Enlarging 3 views
 

I was wondering what techniques are used to enlarge 3-views for scale projects? I am looking for ways to verify plans to a specific 3-view, and also making a specific 3-view larger for designing new models. I need to be able to do this without CAD, as I do not have the software. I have many 3-views from books and many are in the 1/32 scale range.

RE: Enlarging 3 views
 

Well, the simple answer is to take them to a reprographic house and ask them to enlarge it by a specific amount.
This will make the three view lines bigger also.
I would suggest looking at CAD.

Draftworks is a free CAD program and works just like Autocad.

Import the three view, trace the important outlines and enlarge to the required size.

Its better to scan the plan, import, and then you can compare the three view directly to the plan.

Bob

RE: Enlarging 3 views
 

I've got to agree with Bob. CAD software make it a managable job. You still have the issue of line width and which side of the the line to chose, and on some where you have enlarged to the point that the line becomes a series if shaded pixel blocks of different shades, the choice can be a problem. However, once you have things sorted out a bit, then the CAD can smooth out the ragged curves, and adjust the dimentions.

An old school way was to project the drawing on a wall with a a paper to draw on. Make sure the projection is lever, IE not point up so the top is wider than the bottom or side to side. then simply draw lines on the paper, following the projection.

With either method, keep in mind that the deisgner, espically on WWII and earlier birds, would likely make the parts using standard sizes in the measurement scheme in use, IE in inches or MM, Also it is far more likely that they would use full increments, IE 2" vs 1.937". or 40mm vs 39.8mm. Keeping this in mind, it makes adjusting for poper scale easier. Keeping this in mind, I think making a full size drawing first then scaing down to the size you want.

Don't ignore photos. If you can get good quality photos that are very near on the X, Y, and Z axis, you can get a lot of detailed information, once you have a known length on that photo. In the example photo, I contacted the Shuttleworth Collection and got the measurement of the tire. It is 26". Knowing that, I can caculate the full size mesurement taken off the photo. There is some error in this method, as the camera is not going to be exactly center. and some items are going to be closer, there for larger that Items on the datum line. However, you can adjust those errors by assuming that for instance the bolt spacing is going to be 40 MM vs 38.92 that you caculated.

RE: Enlarging 3 views
 

Good suggestion on the photos, I have used this to improve the detail of small hatch's, lights etc, that can be indistinct or just plain wrong on the three view.
Bob

RE: Enlarging 3 views
 

Thanks for the info guys.

RE: Enlarging 3 views
 

Great idea if you can trust them not to make a mistake. My one & only (very expensive) trip to the repro house resulted
in the top view of the wing being 3/4 inch larger in chord than the side view. You can guess when I found the error!

Do you have a simple drawing program (I use Corel Draw)?

I scan the 3 view, save it as an image then import it into Draw then stretch it to the size you want. I then print it on
A4 paper in 'tile' mode & just stick the bits together with tape. More than good enough to build from. - John.