Rescued from the wreckage

When I started the project, the first thing I wanted to model was the iconic radial engine. That was what attracted me the most to this aircraft. The challenge on researching, building and optimizing it to be used in a game was very exciting.

I spent hours modelling every detail. I had a lot of fun. After that, the rest of the body. The biggest problem I had was the small air intakes in the nose and the side engines. I had to investigate all sorts of processes to deform one mesh to follow the shape of another...At the end I thought it did look the best I could manage. I spent countless hours with every part, the wings, the wheels...

It was when I started working on the window on top of the cabin that I decided to clean up a bit the folder I had been working on. It had become a bit of a mess. I always save my work in incremental file names "Trimotor_135_whateverIamdoing.blend" and had too many files all over.

I started deleting all sort of old files and folders. I was so convinced I had chosen the right ones that I emptied the bin without thinking twice.

I opened Blender and looked for the last recent file... It wasn't there...

I looked for the files, gone. I realized that the folder with all the modelling files was inside another one that I had deleted...I couldn't believe it. All that effort gone. After so much work, I was conscious not only of the time I had invested but also was able to better estimate the time that I still had to invest. Was it worth the effort? I considered giving up.

I searched online for file recovery software. I managed to find one. I gave it a go....I searched for deleted Blender files...

I was lucky enough to recover at least one file, but it wasn't the latest. I had lost some work but it was not a big deal. I actually think it was a blessing in disguise as it forced me to remodel the cockpit roof and the air intakes. I was never too happy with them. The second time round I made them as I should have the first time.

It wasn't a great experience but I learnt from it. Now I name folders a bit better and I have an external hard drive where I back up EVERYTHING and will keep it there until the project is done.

I am glad I didn't give up and carried on. The time I estimated I still had ahead of me was nowhere near the amount I ended up investing. It probably was three times as much at the end but it was worth it.

A long journey starts with a small step and all you need to do to get to the end is keep making small steps, one at a time, even if you momentarily stumble.

I am very proud of the final result and I hope you will enjoy it.