F-14 Tomcat

FactoriesBurning

so, i needed to give myself something to work on over summer break. i'm sure i'll finish multiple things, but the first thing i decided to model is a low poly F-14 Tomcat (the plane from Top Gun).

i found this old airplane encyclopedia thing that i had a long time ago and remembered how fascinated i used to be with planes. since the last vehicle i made was very boxy, figured making a fighter plane would be a good change. the f-14 was always one of my favorites. it's a sexy lookin plane.

i've spent alot of time gathering references, it has some pretty hard to figure out shapes, but there are plenty of images available on the internet. i'd say i've spent about 6 hours total modeling so far this past week. i think i have a fairly good result right now.

i'm shooting for 1500 tris and a 512 texture map (maybe 1024). i'm at 1034 tris right now, but i havn't added any missiles wheels(not sure if i will actually do wheels), or cockpit interior.

i got alot of my reference from this site http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/grumman/f-14_tomcat/f-14a/page_01.htm
i found some pretty good blueprints and illustrations too.

here's my screens, C&C is very welcome.

Smirnoffka

Looks fine to me, though I have always thought the f-14 to be pretty damn ugly. If you could post a shot of the underbelly that would be handy, I am finding it hard to understand the one up the top. Otherwise, it seems to be shaping up nicely.

I'll have a detailed look later.

CompanionCube

looks pretty sweet so far. still f-14 was retired

FactoriesBurning

yea, i was really sad to hear that. it had a great run though. F-35's are going to replace most of the fleet soon. including the F-16 which is my other favorite jet. F-35's are pretty rad though, and you can't argue with that ridiculous scene in die hard 4 (look that scene up if you havn't seen it).

here's a new screen. i added a nose needle, cockpit interior, fuel tanks, and maverick missiles (even though those would not normally be held on the outside racks).

i'm at 1475 tris, and i'm going to start unwrapping this baby at some point tomorrow.

hopefully there will be some useful c&c before then?

Smirnoffka

Maybe put some smoothing groups onto the model, just to give an example of what it might look like.

In terms of the modelling, it looks 'anatomically' correct.

Its giving out the right sillouette, but something about the front of the nose bothers me. It kind of dips in and then dips out. Might just be the angle. Also, it might be a good idea to model the F-14's canopy frame, as it really does block the front view from the pilots seat alot, and its not just 1 big plexiglass canopy. Other than that, looking good.

Hehe, I love the F-35's, and to be totally honest, hopefully someday I'll be flying them. Anyway, in diehard 4 when its doing all that hovering, I hate to tell you, but it can't actually do that shit.
Hehe, would be fucking awesome if it could, but the hovering is very fickle and limited.

FactoriesBurning

i softened the normal angles for all the round areas. looks a bit better, but this is going to be diffuse only anyway.

and yea, i know the die hard 4 scene is extremely exaggerated. the vectored thrust is mainly for short take off (which it is outstanding at). hovering around like that is dangerous, impractical, and a waste of fuel. it sure looked cool though!

here's a pic