Looks great. Apart from the wing bracing (and this is from my aeromodelling youth, which is some time ago)you might want to think about a bit more fuselage bracing too. After all, there's an engine to go in there (lots of torque), a fuel tank, an RC receiver and a couple (or more) servos. That last lot might not weigh too much, but they'll put a large inertial strain on the airframe in a tight turn.

The centre of gravity (if I remember rightly) should be on the centre line of the wings when the model is fully loaded, so I think it makes sense to have the fuel tank right on that spot.

Hi all - no, I haven't forgotten this or given it up. There's just been so much else to do - like finding a good application to put all of the models into (it's definitely grown from the church to the entire village). Anyway, it's going to be either Unity or Irrlicht, depending upon whether I can bring myself to learn the scripting language for Unity. Does anyone have any experience with LightUp for Sketchup? It looks good - but is it good enough to buy?

As someone once said, I shall return!!!

Mike

PS - @Gaieus - that is one heck of a model!!!!!! I'm taking notes and pinching bits. Hope you don't mind.

Hi Tinanne - I have a huge collection of photos of the church, and I'll put some up here. Unfortunately, the "interesting" bit is the most difficult to photograph - I had to get into some pretty precarious positions to get what I've got. However, the interior is fully accessible, and the north aisle and half the nave are perfectly preserved Norman through and through. I'll get to the photos in a day or so.

Gaieus - yes thanks, I found your cross vault and I have definite plans for it as there was a huge great cross vault holding up the original tower over the (would you believe?) crossing.

At the moment I'm playing with the flip tool and finding out everything the Move tool can do (!!!!!!!!!), so there's not too much modelling progress - that'll also be in the next day or so. I also have to decide just how ornate a West Door to put in - there's no trace of that left, so I have to guess. Oh, the vicissitudes of creativity!

Mike

Well, there is progress. After several false starts and attempts at different ways of doing things, I have a movable scaled floorplan within Sketchup and I have a 10-foot thick raft which I can sink into the terrain model to account for an 8-foot slope and to provide me with a floor. Now, this may not sound like much, but to me it's a huge step forward. I'm congratulating myself - although I don't understand why I can't erase the seam at the back of the apse end. However, that's not too important at this stage. I think I'm going to take the advice given and build a solid version (which will do fine for distance shots) and a separate interior (only because I think the solid version may be quicker and give me something to play with while I'm struggling with columns and windows).

I like this Sketchup thing - it's giving a middle-aged (oh OK - old) man a lot of pleasure.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys - and for the advice, Paul. Luckily, I have a host of scaled drawings of the modern version of the church which were made in the 1920s, so I don't have to get into laser technology. There were also a couple of 1920s archaeological excavations, so the east end of the church is pretty well tied down. Your point about having two models is one which hadn't occurred to me - certainly worth a lot of thought. The only point which may make that a no-no is that I want to be able to do interior renders using only external daylight through the windows. For that to work, I think I'd need at least a ceiling and, if I have a ceiling, I may as well have a roof. Or am I thinking way off-beam? I also want to animate the development of the church - basic Norman / tower addition / south aisle widening / Dissolution demolition - which took place over a few centuries to arrive at what we have now. But you've given me lots to think about - not least the floor. I hadn't even considered a floor!!!! I was just going to start building on the ground plane. DOOOHHHHH! I'll put that one down to a senior moment, if you don't mind.

Mike

Hi all - I hope this is the right place to begin this thread. I've wanted to do this model for a long time now. Anyway, here's the floor plan of my home village church as it was in 1090 or so. The tower on the left-hand side is a later (13th century) addition, so that has to be replaced with a full-blown dogtooth doorway. The only bit still standing is the northern gallery - the rest having been substantially altered by well-to-do villagers or, in the case of the apse end, demolished by Henry VIII. It's reconstruction time, then. I've worked out how to place the floor plan to build on top of it, and I've made myself au fait (well, that's a slight exaggeration!) with how Sketchup works. So, this is my commitment to getting the model actually made. Hopefully, I'll be posting progress as and when (I'm sure it will be slow). Promise not to laugh too loud.

Incidentally, any information on Norman roofing techniques would be gratefully received.

Mike

Oh - I forgot to mention that there's a whole monastery to be attached to the side of the church - but that's for later - much later.

Thanks for that, Gaieus. I've looked at your church, and it's left me with my mouth watering. If anything was going to confirm I'd made the right choice, that church was it - and it appears to have a lot of Romanesque features, so I can learn a lot from it.

Pretty good work!

Mike

Hello all ...

I'm Mike, and I've been looking for an easy-to-use 3D modeller for a year now ... looks like I've found it! The reason for the search is a need to model my village church as it was when it was first built in the 11th century. I have the floor plan - now I have the ability to build on it without getting severe headaches.

I'm looking forward to this. Hope to get to know you all ... Cheers.