Hi all, my name is Eric and I go by the handle AirX and I frequent the jet forum. I started

modeling in the 60's as kid with contol line and later picked it back up as an adult in the

late 70's, flew my first ducted fan in 1982 and have been interested in DF/EDF ever since.
So this is why I picked the Meteor F8 as the subject in this thread and because I want

one.

I like to work in CAD and I use AutoCAD as my program of choice, I also use AutoDesk

Inventor. I have studied Solidworks and some Pro-E so i have a little background in 3D,

that and I design water purification plants and machinery used in them in 3D exclusively.

The first step in any modeling endevour is to have a plan to work from, since i want to

model a scale airplane I looked up the 3-view of this airplane and usually will get a bunch

of pictures that show the features of the airframe so I can model them. I start by importing

the jpeg into autocad and tracing it, from the past I have some knowledge of what the

plane will weigh and will adjust the wing area to fit a decent wing loading adn since it is

an EDF I will keep in mind about the intakes and exhaust areas as i go about the design

phase. Check out pic #1.

The next step is to situate the plan view and side view so I can use orthographic

projection to derice the shpaes I want to work with as I build the model(in this case the

3D model). In this step make sure the two views are similarly identical, length and widths

because generaly they arent that close half the time. Pic #2

To make orthographic project work I situate the plan view at a right angle to the side view

and set a few centerlines to square it up. Pic #3

The next step I put in a line exactly 45deg to the centerlines to project my formers from

the side view to the top view. Pic #4

The next step is to lay out the formers in the fuselage then project them to the plan view

using the 45deg line. Pic #5

The next step is to use construction lines to project to the foacl point and they will make

a rectagular box of sorts that one can use a circle, elipse, or other line type to

aproximate the shape inside the boundary the construction lines form. In this case I used

an elipse to make the shape. Pics #6, #7 and #8

The preceding steps are replicated through the complete process. for fuselages that have

more features like modern fighters just use the same process it will produce them also

but you need to use your pictures to help get the shapes right on occasion. Pics #9 #10

#11

Time in Project: 2 hours 15 minutes

This is the first part.

Pic#2

Bear with me on this because this is a complicated and advanced skill in utilizing AutoCAD.

Image, browse, find image that you want to insert into the model space.
Then you must use commands to trace the image once it is in. Remember that Osnap settings must be set before starting the tracing to make sure lines, arcs, splines and polylines all start and end exacty on point otherwise 3D work is not possible. So set Osnap to three things first off, endpoint, midpoint, and nearest. also you must think where are the snaps going to grab the lines so you must be familiar by sight the different icons the cursor is displaying when this command is activated.

Pic#3

I am not going to go step by step to recap all the simple moves that are made in tracing or moving about in modelspace while producing this lesson till it gets to the present. When I go through something that is to the nature of 3D then I will explain the ins and outs of performing the commands needed to produce the model.

Eric B.

Pic #4

Here I have added a 45 degree diagonal line to extend the former positions to the plan view at right angle to the side view, this is the basics of orthographic projection. To do isometrics one just rotates the plan view to 30 degrees of its position and draw to its projections but of course you need to have the projected former positions already in place before rotating the view. See what I mean by tangents..

Pic#5

Pic#6

Before making any moves since we moved the UCS earlier to draw in the 2D plane or X-Y plane move the UCS by invoking the UCS command and then selecting the W option.
Projecting construction lines thru the center of the drawing from the side view and the top view. This bounding box controls the shape of the elipse that I will draw in the box. Like Gkamycz has stated this set of 3-views are not true to the planes real cross section but I will change that at a later date.

Pic#7

Sorry for the light colored picture I saved it at a low resolution. This picture shows the elipse and I did use the elipse command to draw it. You will also see the center lines there in thier correct places. Once drawn just copy it and the center lines over to a clear area of the drawing to trim the center lines and block up the elipse/center lines so it is easy to handle them. To block them just select them and copy (Cntrl C) and paste as block back to the drawing. You could wblock(write block command) it but it is a hassle for just building a model airplane.

Pic#8

Here you see the parts all blocked up and ready to be used. The rest are treated just the same. There has been lots of trial and error in this simple set of intructions, I still use the techniques in every day use at work but there is much more documentation for each set of parts(that is were Wblock comes in).

Pic #9

Pic #10

Pic #11

Sorry for the previous pictures, being so hard to see but I use read a lot and it will be hard to go back and recreate them. so I will continue with the next step later on tomorrow.

Eric b.

The picture shows all the formers together ready for the next step.

My sincere thanks!

Officially subscribed and eager to learn....

Eric, its hard to tell from the jpg, but are the fuse sections circular? The Meteor has more of an egg shaped cross section. I don't have a good set of cross sections and that has kept me from working on a plan for this model. One of these days, as I love the way the Meteor looks. I do have a plan from a british magazine, just haven't gotten around to building it.

www.edfinfo.com/temp/Meteor2.jpg Here's a link to a scan.

Greg

signing on too great old jet too bad you didn't choose the F-22 for a model subject

Very nice!!

jer