The Fly Machine

[Dhar]

Hi folks,

 

This is my attempt at modeling while taking a break from TWO.

 

It is far from complete. I still have mechanical legs to make & attach, cockpit, colors & textures.

 

Thoughts, ideas, critiques, are mosr welcome.

 

 

 

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[Ganthofer]

Interesting design. insect based.

 

What's the story on the wings? The bottom one is flat the top one is arched up.

[Dhar]

Interesting design. insect based.

 

What's the story on the wings? The bottom one is flat the top one is arched up.

 

 

This is based on an artist's impression. No mechanical design was written about it, it was just fantasy. But what I've imagined is that the bottom ones are the propelling wings made from material that stiffens with vibrations and becomes amiable when still to be folded and stowed away. The upper wings are made from kevlar like materials, light yet strong to protect the bottom (inner) wings and the engine when on land, but also act like ailerons that deflects the turbulance created by the inner wings to control hover, foreward, backward and side flying.

[noewjook]

Looks fine to me.You are going to add hydraulic telescopic legs? A bit like an insect ?

With vibrating wings it can look like something between an insect and a helicopter.

[Zaryin]

I'm liking it so far. Don't forget to give some thinkness to the glass and reflection and refraciton to really make it look good.

[Dhar]

Thanks Marc. I thought about hydrolics, but this is something futuristic. I figured they'd be done away with hydrolics by then (ya know, with oil no longer available ). In this case, super-conductive relays transmit electrons at speeds that alters the atomic structure of the precious-metal-alloy rods, thereby, expanding or contracting the rod itself (with all its properties of strength)......dang...I should patent this stuff

 

And yes, the vibrating wings are supposed to function like the helicopter rotors.

 

Thanks Jeff. THICKNESS! That's what I'm missing. Good eye....that's why you're a Hash Fellow I'll tackle that the next time.

 

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[MMZ_TimeLord]

The overall design from that last angle looks good ... except at the tail... the vertical airfoil (rudder) looks out of place... dragonflys have no such appendage.

 

It's just my opinion, but I would loose the rudder and maybe swoop the elevator wings back some and do a 'V' shape that replaces the rudder.

 

Also, I notice how thin the support structure is for the wings, I'd beef it up some with bracing or make a few more attachement points at the same thickness. The stresses on those single ball joints would be tremendous!

 

Yes, the canopy glass should at least have a second mesh layer so you can utilize refraction properly.

 

All in all a very good start!

[MattWBradbury]

That looks great! I can't wait to see what you come up with texturing.

[Temka]

Very interesting work. I wait texturing the version.

[nf1nk]

The overall design from that last angle looks good ... except at the tail... the vertical airfoil (rudder) looks out of place... dragonflys have no such appendage.

 

It's just my opinion, but I would loose the rudder and maybe swoop the elevator wings back some and do a 'V' shape that replaces the rudder.

 

Also, I notice how thin the support structure is for the wings, I'd beef it up some with bracing or make a few more attachement points at the same thickness. The stresses on those single ball joints would be tremendous!

 

Yes, the canopy glass should at least have a second mesh layer so you can utilize refraction properly.

 

All in all a very good start!

I agree completely, I also feel like the wings should extend at least twice as far. Most flying things have a wingspan of at least twice the body length. of course there are significant exceptons.

[Zaryin]

I have ot agree with some of these other comments. I think the wings should be at leasst twice as large, maybe 2 1/2 larger.

[oakchas]

Dhar,

 

Looks good, man... and as to the wings not being big enough... Did you know the honey bee cannot possibly fly? So, since this is a futuristic vehicle, with vibrating wings rather than rotational propellors, I believe it is unimportant how long the wings are.

 

Remeber those horrible shuttles on the Enterprise? Flying saltine boxes with no wings... just skis. They flew quite well, when they were'nt crashing into something.

[Dhar]

Thank you guys for all your comments. I am really, really grateful for your time and input, you have no idea. I love it

 

Now for the nitty gritty. I agree that the 'wings' don't "look" large enough to carry the body. I guess that'd be true if it were a fixed wing aircraft (believe me I know, I was a student pilot). In this design, there are no wings per se. The bottom ones are the propellers, they'd be hard to see when they're vibrating, and the upper ones are the ailerons (the moving parts you see at the trailing edge of the wing on fixed wing aircrafts). The bottom wings (if we were to use the term wings loosely) act just like the wings on a bee (Charlie, you got the picture). The closest insect I can think of that flies in this formation is the ladybug.

 

Jody, I agree with you on the support structure. I'm gonna change that. I'm gonna keep the tail, however, to keep with the artist's expression of familiar shapes that associates with the viewer.

 

The word for this type machine (which i was looking for and thanks to Google i found it) is Omnithopter

 

Here is one iteration of an omnithopter that came decades after the one I'm doing currently, that's in the PC game Dune 2000

 

 

 

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[Zaryin]

Just remember to go with what you want. All we offer is opinons. It's your that matters the most .

[Dhar]

Just remember to go with what you want. All we offer is opinons. It's your that matters the most .

 

I do appreciate every opinion, I really do. I find people perceptions fascinating. Which makes me wonder why the artist put the tail of an airplane on an otherwise insect body! It's definitely interesting.

 

Here's a 3/4 view of the artist's rendition;

 

[attachmentid=14782]

[Zaryin]

Just thought I'd post this publicly. I meant my last post as a compliment. It's hard to get meaning across on the internet.

 

I think you model is great so far, Dhar.

[Dhar]

Just thought I'd post this publicly. I meant my last post as a compliment. It's hard to get meaning across on the internet.

 

I think you model is great so far, Dhar.

 

Thank you Jeff, I appreciate your clarification (not that you needed to), it shows your integrity and conscienciousness.