Virtual Morgan in Action (2D & 3D)

A couple of years ago a group of Jaguar owners invited the MSCCC to do a country drive with them.  In their first news brief about it they said we would have a chance to drive the North American Jaguar Club Slalom.  See www.jcna.com/library/slalom/index.php for details about the slalom.  Since you go through the set of pylons three times following three slightly different paths; an hour glass, a figure eight, then an oval, I figured I would need some visualization practice beforehand to avoid going off course.  It turned out that they did not include the slalom in the event but by that time I had already build a computer model of it.

I turned to POVray (http://www.povray.org/) to model the course, and then generate pictures at several spots around the course. I learned you can produce animations with POVray by using its clock function.  The clock's 'ticks' can be used to step through a list of coordinates of a path through the course.  Then I needed a car to drive the course, that took a couple of months of measuring something on my '59 +4 and then working out how to model it in POVray.  The result was two Youtube videos.  The car's speed is calculated using acceleration and panic stop figures from the December 1967 Car & Driver road test of a TR4A powered Morgan +4.  The maximum g's in cornering was set to 0.8g by an edjumacated WAG. The resultant course time of under 47 seconds is not a winner but it is respectable.

Here is a track marshal's view from between the start line and the finish.


http://youtu.be/zCyoyRImfXU

 The next one is the one for training to drive the course, a driver eye view in 3D using the Blue/Amber anaglyph coloring.  The driver is looking ahead to where the car will be in 2 seconds.  The gauges on the dash show a green one when accelerating and a red one when braking.




http://youtu.be/34YiFh9jmrs

Morgans in 3D!!!

A little automotive eye candy for Christmas.

When I was photographing the Mogs at the Britsh Car Day in Bronte Park last September the auto focus flashed a warning when I took a picture of one of the yellow Morgans in the row, so I shifted position a little and took a second.  Both turned out well and I wondered if they would make a good stereoscopic pair.  They do.  Cross your eyes slightly and you will see.  The people in the background moved a little so looking at them is a little discordant.

 If you have trouble getting the effect in the above picture, get two cards or envelopes. Hold a card in each hand.  Hold the right hand card so it blocks your right eye's view of the right hand image but you can see the left image OK.  Hold up the left card beside the right so it blocks the left eye's view of the left image.  Now adjust the cards so each eye can still see the opposite side image.  Now look at the middle of the gap between the cards, this will cause the screen images to merge.  Pick a spot in the image, like the windscreen pillar or a head light, and try to get the two images of that spot to overlap exactly. You may need to tilt you head at little to one side or the other to get the images to line up. Your eyes should come into focus on the screen image in a few seconds.

Otherwise:
If you have a pair of the common red/blue 3D glasses:

Or a pair of the blue/amber 3D glasses the CBC was giving away a couple of years ago for their 3D show about Queen Elizabeth II.

I know that this isn't a Morgan but its owner Al Sands is a Morgan owner, so here is his Cadillac powered Allard in 3D:

Red/Blue anaglyph

Blue/Amber anaglyph

Wooden Morgan: 1950 DHC - Week 15

This will wrap it up for my weekly progress reports.  It looks like I'll be spending the next few weeks trying to get the finish looking good.  I'm getting a lot of hazy areas and not just in the corners where I've learned to expect it with tung oil.

 

Al suggested I should not be applying the tung oil with a brush, as that puts on too much.  So I am applying it now with pieces of felt from a buffing disk, focusing on just the front right wing.  The haze there is thinning.  The vertical face of the wing had a hazy patch just behind the wheel well which is gone now after four days, but at this rate it will take a week or more to remove the haze from all of the wing.  The whole job will likely take until the new year.

Now with this only taking 15 to 20 minutes of my time each day, I have several ideas percolating through my brain for the next project. 
< Another 3 wheeler, barrel back with Matchless or JAP engine.

< Or the rare one, a +4+

 (thanks for the picture JHSII)

< My 1959 +4 with the high body style.  I have a virtual model:

(If you have a pair of blue/amber(or yellow) 3D glasses this is a stereoscopic picture.)

< Revisit the +8 with wider 40 spoke wheels:

 

< 4 seater

< Use some different coloured woods, vera wood can get a green colour when exposed to sun light. i.e. BRG without paint.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/verawood.htm
Or two tone...
.
.
.
So many Morgans to choose from.