I am trying to model a WWII era aircraft. I have tried everything but have been completely stumped at how to model the wing tips of this plane. Sweeps and network surfaces have been tried in a variety of ways without any kind of success. Is there any way to model/cap the tip of an extruded surface with a single guide curve like in pic 2?
Hello - something like this, I think-
extend the center of the wing and wrap the edge around it.
-Pascal
How is the middle surface capped uniformly? I’m struggling to get correct continuity through it
Hello - please post your wing and curves, I’ll take a swing at it. ( Make the middle bit first, trim it, then wrap the edge around)
-Pascal
Hello - one thing I see is that the wing surface, if extended straight, dives below the edge curve - this does not bode well, to me, for getting a clean & convex (on top) end on the wing.
-Pascal
OK - if you have leeway with the section curves for the wing (as I assume you do) you can do this.
I’d say if you make the outer edge of the wing surface a little taller, you’ll be OK. I’ll see if I can make something worthwhile later this afternoon.
Here’s what I get, working off of your starting point - I lifted the outer wing section to be a little taller and made the curve much simpler. It is copied to the root and lofted to get a simple clean surface. The surface is then extended outward and trimmed with the blend curve to provide an path for the edge surface to wrap around.
WingMaybe.3dm (117.7 KB)
@parker.andrew, v5 now.
-Pascal
That airplane wing is very easy to model. The fastest way is to use either Ellipsoid (build one, then split it in the middle, then delete one of the halves, then shrink the remaining one, then Rebuild to degree 3 and a bit more control points) or Loft (draw 4 profile curves to define the front, back, top and bottom shape of the wing). Once you do that, move the control points according to the shape that you aim.
Once you are satisfied with the overall shape, you can connect the wing with the main body of the airplane with “Blend surface” using the “Planar sections” option which should point sideways (if the wing is totally horizontal) or at a certain angle (if the wing is inclined).
Another option is to add a 2-3 extra rows of control points (“Insert knot” command) near the inner end of the wing and use “Match surface”. You have to preliminary cut the body of the airplane so that the blending will be according to your expectations.
Here is a sample airplane wing made this way:
Airplane wing - Loft and point editing.3dm (733.8 KB)
BUG!!! Rhino’s “Match surface” failed to preserve the structure of the shape when trying to match the end of the wind to the opening of the airplane’s body. Check “Refine match” and “Match edges by closest points” with the attached file. The issue happens due to the opposite directions of ends for the surface and the opening (or the projected closed blue curve). The “CurveNearSurface=On” also produces the same issue when the blue curve is used as a target for the match surface. There must be an option in “Match surface” similar to “Add shapes” in Blend surface" or “Add slash” in “Sweep 2 rails” to guide the program how to deal with such scenarios.
Splitting the edge of the opening at the back and using “Chain edges” helps a bit, but is still unable to properly match the surface.
interesting, I tried doing the extruded eclipse technique but 2 things happened: rhino failed to trim the ellipse down the middle with a curve or plane and the forward edge surfacing would not line up after the control points were moved. I’ll check your file out and see what I’m doing wrong
Unfortunately I can only open Rhino 5 files at this time.
Another way to create that airplane wing is to draw several cross sections (closed curves) plus one point at the tip of the wing, then use “Loft” with the “Loose” option. In this case, the point and the closest cross-section curve must share the same plane, in order to guarantee tangency continuity at that area.
Airplane wing - Loft with Loose option.3dm (8.1 MB)
Airplane wing - Loft with Loose option (Rhino 5).3dm (8.1 MB)
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Hello Parker Andrew
This is a Spitfire I gave up on some time ago. I struggled with the wing too. In the end I used cage edit on an ellipse (I think).
Spitfire-Rhino5dm.3dm (4.4 MB)
Hello all
I just read this and wondered how can I deal with it.
That’s my result.
100P Wing test solution.3dm (575.1 KB)
Still might be problem to create radius at the edge.
You must keep in mind that there is no perfectly sharp wing in the airplane industry. The back of the wing must be at least 5 mm thick. This means a flat edge 5 mm high, or a rounded edge with radius of at least 2,5 mm. Some older airplanes have wings whose back rounded edge is very thick, sometimes exceeding 20 mm.
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Hello Ali
Do you want to create new model of it or modify already created ?
One easy way out is to split the tip curve in two and then use these two curves to sweep the upper and lower wing sections. Then refine the resulting upper and lower surfaces by matching surface tangency to the wing.
Note that your airfoil appears to be upside down, and as others have noted your trailing edge should have some thickness to be realistic.
-Luc
100P Wing lvb.3dm (447.8 KB) .
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