Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Cool project, KB.
Question: how did you do the animation in post #1?
I agree with the others: radius the transition to the roof at the leading edge. We discussed that in this trailer thread as well - concensus was you could just split some PVC (or equivalent) and affix it at the roof line.
Radius & boat tail the remaining exposed fender, and skirt it as well.
Depending on time, you could also construct tapered fairings aft of the tires as well, eg:
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Darin, I'm glad you appreciate the project.
I used Google Sketchup to draw the trailer in 3D. I used layers and animation scenes to make the sequence. It can export AVI but I wasn't sure if that would post or be web friendly. I knew animated GIF would (both) so I exported a series of JPG images, imported those into MATLAB to build the image stack, wrote the GIF with looping and frame delay settings, uploaded that to my website, and put the link in my post. Easy as pi! :b
For this project I'm intentionally not rounding the roof. There is method to my madness BION. I want to see how this shape pulls compared to a 16' Scamp which made the same trip several times behind the same truck. My guess is this will pull a little easier even without roof line refinements so I'm looking to confirm or refute. The Scamp is rounded everywhere but underneath yet separation theory suggests most of the rear must detach.
I suspect others approach this topic with a different viewpoint, which is fine. Just to clarify, I'm not really trying reinvent the Airstream BaseCamp.
Someday I'd like to see an aero shootout between all my favorite fiberglass eggs (Scamp et al) plus T@B, BaseCamp and Bambi for example, not to mention the spectrum of truck campers from 4Wheel to BigFoot. I have more ideas in my head that I would like to test out. So an ulterior motive for starting 3D models now is to be one step closer to analyzing them later.
Cheers
KB