How do you position your tractors

[JonMyrlennBailey]

to hook up your semi-trailers for big-rig static scenery?

The hole in the 5th wheel should be in center of the trailer. If the tail of the tractor is too close to the landing legs, these parts will hit when the truck makes sharp turns.

Looking at pictures of big rigs from the side, the stone guards of the tractor should protrude ever so slightly in front of the body of a van trailer.

I raise the height of the tractor so the tops of the rear tires and the 5th wheel protrudes slightly above the trailer roof to help accurately "couple" the vehicles in a proper position then lover the tractor back down to ground level again..

Also I make sure the top of the fifth wheel is level with the kingpin area of the trailer or slightly below it so the fifth wheel is visible from the side when looking at a low camera angle. I may have to raise the trailer a notch (5 cm, the smallest height increment possible for static objects) or two.

This is just another thing I fuss with in route construction so trailer trucks don't look stupid.

I wish semitrailer content designers would have mark (visible only in Surveyor) on top of the trailer content to make it easy to position the the tractor so the kingpin lines up with the 5th wheel hole.

I must have about 10,000 hours in just modding my Mojave Sub with scenery and other edits combined to date and I am still fiddling with it by putting cars in the driveways of all those hundreds of houses so my towns have that lived-in look. .

 

[nicky9499]

k

 

[oknotsen]

Do you actually want to ask something, Jon?
If so, what exactly is the question (please fit it in 1 sentence)?

I am getting the impression you are sort-of making Blog post. In that case I would like to point you at the Blog section and keep some sort of log of what you are doing there. People can still reply to you there, but at least it is clear you are not actually trying to discuss something without it being clear what.

 

[pware]

[How do you position your tractors] to hook up your semi-trailers for big-rig static scenery?

I see that as the question he is asking. I must confess that I have never even considered this issue as important but, obviously, to Jon it is.

There is the obvious solution of only using tractor-trailer units that are built as complete, not separate, assets. Failing that, if you must use separate tractors and trailers (and I can see the advantage of the greater variety that brings) then use the positioning of the tractor hookup point on that used in the complete units as your guide. That way at least, they will all look the same.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

The question should have been: How do YOU position your tractor and trailer content if they are separate units provided you use separate tractor and trailer content.

Do you have a clever if not quick method for getting them hooked up that makes them look like authentic OTR trucks?

This is a working with Surveyor question.

This is rather hard since none of the separate trailer content units have kingpins to mark the spot of the hole in the center of the 5th wheel.

I am a man who appreciates precision is his workmanship as well as attention to detail.

It is all the little trivial scenery bits and pieces that make Trainz fun, not so much the trains themselves.

 

[pware]

I am a man who appreciates precision is his workmanship as well as attention to detail.

It is all the little trivial scenery bits and pieces that make Trainz fun, not so much the trains themselves.

I agree, it is sometimes the trivial scenery items that can make a big difference even though you may be racing past them at 100 mph. I also spend a great deal of time getting the scenery looking "just right" but I also temper that with practicality and time constraints. If the scenery item is at a "fair distance" (a very subjective measure) from the track then I spend a lot less time and effort dealing with its appearance and "reality".

Closer to the track obviously warrants more attention but with something like the exact placement of the trailer "kingpin" on the tractor "5th wheel" (and I am not really familiar with those trucking terms) then as long as they all look the same I tend not to worry.

It is a matter of balancing the time and effort required with the fact that 99.999% of "players" either would not notice, would not know or would not care. But even if no-one else notices then I, at least, can be satisfied that my efforts have been the best I could manage.