The portion of the tail that rises above the fuselage is technically known as the “vertical stabilizer.”

Set up the lesson:

• Continue working from the previous lesson.

Begin extruding the vertical stabilizer:

1. Go to the (Polygon) sub-object level.
2. In the Top viewport, click and Ctrl+click to select the two faces on the top of the fuselage, from which you will “grow” the upper part of the tail.

   

3. Extrude these faces upward as far as the first hinge of the rudder.

   

   

   Front view

4. On the ribbon Align panel, click (Align Y).

   3ds Max aligns the two polygons so they are level.

   

   

   Front view

   NoteThe axis in which you need to align faces depends on how you created your geometry. In this case, the fuselage began as a cylinder built in the Left viewport, so aligning to the Y axis makes the faces horizontal. In a different model, you might have to experiment to find the axis that works.
5. In the Front viewport, scale and move the faces along the X axis to match the outline of the tail to the blueprint image.

   

   

6. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Vertex).
7. In the Front viewport, region-select the two vertices at the leading edge of the top of the tail.

   

8. Activate the Top viewport, and then scale these two vertices along the Y axis to bring them closer together and narrow the width of the tail.

   

Complete the vertical stabilizer:

1. In the Front viewport, region-select the vertices at the center of the top edge of the tail, and move them along the X axis to align them with the leading edge of the rudder.

   

2. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Polygon).

   The two faces on top of the tail should become the active selection again. If they don’t, then in the Top or Perspective viewport, click and Ctrl+click to select them.

3. Extrude the faces on the top of the tail as far as the top of the upper hinge of the rudder.

   

   

   Front view

4. In the Front viewport, scale and move the faces in the X axis to fit the tail outline to the blueprint image.

   

   

5. Extrude the tail polygons a final time, stopping just shy of the top of the tail as shown in the blueprint images.

   

   

   Front view

   As you did for the bottom portion of the tail, you will move vertices to round the outline of the top of the tail. But to get enough vertices to model the curvature well, first you add another set of edges,

6. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Edge).
7. In the Front viewport, click to select one of the horizontal edges on the forward, stationary portion of the tail.

   

8. On the ribbon Modify Selection panel, click (Ring).

   3ds Max selects a ring of parallel edges around the forward part of the tail and the corresponding portion of the fuselage.

   

9. On the ribbon Loops panel, Shift+click (Connect).

   3ds Max displays the caddy for the Connect tool.

10. Use the third control, Slide, to position the new edges roughly in the middle of the forward, stationary part of the tail.

    

11. Click (OK).
12. Go to the (Vertex) sub-object level, then use region-select to select pairs of vertices, and move them to follow the outline of the tail, as shown in the blueprint image. At this stage, you might also want to move the vertex pairs in the middle of the tail, to improve their alignment.

    

    

    

    

    

    

13. Click (Vertex) again to exit the Vertex sub-object level.

Save your work:

• Save the scene as p47_fuselage_and_tail.max.