Roderic's Works

I am attempting to build a steam locomotive, following the tutorial on the Steam4me website. The above masterpiece is supposed to be an LSWR B4 0-4-0T. All I can say is that it goes, without boiler or cylinders, and couples and uncouples beautifully, without any couplings. I am stuck on the buffers at present. This is as character building as having toothache.

Here is is a Billinton D3 0-4-4T being built at the same time.

Go for it, Roderic!

I made the buffers and learnt a lot of new things. I am following instructions, but I think I would prefer to make separate parts, texture them, and then fit them together, saving each part for future use.

The loco couples well and buffers up well at the front, but there is a very slight overlap at the rear end, which needs to be adjusted. I learnt a lot about this too and made notes. Quite a performance it was, going backwards and forwards in Norwood yard coupling up to Darwin Smith's reliable coaches.

That's the way I approach my wagon and carriage building. It saves a lot of time when you can use standard parts in more than one model! Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Alec. I thought that was probably the way to go. R

Easy to save parts.
Just click Parts and choose Create Part File Merge List.

This not only creates a list but copies each part into your chosen folder.
Always best to texture as you go. That way you can identify parts more easily and discover part textures you misses out of the ace file.

You do not need to make everything - most of us are willing to share parts and textures.

I wasn't aware of that and need to see exactly how it works.

For myself I currently create the basic parts for a particular set of carriages; e.g. wheels, axles, hook, buffers, roof, etc. I then put them together as a starter for each individual carriage. The basic element can then be copied into all relevant carriages. I then work up the items that are specific to a carriage; e.g. ends, partitions, seats, sides, vents, etc.

As is usual we all develop a routine that we are comfortable with and in my case it has worked pretty well.

Thank you very much indeed for kind words and encouragement. Thank you, Ian, for the idea of sharing parts. I should like to try to make everything myself, but I might trouble you for the odd rivet or screw-link coupling. Textures could be difficult. I am going to Sussex to spend a weekend on the Bluebell, which should help, but how to acquire a picture of a boiler backhead I do not know. There are images on the web, but I should have track down the owners and ask permission to use them.   I shall use Darwin Smith's cab views.

Steady progress at the works on new locomotives.

My other job this week is as a juice bloke on the London Bridge to Crystal Palace run.

I have got these units fitted with a four-notch controller and the non-self-lapping Westinghouse Automatic Brake, giving, I hope, realistic acceleration and braking. The sound has also been modified. It makes a change from thundering down the line to Tonbridge with a King Arthur or steaming around Sussex with an I3 or a Wainwright D.
Roderic

Here is my attempt to texture as you go: not quite right yet, but at least I have managed to shape the ends of the valence.

Steady progress with this creation, but we have got to persuade the coupling rods to work.
Roderic

Slow progress here: I seem to have to do everything twice before I get it right, and I have been away in Sussex photographing bits and pieces for texturing.
Roderic

Only twice! I'm impressed as initially I expect to do certain parts at least three and it's taken me four efforts just for the sides to the LNWR King's Saloon!

Thanks, Alec. It is a great comfort to know that someone of your experience has to re-do things. Actually I had four attempts to get the buffers right but, fortunately, I had saved each component as a separate part, so it wasn't too difficult to alter things and reassemble a buffer.

Roderic

RIGFindlay wrote: . . . but, fortunately, I had saved each component as a separate part, so it wasn't too difficult to alter things and reassemble a buffer.

Roderic

That's how I build up all of my models, trying to get each component something like; e.g. buffer heads, buffer shank, etc. and similar for wheels and bogies. To me it's all part of the enjoyment! You then combine all the parts to create the final model - just like an Airfix or Revell kit. It means if you do discover a mistake it's a lot easier to amend one small bit and adjust the final model to suit.

This creation is coming on, following the Steam4Me tutorial. The rods are successfully animated. I think I will make the buffers from separate parts, textured as I make them.




Slow but sure progress here. Darwin Smith kindly supplied the driving wheels, which have yet to be lined.

Roderic

It's all looking good, and I shall continue to watch with interest.

What should I do about shine? The cab front and rear, inside and out are all Alphnorm at present. If I attempt to make any part anything other than Solidnorm or Alphnorm, the Sim crashes. I should like to have some parts half bright, for example.

Roderic

Unfortunately I only know what I know, but in order to get an alpha effect it's necessary to create an alpha channel for the relevant ACE file using TGA Tools. Sorry if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs!

RIGFindlay wrote:

What should I do about shine? ..............Roderic

Have a look here :

http://msts.steam4me.net/tutorials/supershine.html

Thank you both. The Steam4Me tutorial is very interesting.

Roderic

Steady work on this machine. Better coupling rods are needed, and better textures and lots more parts to be added. Much time has been spent seeing how other people do things, making notes and working out my own preferences. Roderic

Your work is showing great promise, and I'm impressed as to where you have reached.

Thank you, Alec. I am deliberately going slowly and trying to work out the most efficient way to do things so that future work should be easier.
Roderic

Steady, but rather slow, work on the D3 0-4-4T.
Roderic

I have two Wainwright Cs in Southern livery ready to upload: one in black, lined green, and one in plain black. I have Danny Gilbert's permission to upload them, but I should like to show them to him before I upload them, and he has disappeared off the map. Could someone kindly put me in touch?

Roderic

Hi Roderic,
You have a PM

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged,

Thanks.

Roderic

Still plodding away at building a locomotive.

If I make a taper on the driving wheel treads, when checking part geometry, I get an error: non-planar polygons.

Is that fatal?

Roderic

I have been working on this locomotive for some time. One problem is the black line on top of the boiler and buffers. Darwin Smith suggested wrapping the texture, but I failed to make that work. Paul Gausden's E2 is standing alongside to remind me how things should be done.

Any suggestions please?

Roderic

Building this has been a long slow job. I hope to speed up a little with more experience. Reading the forums on UKTrainSim, I see that all our eminent loco builders have been through the same traumas as I have and lived to tell the tale.

It would be extremely helpful if someone could explain what an object is and a sub-object and a primitive. Apparently I have an oversized primitive in the extras I have put on using FreightAnim. Fortunately ShapeFixer fixes it.

Is a vertice the same as a point, and what is a node? The  Americans talk about nodes.

About the only thing I understand is a polygon. That is as far as my knowledge goes.

Quite chuffed that I managed to fix three brass plates which I photographed at Sheffield Park: one on each splasher and one on the Westinghouse compressor.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I want to build a D3 0-4-4T, which I have started, a rebuilt Stirling F1 4-4-0 and a few others.

Roderic

Nice ! I like the crisp lining - well done !

I have actually completed a locomotive. There are more bits and pieces I could put on, but I am not pushing my luck. I shall not be uploading it for a few weeks until it has been thoroughly proved, and there are bound to be some small improvements to be made.
Darwin has offered to modify the eng file for Open Rails.

Roderic

Working on a batch of Stirling/Wainwright F1s

Steady progress with the F1s

This is nearly ready to upload. The eng file needs some additions for Open Rails, and it needs someone to test it.
Different locomotives had a variety of fittings at the front end at different times. This is as in a photograph of 2517 in Southern days.

Complicated lining on the F1. Room for improvement. Some F1s did not have lining on the coupling-rod splasher: others did. What is the proper name for the coupling-rod splasher?

At long last I have uploaded a locomotive to UKTrainSim. It is the Southern Railway E4 that I have mentioned before in these pages.

Hi Roderic,
Thanks for the E4
I've no idea of the performance of the real E4 but this one is very sprightly (?rather too sprightly?) in MSTS but a little more sedate in Open Rails.

No problems coupling and uncoupling  (default Scotsman coaches) front or rear.

When installing the loco, the installer requested to overwrite 20+ files. These must have been in the common.cab and common.sound folders.  The only concern I have is that if any of those files have have been modified, what effect would it have on other locos using them?

Well done, Sir!

Cheers,
Ged

G'day Roderic,

Congratulations on the release of your first locomotive - WELL DONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should also upload to TSSH file library.

Brian

I didn't modify any files that would be used by other locos, so there shouldn't be any trouble. The sms files the E4 uses  are separate ones I made by copying and modifying two of the existing sms files. Incidentally, the AI version of the E4 should whistle as it approaches a station or stop signal and when it moves off.  I believe that the instructions said overwrite the folders but not any files, but I might not have made that clear.

I did wonder about the power output and I may well have got it wrong, but I have found that I have to work it hard to keep time.

I am not sure how to upload it to TSSH, but I hope to find out.

And as if by magic, it has now appeared on TSSHFH!

Well not quite magic, but I have downloaded it from UKTS and uploaded it to TSSHFH.
I am still trying to get my head around a few of the file hosting kinks, so at this point there is only a limited access for individual uploading.

Regards,
Justin

Excellent. Good magic.
Roderic

I have uploaded another E4 to UK TrainSim. It should be available soon.