Atomic Systems

Following the excellent tutorial put together by Paul Gausden, I have made a start on my first MSTS loco. It is a Scottish gasworks Barclay, supplied on both 2' and 2'-6" gauges for use in retort houses. There is some detailing to do, which I am fairly confident about, but the most obvious problem is the lack of a driver when these engines have virtually no cab. In view of the limited headroom, drivers tended to sit on the handrail at the back - as on Heywood locos, "a stout macintosh is both cheaper and better for the driver" (than a cab), so importing a standing figure isn't really a possibility. How does one create a driver?

The location was the nearest I could get to a Scottish gasworks, a French sugar plant, on the splendid Haute Somme

There are plenty of drivers in the common.crew downloads.

Do a search of the forums and you'll find the links and information on how to install them.

Don't think any of them are wearing Macs tho.

Whey we'll be able to get a Dougal for WLLR!

where can you find this tutorial, is it the one on how to make a funny-lookin diesel?

I have a few human "posable" figures for 3DC I've been meaning to upload for some time. The trouble is they're a bit complex to use and I need to write up the instructions - and I just don't have the time

Basically you need to build a human shape if you want a driver.

One way is to take two photos of yourself in the pose you want as backdrops in 3DC and starting with a cube or cylinder as the torso, just work with dividing faces and use the extrude operation till you end up with the shape you need.

Beautiful work mate, I can't waitot turn it into Jack (ex Groudle glen) and the W&LLR's Dougal!

Thanks for the responses, I have decided to go for Decapod's solution, I made sure that nobody was about before arranging my mock cab in the dining room and taking the pictures. People are not as easy to do as rolling stock, but the resemblance to Frankenstein's monster is gradually decreasing. I hope to have something to show in a week or so.

Incidentally in response to brookess1, the tutorial concerned was for building the LBSCR Remembrance 4-6-4T, and can be found in 9 (I think) parts on the 3DC forum

Here is the latest position
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There are 2 main developments

i. The driver! It seems to me to improve the look of the thing, though he wouldn't win any competitions. I have had great difficulty with textures on the head and torso (jacket/shirt front), they both leave an untextured strip down the back. The shapes are admitedly complex, but is there a way around this?

ii. I have produced a 2'-6" (or more correctly 3') gauge version. This was done by moving the cylinders, wheels, motion etc outwards and halving the thing using sfm. The animation was redone and works well, but the RH cylinders, slide bars and other associated bits now give a jerk towards the centre line on every revolution. What have I done and how can I fix this?

I will produce a proper 2' gauge one - dropped footplate, as used at Granton (now Jack) once I have solved the two problems above.

Last question. The pressure gauge dislay insists on texturing 90 deg out of vertical despite being the right way around on the BMP and ACE files. What have I done this time?


Thanks for your attention