J3A Hudson 20th Century Limited (Empire State Express)

[jpetersjr]

Haven't got any further with Paint Shop Pro yet, when I get home I'm going to try to find some directions for making a alpha channel in it. And also, not sure what version of it I have.

[jpetersjr]

Some more progress on the engine.

Got the front pilot truck made and I also made the shocks for it.

Empire State Express Progress 20 A.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 20 B.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 20 C.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 20 D.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 20 E.jpg

I must say that the locomotive is coming along quite well, better then I thought it would. Truly, I didn't think I'd make it this far.


Next is the rear truck and then I'll try to get a simple version of it running in the game, after that I plan to attempt the rods and the pistons.

By the way, for those of you wondering, this engine is an Alco, it was made by American Locomotive Company in the late 30's for the New York Central line.

[UP3985]

Looks Great! Can't wait to race it and the K4 down the NEC! Keep up the good work!

[jpetersjr]

The beginning of the seats.

Empire State Express Progress 21.jpg

[JustJim]

This engine is shaping up really nice. Looking forward to see it finished.

Jim

[jpetersjr]

Something tried to get into the file and destroy it either yesterday when I saved or early this morning. It corrupted the regular file, but luckily I had a working backup file that has recently been upgraded, so the file has been saved, luckily.

Hopefully nothing like that will happen again, if this file isn't successful this will probably be the last time I try to build a locomotive.

More progress coming up later today.

[mrennie]

Something tried to get into the file and destroy it either yesterday when I saved or early this morning. It corrupted the regular file, but luckily I had a working backup file that has recently been upgraded, so the file has been saved, luckily.

Hopefully nothing like that will happen again, if this file isn't successful this will probably be the last time I try to build a locomotive.

More progress coming up later today.

I've had that happen to me before. I save the file every 10 minutes, and with a new name at least once a day (the loco is now up version 107!). It's a good idea too in case you yourself do something that can't easily be reversed in the same file with the undo button. I speak from experience!

I've also got it all copied onto another computer and two different USB backup drives, just in case.

[jpetersjr]

The first part of the rear truck is finished. Still trying to make it cut out the holes that should be in the middle of it, it keeps refusing to cut the holes without destroying the truck. I was lucky to be able to make it cut out the holes for where the wheel supports will be. The trucks still have some work before they'll be finished, but eventually I'll figure out a way to cut the holes.

Empire State Express Progress 22 A.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 22 B.jpg

A little progress on the seats. These engines were known to have very uncomfortable seats.

Empire State Express Progress 22 C.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 22 D.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 22 E.jpg

[jpetersjr]

Finally got the holes in the trucks to cut out right and put in the center pieces that hold the wheels in place in.

Empire State Express Progress 23 A.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 23 B.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 23 C.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 23 D.jpg

Empire State Express Progress 23 E.jpg

Next I want to try to put it into the game as a simple locomotive.

[mrennie]

I suggest that the first step should be to get it into the game in a state that allows you to at least put the engine onto the tracks via the scenario editor, with its trucks and wheels correctly aligned with the rails. That will confirm that the bogie data, pivot points, etc. in the blueprints are correct. I rarely get it right first time, and when it's wrong, strange things happen (like the engine rocketing into the sky!).

If you then run the scenario and try to click on the engine (making sure you have a driver icon attached to it, of course), RW will probably hang, but that's because RW is very fussy about the rest of the engine blueprint. To make it driveable, you have to fill the controls section ofthe engine blueprint with valid data. The easiest way to do that is to open an existing engine (using serz) and copy what you find in its XML blueprint. I copied mine from the 7F steam locomotive (since then, I've modified a lot of it, but that's another story). If RW can't find the minimum set, such as throttle, reverser, brakes, etc., it will hang, because it won't have a clue what to do to drive the engine.

I wouldn't worry about animating the wheels just yet. Do the above two things first. If you get it right, the loco will "drive" along the track even if its wheels don't in fact turn.

To get the wheels to turn, you need to create an animation for them all in 3DC, export it to a .ia file, and reference it in the "anim set" in the engine blueprint, giving it a name (I called mine "motion"). In the bogie blueprints, you attach that animation to one of the axles of the bogie that represents the driving wheels. I used the axle that has the main driving wheels (they're the ones to which the main rod is attached).

[jpetersjr]

this might be the one John

Yes, I suspect that this will be the one. So far I've been learning a lot as I've been building the engine and I hope to have this engine launch a set of freeware engines built by myself, as well as later some train cars as well.

Because this is one of my favorite engines from history I have all my pride and hopes in this engine and if under any circumstance I'm not able to get it into the game I don't expect that there will be a second try at building a engine. So yes, I do believe this will be the one.


Also, were you able to get 3D Crafter working again for you?

[jpetersjr]

Hope to open this project again very soon. I hope to still get it into the game and then finish it for the community.

I'm most likely going to redo the front plow, the trucks and the main driver wheels.


But I can say that the project isn't dead.

[1225fan5358]

Yay! An upside down bathtub!!