3D modeling

Greetings to all on the forum. I used to model Colorado narrow gauge, but have been out of the hobby for awhile (ok 33-34 years). I was a member of the old Midwest Narrow Gaugers at 15 and rode the C&TS in '72, but by college ('75) my interests began to wander. The only things I've kept over the years are my Slim Gauge News (well read), a couple CRRM annuals and The Silver San Juan.

But I guess the narrow gauge is pretty hard to shake, as I've come back to modeling, but in a different medium. My job as a graphic designer has exposed me to the world of 3D modeling, as a tool for pre-visualizing packaging designs. Over the last several years, I've been finding some great prototype resources on the internet and I've decided to do some 3D narrow gauge modeling. Since it's virtual, I can throw out my scale ruler and do it full-size!

To get started, and the bottom is a good place to start, I've modeled a length of track, see pic. Just need some weeds, some rolling stock and a roundhouse wall and I'll be ready to render. I'll be working on a 3000 series boxcar and will try modeling a K-36 (!) as well. When I have something worthy, I'll post images.



I'm hoping to find some better prototype information on several things thru this forum. Before going to 3D, I want to prepare drawings of whatever I model to better understand how to build it and to be as accurate as possible. And of course, it's fun. Hopefully, others would find these drawings helpful as well, and if I can do them right, I'll make them available.

Anyway, I'm looking for a profile of a 26" wheel as found on a 3'-7" d&rgw freight truck. How many ribs does it typically have on the back side? The Maxwell drawing of the truck is apparently of a design not actually used, but still full of useful information, but little info on the wheel (nice axle drawing, however). Can anyone help?

Lots of great stuff here, I'm just happy to climb aboard.

Thanks,
Mike (bonefish)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2009 02:42PM by bonefish.