1934 McQuay-Norris Streamliner
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Very well done, Steve. Your post reads like a well written encyclopedia article, and is illustrated with your detailed Sketchup model to match. Love it.
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Very cool model and render, Mr. M.
What rendering engine do you use, or just straight render from Sketchup with Photoshop postwork?
Have a great week!
_KN
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@jpalm32 said:
Great work as usual.
Weird car!
Visiblity seems really bad.
It seems to me if they reversed the front and back,
they would have had a real breakthrough aero-dynamicallyThanks John.
Your comment got me to thinking. I think you're right. Keep in mind though, this was the early 1930's, they didn't know much about aerodynamics back then.
Anyhow, here's a quick-and-dirty body-on-backward version
@adorno said:
Great looking car. Perfectly modelled, with high degree of detail.
The article says:
"A drop of water falling through the air takes this shape naturally
because of the resistance of the air through which it is falling"That's confusing. I would think the law of gravity made a drop of water fall approximating a ball - with or without resistance of air.
I must find a sink and experiment
I appreciate the kind words, Adorno.
Yeah, I always thought a drop of water assumed the most compact shape, a sphere. Turns out I was wrong.
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/raindropshape.html
"Small raindrops (radius < 1 millimeter (mm)) are spherical; larger ones assume a shape more like that of a hamburger bun. When they get larger than a radius of about 4.5 mm they rapidly become distorted into a shape rather like a parachute with a tube of water around the base --- and then they break up into smaller drops."
Wow, I guess they're right -- you're never too old to learn something new -
@d12dozr said:
Very well done, Steve. Your post reads like a well written encyclopedia article, and is illustrated with your detailed Sketchup model to match. Love it.
Thanks, Marcus.
For me half the fun when I start a new model is doing the research and getting to know the vehicle, not just it's appearance but it's history. Sorta bond with them after a while
With this one being the last of it's kind I felt sorry for it, considering everything it's been through. I don't like for machines to be tossed aside to rust and rot after they've done their job. I remember all the choppers being pushed over the side of the ships after Viet Nam, and I felt they had earned a better fate. Same way with the thousands of aircraft in the Aircraft Boneyard in Arizona, just waiting to be sliced apart by that big blade. I know that seems silly, that they're inanimate objects, but that just seems cruel somehow 
Yeah, I are not normal (not even close)
@ken28875 said:
Very cool model and render, Mr. M.
What rendering engine do you use, or just straight render from Sketchup with Photoshop postwork?
Have a great week!
_KN
Thanks, Ken, but please, just call me Steve.
No rendering, no post-processing. Just a SU model. Raw, basic and unedited.
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@unknownuser said:
No rendering, no post-processing. Just a SU model. Raw, basic and unedited.
That is first class!
You push the prog in its last entrenchments!
Purism! 
Do you know this guy ?
he makes crazzy cars and trucks ans bicyles...! -
totally weird dood...
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@unknownuser said:
That is first class!
You push the prog in its last entrenchments! Purism! The nice words mean twice as much when they come from you, Pilou. Thanks.
@unknownuser said:
Do you know this guy ?
he makes crazzy cars and trucks ans bicyles...!No, I hadn't heard of him. I watched a number of his videos, WOW, he is amazing! Such talent, and he makes it all look so dang easy (I hate him)
@krisidious said:
totally weird dood...
Yeah it are. Imagine how weird it looked back in the early '30's.
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yes their original teardrop shape has the lowest drag coefficient of any known shape, many concept car designers are now adopting this shape.
what a fantastic model, just wow!!!
you nailed every detail. -
Very impressive.
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Thanks guys.
I just found my next project, even weirder than the Streamliner (similar in that only three were made, with one surviving). Can't wait to get started, but it's gonna have to wait a while, other stuff around the house taking priority.
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@hellnbak said:
Thanks guys.
I just found my next project, even weirder than the Streamliner (similar in that only three were made, with one surviving). Can't wait to get started, but it's gonna have to wait a while, other stuff around the house taking priority.
What is it?
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@unknownuser said:
Do you know this guy?
he makes crazzy cars and trucks ans bicyles...!Scott Robertson, of course. I have a few books from him. Working in the game/movie industry, I have to know these guys (Scott and Neville Page). They are the founders of the famous Gnomon School of Visual FX.
Steve: I look forward to seeing more of your great models.
Best,
_KN
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@olishea said:
@hellnbak said:
Thanks guys.
I just found my next project, even weirder than the Streamliner (similar in that only three were made, with one surviving). Can't wait to get started, but it's gonna have to wait a while, other stuff around the house taking priority.
What is it?
Glad you asked. It's a thingamabobbie that sorta resembles a whatchamacallit, but a little like a hootchamaflooie in some ways.
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Thought so. Sounds spectacular!
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@olishea said:
Thought so. Sounds spectacular!
Well, I don't know about spectacular, just hoping for ok. The tricky part is gonna be finding enuf reference photos of this thing to make it accurate. Seems like each vehicle I model has fewer and fewer photos available. When I get to the point where a car just has a name, no photos at all, now that's gonna be a challenge.
But then who's gonna know whether or not I got it right?
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What about this one?
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@gilles said:
What about this one?
Wow, 2 1/2 years work, $10,000 (1948 dollars), this was definitely a labor of love.
What's strange is that it says here http://www.supercars.net/cars/4688.html --
"The car was discovered in the desert pretty much intact in 2002"
Does that mean it was just abandoned in the desert? I'll have to check into this one some more.
Thanks!
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Unbelievable you're wright.
I really like your works and mind.
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For your eyes only.
http://gearheads.in/showthread.php?3415-1948-Buick-Streamliner-by-Norman-E-Timbs
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Frustrating that I cannot find any reference as to why the car ended up in a junkyard in the desert. Maybe his surviving family members didn't share his appreciation for his beautiful creation.
This was definitely a case of form over function. The only seam in the body was where the rear end of the car lifted up hydraulically (the only way to access the engine or change a rear tire). In his efforts to keep the body as clean as possible he even eliminated doors. He probably agonized over even having to add a step pad on the fender.
The cockpit could hold two people (if they were very friendly). There was no roof, and no place to carry anything other that what could be fitted in with the driver.
A misleading photo from the Oct 1949 cover of Motor Trend. She looks like she's reaching for the door handle, which would have been difficult considering there were no doors. Misleading but probably a better choice than showing her climbing into the car in that dress.
Everything I found states that he used a Buick V8 engine, but this sure looks like a six-banger to me.
I can't imagine the skill and patience it must have taken to hand form that perfectly streamlined body. Almost like he was building it to make a land-speed run on the salt flats.
Unfortunately making a model of this car is beyond my capabilities. Curved surfaces are very difficult for me given my primitive methods. Maybe someone who knows how to use Subdivide and Smooth could tackle it. Would be great to see it in 3D.
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