Stirling 3D/4D Model

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Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Hi All

This thread isn't about a plastic or wood model - but a virtual one, hope that's OK. I'm hoping people will enjoy seeing a Stirling being 'built' and hopefully I'll be able to get dimensions of parts from forum members. I'll post as new parts get added. It's taken a couple of years (part time) to get this far. I hope you enjoy it!

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Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Some more views just to catch up with current progress....

James

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Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

Stunning work

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,537

Stunning work

Indeed!

Fantastic work there.

Keep it up!

Cheers

Paul

Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Thanks Chaps.

Some animations:

FN4A Turret:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL8grymad40

FN5A Turret:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmu_Ww1HiPw

Main Undercarriage Retraction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pIn1OOILTE

Rear Undercarriage Operation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EM8f2VT2eE

Bomb Doors Operation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XybmaHYo5aQ

All these are just 'trials' just to get an idea of the working of the model.

Cheers
James

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 1,404

Lovely work James....I can provide details of the correct wireless operators seat ....if you still need them???

Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Lovely work James....I can provide details of the correct wireless operators seat ....if you still need them???

Hi Hindenburg

I have a drawing of the armoured W/O seat on a Mod sheet - but that Mod is dated 6/6/41 and the Stirling the model is supposed to be of is one that crashed in 4/5/41 so I am assuming that the seat was the original un-armoured version, but thanks very much for the offer!

James

Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

The Bomb Sight ready to install - it's quite a complex item but looks small in the Stirling!

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Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 1,404

That is really interesting regarding the wireless ops seat...would like to see the drawing.on some schematics of early Stirlings they also show a smaller round backed seat...I'm assuming the armoured plate was smaller too?.I wonder if the earlier seats were modified versions of the flight engineers seat (right)Surely the smaller seat, although armoured,would not protect the operators head....or was the armoured plate a lot higher than the seat?????[ATTACH=CONFIG]240645[/ATTACH]

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Member for

16 years 7 months

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]240647[/ATTACH]this is the wireless operators armoured plate for the high backed chair...8mm thick armour plate ,three and a half feet high.The legs on my chair have reinforcing tubes riveted over the existing structure to take the weight as the seat swivels.

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Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Hi Hindenburg

Attached is the only picture I have of what looks like the top of the W/O seat (early MK1, the radios are the early type) and another of the really big one (1945). I rechecked the Mod sheet and the mod didn't include the serial No. of my aircraft but that I'm not sure that is any real indicator of what was on any particular aircraft apart from the ones mentioned.

I do have some RAF memos regarding the fitting of the W/O armoured chair, I think, I'll see if I can find them. The W/O seat may not have been considered worth armour plating initially!

The Mod sheet shows the re-inforcing and the drilling dimensions for the later sheet.

Cheers
James

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13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Incidentally I did promise you that I would pass on any info I got about the S.C.I. switch panel if I found any, attached is an early MKI circuit diagram with some info on that you might infer could have been the annotation on the SCI switch panel (over the individual switches), but sadly no info about the instruction panel. To give credence to the text it is worth noting that on another circuit for the same aircraft you have the exact text for the label on top of the throttle box so it could be that the circuit was directly copying the labeling (or vice-versa).

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Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

[ATTACH=CONFIG]240652[/ATTACH]Hmmm, now you made me look I can see the big armoured seat shown in the manual for the MKIs with the Hercules II and III engines, definitely the taller armoured seat. The problem with the APs of course is that they did get updated, looks like I might have to review the seat type! Also interesting is that the drawing doesn't show any seat for the Engineer.

Cheers
James

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Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 1,404

Thanks for those pics...that tall wireless ops seat is different to mine...and the armoured plate is different too!!!looking at that phot of the early MK 1'I think that is the tall seat....look how close it is to the roof...the round top is the armour plate and the straight line below it...the top of the seat...

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16 years 7 months

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And the one in the schematic is different again!!!...........

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16 years 7 months

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]240662[/ATTACH] I think the jettison unit in the upper part of this photo is the one on your SCI panel....

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Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Hi Hindenburg

I think you are right about the seat on the MKI picture - must be going mad! I think that once I have something in my head it seems to resist being dislodged! Also I have imagined documents recently that I can't find, so there is some madness in there too!

Looks like I will need to make the seat the tall one as I have looked again at the Mod sheets and discovered that many of them seem to be bringing N3635-N 3644 up to standard rather than a global change for all the aircraft in service.

As for the jettison switch the joy of the 1940 MKI circuit diagrams is that they give the MOD reference number for all the equipment used, the later ones don't so you can get the right part.

It is odd that the armour plating looks different? I'll keep an eye out for anything related to that.

Cheers
James

Member for

10 years 5 months

Posts: 12

I wish a model as detailed as this would be made for Flight simulator X! It looks incredible, great job so far!

Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

I wish a model as detailed as this would be made for Flight simulator X! It looks incredible, great job so far!

Hi Biggles!

The Flight Simulators do a fantastic job of rendering in real time, this Stirling takes about 4 minutes to render each frame and that's without any other background scenery! I expect that time to increase steadily as it gets more detailed. Usually I work on parts of the model with 95% of it 'turned off'. To get even 10 minutes of animation would mean leaving the PC cooking overnight.

At some point I will need to find out how to simulate realistic scenery, that is quite a clever job, probably more so than the aircraft as the ground model is hundreds of miles across and filled with unique details not to mention changing perception with height and of course clouds! And it will have to be 1940s England too.

But before that and after finishing all the polygons I need to become an artist and handle painting the entire model, currently the colours are just simple and in most cases just 'flat'. The software will allow me to 'paint' with a simulated paint brush in 3D so the whole thing will be hand painted, not many rivets so far, all the flush ones will be simulated as a texture, I will be able to 'paint' those with just a single pass of the mouse, 3D has many advantages! I have the original 'plating' drawings so the rivet lines and fuselage should be very accurate!

Next up will be the Bomb Aimers office.

Cheers
James

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16 years 7 months

Posts: 1,404

[ATTACH=CONFIG]242305[/ATTACH] Hi James,been scratching my head as to what the light tubular structure is in the centre of this photo.At first I thought it was for the crew to get a foothold to exit the escape hatch,on examining this structure,it's way too flimsy to climb on..what do you think..stable platform for taking readings ????

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Member for

13 years 4 months

Posts: 411

Hi Hindenburg,

I agree, it's an odd spindly bit of metalwork isn't it? The attached isn't going to make you any less incredulous but it looks like you were right first time!

James[ATTACH=CONFIG]242306[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]242307[/ATTACH]

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