 SUPPORT
RIBS
In order to support the stretched fabric as it transitions from the round
forward bulkheads to the flat tail section, there are a number of thin wooden
ribs (the number of these vary from aircraft to aircraft, but I chose five as a
fairly common setup).
In the side viewport, create a Line spline from the fourth full bulkhead to the
first (E to A). You could also use a Box primitive, but I find the splines
easier to work with (SCREENSHOT).
Copy this spline 4 times, and align all 5 splines with the outer edge of the
E
bulkhead. The rearward ends of all the ribs are aligned vertically along this
edge, but the front ends of each rib is set at the outer edge of the first
bulkhead (A), which gives them all a slightly different angle. Use Vertex
editing mode to move the front ends outward (not upward) to the edge (SCREENSHOT).
The final five ribs should look like this (SCREENSHOT).
Group them together, and mirror them to form the other side (remember to edit
the pivot point to the centerline to make this easy) (SCREENSHOT).
STEP TWO -
SKINNING THE FUSELAGE
I should note that the following skinning technique is not really the fastest
way to do this, it is just the way I chose to do it. There are a great many
ways to do almost anything in Max, so feel free to experiment - you might
discover a shortcut that I did not use.
Normally, to form a shape like the outer fabric of this fuselage,
I would have used a Loft object, basing it upon a sequence
of splines created from the cross-sections. I didn't use it in this case,
because I wanted better control over where the fabric took sharp bends, and a
loft object is a bit too smooth.
 When the actual plane is built, the fabric is stretched across it in four pieces
(2 sides, a top and bottom piece), and then sewn together. We will do the same.
LEFT SIDE PANEL
In the side viewport, create a Plane primitive. Make it the same height and
length as the fuselage side (just as high as the original main outer frame) (SCREENSHOT).
Specify the number of length segments to be twice the number of bulkheads, and
the vertical segments to be one more than the number of ribs (basically, I
wanted the edges and vertices to fall on either a rib or a bulkhead - the extra
vertices in between are to smooth out the curve). I chose 6x18. Once done,
convert it into an Editable Poly.
Go into Vertex editing mode, and align all the vertices and edges with
either a wooden support, or the half-way point between. The reason for this is
fairly simple - we are modeling a stretched fabric, so it seems reasonable that
the fabric will be fairly flat except where it bends around a wooden piece, so
keeping the edges aligned on these wooden pieces makes this happen automatically (SCREENSHOT).
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