Verville-Packard R-1 Raceplane (WIP)

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Hey everyone, I’ve been working on this for a few days and I’m excited to get it into Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. The Verville-Packard R-1 was the winner of the 1920 Pulitzer Prize, the precursor to the National Air Races.

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What do you guys think - good enough for $10?

I'm going back to front with the modeling.

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The reference for the tailplane above is below; the clearest image of the empennage' remains after the crash of the first prototype. I've noticed some key differences between this aircraft and the one that won the first Pulitzer's Cup in the 1920s.

Below is an image of the remains of the first precursor aircraft prior to the one I am modeling.



The second one, which was entered in the 1920 Pulitzer's Cup was made from this one. 

A significant difference I've noticed between this model and the one that won the Pulley-Cup (?) is that the engine fairing goes all the way up to the leading edge of the wing, and it looks like the upper flying surface is attached to the engine mount in such a way as to have the top of its surface is also installed at the midpoint of the pilot's sight line:



But the images I have of this aircraft and the '20's Pulitzer winner clearly show the wing being separated, slightly above the pilot's sight line.


The first photo must have been taken before the second, because of the first reference image I posted in this thread.

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Took about 3-4 hours tonight and built the cowling. Just a few details left, like the additional air intakes on the front and the little clips that hold the cowling onto the rest of the fuselage. Then it's onto the wings, fuselage and finally cockpit. Gonna try to do some UVing next though just to make my life easier later.

Wireframe renders have a glitch in them it seems, it looks like some parts of the model are clipping through itself but they're not.



Bonus image of Capt. Corliss Moseley, flying for the United States Army Air Corps in front of the winning machine after his 1920 circuit. The next year it was won by a civilian; Bert Acosta, flying a Curtiss.

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Started working on this again, looking for some feedback with the materials. Only really worked on the wings and the blue part of the fuselage so far, but in general the biggest challenge are the broad swaths of undetailed fuselage (painted wooden laminate):


3D Viewer:
https://p3d.in/FCOw0

Looking for crit!

Celinecote

Very neat! I like the forms you modeled. The materials on the fuselage and wings have a good base but do need more interest. Normally I would say to add some dirt or paint peeling off to add more detail but if this is going into Microsoft Flight simulator then maybe it's better to keep it fairly clean. You could try adding some of the serial numbers and logos that are visible in your references. You could also try adding a very slight bump map to the fuselage to give it some imperfect, wobbly reflections you sometimes see on the surface of a plane.

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I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed the forms!  

Regarding the suggestion I'm afraid it can't be implemented here. This aircraft's fuselage was constructed of wooden framework with 4 layers of molded (wooden) veneer over top. It's literally just a painted smooth, mostly uniform shell of wood, glue & nails.

I looked up what causes that wrinkling (which occurs on metal aircraft) and the effect is called oil canning, which can occur when structural changes put tension on the panels.

What's interesting (to me, at least) is that both aircraft are constructed in a similar manner; thin framework over a stronger substructure.

There are few historical records of aircraft construction techniques around this time period. It is between two time periods in aviation; the early 1910s and the flight of the Spirit of St. Lous on May 20th, 1927.

Given that almost all aircraft of the time were of straight box construction and fabric covered compound surfaces, I think that's what's inside this plane. It's got a lot of horsepower (638) and it's reasonably streamlined; I bet it's way over built. Rather than supporting the outside surfaces with ribs and letting the entire structure carry the load (like with modern commercial airliners), this plane might have had a traditional box frame underneath this very large and built out formed wood exterior.

I would like to compile all this into a web article with the model at some point.

Celinecote

Ahh I see. Damn you've really done your research.