[Becco_UK]

Rear view of the engine assembly. The large tanks have been slightly modified including adding grooves so that the top and bottom ones clear the framework.

[Becco_UK]

One of the rear joints looks odd without some 'solder'. So using Realflow a section of the mesh is used for some 'solder' particles to interact with.

[Maximus3D]

This is looking good Becco and it has to be one of the most popular models on this forum to build. What impresses on me now is the speed at which you post updates. It's between 1 to 3 minutes between them how on earth can you model that fast..

/ Max

[Becco_UK]

The meshed Realflow 'solder' particles. All the engine assembly is ready for painting now.

[Becco_UK]

The first attempt using Realflow for the 'soldered' joint at the rear of the engine assembly, turned out a bit blobby. The 'solder' has since been reworked and all the engine assembly UV mapped using Bodypaint. With most of the pipes properly joined, the number of texture seams have been kept as low as possible.

Once I was happy with the UV mapping, Ambient Occlusion was baked using the settings shown. This AO is used as a mask for a 'dirt' in my paint software. Much greater control using AO this way.

The engine assemby in place. Marking and additional weathering to be done when all the other Eagle components are UV mapped and painted. The engine 'bells' still have some work to do, including adding a Saturn V kit part inside each 'bell'.

[Becco_UK]

The side pods start to get built with a simple shape (a modified cube). Seing this reminds me of 3d graphics in the 1980's - few polygons and few colours!

[Becco_UK]

The side pods have panelling and model kit detailing. One kit part from the 1/24 Scale Gemini kit has a couple of angles that look better if reproduced as accurate as possible. A few rough photo's help with this.

[Becco_UK]

Side pod with the panelling and model kit parts added.

[Becco_UK]

From the rear.

[Becco_UK]

A render of all the bits made so far. The mirror tool is fine for some things but some model kit parts look wrong if they are mirrored so they are copied and posisitioned seperately. The Saturn V kit parts gets modelled and added inside the engine bells.

[Becco_UK]

Maximus3D: Thank you. The images posted are about a months' work so I don't really model that fast

In fact, the spare time modelling is taking longer than expected because with this one I'm making the 3d Eagle to be as accurate as possible - the blueprints have been a great help.

[Becco_UK]

A preview render of how the side pods simply slide into the cage structure.

[Becco_UK]

With the rear side pods added.

[Becco_UK]

Still with the side pods, they are now UV mapped and each one has their own texture map. Ambient occlusion has been baked on them to use as a mask over a light brown 'spacedust' colour. Also, I've spent time reducing the polygon count of the 'cages' by selecting and 'melting' loops. Doing this has lowered render time polygons by almost 12,000 so that was time well spent.

[Becco_UK]

All the side pods in place - it would have been nice to have 'mirrored' those but that was not possible due to panelling variations. Markings and weathering to be added another time.