Refine the Curvature of the Nose

The nose of the fuselage is flat on top. Making it a bit more rounded improves the airplane’s appearance.

Set up the lesson:

1. Continue working on your scene from the previous lesson or open \modeling\p47\p47_cockpit_complete.max.
2. If you open the file, select the P-47.

Improve the curvature of the top front portion of the fuselage:

1. Click and Ctrl+click to select the three ridgeline edges in front of the cockpit, and the ridgeline edge immediately behind it.
   Tip: Use region selection for the small edge where you reinforced the front of the cockpit. If you select an edge by mistake, use Alt+click to deselect it.
   
2. Move these edges up vertically a bit, to make the fuselage more rounded. Use View coordinates for this transform.
   
   

   Front view

Increase the curvature at the top of the engine cowl:

1. Switch to the (Vertex) sub-object level.
2. Click and Ctrl+click to select the three vertices along the top of the engine cowl.
   
3. Move these vertices up a bit, as well.
   
   

   Front view

4. Click (Vertex) to exit the Vertex sub-object level.
5. In the Perspective viewport, zoom out and press F4 to turn off Edged Faces.
6. On the ribbon Edit panel, turn on (NURMS) once again.

   Now the fuselage is convincingly rounded.

   
7. Turn off (NURMS).

Save your work:

• Save the scene as p47_fuselage_finished.max.

Next

Set Up Smoothing for the Fuselage