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SR-71A Blackbird (3D)


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Hello all, I know it's not your typical modeling job but I hope some people will enjoy it. This place is a treasure trove of information as my various searches regarding this plane has led me to this forum. The plane is about 30-35% done, so far I've spend 3 months on it and over 800 hours.

The OBC nose is currently quipped, I'll eventually do all variants.

Thank you for viewing!

132139d1325091761-sr-71a-blackbird-bb1.jpg

132140d1325091761-sr-71a-blackbird-bb2.jpg

132141d1325091761-sr-71a-blackbird-seat.jpg

130985d1321647798-sr-71a-blackbird-4.jpg

130982d1321647798-sr-71a-blackbird-1.jpg

130988d1321647798-sr-71a-blackbird-8.jpg

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Very impressive work. The attention to detail is amazing.

Since you appear to capturing the later cockpit configuration, I would suggest adding in the PVD (peripheral vision display) projector to the inside of the forward canopy (the light gray box on the right side). Here are a couple of shots that might help.

SR-71-canopy-1.jpg

SR-71-canopy-2.jpg

Keep up the great work.

Tony

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holy crap

Thanks!

You said it! Good grief, this is like looking at centerfolds in Playboy, but for somebody into aircraft!

Haha, thanks you Jay!

:woot.gif: Yeah that's what I thought when I saw it too. Wow, that's just incredible!!

Thank you very much.

uh huh...damn thats impressive

Thanks Shawn!

Absolutely awesome -normally, I'd expect to be billed for access to images of this standard! (Bet I get some salty responses to that...)

I'm happy that you guys like it!

um WOW, you should send that to a model company, your drawings a more detail the ALL SR-71 kits put together!

What program did you use to draw this?

Thank you, I am trying my best to reproduce this aircraft in minute detail, even down to correct rivet placement.

I use Maya and a bit of Zbrush.

Very impressive work. The attention to detail is amazing.

Since you appear to capturing the later cockpit configuration, I would suggest adding in the PVD (peripheral vision display) projector to the inside of the forward canopy (the light gray box on the right side). Here are a couple of shots that might help.

Keep up the great work.

Tony

Hello Tony and thanks for pointing that out, I had no clue of this PVD projector, of all 100 pictures of the canopy I have as reference none had this projector, not even the latest blackbirds that are currently in museums, did they remove it for some reason(still classified)? This is the first time I see it.

I do have a question regarding the "wart" (data link antenna) that sits right in front of the landing gear doors, as I understand it was present only on the later birds?

If you have any extra info/suggestions/observations please let me know!

Thanks.

well hell thats just fricking awesome!!

Thanks!

Edited by raduteo
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You're correct about the 'wart' being used only on the temporarily reactivated SR-71's. It was for the data link system that wasn't available when they were flying operationally. The PVD was probably removed from the museum aircraft prior to delivery. Basically it used a laser that projected a red line across the instrument panel that remained level with the horizon during the flight. Just drop me a note direct if you need any other info.

Tony

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I only have one question - What's with the RAISED rivets on the external skin???

All the SR-71s I worked on used countersunk fasteners with dimple washers. The crew chiefs had to check every one after every high-speed flight, to make sure none of the dimple washers got raised up above the surface level of the aircraft skin, due to Mach airflow. If so, they had to be replaced before the next flight.

Other than that, great images.

Larry

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That's an incredible amount of workmanship displayed. Truly amazing - thank you for sharing that.

Thank you! The bst part is yet to come, I plan on doing the engine internals aswell, but that's a long long way to go.

:jaw-dropping: :jaw-dropping: I think I just soiled myself......

Thanks!

You're correct about the 'wart' being used only on the temporarily reactivated SR-71's. It was for the data link system that wasn't available when they were flying operationally. The PVD was probably removed from the museum aircraft prior to delivery. Basically it used a laser that projected a red line across the instrument panel that remained level with the horizon during the flight. Just drop me a note direct if you need any other info.

Tony

Hello Tony and thank you for clarifying this, I have a question about the PVD projector thought, when was it introduced and would a 'bird equipped with the PVD would also sport the datalink antenna(wart)?

Also I have a question about these protruding "fins", there is one on the front side of the plane (only on the left side) and then there is one on each side further back right about where the wings start to flare out from the body, there is a "tube" with a curled up end that sticks out from the back of it, and it seems only the finds in the back have this element, the single fin in the front doesn't have this feature, and in the last photo there seems to be a clear cover over the entire fin, was it placed afterwards by the museum or it flew like that?

Thank you for the time and help!

trunkx.jpg

Holy catfish crap! Do you have a website????

Thank you! I had a website yet but it's currently down, I'll try to make one as soon as I finish my ongoing projects.

I only have one question - What's with the RAISED rivets on the external skin???

All the SR-71s I worked on used countersunk fasteners with dimple washers. The crew chiefs had to check every one after every high-speed flight, to make sure none of the dimple washers got raised up above the surface level of the aircraft skin, due to Mach airflow. If so, they had to be replaced before the next flight.

Other than that, great images.

Larry

Hello Larry and thank you for the reply. There are many kinds of rivets on this plane, the most common rivets present (the ringed rivets) mostly protrude out (the rings) while some indent the surface. The current state of the rivets is temporary, the rivets will be "driven" into the body as soon as I start roughing up the surface via displacement, and that will only happen when I'm finished with the modeling.

Thanks again!

rivvvv.jpg

That is truly amazing! I have two words for you … 3D Print!!! Please!

I've never done a 3D Print although I would like to!

Envy!!!! Just superb!

Art

Thank you Art!

Wow, totally awesome raduteo. I have a good friend that flew that plane for 8 years and I showed him this and his reaction was something like this....

:jaw-dropping:

Hello Youngtiger, I'm truly flattered that you showed my work to your friend who actually came in contact with this magnificent bird (and flew it!), please tell him I said a big thank you and I hope the final model won't disappoint.

There seem to be alot of people here that came in contact with this plane in one way or another, so thank you to you folks for commenting and helping me make this model better! To have people that worked in and around this plane comment on this model is the best thing I could of hoped for.

A big thank you to everyone!

Edited by raduteo
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I've never done a 3D Print although I would like to!

Hi raduteo,

First let me say that I think you are not only very accurate but also very quick - 800h is little time for what you have achieved in my opinion.

As far as I know you need NURBS to communicate with machines - wether a CNC milling machine or a 3D printer.

So any polygon model would need to be resurfaced into a NURBS model first using a converter and then exported into the specific file format of the software operating the machine.

This can be very tricky so companies offering 3d printing tend to give a polygon limit (if they offer this option at all) > random example is 1 million. What I see goes way beyond 1 million.

Converting polygons into nurbs... - I only know one software so far: T-splines - but I don't know what is the horizon here.

converting nurbs into polys is common but doing it the other way around is very - let's say unusual. T-splines is available as a plug-in for Maya and I highly recommend having a look at it!

My link

T-splines website only offers it as a plug-in for Rhino and Solidworks at the moment which is very bad news in fact but as you can see it exists.

For me as a nurbs modeller it was ground-breaking, because it allows me to model organic surfaces much easier than before.

Thing is: All 3D modelling programs are sufficient for modelling with polygons - but not for modelling with nurbs. It really all depends on what you wanna do with the model.

please continue posting your progress!

rg

Mart

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