So a couple months back, I finished up a major project and was looking for something to do, and I decided to pull out one of my oldies... my old U-2, from back in 2014
Originally built, when I was stationed at Osan Air Base, in South Korea, back in 2014, this was the first aircraft that I ever attempted to physically model every panel... the mistake I made at the time, was to also model the "panel lines" between the panels, and with my software and skill at the time, it made the model very cludgy. That being said, the use of separate shading domains/shaders across the individual panels turned out pretty well.
So along with essentially a framework up rebuild, I finally figured out how add a character-rigging skeleton to the wing, allowing me to actually flex the wing realistically.
I also reverted the model back to a texture-map based universal shader, instead of relying on separate shaders for different panels, applying the weathering and paint techniques I figured out with much more recent projects (my F-22 v2, F-15, and RC-135U Combat Sent).
As it, this is where the model is currently...
... and my current environment for it.
If I'm lucky, in the next couple weeks, I'll actually get a chance to take pictures of the actual aircraft and a specific portion of the base's runway, and then I can make both it and the environment just that much more accurate and realistic looking (fingers-crossed!)
My hope is to actually present copies of the finished renders to both the base and squadron, next year, before I leave, as part of the official retirement of the U-2 from active duty service with the United States Air Force, which is going to start in mid-2025, based on current news reports.
