SR-71 Blackbird

[gamary]

Hi all,

I've put the B-25 aside for the moment and thought I'd "relax" by doing a kick-ass bird. Err, I mean a... Blackbird. I'm not a huge fan of the SR-71 but I must admit it's one impressive piece of engineering.
Hope you like it. Supah should like it: isn't that the ultimate jet?




Joe, I'm counting on that bionic super-eye of yours to point out a few mistakes. Also, do you have some images of the NASA logo that was used on some Blackbirds? Or a font, maybe? You can guess where I'm headed...

[santynus]

Great Work GM

[AGNT_Matt]

might be the fastest jet but the ULTIMATE jet should be, fast,agile, armed and be able to take a beating from the forces involved and from ground fire. looks good though buddy

[Jesters-Ink]

The ultimate jet is earlybird after a pot of sunflower seeds . . . that aside, its the best to date Gamary . . .but where is it? its a pencil line with a couple of kinks in it?

[Vacajun]

GM,

The thought of flying at 60 miles a minute still blows my mind !

Good luck with that potato-chip camber in the outer wing! Take a look at our NASA birds at http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/index.html

As far as the NASA logos, they started with the hated NASA "Worm" and ended up with the NASA font of the beloved "Meatball."

On their way to you!!

Keep us posted.

Joe

[GrubbyFingers]

Great job on the shading, Gaetan, the nose and nacelles look just right. The fin is a bit flat, though. Seeing as it leans in toward the fuselage, maybe lighten it off and add a broad highlight showing the curve of the leading edge panels? What do you think? Texturing looks great too.
Graeme.

[gamary]

@Joe: thanks for the drawings! Why was the worm hated? I rather liked it. Cc. the "potato chip" as you call it (it's actually a pretty good description), I don't know what to do. most of the pics I used for reference show it when the airframe is viewed from 1/4 or 3/4, but not from the side:





(As indicated, both of these pictures are from airliners.net. I hope posting them here as reference isn't a problem?)

@Grubby: thanks for the input. Basically, I did the opposite of what you're suggesting: I added shading instead of lighting. I'll play with it and see if it looks better with lighting instead of shading. I wondered how to indicate that it was tilted inboard, but didn't find any answer to that since it's a flat surface. Probably BH has an answer to that (hint, hint, BH ;-) )

[Vacajun]

GM,

After NASA had been using the Meatball for 40 years, new management decided they wanted to ban it from aircraft, facilities, etc. and brought in a Madison-Avenue type to "modernize" the logo with the "Worm." We hated it and did our best to keep Meatballs on display where the bosses wouldn't see them. After widespread mutiny, management finally went back to the Meatball.

Don't know what to suggest for the Blackbird's wing shape, but IMHO it's the most difficult part of the airplane to render. Have to capture that curvy leading-edge shape somehow in side view.

[GrubbyFingers]

Hi Gaetan,
The first of the photos demonstrates quite well what I was talking about. See how much darker the rear fin compared to the nearer fin?

[GiantFlyingRobots]

Its a nice profile of an airframe that imho isn't really all that interesting in profile! But airborne and seen from above...