Need advice for Tails's Tornado Biplane

[Henchmen4Hire]

I want to make the Tornado in minifig scale, but Round shapes aren't my strong suit so I'm having trouble designing the fuselage.

Here's a ref of the plane:

(For the superfans out there, this looks like the Tornado-2 with the original Tornado's color scheme)

I'm thinking probably stacked Technic wheel/rim and gears for the nose, but I'd prefer something more interesting than that. The wings are easy enough to figure out. How to taper the plane towards the tail is also a problem for me.

Where do you suggest I start?

Edited August 15, 2017 by Henchmen4Hire

[Oky]

I'd say start looking at some official bi-plane designs such as 7307, 75901 or 60103, and then maybe look at some bi-plane MOCs others have done, like these.

Hope that helps.

[Henchmen4Hire]

Thanks, I'll def flip through MOCs.

I like the planes in those sets but I wanted to start the fuselage at about 5-wide at the nose, and part 45135 is too plain. Might have to settle for the 4-wide, maybe I'll come up with something as I go.

These are still only 4-wide.

While I really like the one on the left, and that I can recreate the grey stripe, the stacked tires just don't look good.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Henchmen4Hire

[Littleworlds]

Hmmm, this is not trivial. I think the wings could be built with bricks oriented horizontally to achieve the rounded edges. This way you sacrifice the wing profile though. There are some builder, who made amazing planes that way though.

If you want to keep a wing profile, you would have to stay with conventionally (studs on top) built wings, covered with slope tiles. That way it of course can look a bit "stepped" when you come to the edges.

For the fuselage the beatles yellow submarine might provide some useful input in creating rounded surfaces. I think a 4-wide fuselage would be definitely easier to build than a 5 wide, but it really depends on the overall proportions which variant looks right. For the nose it looks like one of the old technic wheels might be just right.

[Henchmen4Hire]

Thanks, I'll check that submarine build

Yeah, I was thinking of using plates for the wings. I wanted to keep them a maximum of 1 brick thick, so it gives me 3 plate layers to work with.

Here's a half-hearted attempt at the nose and propeller, though it looks better than anything I made so far lol:

It's 4-wide and lets me add the grey stripe detail by shifting that thin tire.

[Littleworlds]

31 minutes ago, Henchmen4Hire said:

Thanks, I'll check that submarine build

Yeah, I was thinking of using plates for the wings. I wanted to keep them a maximum of 1 brick thick, so it gives me 3 plate layers to work with.

Here's a half-hearted attempt at the nose and propeller, though it looks better than anything I made so far lol:

It's 4-wide and lets me add the grey stripe detail by shifting that thin tire.

That looks really promising. How far back will the tile piece extend? Attached only at one point might make it quite wobbly.

[Oky]

If you look at the nose on this Ideas project, the tire that was used looks about 5-wide, so perhaps you can borrow that part of the design:

[Henchmen4Hire]

@Littleworlds Yeah it's wobbly, unless I dab some white glue on the pin Might end up leaving it off

@Oky Thanks, I found it in Studio and it's 5.4 studs wide. I kinda like it, it even fits neatly over the entire nose I designed here (though just using the rim is smarter). I don't know, might be too big, I'll keep experimenting.

Quick update for the night-

I replaced the rear skinny tire with a 4x4 plate, this gives me a big, strong attachment point to the fuselage obviously. These pieces are held together with some technic pins and a bar in the center, the propeller still spins.

Here is the start of the wings, they look okay at 2 plates thick, if I make the fuselage thicker they'll definitely need to be at least 1 brick wide, as suggested. The upper wings are 5-wide, I shifted the top plate forward so it roughly has a teardrop profile like race planes. Lower pair are 4 wide and a little shorter.

[samurai-turtle]

You might find this useful.

It might not be the right scale, but it might be a starting point. 

[Henchmen4Hire]

I like where this is going, but stability and connection to the cockpit is probably an issue. Back to the drawing board :(

[yg33]

 

[Henchmen4Hire]

Here's a much more solid build:

 

 

Shifted things around to make the plane more accurate. Now the wings' studs are aligned with the fuselage so they can connect neatly on top. The bottom wings are built with a big 4x10 plate at the center, so it works like a platform to build everything else on it.

Now there's a long Technic axle running through to the nose, all the way to the yellow cone.

I like how the red [tiles with clip] look attached to the red [plate with handle]. They aren't necessary since the area they're in is built "normally", but they provide a strong connection anyway.

Thinking of somehow using the red helmet for the wheel shrouds.

Now to try and make the body look round again...