Project Suggestions

I did some research into making lower poly 3D car models. The good news is…After watching some Blender car making video tutorials I feel that I’m more then experienced enough at this point to get the job done. Now for the bad news. In order for me to make these 3D models I’ll need blueprints of that car. At the very least I’ll need pictures of the car taken from the side, front, back and top. Now while there are some blueprint sites out there, there is not nearly enough blueprint material of the era of cars I want to model. This is probably the same reason why you seen no car models from the 1930 and 1940’s, the reference material is simply not there. You would think that in the age of the internet the information would be available. The only way I seeing this happen is by become a car show nut. With camera in hand, going from car show to car show, taking pictures of the cars I want to model. Even then I won’t be able to get a top view pictures of the cars. The question then becomes -is it all worth it? From my perspective, no not really. So for right now this idea will be shelved.

Found this within a minute
http://www.motormayhem.net/model-a-ford-reference-page/body-specifications/
multiple plans and dimensions of ford A's from 1931
perhaps this is the reason why we have lots of model A ford models in trainz and little else :).
if you join pinterest and type in 1930 car plans you will find many, I've found a 1937 Chevrolet truck and a number of others, no doubt there are a lot more from the 50s https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/599330662883195447/visual-search/?x=16&y=16&w=530&h=671


this 1937 mack truck is pretty good too there are masses of items here http://drawingdatabase.com/mack-jr-model-2m-1937/
bluesprints galore here from the 20s to modern day
https://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/trucks/mack/

its out there if you know how to find it, unfortunately pinterest seems to have captured much of the net images , and sometimes its hard to find the actual image, but it can be done if you persevere and its much less arduous than going to car shows. although probably less fun :)
i'll see if i can find some more , if i do i might make a separate thread for potential builders to find plans for cars and trucks to model
 
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There are blueprints out there. Many of those blueprints contain only one or two views. The problem is you need 4 views...side, top, front and back to make a complete render. This is due to the curves of the vehicle. I supposed a more seasoned modeler could get away with three views, but since I'm starting out I would need all four. The word "blueprints" doesn't actually mean actual blueprints in this case. It's a set of smaller pictures from different views on one bigger picture. If host then post was working I'd post an example.
 
Well Scott I don't live in Ireland north or south and stay here in Gt Britain (Scotland to be exact) but decided to have a go at building over the Irish Sea. It depends on how strict you set yourself although I will say the dashed project is taking long because I want places to look what they are! I have built the six lines in the North and am doing a main line over the Border and two lines off it all the way to Dublin. Have a look at my Trainz site but I would suggest when searching for it you do it through MSM as for some odd reason the site wasn't showing properly in other ways.....

www.northernirelandrailwaysim.moonfruit.com

Bobby
 
Well Scott I don't live in Ireland north or south and stay here in Gt Britain (Scotland to be exact) but decided to have a go at building over the Irish Sea. It depends on how strict you set yourself although I will say the dashed project is taking long because I want places to look what they are! I have built the six lines in the North and am doing a main line over the Border and two lines off it all the way to Dublin. Have a look at my Trainz site but I would suggest when searching for it you do it through MSM as for some odd reason the site wasn't showing properly in other ways.....

www.northernirelandrailwaysim.moonfruit.com

Bobby

How historically correct are those routes?
 
What about a major self-challenge such as DEMing a large section of ground from somewhere on the Earth, inventing a reason that a railroad might need to be built, and testing your own knowledge and abilities by designing the railroad to fit that purpose? Then try it out operationally in Trainz.

My attempts to create a route are quite crude compared to what others have shared, so I consider myself a novice at Trainz. I'm even worse at Blender. I did run across a challenge when running rails up a canyon in a DEM, that historically never had rails. One section of the canyon was too steep to get any workable grade. I gave up.

Thinking about it later, I recalled that some of the most unique sections of railroads are where they had to do something unusual to alleviate a steep grade. The Tehachapi Loop is a mild example. Canada's Spiral Tunnels are a more extreme example. I'm not very good at making graceful curves, so I didn't re-visit the challenge, but it was interesting to see that uncooperative canyon in a different light.

Getting a little closer to the original topic, it amazes me how much there is to learn and do to create a really nice route. It is hard for me to imagine how someone who has mastered nearly all parts of the process would feel.

Still, is there any part of the process that you enjoy the most? Perhaps you can find a way to spend more time in that area. (I guess this isn't much help. Sorry.)
 
Still, is there any part of the process that you enjoy the most? Perhaps you can find a way to spend more time in that area.

Even though I dismissed the car (automobile) creation in an earlier post, It's seems to be stuck in my head for some reason. I can't help but think that once I get into it, I may like it. Still pondering on it.

I wouldn't mind taking a shot at making Speedtrees, but I know nothing about trees. I know what a maple tree looks like...and I know what a birch tree looks like. Beyond that I'm lost.
 
Thinking about a model railroad type of Trainz layout, What would a route creator look for in a model railroad design? I need some thoughts and theories. What to model? How much to model? How many tracks? How big should the layout be scaled to?
 
Scott,

Firstly regarding my large Irish project it is modern and based on the present. Northern Ireland was the worst part of the UK for losing passenger rail and I decided on a Trainz boost!The 6 routes I have built on the ulster side of the Border are as they are right now. I even flew over to Belfast and bought a railway runabout ticket. Just muse - I flew from Glasgow because o fa a Trainz project staying in a Belfast city centre hotel as a base. My two routes over the Border Irish Rail is an even bigger challenge yet again. Doing slow scenery all the way to Dublin and added one of two routes off that service of the Enterprise Express.With the odd train seen it is a fairly obvious modern thing and i am trying to get away from too much detail slowing me up! So in the end I will have 8 routes on the Emerald Isle for the NIR and IR. My only doubt i the Bavan branch in the South off the main line as it is limited goods only but we will see once i am done.

I just hope I have not got like Caesar and got too ambitious but spent many holidays in Ulster and decided i would have a bash. So all going well in my ambition in central Dublin there is an opportunity for extensions elsewhere if people in the mind for it but everything is modern!

Regards from the great city of Glasgow.

Bobby
 
Specking of cars (autos) or trucks. There are no cars in Trainz that date from 1910 to 1930's. The early years are so forgotten.

1907_Macdumptruck-vi.jpg


Like that.
 
Specking of cars (autos) or trucks. There are no cars in Trainz that date from 1910 to 1930's. The early years are so forgotten.

1907_Macdumptruck-vi.jpg


Like that.

It's my guess that there is a lack of good reference pictures/blueprint picture setup for this era. I wouldn't rule any thing out. However, I'm still looking into the car making idea. My favorite era of cars is the "rocket fender" era of the late 50's early 60's. The American car manufacturing companies out done themselves in that era.
 
Specking of cars (autos) or trucks. There are no cars in Trainz that date from 1910 to 1930's. The early years are so forgotten.

1907_Macdumptruck-vi.jpg


Like that.

Have to correct ye Don, there are a number of AA stakebed fords, and model A cars,there's a model B Ford, but its rather a hotrod, not prototypical. there are also model T's and pencil42 has done some lovely macks and a Dodge, but there are huge gaps, no six wheeled trucks of any sort and a huge dearth of cars.

BTW the blueprint drawing you inserted in your other post is the one that pencil has already done a few months back, fabulous model heres some model A's and a model T I'm using on Uintah railway
VmerU4I.jpg
and this is pencils mack
PMUi0hR.jpg
this is the sort of Truck nobodies ever made so far but getting blueprints for one like this would be tricky
JSbssVO.jpg
 
Earlier post to this seems to have gone AWOL...

So tl:dr, think outside the box. As suggested earlier a fictional route in the Himalayas perhaps up to Everest base camp or similar in Kashmir from Skardu to K2 base camp. See how many spiral tunnels or zig-zags it takes. Perhaps give Iceland a railway! Or find a local miniature railway (model engineers) with an interesting track plan and do a proto size version of that!
 
Earlier post to this seems to have gone AWOL...

So tl:dr, think outside the box. As suggested earlier a fictional route in the Himalayas perhaps up to Everest base camp or similar in Kashmir from Skardu to K2 base camp. See how many spiral tunnels or zig-zags it takes. Perhaps give Iceland a railway! Or find a local miniature railway (model engineers) with an interesting track plan and do a proto size version of that!

At this point it seems to be a tossup between making a railroad model type layout (exact subject unknown), or get into full time vehicle creation.
 
How is it that when I look for these kind of reference pictures, I usually come up empty.
It may be you are using the wrong search terms, I've found you have to be a bit creative. Did you check out the links I posted before , lots of leads on those results to other possibilities, also signup for Pinterest as they have cornered search results which are most fertile . I think it's all due to googles search alogrhymns which prioritise Pinterest and exclude other possibilities . It seems you can only get these results on the search engine by using that avenue . It's very annoying.
 
It may be you are using the wrong search terms, I've found you have to be a bit creative. Did you check out the links I posted before , lots of leads on those results to other possibilities, also signup for Pinterest as they have cornered search results which are most fertile . I think it's all due to googles search alogrhymns which prioritise Pinterest and exclude other possibilities . It seems you can only get these results on the search engine by using that avenue . It's very annoying.

You are most likely right. You would think that in this age of information certain content would be easier to find.
 
At this point it seems to be a tossup between making a railroad model type layout (exact subject unknown), or get into full time vehicle creation.
Do whichever you enjoy doing the most. If you like both equal, well, you could do 2 projects. A RR/layout in the time period of the stuff you're creating.
 
Do whichever you enjoy doing the most. If you like both equal, well, you could do 2 projects. A RR/layout in the time period of the stuff you're creating.


I think I'm closing in on what to do. I've decided to do both....well, kind of. I'm currently looking for a model railroad diagram that looks interesting. When I start that layout, I will take some time to try making a car to see if I'll actually like it.
 
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