In Progress » Ornithopter

03.06.2006 » Concepts
/ Intro

For the Minimal G project I am also
creating an ornithopter. An ornithopter is an
aircraft that creates lift and propulsion by flapping
wings rather than by propellers, rockets, or jet
engines. This will be a small, single-rider ornithopter
for recreational use created in the Kingdom of
Hochebene. The pilot will lay on the mid surface
of the craft holding a control-bar. The feet will
rest behind on a foot-bar. Both can contour to
the pilots position. If the pilot lays flat, the
foot rest extends back and the control bar lowers.
If the pilot pulls back for a landing or other
maneuver, the foot rest shortens and control bar
extends so that the pilot can bend and pull the
craft.

I want this craft to have an elegant
appearance. Since it’s a civilian craft, there
will be no weapons and the wings will be more
ornate in appearance than an ornithopter meant
for labor or military use. Below is a few top-down
sketchs of what I’m thinking. I like the bat-like
wings of the first one better so will go with
those. The second sketch shows where the front
landing gear will be when in flight and the rear
fins stretched out.

As for construction, I’ll be using
miscellaneous parts for the frame as well as the
creation or many new ones from scratch. I have
a small servo motor that runs slow. I’ll be using
that to make the wings flap up and down. The pilot
will be a woman I’m sculpting from Magic Sculpt.
Since she’s a civilian, I’m thinking to add to
the elegant look, I’ll put her in a dress as if
she’s using the craft to go out on the town so
to speak. Can’t all be machines of war! As for
the wings themselves, I need a material that is
durable, yet flexible so that it flaps a bit when
the wings move. Perhaps model aircraft paper which
looks like a parchment, or some sort of clear
frosted plastic for a really unique look.

03.16.2006 » First
Build Shots

I started back on this today. I
had some of the figure sculpted while I was working
on the Mosquito as a good way to use up leftover
Magic Sculpt without wasting it. In fact all I
did today was clean-up some of the right leg and
start the left one. The figure will start off
nude until I get the proportions right then a
dress will be added.

You can see that the main body of
this craft, which uses some leftover bits of the
Me-109s isn’t very large. The wings however will
be big and besides, ornithopters should be light
to fly like a bird.

03.18.2006 » Spread
Your Wings!

The past few days I’ve been adding
more MS to get the shape of the lower fuselage
how I want it. When dry I’ll start sanding it
into shape as right now it’s a misshapen blob.
It would be easier to form the shape, but I had
the wires sticking out the back and the motor
hatch to worry about. They needed to be there
so I can get the putty on correctly, but I’ll
remove them before sanding. While that was drying
I started the wing spars and the front landing
gear. I love the front gear as they have an almost
bug-anteanna look to them. They need to stick
out that far to not hit the conrods and crank
mechanisms for flapping the wings. I added a little
spring inbetween the wheel rod and strut to make
a sort-of “shock absorber” as you can
see in the pics below. For the figure, I finished
the face I think (not pictured… doh!) and the
legs to the point where I can add the tall boots.



03.19.2006 » Feeling
Cranky

Today I did a little more on the
figure sculpt, but the most exciting part of the
progress was getting the crank mechanism to function.
I made several cranks and 2 sets of “conrods”
before I got just the right flapping. Originally
I used brass for the conrods but switched to steel
wire for several reasons. 1: it’s naturally a
dark metal so won’t requite painting which is
great since the paint is sure to chip from the
friction. 2: The steel while slightly flexible
is rather rigid and difficult to bend. That means
I won’t have as much worry about damaging the
rods. I still need to trim the excess, but I can
do that much later when I’m doing the final build.



03.22.2006 » Wing
and a Gown

At this point I have the wings nearly
done with the frosted acetate as the wing material.
I also did a lot of sanding to the fuselage and
started the rear supports for the foot-rest and
tail. The support-bars for the handels are also
in place. Figure-wise I have started the dress.
What you see below is the very early stages of
that with much clean-up and some added detail
to follow. Now that the control supports are in
place, I can adjust the wire to make the forearms,
shoulders, and neck. The tall boots for the dressy
desert crosser are still in need of clean-up and
detail as well including laces on the upper rear
and more sole details. I’m happy with the results
so far as this is my first full figure sculpt.



01.28.2007 » 10 Months
Later…

Been a while since I’ve worked on
this, let alone looked at it… but I’ve resolved
to finish up a few old projects that I’ve put
off and this seemed like a good start. I realized
that I made more progress than I actually showed
in my last update. The pilot has arms and hair
had been cleaned up and primed. It was the little
things that I needed to clean up after I primed
her that made me put the project aside for so
long… I just didn’t feel like doing it. But
now I do… I started cleaning up some of the
gaps, dents, and whatnot on the pilot, modified
and cleaned up the boots, cleaned up the hair
and reprimed. I do have some more clean-up to
do and another reprime coming, but she’s looking
good. The ornithopter itself needed a little clean-up
as well. That didn’t take long and it’s pretty
much ready for primer and paint. I added a footrest
for the pilot made from thick thread woven back
and forth on the rear frame. Here’s some pics:





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