DEV Community: Maciej Cichocki

DEV Blog #3 - 25 hours...

Maciej Cichocki — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 09:40:56 +0000

25 hours...

I spent over TWENTY FREAKIN FIVE HOURS creating a single part of the engine cover. And you know what?

I beat that monster!

During those 25 hours of wrestling with this damn part, I wasn't frustrated for even a single minute.

It actually reminded me of 2 Fast 2 Furious: Tokyo Drift, when Sean is learning to drift with Han and all he keeps hearing is:

That's exactly what was playing in my head every time I deleted the part and started over, trying a different approach.

Again.
Delete.
Rebuild.
Learn.
Repeat.

Turns out that's how progress is made.

Again!

DEV Blog #2 - First 3D model

Maciej Cichocki — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:16:27 +0000

I spent a long time thinking about which aircraft model I would like to build first. I considered the “classics” - the Spitfire and the Bf 109, but I decided that since this is supposed to be an adventure, I should take it a step further. My choice fell on the Fokker E.III.

Why this particular idea?

A simple design, with not too many elements that at first glance seem “complicated” to create.

Where did I start?

I spent a good two days searching for information. Encyclopedias, documentaries, articles, historical photographs, replicas, museums. I now have hundreds of photos (over 400) and several different reference files.

I think almost everyone who starts their journey with Blender knows this view.

How did it go?

Awful! I created the first cockpit shape, but I wasn’t happy with it, so I started looking for and trying other approaches.

Before I reached a reasonably satisfying result, I spent several good hours refining the fuselage. I still wasn’t 100% happy with the outcome, but I gave this part an 83.6% approval rating and decided to move on. Next up: the metal engine cover…

DEV Blog #1 – The Journey Begins!

Maciej Cichocki — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:24:49 +0000

Hi,

finally! I've been waiting for this moment for the past 2–3 weeks, and I'm excited to share this journey with you.

This blog is, in many ways, a personal journal where I'll be documenting my thoughts, experiences, and lessons learned throughout this adventure. Additionally, I want it to serve as a source of motivation for me during moments of doubt, because I'm sure there will be plenty of them along the way.

But let's start from the beginning.

It all started rather innocently. As a kid, I spent countless hours building model airplanes and ships. Now that I'm a bit older, nostalgia has started to creep in. Unfortunately, because of my current living situation, I can't really return to my old hobby in the traditional way. So instead, I decided to "build" models in 3D using Blender.

How hard could it be, right?

I watched the first tutorial I could find on YouTube (no, not the famous donut tutorial). I made a lightsaber, and voilà!

I was ready to conquer the world!

We'll break down the beginning of my journey into several parts, because it will turn into a whole collection of topics I'd like to cover before moving forward.

And from my perspective, which is still relatively fresh, I can already see how many mistakes I made along the way that led me to where I am today.

I wasn't really sure how to start this series, but I just wanted to say Hello to all of you!