Originally Posted by Lil Stinkpot

What's Sketchup? Something you put on fries?

LOL! No, Sketchup is a free 3D modeling CAD program put out by Google. You can get it here - http://sketchup.google.com/ It is about the easiest to use CADpackage I have ever seen and with plugins, you can import .dat airfoils and scale them to any size you want, etc. davereap has several good threads going on it here - http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=920416 and here - http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1560478 as well as a search of the CAD/CAM forum here - http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/searc...query=sketchup should get you started. If you really want to give it a try, PM me and I'll send you a collection of plugins that I use all the time for modeling. Below is a little something I tossed together working on the Italian Turbine sailplane. Real easy to get results like that with Sketchup and with the POVray plugin, the rendering goes through the roof!

There, probably more than you wanted to know, but you did ask....

Oh, and after you have your design, you can fire up XFLR5 and run simulated wind tunnel analysis on it.

Mark

Thanks, Quick. I'll have to check that out later today, when I get off work.

Looks like a nice little program Mark. Leave it to Google to come up with something that is handy and is free. Maybe we should start up a thread for swapping plug-ins in the CAD section provided that there isn't one going already.

This will make getting the ASP-XC ready to prototype go even faster provided it runs well on my old dinosaur computer. I'll be getting a new one after I move but I'm not going to wait to start learning this program.

Jeff

Originally Posted by scaflock

Looks like a nice little program Mark. Leave it to Google to come up with something that is handy and is free. Maybe we should start up a thread for swapping plug-ins in the CAD section provided that there isn't one going already.

This will make getting the ASP-XC ready to prototype go even faster provided it runs well on my old dinosaur computer. I'll be getting a new one after I move but I'm not going to wait to start learning this program.

Jeff

The first thread I posted by Dave has lots of useful plugins throughout the postings, easy to hunt down by going to the thread, then clicking on thread tools and telling it to show attachments in this thread. (The airfoil .dat importer is there) They are zip files and you just uncompress them and drop them into your plugins folder. There is also an "essential" plugins pack in one of the threads in the CAD/CAM section that has the basic add on's that make using it for model design much easier. It can be found in the Sketchup wing tutorial(good thread) at post #33 (Note: that plugin pack works just fine for Sketchup8)

The program should run OK on older machines. It might be a bit slow when exploding large groups and components but the render engine is very light and should do just fine with the screen draws.

And to keep on topic with this thread, one of the latest things I have done with Sketchup is to make up a new set of templates for the rebuild of the Thermic72 wing. I completely redid the spars and included a D-box. Making up the new templates was a snap, including using the offset tool to move the airfoil curve to accommodate the sheeting thickness for the D-box.

Mark

Wow! Mark, that was above and beyond the simple answer I was expecting. Super neat!

I'll give it a try. When I come back from a morning of flying (priorities!), I'll hit you up for those plugins.

Originally Posted by Lil Stinkpot

Wow! Mark, that was above and beyond the simple answer I was expecting. Super neat!

I'll give it a try. When I come back from a morning of flying (priorities!), I'll hit you up for those plugins.

Well, we do have to keep those priorities straight don't we.

Sense there is more than just you interested in this, here is a copy of my plugins folder. Just decompress the archive and copy the contents into your Sketchup > Plugins folder. It has among other things a rather complete spline and Bezier curve tool, Slicer, Airfoil Data Loader (for .dat files downloaded from UICU Airfoil Database), Welder, etc..

Mark

And you can purchase a super render machine from IMSI, the parent of Sketch up!

Originally Posted by Captain Canardly

And you can purchase a super render machine from IMSI, the parent of Sketch up!

Yes, but if your cheap, (like me), there is POV-Ray (free) that you can install and there is a plugin that will write out the script and give nice results too. I see that IMSI has a free version that limits to a 640x480 (good, at least you get to try before you buy) but I don't see if it is Beowulf cluster (poor mans super computer) capable for the big render jobs.

We, had, an occupy school site today Boy, that LS is getting good I mean hand catching a GL

That first caption should be "Owie!" I hit my knuckle on that catch. I did three catches today, one was on the wingtip (yes, I aimed to catch it there). There were several misses, too, one landed just six inches from my wiggling fingers. It would have made good a comedy. Don Cohn had a GoPro out, and was filming everything, maybe he caught a few of my best goofs.




I must have launched somewhere between a dozen and two today. The first few were terrible, then I got my rhythm going, and had some really nice launches. Too bad I couldn't find the lift! My best time, launch altitude / flight time, was 50' / 2:30. A two and a half minute flight off a fifty foot pop-off. Yay! But the rest of my flights, well... Launch and landing practice!

Katie just don't do what I did once: I was flying a Weston Magic about 20 years ago. 144" span, kevlar and glass, weighs about 90 oz. or so. I'd bring it in for a hand catch often. One day I borught it straight in towards me at head level. Grasped at the nose cone, slipped through my fingers and hit me square in the mouth. Uppers were bleeding around the gums and a busted lip. Went straight to my dentist to find out if I was gonna lose my choppers. Apparently I didn't do anything permanent but Doc looked at me funny when he asked what happened and I said "got hit in the mouth with an airplane".

Originally Posted by seanpcola

Katie just don't do what I did once: I was flying a Weston Magic about 20 years ago. 144" span, kevlar and glass, weighs about 90 oz. or so. I'd bring it in for a hand catch often. One day I borught it straight in towards me at head level. Grasped at the nose cone, slipped through my fingers and hit me square in the mouth. Uppers were bleeding around the gums and a busted lip. Went straight to my dentist to find out if I was gonna lose my choppers. Apparently I didn't do anything permanent but Doc looked at me funny when he asked what happened and I said "got hit in the mouth with an airplane".

Ouch! As I was reading, I was picturing the plane aimed a bit lower. Glad it was "just" the face.

I'm sorry, but I'm also still chuckling. I'd go for a hand catch on my little GL, but I'm not sure I'd ever try one on a moldie, or anything heavier than a couple pounds. Or an electric, Al.

Originally Posted by Lil Stinkpot

Ouch! As I was reading, I was picturing the plane aimed a bit lower. Glad it was "just" the face.

I'm sorry, but I'm also still chuckling. I'd go for a hand catch on my little GL, but I'm not sure I'd ever try one on a moldie, or anything heavier than a couple pounds. Or an electric, Al.

Yeah, after that little screwup I limited my hand catches to 2M and DLGs.

On the subject of doing stoopid things and getting hurt:

When I was about 20 YO (a looonnngg time ago) I was out flying by myself and using a large hi-start. Hot day, wearing shorts and no shirt. I pulled back and the rubber snapped at the stake, it was getting old and cracked. For some reason that I cannot figure out to this day I decided to stake it down at the launch point, grab the broken end, stretch it back to the stake and tie it even though it was still under tension. Just as I bent down to tie the knot the rubber snapped again, this time near the string. The whole rubber section shot back and hit me full on in the back, hard enough to knock me down and draw a LOT of blood. I looked like I had spent a wild evening with a dominatrix. Had a hard time explaining the marks to my GF.

Somewhere in RCG I read a story about a fellow that had staked down his HS with a screwdriver. It pulled out of the ground at full tension, sending the screwdriver full speed into the family jewels. I think it was the "Darwin Awards" thread.

Originally Posted by Lil Stinkpot

Somewhere in RCG I read a story about a fellow that had staked down his HS with a screwdriver. It pulled out of the ground at full tension, sending the screwdriver full speed into the family jewels. I think it was the "Darwin Awards" thread.

I think I deserve at least an "Honorable Mention".

No mishaps for me involving the jewels. I have a highly developed sense of self preservation when it comes to that.