Berg's Build Log
 

Hey everyone, huge qualifier, this build log is for a 3d model. If it is felt that this is inappropriate, I will quickly pull it. As are you, I am a huge cobra fan and there will be real cobra build in my future, but until that time, this will be as close as I get :D.

There are plenty of forums devoted to digital models, but no place else could I find a fraction of the knowledge that you guys have for building a cobra.

I should really be calling this cobra inspired, not a true recreation. Without real blueprints and or a vehicle in front of me, I am basing this off of images readily available on the net (also spending time following the Kirkham skunkworks build as well as FastPatrick's scratch build). The further along I get, the more I see places where I am off. I would love and appreciate all feedback, though at this stage I can not easily make adjustments to the body. With all that I have learned in the process, I do plan on having another go at this with a more critical eye towards accuracy.


Body, hood, doors, trunk lid and base interior are getting wrapped up. Will plan on adding in the frame to the hood and trunk, and am looking for some good reference for what the inside of the original cobras doors looked like. Any help in these area would be greatly appreciated.

here are a few screen shots: (if anyone wants more detailed shots, let me know)

Playing a bit with the hood, adding in the rivets around the scoop, putting a frame on the inside. I need to adjust the hole in the hood to match the scoop, have the rivets on the inside and the frame feels too small at the moment. If anyone has a nice shot of the inside of an aluminum hood, woudl be very much appreciated.

I'm seeing some hoods with rivets around the edge of the hood itself and most without.... Was this only on some of the racing vehicles? Any direction would be fantastic.

Thanks!

playing with the wheels. 15 inch knock offs. still need some massaging and the rubber is just a placeholder.

worked on the hood a bit more, fixed the cut out in the hood and the rivets now go all the way through. Still need to find better reference for the frame and the hinge.

As always, any feedback is welcome.

Berg,
Very interesting. What software are you using?

Terry

Hey Terry, using Maya. If your not familiar, big in the entertainment industry, movies/games.

Here's a little update, starting to add in details.

Are you trying to design a Cobra just for the fun and just to have a 3D model or do you plan on doing a scratch build from your model? I will have to check out Maya. Looks interesting. I use SolidWorks2008 for work and here at home. I would like to do a complete 3D cad model of a cobra just for fun, but which one is the question. There is someone overseas that was drawing one up a while back. I don't know how far he actually got. Looks interesting. As far as I am concerned, keep it up and keep posting.
Terry

Berg..this is GREAT...I agree, keep 'em coming!

Glyn

Thanks guys, much appreciated! This is just for fun, the plan is to be able to render this out and composite it into a photo and you wont' be able to tell the difference. (in theory anyway, we will see how this goes).

tcrist, the software you are using is definitely a different beast. In my package, it is made so that everything "looks" pretty. You wouldn't use this date to produce an actual car. Your tolerances have to be tight, mine, they only need to look tight, a huge difference as I'm sure you are very aware.

GlyNeek, thanks for the encouragement.

Seriously, if you guys see something that I'm missing and getting wrong, speak up please. I have long ago learned to separate myself from my work and accept stiff criticism. I would definitely not decided to start posting this stuff on this forum unless I was looking for your guy's expert eyes on this.

:D

running into some big discrepancies... the flared fender appears to have a bit of a wider outside radius then what I have, but the big issue iis the panel under the turn signal. Very obviously flat on this reference image, I big inward curve toward the bottom edge on mine.

http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/cobra-post.jpg

I'm not sure how best to handle it with the brake vent there (this would require scrapping a lot of the front end and remodeling... a daunting task with the detail I have already put in.) Even if I were to do that, without solid blueprints or an actual car to base this off of, as I try and correct for that, I risk distorting other parts of the car.... Something I will sleep on and figure out a game plan tomorrow.

At this point I am completely overwhelmed at the idea of pounding out these parts in aluminum by hand... how did AC do it and now Kirkham? Insanity!

The headlight needs a bit more massaging at this point but feels to me about right. You can see how there is only half a body. I model just one half then mirror and weld when I get everything sorted. It's a nice way to insure perfect symmetry (which doesn't mean it will be correct, just symmetrical ;) ).

G'day Berg,
it's great work. You may take a look to my 3d work below
Regards
Ozgur

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...r-cobra427.jpg
i used autodesk mechanical desktop for modelling and 3dmax for rendering @ year 1999

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...d-289fia-1.jpg
here it is, my work in progress for cobra 289 fia 3d model, wings3d and rhino3d @ year 2007

Hey Ozgur,

thanks! great work yourself. Love the birdcage frame. Not sure if I'm going to go into that much detail yet....

Rhino, now that's a serious application, makes perfect curves. I know a few car modelers who swear by it. Good luck on the fia, would love to see progress as you continue.

I couldn't leave the front end knowing how off the front panel was. Not sure if anyone would have caught it, but it was defiantly bugging me. Also as expected, cleaning that created a bunch of cascading issues. Getting it all hammered out and, in the end it will be a bit truer to form.



http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/...ngFrontEnd.jpg
Here is the old front clip on the left, and the new piece that I am still working on, on the right. I will punch the hole out for the front brake vent when I'm sure I have this where I want it. After I put that in, adjustments are close to impossible without making a mess.



http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/...s_frontend.jpg
Here it is with higher tessellation. Getting there, but still needs a little more work to get the transitions solid. Attimes like these I wish I could slap on some bondo and break out the sand paper ;) (though throwing bondo on a cobra would probably get me struck by lighting!)

got most of the smoothing issues sorted on the body, though as I stand back and look at it, the "mouth" is looking too wide, almost austin healy-ish. The jack hooks are looking a bit small as are the brake vents, but these adjustments hopefully won't take too much time. Anyone have some actual blueprints they want to share? :D

http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/cobra_smooth1.jpg
(The hood and trunk are not sitting correctly atm, didn't notice till after the render, though that's just getting all the parts back to the correct points in space.)

Will plan on getting the proportions further adjusted before I start working on the cockpit.

As always, comments and feedback very welcome.

Cheers
-Will

G'day Berg,

i'm newcomer for sub-polygon modelling. frankly, it's completely different thing then hybrid parametric CAD and NURBS based applications that i've been using for long time.

quick 3d model of 289fia is part of my pet project, you may take a look at
http://picasaweb.google.com/ozgur.ta...ey=2t9bgNur68Y

Regards,
Ozgur

wow Ozgur, quite the set up, that's definitely the way to make sure your nailing the body. Mine is all based on eyeballing the model from photo reference and getting as many base measurements as I could to get in the ballpark.

Coming from an art background, I will keep plugging away and see how close I can get, I think if I had actual cad files or scan files at this point it would be depressing ;)

how far are you taking your project?

because of some relocation, i could not setup my workplace.
but, i'll start soon.

Had some solid progress. I'm feeling pretty solid with the proportions at this point, spent a while making sure all the body panels are nice and smooth. At this point things start getting fun as I get to work on the details.


http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/threequarter.jpg
forgive the spinners on the wheels off to the left, I forgot to remove them :D


http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/front.jpg
will get to the radiator and oil cooler next


http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/side.jpg
just realized in my earlier shot I had the vents facing the wrong way... doh


http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/hood.jpg
I love the rivets on the hood scoop. I see shots of cobras with and without rivets attaching the hood skin to the frame. I'm on the fence on this one... thoughts?


http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/rear.jpg
the tail end is coming along nicely. You can see the starting of the interior. The seat will be a bit of a challenge, should be fun.


http://willheiberg.com/photos/cobra/birdseye.jpg
better view of the interior. I went a little crazy on the gum-balls at the rear end and had to tub out the rear wheel wells to accommodate the monster tires. (definately not period, so I will most likely get these back to what they would have been stock.)


Will work on getting the windshield, roll bar, dash and more detail in the front end tonight. Should have another solid update soon.

cheers,
Will

Berg,
wow, what a progress on project.
if you want, i can provide you 3d 427 bodyshell as dxf or 3ds file.
Regards,
Ozgur @ istanbul

Berg...as a long time geek (PhD in Computer Science and first CIO at Dell etc.!) I HAVE TO TELL YOU...I LOVE THESE images!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELL DONE, SIR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glyn

Ozgur... that's a very generous offer, I have to admit... man... I'm torn. right now I can be comfortable with the fact that to my eye, I feel like I"m pretty close. If I get the body shell from you, I will not only find out how far off I am, but, I know I will have to go back in and fix it... Pandora's box so to speak.

but, my curiosity gets the best of me, please, if you could send the file as dxf or 3ds, I would very much appreciate it. :D

my email is mail@willheiberg.com

Glyn, we geeks need to stand together, haha. Very impressive credentials my man, your compliments carry much weight. Thank you very much!