Modeling a MiG-29S Fulcrum-C Jet Fighter in Blender

My First 3Speak Post!

Hello, again, fellow Hive creators! After a series of blogs on LeoFinance, here I am again back to being an art blogger. And not only that, but this blog is also my first post here in 3speak. For this first 3Speak post, I give you a 3D modeling demonstration of a subject that has been a favorite since my childhood days: military aircraft.

The aircraft I have chosen to model is the venerable Russian-made MiG-29 Fulcrum jet fighter, particularly the ageing Type 9.13 "Fatback" Fulcrum-C variant used by the Ukrainian Air Force, which they have extensively modified and updated into two types, and given the designations of MiG-29MU1 and MU2.

This video is the short (and fast) version. If you want to watch the longer and slower version, I've also uploaded it in YouTube. Click here to watch it.

The Russian Beauty

I'll forego the introduction of this aircraft and just give you this Wiki link if you want to know more about it. And as a US/NATO fanboy since my youth who prefers military equipment from the alliance, I cannot deny that the MiG-29 is one beautiful piece of Russian aerospace engineering.

But what made me consider this aircraft for this project was that I was blown away by the beautiful digital camouflage patterns and artwork on aircraft of some former Eastern bloc nations. In fact, this project relies heavily on reference images of a Ukrainian specimen with current digital camo pattern, and is a nod to the Ghost of Kyiv urban legend.

This is not a tutorial but a demonstration of how I block out and model aircraft in 3D. I made this video because of the numerous requests I keep getting from some of my young friends who are just starting out it in 3D.

Some of them were scale modelers too, like me, and got into 3D to learn how to create CG aircraft, cars, and military vehicles. This is my way of helping them get started.

This model will also be the basis for modeling high-poly versions of it for my portfolio. I also have plans to learn certain advanced ways of rigging, and turn this jet into a Transformer. That has been one of my ultimate goals as a 3D animator. And you get to see and read about it here, when it happens.

Resources

First type of reference image are the blueprint-style drawings seen as backdrops in three viewports of the 3D modeling software I am using to create this jet. I got them from Airwar.ru, a popular repository of such images and other resources for scale modelers and 3D artists.

Another source of reference images aside from the blueprints come from the LARGE SCALE PLANES scale modelers' forum, and in particular, the post about an excellent specimen of a completed 1/32 scale Trumpeter kit of this particular aircraft in Ukrainian Air Force livery. The model kit was assembled by a forum member who goes by the monicker of "Zola25".

A third one, also a scale modeling site is Scalemodels.ru. There is a post there that has provided me with the best pictures of a particular kit that shows me all the close-ups I need to model the hard-to-see details of this aircraft.

I cannot rely on pictures of scale models alone, so pictures of the real thing need to be in my reference folder too. Oddly, this fourth source is not an aviation forum, but an automotive one!

Below are the three main reference drawings used throughout this first part of the blocking phase. The next phase of the modeling will show even more such drawings, especially cross-sections of the aircraft to help me model the contours more accurately.

I still have a lot of work to do, but overall, I am quite pleased with how I blocked it out. More work, more blogs to post!

Model Screenshots

What's Next?

This thing still has a lot of work to be done on it. Many parts still need to be adjusted for size, position, and shape. You will see maybe four or five blogs before all the modeling on this thing is done. Then there are other things to be done too, like UV unwrapping, texture painting, and rigging.

Each step of the production pipeline means more things to record and blog about. Although the video isn't meant to be a tutorial, I see no reason why I can't make it a part of one, by writing a supplemental blog to describe things to those who are interested to know more.

And as I've mentioned earlier, this is primarily for my animation and modeling portfolio. But I've been asked if I am planning to turn it into an NFT too, and I don't know yet. But if I do decide to mint, it won't have anything to do with the war going on in Ukraine. Nor would it be dressed up as a Ukrainian Air Force jet.

And that's a wrap for now! I hope you've enjoyed this first video I've posted here on 3speak. I had a lot of fun making it, from the modeling of the jet, up to the editing of the video and audio tracks used in it. So, please smash that like button, comment below, and share it with your friends, especially those who are plane crazy.