiency of modern CAD systems.
are you doing the inside too ?
I did some of the inside but not easy to find good references for that!
I added a few other renders for the merlin engine in my thread
nice work in any case
are you going to do a more complex scene using this model ?
happy cl
Hi Ricky, the model is intended as a portfolio piece for my technical illustration website as I have given up writing standards and am looking to pick up the odd commission doing illustration, which I think will be far more enjoyable and less stressful.
I will possibly do a cutaway through the merlin engine showing the internals, it just depends on how much time I have available in the future. The internals of your model looks good, it would be nice to see an animation of that working, but I imagine rigging would be quite difficult. If the skin of the spitfire looks good once I have done the finished paint and bump map I might mirror it and do some scenes of a non-cutaway spitfire
I am still making steady progress. The engine is quite a challenge especially the blower as the castings curve in all sorts of directions.
Propeller Blade Tutorial
As a side to the model I have written a short tutorial on modelling a propeller blade as it is quite a complex shape with the blade changing in profile and twisting along its length. the tutorial is on my website
Nice tut on propeller will keep link for that one
but there should be a way to build propeller 3D model from some math equations
have not found it yet or at least not a simple way
might not be possible on small PC !
happy bl