SketchUp for RC Aircraft Design Tutorial #4

by JasonEricAnderson | October 7, 2013 | (31) Posted in How To

The fourth tutorial in the series, we start building an airplane from refrence!

  • Importing and setting up refrence images
  • Building the rough geometry by tracing
  • Editing a compnent
  • Hiding and unhiding objects

I use SketchUp version 8 in these tutorials, you can download it for free from the link below. 

Download SketchUp (Free MAC/PC)

 

Thanks zev! I forgot to include a link to the refrence file I'm using.

Piper Cub Three View

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COMMENTS

SP0NZ on October 8, 2013
What version of SketchUp are you using?
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JasonEricAnderson on October 8, 2013
I'm using version 8 primarily because it is compatible with a plugin I use to 'unfold' the model to flat plans.
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JustinTime on October 8, 2013
I don't know which 'unfold' plugin you are using but the one that I'm using works on SketchUp 2013 too. That is the version that I use. It's a bit better than the older Sketchup versions. I think mine is called jf_unfoldtool.rb.
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LordVader on October 8, 2013
Awesome! So much easier to comprehend and understand. Your tutorials are a lot better than what sketchup has. Easier to follow. Thanks so much.
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Pallyme on October 7, 2013
I like sketchUp a lot. It is what really help to start making my own plans. Now I use AutoCAD and Solid Works (college gave them to me).
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Willsonman on October 8, 2013
In my experience the majority of 3-views are NOT drawn by drafting people. They are done by artists. The draw back is you will find size discrepancies. An example is your total length of the fuselage from tip to tail will be different from the top view than the side view. If you first edit the 3-view to make proportions better in an image editor (GIMP, photoshop, etc.) you will have less frustrations when making a more scale model.

I usually set up a bounding box with my overall final plane dimensions so I do not have to scale anything later. From the box I re-size my views and orient them along each axis. In a sense I then have 3 reference images to work on simultaneously to get better precision and alignment of parts.

Great tutorial!
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JustinTime on October 9, 2013
The distortion comes from using the scale tool way to many times, as was done in the fitting of the texture tile into the pre-made 'work sheet'. I highly recommend to use the scale tool very very sparingly since it can change drastically the proportion of the object being scaled. There is a much better way to get a drawing into Sketchup and to size it, proportionately, to your needs.

BTW, I checked the drawing used, and linked above, and the length of the fuse in the side and the top view are identical.
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Krivak957 on October 9, 2013
What is this "much better way to get a (3-view) drawing into SketchUp?" Maybe I didn't follow the comment correctly. Is it another feature of SketchUp, or plugin, etc.?

BTW - I certainly don't mean to undervalue the tutorials, but sometimes the discussions in the comments are equally as educational (for all involved).
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JustinTime on October 10, 2013
SketchUp has a Import function. You use it to import what you want, in this case a jpg, and then, using the tape measure tool, you scale it to the size you want. I normally use the wing span as the determining factor.
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ringo42 on October 14, 2013
I'm using version 13 and there is no texture stuff under materials. how do I do it in 13?
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Aquanot on October 8, 2013
ahh, finaly you get to the reference image section!

great tutorials!
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FoamFlyinFool on October 10, 2013
Well it looks like I just lost all of the free time I had left :) thanks
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tallflyer on October 9, 2013
I use sketchup to design all my plans... It works real nice and is 100% free plans can be converted over to PDF using GIMP a free photoshop clone software and PosteRazor a free tile maker software program...
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Jghanson25 on October 14, 2013
YES!!! I am so glad your using a supercub as the working model for your videos! I'll just follow right along and build this one! I've been wanting to build a swappable supercub and this is just perfect! Keep up the awesome work brother! And thank you south for making this series. It is going to get some serious planes flying out there. Awesome!!!
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JustinTime on October 9, 2013
To 'mirror' a part, be it a group, a component or just a face, select it, right click on it and then click on 'Flip Along' and choose either the 'green axis' or the 'red axis', which ever suits you needs. If the 'red axis' didn't work for you undo it by hitting 'control & z' and then do it with the 'green axis'.
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JasonEricAnderson on October 9, 2013
Thanks JustinTime! I made an annotation on the youtube video to point that out. :-)
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mciro on October 18, 2013
hi jason, thanks a lot for this video - I have a question, is there any tip for efficiently drawing joints and slots for putting together depron pieces like you normally see in all depron scratch build plans?

thaaaaaanks
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JasonEricAnderson on October 30, 2013
I'll be showing how I do tabs, slots, and A/B folds. Are they like what I'm using in my OV-10 Bronco project? (in the forums)

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NoUsername on October 7, 2013
Great job and thanx for sharing.
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Krivak957 on October 9, 2013
I know this may be covered in future tutorials, but maybe someone can answer:
1) Can you change snap dimension? Currently, having problem tracing profiles because pencil tool keeps snapping too far away.
2) Can you join line segments to make a single line so it doesn't "bend" at the joint when you stretch edges of a surface?
Thanks to tutorials and comments. I'm finally making progress in design!!
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JustinTime on October 9, 2013
1) Go to 'Window/Model Info/Units' and either set the snapping to to a smaller decimal number or just uncheck the 'Enable length snapping'.
2) If it's a strait line you can either: 1. weld it using the weld plugin 2. erase the lines and redraw it as one continuous line.
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Krivak957 on October 9, 2013
Thanks, Justin. Your answer #1 was right on the money. By checking "Window/Model Info/Units" I found out that my program was defaulted to "Architecture" settings with a snap value of 1/16". Now I know where to change the values to decimal. Haven't investigated answer #2 re: plugins. Will try later. But thanks again!
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zev on October 8, 2013
thanks! here is the source file, for anyone wanting to follow along: http://themekgpproject.com/_posted_files_/P-images/piper_j3_3v.jpg
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JasonEricAnderson on October 8, 2013
Good call zev, I added a link to the article. :-)

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zev on October 8, 2013
oh, one thing, as well as middle click being the orbit tool, middle and first click at the same time switches to the hand/pan tool.
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Michael9865 on October 9, 2013
Awesome! Very informative. This should make life easier. Thank you!
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tjmarch on October 21, 2013
Great instructional videos please continue I need all the help I can get
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soundshock on October 8, 2013
Ohhh ... This is just sooo great. As for myself, i am just beginning to learn sketchup for rc plane modelling. This tutorial series comes just at the right time. Very well done and explained.

Could you please also do a tut on modelling 2D plans with discrete lenghts (i.e. this line has to be 15mm, that angle should be 60 degrees ... ) like you would need when developing plans for a cnc machine ? I would be very thankful

Keep up the good work !




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Aquanot on October 9, 2013
this would help me too
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JasonEricAnderson on October 9, 2013
The precision parts will be coming up in the next tutorial or so. I'll be showing how to do measurements as well as define a rectangle's/circle's/line's size when you create it.
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Paulobrasil on October 13, 2013
To better using the rotate tool you cam make a temporary cube near of line you want to rotate, and by selecting the rotate tool and going over the faces of it and press Shift button you will keep the axis you want to rotate, the click on that part you want to be the center of the rotation and the "lever " point .
I use this instead to change the entire view , from top , side. etc.
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Dagger_117 on October 11, 2013
Great tips on using Sketchup...I'm pretty good with Sketchup, but learned some new things on ease of use...thanks for making and posting the videos...look forward to #5

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Deric.Knight on January 26, 2015
Dude these tutorials are on point...
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fbsully993 on May 29, 2015
can you give a new link it looks like that one is gone

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JasonEricAnderson

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SketchUp for RC Aircraft Design Tutorial #4