 A
FLIGHT BACK IN TIME
For a recent personal project, I had the opportunity to build a high
resolution 3D model of a British WW1 fighter plane, the famous Sopwith Pup.
Built by the Sopwith Aviation Company, the Pup saw action in the latter
part of the Great War (its maiden flight was in 1916). Officially known as the
Sopwith Scout, the "Pup" earned its nickname from its resemblance
to an earlier Sopwith model, the larger 2 seat 1½ Strutter.
The Pup was popular with its pilots due to its excellent
flying characteristics, responsiveness and reliability. While less powerful and lighter armed
than its German foes, the Pup often had greater agility, allowing it to hold its
own in a dogfight.
Also, Sopwith Pups were also used in many early aircraft carrier experiments.
On August 2 1917, a Sopwith Pup flown by Sqn Cdr Edwin Dunning became the
first aircraft to land aboard a moving ship, HMS Furious. Sadly, Dunning
was killed on a later landing attempt when the Pup fell over the side of the ship.
To begin the modeling of the aircraft, I first did a lot of research, looking
for photographic references and (hopefully) blueprints. The internet, of course,
was a great source. The more information I could gather, the better chance I
would have to create an accurate model. While not historically perfect, I think
the final result will be close.
Check for the reference photos I used at the end of this
tutorial.
PART ONE - THE ENGINE
 The Sopwith Pup was manufactured with two types of engines, a LeRhone 9
cylinder rotary/radial rated at 80 HP, and a Gnome Monosoupape (single
valve), rated at 100 HP. I have chosen to build the LeRhone variant, which I
believe was the more common of the two (though I could be wrong)
An interesting note about these early radial engines is that, unlike modern
radial engines (where the propeller and crankshaft turn), in this case the
entire aircraft engine turned about a fixed crankshaft. The propeller was fixed
to the engine case, and the entire assemblage rotated, like a giant metal
pinwheel. The gyroscopic action of such a large metal mass spinning at the front
of a fairly light wood and fabric airframe must have been extremely powerful,
especially in turns. Another interesting fact (at least to a modern observer)
was that these engines had no exhaust system (the burnt gasses were
simply released from the tops of the cylinders), they had no throttle
(the engines ran at full throttle, with the ignition being "blipped" to reduce
power when necessary), and they used a total loss oiling system, where
the oil was exhausted with the burnt fuel, coating the aircraft with a heavy
sheen of castor oil. The fabled white scarf worn by these pilots had less to do
with fashion, and more to do with wiping the oil off their faces and goggles.
To
begin, I chose to work on the engine by itself. For this tutorial, I will be
focusing only on the geometry of the model - the final texturing and
rendering will be covered in future tutorials.
This model was created using
Autodesk 3ds Max 9® 3D
modeling, animation, and rendering software.
In
future tutorials I will also be using Vue 6 xStream for rendering the
flying environment.
I begin by setting up my scene in MAX, using real-world units. Since I was
not able to find blueprints of the engine itself, (which would give me exact
scaling and dimensions), I am forced to rely on sizing all the 3D components "by
eye". During the building of this model, I constantly referred back to the many
photographs and reference images I was able to find. Since some details were
missing or not clear in the pictures available, I think it is safe to say that
this model is not 100% historically accurate. With that caveat in mind, let's
begin >>>
|
