Here's hoping things look better today.
My concern would be that you hone in on the absolute optimal shape, and then crash into the harsh reality of trying to implement it. Here's a paraphrase of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder that is more to the point:
Quote:
“The first casualty of any battle is the plan of attack.”
― Cory Doctorow, For the Win
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There're any number of ways to look at it.
- Two twisted rectangles on the sides and a trapezoid on the top.
- A rectangle at the cab, a half-hex midway and a half ellipse at the end
- Calculating a new curve every n inches
- A superelliptic progression (we haven't even talked about that one)
Each solution will be more or less suited to various fabrication methods. You might settle on a method and let it dictate the solution.
Also aerohead made this point:
Quote:
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If you decide later to do any boat-tailing,you can continue morphing that upper portion closer and closer to a circular cross-section.
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Adding even the height of the tailgate to the overall length should show an improvement.