RCAF Fleet 16 "Finch"

#21

Ya man its been a while . But Im doing good on my end. This project is looking quite impressive.

#22

Good to hear! You dropped off the radar for a while :slight_smile:

It’s a slow build this one but I’m getting to the more interesting stages now!

Cobra 6

#23

Ya, I did drop off for a bit. Ive been super slammed at work for the past year.
Now Im finally getting some free time to get back to some personal work :slight_smile:

( It’s a slow build this one but I’m getting to the more interesting stages now! )

Nothing wrong with the speed the slower builds tend to be the better ones !!

#24

That is good to know, hopefully something will show up either here or at military-meshes :slight_smile:

Yeah usually I work a lot faster if I could dedicate myself to it full-time, but alas there’s normal job so I only get to work on this a few hours over the weekend occasionally.

Cobra 6

#25

Started fleshing out both cockpits as well as working on the airframe etc. In the second image there is some odd lightbleed behind the wooden supports on the inside and I could not yet figure out where it was coming from. It’s not intersecting or doing anything weird and that is the only area where it shows up, so the investigation continues.

I’ve also optimised the render settings so I get less noise in the dark/shadows.



Cobra 6

#26

Throttle quadrant complete including the linkage between both cockpits. Control columns and all linkages completed as well (was funny figuring out how it worked) and the mounting for the leather pads protecting the pilots from injury on the side of the cockpit also modelled.

Next up, some flooring stuff to get right and then it’s time for either instrument panel or other cockpit fittings, I’ll decide on that next weekend :smiley:



Cobra6

#27

Modelled in the rudder panels and the connecting rod as well as the fuel switch for the front cockpit.
Also finished the cockpit floor and changed the width of the rudder foot trenches.

Had to revisit the airframe again to make sure all the tubes were the correct diameter. Before I gave them a temporary one which was equal for al but a lot of them were actually thinner. All correct thickness’s now however.



#28

As I’ve been in contact with someone who owns a Fleet 16 Finch (and restored two) he was kind enough to send me very valuable reference photos and give feedback on details in my model.

This resulted in some changes, most noticeably:

  • The landing wires on the main wings are now crossed (this is the correct rigging, most Finch’s nowadays are rigged wrong)
  • I was able to properly finish the top of the exhaust system, there is an inlet for hot air on the hooded version of the Finch and a connector pipe which is almost never used.
  • The rudder system was overhauled as I didn’t get it correct from my old photos.
  • The rear-outer wing strut has an adjuster for the wing wash-in and wash-out now.

There are more details coming but this was all I could get done this Sunday :slight_smile:



Cobra6

#29

Outstanding as always cobra!

#30

Thanks man! How are you?

Cobra 6

#31

I’m good! I need to start another aircraft just haven’t decided on which one! Still having difficulties connecting to MM. Hope it gets work out such a great community!

#32

Hey man, you can just go to MM, site is working. Just click on “ignore this warning” or whatever your browser says.

It’s got to do with the login and I’ve asked Ace to take care of it, site is fine.

Cobra 6

#33

ps: Military-Meshes is back online and the warning is gone :wink:

Back with an update! It took quite a while as I was not able to model for about 2 weeks and I also had to completely change everything on the exhaust system and cowling :smiley:

Basically my source was able to give me some measurements for the shrouds and it turned out I was a bit off with my eye-balling. This of course meant that pretty much everything else needed to be changed proportion wise.
He also sent me some great reference for the cowling doors which I’ve now worked up as well as completely changing the bottom cowling panel.
All in all the complete front section was changed and is now pretty much finished in terms of modelling.

Additionally I added the fresh air door on the front left that lets air into the cockpit (mostly used when the enclosed cockpit is mounted I imagine.
Also, my source pointed out that the fuel lines were rigged wrong on my model (always nice when museums get it right =/ ), they need to be on the front of the struts, not the back.
width of some of the wing struts was changed (they are different in size, who knew) and other details changed that got pointed out.

Next update will be back to the cockpit again to finish that off!



Cobra6

#34

Just pushing a lot of verts around to make everything fit together of which you’ll probably notice nothing, added the brackets for fixing the upper fuselage to the frame, changed some of the upper fuselage panels and added some further details. Also added the oil tank heater switch and made the inside of the upper fuselage panels.



Cobra6

#35

I was really planning on continuing the cockpit Today however my reference shows various different instrument panel layouts so I’ve asked my source to confirm what the historically correct layout would be.

In the meantime I’ve added various details on the main wing like brackets to lift the plane to mount ski’s, the fuel cap and the grounding point for when refuelling.
After that I finished up the tail section with the exception of the wheel which I still need to do, so that is pretty much done now as well.



Cobra6

#36

Awesome. Love to see the dedication and attention to detail too. Not sure if you said this before. I’ve mostly flought through the pictures but you have a final plan for this model? It looks ideal to texture and render in a cool set up, even in a dog fight! :smiley:

#37

Yeah I definitely have some plans for this when I finish the model/texture/lookdev for sure, it is a commission for a client so he’ll do his own stuff with it as well.

Putting it in a dogfight however would be a VERY bad idea because this is an unarmed trainer aircraft and it’s bright yellow in real life as well :smiley:

Cobra 6

#38

Haha that does show how much I know about planes or how much I researched before answering…Don’t know why I assumed it would be a war plane.
Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see it try escape a dog fight! Poor thing. Haha.

#39

No worries, this is a very obscure plane and I don’t think it’s been ever modelled in 3D like this to begin with :smiley:

The master plan this weekend was to finish the instrument panels as my source was able to provide me with templates of the factory plans. But of course when I got the instrument panels modelled to spec it turned out the top of my fuselage was a bit too flat.
So in the end I had to reshape the top of the fuselage and both windscreens leaving me very little time to do the actual instrument panels themselves :smiley:

Oh well, next weekend perhaps!



Compare the last image to this old one to see the difference.

Cobra6

#40

still working the backhalf of fuselage? ( on top ), its has edges and in front not, un attached. What were the wings made of ? wood/aluminium? and skinned with?