@lazystone

I see…

Let’s see if this works.

Happy to join the 5th iteration of a Falcon forum in 15 years…sorry I missed the move but now I’m all set. Maybe on this forum I end up actually contributing a model that goes in game

Some initial experimentation with the refueling probe. Took me a few hrs to get back into Blender. I think I’ll smooth out and simplify most of the frontend fuselage as it is overly full with unneeded geometry.

The base axis for the probe still needs to be finalized to create accurate rotation as the fuselage cover part is attached to the probe so they move together.

Probe will get a few (A FEW) more details like the light and some actuator and compartment details. Nothing too wild. It does look cool when deployed.

Wow guys WHAT a throwback…I pulled a few from my screenshot folders. The newest one here is 14 years old

This is partly from multiplayer sessions and sorties using FreeFalcon 4…or RV? or 5? or 6? I have no idea…here goes:

That Tornado - such a big deal at the time. Still beautiful today.

The forgotten art of 2D pits…Aeyes?

Water textures…say what?!

This was a memorable multiplayer session as was this one:

Kneeling and steering is now functional, still playign around with parenting and types of animation to get the NLG to behave as it should with the strut extending, connecting rods rotating accordingly and the whole assembly moving for steering on the ground/deck. This the upper most of the 3 kneeling positions. I’ll add animations for all positions as these can be called upon manually by the pilot as well as automatically by the catapult/launch position on the carrier.

I also need to play around with how the DOFs are triggered, for example the refueling probe extends out of the fuselage after the small front door opens, once it is fully extended the front door closes again so it needs to be a rotation up and back down while the probe extends.

Since I modeled every single moving part of the jet I’ve decided to add the ladder and folding steps.

The outer weapons pylon has been moved out about an inch as the front outer main landing gear door was colliding with the pylon.

The horizontal stabilizers are at the maximum angle of -33 degrees down, the up limit is 10 degrees.

Wings are fully parented and the pivot point has been finalized, here in 20 degree ‘zero sweep’.

Wings at maximum sweep of 68 degrees. The wing has a maximum sweep of 75 degrees, as far as I recall there is a wing fold DOF that can be manually called upon.

Note the continuous line from the starboard intake all the way to the tip of the wing only ‘interrupted’ by the wing root hub. There will be some final alignment but I’m quite happy with it at the moment.

Next up intake ramps and nozzle animation, then onto the landing gear.

I know this is only a tier 2/3 aircraft in Falcon so obviously all of this is needless overkill, then again, it always was, Baby.

Added anti collision and position lights, position lights on wing tips still missing.

Currently they all light up as emmissive faces, I will do a simplistic light housing with refraction effects on the position lights, nothing fancy but better than a texture.

@Tazz One of the pics you sent me years ago inspired me to do this perspective, sort of a ‘parked on deck’ shot

@Manos1981 said in WIP: F-14 B/D:

@stingray_SIX_TWO
Is the model still alive? I would love to work on it Dont get me wrong not add/remove or whatver just some experiments on skins! It looks fabulous!

Once the unwrapping is done I’ll be happy to share with you for some skinning experimentation. Not that I lack any ideas myself…

On the modeling front I compiled my todos for the winter season…among others

• anti-collision and position lights on the wingtips

• the ominous refueling probe

• main landing gear linkage for animation (see youtube video below, posted 2 yrs after I modeled it and finally helped me realize which part of it rotates and why)

• set up 3DS and load model for DOF animation and textures (DOF will be used as far as possible for flaps, slats, spoilers, cove door and moving surfaces logic as well as wing flex and flutter if I can figure it out)

3DS…no comment.

• model geometry correction, lots of uneven areas, flipped normals, etc. I need to clean that up

• pilots need to be modeled, other than that I don’t see anything missing

• weapons will most likely be there already if not I’ll model them as well

I’m focusing on Delta Cat only for now, any A/A+/B configuration needs to wait.

Watch at .5x speed

@Turkeydriver @Mike-Metcalf Are you guys still active here?

@Tazz You may not remember but you shared those with me already years ago. VF-31 final cruise right? I remember there only being 8-10 pics so anymore you have would be greatly appreciated. Just send me a DM.

@buraktunahan That looks awesome!!

This has been going on for too long and I need to see an end so it won’t be perfect but at least I can bring an amateur model that is better and more functional than the current one to BMS and that would make me very happy.

Also there’s been countless valuable contributions over the years especially when it comes to flight model characteristics, combat capability, history and details of the big cat in my threads and @mykinge’s pit thread (I’m sure he won’t mind) by various individuals and I’ve compiled a .pdf that I will share in the coming days so at least we have some documentation should anyone ever try this again.

Currently 38 nulls/DOFs actuating a total of 20 moving, rotating, scaling parts. It is not final yet but a BIG step towards the final look and feel.

As stated in my youtube comments, the MLG currently collides with the gear doors when fully retracted but that’s an easy fix by manipulating the z axis along which the main strut rotates up.

I am currently running into an issue with the BMS DOF plugin by which it manipulates parts that are not parented to it and DOFs affecting eachother even though they are not related. I’m sure this is just an issue of trial and error on my part.

Cat feet, Baby!

Anytime, Baby!

–-

Just wanted to present my 3D model project of the Grumman F-14B/D.

Below some impressions from the modelling process so far…

Focusing on the glovebox for now as that is the integral piece of the Tomcat. Front fuselage and main canopy are also started.
I’ll answer some questions preemptively :D:

• I’m learning modelling from 0 as I go along, will sure have some questions throughout the process

• I’m using Blender 2.76b for all modelling, it’s quite different from MAX in some regards, in others quite similar, below a standard setup with blueprints:

• Thread title says B/D but this is primarily focused on the D cat meaning: GE engines, no glove vanes, Twin-Chinpod (TCS, IRST, ALQ-100), LANTIRN pod, awesomeness

• Texture mapping will be done during modelling so quality/packaging considerations will be part of the process from the get go

• Textures I’ll do myself as I have the whole bird practically skinned in above 4096x4096 quality throughout

• All moving surfaces will be modelled, however we know from previous projects there are limitations in terms of avionics/flight model

• Blueprints on this bird are not good, getting proportions right is mostly a question of good measure and experience with the Tomcat from all angles, my skinning experience is helpful there

Why do a (nother) Tomcat model now you may ask…

• The interest in a new pit/model is evident by the almost quarter million views the respective threads have gotten in the past

• The beautiful yet unfinished F-14D pit by MyKinge has been donated to BMS and could go live at some point in the future

• There’s been a lot of work on the flight model (Mike Metcalf et al), the AIM-54 (Molni), the pit (MyKinge), carrier ops (BMS)

• The most iconic plane of all time deserves a quality representation in the most iconic flightsim of all time

Looking forward to any feedback you may have, Baby!

Always that one pesky cat sniffing around…

Quick question, I see most front line fighters in the object folder are tex mapped to one 2048x2048 texture with some switchable alphas etc. - is that the standard format I should use? I have most decals vectorized so could do 4k without any problems but also don’t want to go over what’s sensible for the engine.

Also, is it still the case that weapons/pods/bombs/etc. are shared between platforms and only AC specific weapons need to be modeled? For the Tomcat obviously AIM-54A/B/C and Drop Tanks as well as nose pod but things like Sparrow, Sidewinder, dumb bombs, LGBs are not needed?

Textures are coming along nicely I think you guys will like the result, just takes some time as my model is a bit more complex than I’d like for unwrapping

@VDK said in WIP: F-14 B/D:

@stingray_SIX_TWO thank you for your detailed answer. Will your B/D model be available for 4.37.4?

Thanks again

Can’t confirm that, I continue to work on it and will update here once tex mapping and materials are done and the AC is in the Editor with working DOFs. As far as modeling goes that will take the longest time.

Flight model and cockpit is a different story and I’ll need support on those two.

I’ll have A, B and D versions ready when the time comes, due to pretty heavy differences in the model I don’t think switchable model assets or textures make sense there.

I’ll be documenting any progress here.

@VDK said in WIP: F-14 B/D:

@stingray_SIX_TWO dude… it’s look FANTASTIC!!! You think it is hard to make the “A” version from this version??

Thanks!

Thank you, glad you like it. In terms of making the Alpha it would involve the following:

• slight adjustments on the upper aft fuselage
• the beaver tail, not only the antenna but overall shape
• the engine shroud and the nozzles
• a few antennas are different
• air vents/ducts around the front fuselage and air vents for the gun on the lower port front fuselage
• wheels and tires especially on the main landing gear
• adding ventral fins
• adjusting certain parts of the cockpit area

For a lot of famous and beloved USN fighter wings and the Persian Cats the A would be good to have. It is not much work in terms of modeling so I could do that but I have to consider that I do not have a lot of Avionics and Flight Model related information on the A compared to the B/D so there’s that.

Never thought the moment would come, I am finally marrying my skinning assets (started 18 years ago) with my original model…currently unwrapping and assigning materials/textures. I can already tell it will look quite epic :

There’s a few more to come for B/D cats. I have a ton of Alpha skin assets as well but with the templates people will be able to create their own. I am not looking to recreate all 73 skins I have put together for this A/C over the years so no worries.

Currently 38 nulls/DOFs actuating a total of 20 moving, rotating, scaling parts. It is not final yet but a BIG step towards the final look and feel.

As stated in my youtube comments, the MLG currently collides with the gear doors when fully retracted but that’s an easy fix by manipulating the z axis along which the main strut rotates up.

I am currently running into an issue with the BMS DOF plugin by which it manipulates parts that are not parented to it and DOFs affecting eachother even though they are not related. I’m sure this is just an issue of trial and error on my part.

Cat feet, Baby!

Current WIP of the main landing gear.

Final rotation and animation speed adjustments pending but this about matches the animation that’s been on YouTube for 11 years

Tomorrow with nose gear and doors…

Gotta love this main landing gear, Tomcat shares it with the A-6E and probably all other A-6s.

Because every moving part is modeled and animated this is visibly turning into a brain crunch in terms of 3D think, relations and movement speed. It is not finished yet, mainly rotation limits and rotation speed will bring it together.

@richionizor said in WIP: F-14 B/D:

@stingray_SIX_TWO Nice work but please keep in mind that BMS uses its own animation system via DOFs - so you will have to redo those properly.

Thanks, I’m aware. The current setup of rotation nulls allows for seamless translation into BMS DOFs when the time comes.

Small demonstration of currently animated and movable surfaces:

Top view:

The slat is currently not animated, the cove door (flat surface on the bottom of the wing that swings up when flaps are deployed beyond 10 degree manouver position to aerodynamically seal the wing) is operated but I need to check my Tomcat picture bible later because I’m not sure if it moves as one piece and when it is deployed. As far as I can see it should only go up when both main and auxiliary flaps are fully deployed.

Also the eyelid door (aerodynamic sealign surface on the front top part of the flap) is not animated, basically I need to clarify same question here, how and when is it moving with the auxiliary flap.

NATOPS provides this:

So far so good.

Still no problem.

Here is the question as this profile view obviously does not distinguish between main and aux flaps.

Once this is clarified I can also move the spoilers down to meet the cove door and seal the area.

On a sidenote, you can see why multiple DOFs will be required to ensure accurate movement of the slat and flaps as they rotate but also shift point of origin (because in RL hydraulic struts push the pivot point out which then leads to a rotation of the surface). No problem to implement, just requires some trial and error.