Small collaboration job and SPAD S.XIII (new project) - June 8th, 2025
Hello everyone. It's me Antony, back with another Blog in 2025.
We are now on June 8th. The year is going by fast. The following weeks are going to be short, with a holiday at Thursday on the 3rd week of June - giving us a day off on Friday; and a holiday at Friday on the 4th week.
Now that I'm working on the new role as health community agent, my colleagues and I are visiting the families as part of our job to improve the health quality in our community and town. Things are looking good and we're enjoying in our new role.
And, again, new Nightwave chapter is still on - with announcement of its conclusion for the next Nora Mix. As usual. (: /)
Let's go for what it's important than Warframe. For this Blog, I'm going to share you the latest images of a new project I started recently and news of my small collaboration job.
On May 25, I received a message on my Facebook page from a guy in the UK, praising my Hawker Hurricane I made on Blender - that's available at Sketchfab and ArtStation. He told me a little of his grandparents' contributions for the development of the first jet engine by Frank Whittle's team at Power Jets: the W.1. In message, he made a donation request to the Lutterworth & District Museum as he's going to work as a volunteer - giving the credits to the original author for the model (with minor adjustments and corrections) for displaying as part of a 3D animation showing the Hurricane that fought during the Battle of Britain until its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine being salvaged from the crashed plane - now in display at Lutterworth Museum.
At first, my brother and I had doubts of sharing it, but we decided to share it along the textures, the Blender files, schematics and photos. Who knows in the future I plan to pay a visit to the Museum after receiving news from him on Facebook.
I'll leave the link to the Museum here in this Blog, as well the Hawker Hurricane (the 3D model I made) that's still available at Sketchfab. Still being one of the most appreciated models - with 9 likes.
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| Hawker Hurricane Mk I |
Link to the model in Sketchfab:
Link to the Lutterworth & District Museum:
Now, time for the new project I started recently. Yeah, I'll never get tired of doing this.
The aircraft of choice is the SPAD S.XIII. - one of the best French biplanes built during World War I. Let me tell its story:
The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane built by the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) as a development from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. In early 1917, the main air fighter from the French Aéronautique Militaries was the SPAD S.VII, equipped with the powerful Hispano-Suiza 8A water-cooled V8 engine and armed with a single Vickers machine gun, making it the fastest plane to confront the planes from the Central Powers. This would change with the arrival of the Albatros D.III. In response, the French designer Louis Béchereau started the development of a series of modern planes: S.XII and the S.XIII. Both equipped with the HS.8BeC. The S.XII would be introduced with a 37 mm cannon installed in the engine hub - firing through the propeller shaft. However, it was deemed unpopular by the pilots in comparison to the S.XIII - equipped with a pair of Vickers MGs. The first flight occurred on April 4th, 1917. Issues related to the engine were evident at the time, but it was soon deemed reliable for mass production. The SPAD S.XIII had some similarities with the S.VII since both were of wooden construction with fabric covering, although a bit heavier and larger than its predecessor. Later models would include a high-compression HS.8Bc or HS.8Be for better performances at high altitude. The first units were shipped to the Armée de l'Air commenced in May 1917, however due to delays related to the slow rate of deliveries, only 764 of the planned 2,230 had been delivered by the end of March 1918. The SPAD S.XIII was faster than most German and Allied planes at the time. Both the French and American air forces received the new aircraft, making extensive use in the frontline and famous aces like the French Rene Fonck, Georges Guynemer and Charles Nungesser, as well the Italian Francesco Baracca and the Americans aces Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke. Aside from the US and France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium and the Russian Empire also operated this aircraft. With the war's end in 1918, the SPAD S.XIII was shipped to other nations like Czechoslovakia, Romania, Spain, Greece, Japan, Siam (now Thailand and other Indochina countries) and Brazil. The remaining planes were used for racing and static displays at the museums. 8,472 units were built until 1918.
Here are the first images of the SPAD S.XIII.
The SPAD S.XIII looks a bit easier, with some minor things related to the schematics that I found on the Internet that are a bit off. Still, the lines for each segment from the fuselage is a bit easier to make without relying on excessive subdivisions.
The rudder was a bit tricky to make. I tried several models - with the third one being the closest thing that I could make. The engine exhaustion outlets were made with Bezier Lines - converted to mesh in order to scale the ports thin; and the wheels and the Vickers MGs were imported from the Sopwith Camel.
The wings look good, although I didn't concluded the tips. But I included the wooden pylons to sustain the upper wing to the lower one. In addition, I included the tail horizontal and elevator. The fuselage received some adjustments, especially at the end of the tail.
While I was working on the SPAD S.XIII, I decided to change its main color - from brown to beige / white chocolate color. I plan to retain the previous color for the American version of the SPAD S.XIII, leaving the beige color for the French S.XIII.
The big update is the addition of the wooden propeller. I finally got the greatest result for the WW1 propeller blades instead of the model I made for the Fokker Dr.I during the timelapse series.
Question: Do I plan to record its development?
No. Since that I concluded the series, I'm not planning on reactivating it - just to record the creation of a proper model for the wooden propeller.
With that component complete, I exported it to the Sopwith Camel and the Fokker Dr.I. I plan to render the new images of these two planes with a remade propeller.
And to conclude this Blog, more renders from the French biplane.
During the development of the propeller blades, I saved a different Blender file to make some refinements and the UV mapping for baking the textures. So far, so good.
The last components added to the SPAD S.XIII were the links for the elevator, some support beams, the segments on the engine radiator port, the fuel ports and pipes from the upper wings linked to the Hispano-Suiza HS.8BeC engine and some metal pieces attached to the lower wings.
This French biplane looks good. With only the cockpit components (seat, the stick, windshield and telescopic sight), the other strings to connect with the wings, rudder, ailerons and elevator, the roundels and a nice texture.
For the American SPAD S.XIII version, I'll paint the USA top hat on the fuselage. For Francesco Baracca's (WW1 Italian ace) biplane, the racing horse that would become Ferrari's famous logo. The French version included a seagull / storch.
Well, that's it for now my friends. I hope you like this Blog. Let us hope this year bring us new content and something different from the usual. In case I have some spare time to enjoy, I'll be working on other things aside from Blender projects and my personal things. Until the time comes, you will be surprised to see them. See you next time.
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