Distracted by shiny things again...

[Gumboots]

Didn't have time for anything serious, but on a whim I had a look at the Royal Hudson. It's a rather pleasing critter on the whole but has some glitches: broken drivetrain, reversed text on one side of the tender, maglev tender that floats a foot off the track with no wheels, and a few other things here and there.

So got started on it, and ended up with something that looks a lot more like a Royal Hudson. This is only a very quick and rough bash at it, using the available 512x512 skin to see quick progress. This loco really deserves a better skin at 1024x1024.

It's a bigger and boofier locomotive than the PopTop U-1 model, which really shows when you have the two side by side. I don't know what scale PopTop did the U-1 to, or even if it's at all close to the proportions of the real thing, but I did mine at the usual 10" = 1 RT3 unit.

May finish it sometime. Probably will, if I live long enough, but don't hold your breath.

[Gumboots]

Hey I found another shiny thing!

I was looking through the 1937 issue of Die Lokomotive and ran across something I hadn't heard of before: a Canadian Pacific F2a Jubilee. They were styled in a similar way to the famous Hudsons, but to my eye they look even better.



They were fast too. The drivewheels had a larger diameter than the Hudsons and the connecting rods were very short and light. One of them set a Canadian rail speed record that stood for decades. The story is that they wanted to test the brakes when the class were new, back in 1937. So they hooked up the design consist of four express cars and let her rip. The speed reached 112 mph before they decided to hit the brakes.

Although they were built specifically for hauling short express trains, usually of four cars, they had a firebox and boiler not much smaller than the Hudsons, and a booster fitted to the rear truck. There's a photo of one of the class hauling a 60 car freight train on flat country.

[RulerofRails]

I had to look closely to see that this is the very rare 4-4-4 wheel arrangement. Interesting site you found it on, I agree that it's a nice clean semi-streamline look.

Did you see the similarly dressed "Selkirk" 4-10-2? Couldn't find a color photograph in action.

[Gumboots]

Now that's an interesting beast too. No, I hadn't seen it before. Nice find. I can see we're going to want a CPR freight/express pack at some point.

These wouldn't be too bad to do as a pack. Some of the mesh, UV mapping and graphics could be shared between models. That would cut the workload slightly, while still doing them all properly.

[Gumboots]

Might as well use this thread since it's about shiny things. So I was thinking about the Milwaukee Class A Atlantics earlier today. Very clean and simple shape, without bits and pieces all over the place. A fair amount of mesh in the streamlining, but once that's done it's basically just running gear (wheels, trucks connecting rods, etc).

I don't have comprehensive plans for one, but after thinking about it I realised I had enough information to do the job without much hassle. So then I had to try it. It works. Only took a few hours to get this far from scratch.

[Gumboots]

RoR made some points via PM. Replying here so everyone knows the score.

The Milwaukee Streamliner? Looks nice.

Hey, if you are enthused about a new engine, no harm in finishing even if it delays the car project a bit. I see all these cool models, but no way to play with them in the game. . . .

But hey, I can't make anything myself so I'm happy for what is available.

Having new engines in the pack with the cars will definitely encourage people to use it because after all engines are more exciting than cars. Just a thought.

I had thought of all that. I have noticed that after all the work I did, that Mogul upgrade pack has only been downloaded a few times, and isn't in the archives yet, and the only thanks I got for it were from you and Jim. Which is ok since I can use them myself whenever I like, but does give me the impression that regardless of what I do I'm really just messing around to please myself.

One problem with getting things finished is that really, by professional or even experienced amateur standards, I'm a beginner at modelling and skinning. I still hit sticking points fairly regularly, which I figure out ways around after trying different things. Having a range of models on the go helps since it gives several ways of looking at different problems and methods. I find each model is useful and interesting for development of skills, as well as the educational/technical/historical interest related to researching them.

And yes, cars are not as exciting as locomotives. I've recently realised that I don't have to re-skin all the cars for this proposed pack, because most people use the default cars and skins anyway. I'm so used to WP&P's custom cars that until recently I wasn't aware that most people don't use them. Even Hawk didn't have them in his installation when I made that test map with steamships. Anyway the upshot is that default skins are fine for most people, so I should skip reskinning all the cargo cars for now and use default skins as much as possible to get things going. Having decided on that I will try to stick to it, which should help progress.

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The Milwaukee streamliner came from me taking another look at a problematic area of the Victorian S class model I had started yonks ago. As a Sunday morning coffee exercise I figured out a solution, which involved using Blender in ways I hadn't tried before. Then I started thinking that the Milwaukee one would be quite easy to do. I decided to try it as an exercise to see how quickly I could do a convincing job, without having any actual plans available. The good news is that I'm getting better, so hopefully finishing things should become easier. OTOH the game doesn't need yet another express choofer in the 1930's, so I probably shouldn't prioritise it over more useful options.

I have decided on a plan for locomotives too, and will try to stick to that as well. I went through my stashed models and ranked them according to level of progress towards completion, and desirability and usefulness as an addition to the game's roster.

The 4-6-0 "Thatcher Perkins" upgrade is currently nearest to completion. It would be a good addition to the roster. It has UV mapping and skinning almost finished. These are the two most important things, since the 3D mesh and the hex coding are not big obstacles for me with my current skill levels. I've even come to like the thing too. So since that one is almost ready to roll, I'll do it first.

The next nearest to completion are the Pennsy H3 2-8-0 and the LMR Lion 0-4-2. These have the mesh and UV mapping 99% sorted. They still require skinning, but I think I can skin them pretty quickly. Both of them would be useful additions to the 19th century freight roster, and I like both of them, so it makes sense do them next.

The not-quite-as-ready-as-that-but-not-too-far-out-in-the-weeds category that comes next has a bunch of locos in it. Of these, the DX Goods would have to be the highest priority. The current 1.06 version is so dismal that I never use it, but it really is a useful and likeable choofer and I'm sure a decent version would be popular.

After that, things get interesting. Honestly I cannot be bothered fixing all the problems with 1.06 locomotives. Some of them just don't interest me, and I never use them anyway. I'm filing them under "someone else's problem", and my efforts will be going into other things.

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And now I have to go chase the neighbour's cows out and get them back in the paddock next door, then fix the fence so they stay where they are supposed to be.

[Hawk]

I have noticed that after all the work I did, that Mogul upgrade pack has only been downloaded a few times, and isn't in the archives yet, and the only thanks I got for it were from you and Jim. Which is ok since I can use them myself whenever I like, but does give me the impression that regardless of what I do I'm really just messing around to please myself.

I wasn't aware the model was ready for the archives.
Also remember, probably 99% of the folks that download from the archives never read the forums.

[Gumboots]

Yup, the Mogul and all its skins are sorted. That's why I added (Final) to the thread title. I was under the impression you were following that thread, after the comments about Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn, so just assumed you knew the score there. But what with real life and all you must have missed it. I wasn't worried since I figured you'd get around to it when you had time.

I suppose I really should rewrite the readme for them just to make everything crystal clear. It's a bit long on enthusiasm and possibly a little short on detail. I'll sort that tonight and make an updated zip, then follow the instructions here.

Cows are back where they belong, and the fence is fixed, so I can handle doing a readme and a zip.

[Gumboots]

Ok, another shiny thing on the way. This is something that just happened. I'm in the mood to clear the backlog in Blender, and get some models running for fun and inspiration. This one turned out to be so easy to finish that I just sort of went with it. It's currently at the same stage as the Vittorio Emanuele II: mesh is good to go but skinning is still very basic. I'll probably export it and get it running tonight.
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This is going to be RT3's first Australian locomotive, and will provide something different for the World category. At the moment I'm not quite sure how to set it up for stats, and will be open to feedback on this.

You can read the basics on the class over at Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Aus ... _520_class

The gist of it is that they were designed to be able to run on old branch lines laid with 60 lb rail. That's the reason for spreading the weight over so many axles. Although they are a 4-8-4 they have a nominal tractive effort in the same range as a fairly normal Pacific, in the mid-30,000's, due to the light axle loading reducing adhesion. Despite the fairly low tractive effort rating, which is really about grunt from a standing start, they were known for being able to develop a lot of horsepower at high speeds. On a main line with 80 lb rail they easily handled 500 ton trains, including over the Adelaide Hills, and on the long flat sections out in the desert were capable of 100 mph. The drivers weren't allowed to do 100 mph, but back in the days before speed recorders they sometimes did it anyway.

They were also totally reliable and pretty decent on fuel, so they're a good general purpose steamer for the 1940's onwards. I'm sure we can find a use for it somehow.

Edit: Exporting and initial testing will have to wait for tomorrow. I've thrown a bit more skinning at it instead. It looks like this now.
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[Gumboots]

Haven't exported it yet. I decided to not "do a Vittorio", and to get the mesh fully sorted first. That's done now, so exporting and live testing is next.

Skinning is still not fully sorted, but is well on the way. It still needs rivets and panel lines and some other fairly minor things, and may need tweaking for colour balance once I see it under RT3 lighting, but it's mostly done. Certainly good enough for testing, and ok for game play for the moment. It will come in green and black, since those were the colours used by SAR.
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I'm also going to use this one to live test my "Walmarts valve gear" idea, so have set up all the bits for that. This is basically a variation of the valve gear I used for the Pennsy H3, and works the same way, so it should be ok running live. Will find out soon enough.
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[Gumboots]

I've just been playing around with a couple of things in Blender, to get back into RT3 stuff, and found out something.

In the OP I mentioned that the existing Royal Hudson asset (the Bomber/WP&P one) is much smaller than expected. Turns out that this is because the model it is based on, the PopTop U1 Mountain, is scaled at about 90% compared to most models. This obviously means the P-2 Mountain (Chris Derksen's) is also a lot smaller than it should be, since that uses the same PopTop model.

If the original PopTop model is scaled up by 11.5% it's pretty close to the right proportions for a CNR U1. Not spot on, but pretty close. Still nothing like a P-2 of course. Beats me why they made this one so much smaller than it should be, but they did.

I also looked into the CPR Selkirk 2-10-4. This one seems to be impossible to find drawings for, unless you fork out a couple of hundred to the museum that holds the original factory drawings. There are some sketches and guesstimates online, but that's all.

[Gumboots]

Hmm. That's odd. Just checked the N&W Class A and Class Y6. I'm not sure, but I think that WP&P mutated the Class A from the default Challenger, and the Class Y6 from the default Big Boy.

Anyway, the result is that the Class A is tiny compared to what it ought to be, while the Class Y6 is a bit bigger than it ought to be. Lots of other things are a bit off too, of course. Could be another project at some point.

[RulerofRails]

Just checked the N&W Class A and Class Y6. I'm not sure, but I think that WP&P mutated the Class A from the default Challenger, and the Class Y6 from the default Big Boy.

Yeah, I got the same idea too. He made these back in the hex days, so great effort, but yeah, in a perfect world . . . .

[Gumboots]

I have idly thought about rejigging the mesh to correct the proportions. That, if things went no further, wouldn't be that big a deal. The problem is that I'd have difficulty not taking things further.

[Gumboots]

Well I was looking at RT3 stuffz again, and even did some modelling, but then the Blender forum went and changed its software and turned everything upside down. I didn't like the new look, and everyone was throwing ideas around, so I've been doing some custom site coding instead of RT3 assets. It's been quite refreshing getting back into CSS and design after a long break.

I should have that out of my system fairly soon, so hopefully this will mean time for RT3.