Tomix wrote:Hmm, I should really try and get into this Hex editing. Once I get free time during the summer I'll certainly try this stuff out.
It's not actually
difficult, as long as you understand the basic principles and you have a good editor. This little box of tricks only required making one X value on the second line of the file the same for all the drivetrain files. That's literally a five minute job, and sorted the connecting rod problem, etc.
The main frame side plates were also set at different distances left and right, for some unknown reason. That's what was causing the problem with the rear wheel on one side, so I just evened those up too. Fortunately they happened to be right at the start of the body file. If they hadn't been there I probably wouldn't have bothered fixing them, simply because the Penn 462 body file is such a nasty mess that I haven't thought it worth mapping.
This one could still benefit from some tweaks to wheels sizes and spacings. The flanges for the front coupled wheels and the rear wheels on the front truck overlap each other. The wheels rims for all wheels are above the track too. Those wouldn't be hard to fix, if anyone wants to try it.
IMO, the problem with hex editing is not so much that it's difficult. It's that it's too easy, but very time-consuming if you get into detail. I find myself wanting to fix
everything just because I know I can, and if I don't I'll look at the result and think it still needs fixing. This leads to loco rebuilds taking quite a while if you have other things to do as well.