[captain_bazza]

After consulting with my fellow collaborator, I have revived the fallen K36 project for Open Rails and RSC's TS20xx. The render shows the progress to the date when the project stopped. Straight off, several fixes required by the look of it, before I continue building.

Cheers Bazza

[jared2982]

Excellent new Captain! She is looking great so far. Will the OR version exclude the D&S style stack sprayer?

[captain_bazza]

Quote

Will the OR version exclude the D&S style stack sprayer?

I'm attacted by the unusual, but the stack is whole underneather it.

Cheers Bazza

[railguy]

As its modelled, the spark arrestor and generator exhaust pipe are inconsistent. The generator exhaust as modelled is as the locomotives were originally delivered in 1925. Those were replaced with a pipe curved at the top fairly early in their lives (there may be one that has a recreation of that early pipe on the D&S--I don't recall). For all of their D&RGW lives, excepting a short period during the dry 1930's and very early 1940's (maybe 1940 only), the K-36's did not use external spark arrestors--and those that were used were like those found on today's Cumbres & Toltec locomotives, not the modern D&S nonsense. By the way, the D&S firemen that I know generally complain that the D&S arrestors really foul up the drafting on their K-36's. Quoting one, "Removing that arrestor makes it (a K-36) steam and run like a whole different locomotive."

Aside from what I noted above, that is one very nice looking model!

[captain_bazza]

Hi'ya Wade, thank you for your insights about the D&S K36's, the feedback is much appreciated and encouraged. My reference material covers K36's throughout different eras, railroads and originates from many sources. One excellent, but undated, photo I have of 482 in D&S guise, shows her with the modeled arrestor* and similar gennie - but it's hidden behind the steam dome. (The original may have been a colour photo?) I have modeled the arrestor so I can easily remove it from the model without compromising the stack object model. While the version being created is primarily for RSC'sTS2xxx, there will also be an Open Rails version.

Each K36, during different eras, were unique in their detail, so the model may have to incorporate an amalgam of some details general to all in the class. Narrow gauge locomotives have a plethora of external bit's n pieces, each object is polygon hungry and shape compromises are common. If I wanted sanity I should never have started in this hobby.

Cheers Bazza

[jared2982]

This model has a lot of good detail Captain. What's your poly count looking like so far? Can't wait to haul a Silvertain train out of Durango with her.

[captain_bazza]

Hi'ya Jared, I'm in the middle of a driver wheel redesign, and I may have saved a few polys, too. Presently the total is over 80 thou, for the loco I hasten to add, not for the wheels alone. :sign_thanks:

Because the wheel is a complex object, the wheel redesign will, hopefully, make it easier for me to texture it. I model one wheelset, including the outside counterweights and axle. Three drivers and their counterweights are the same, the fourth has a different shaped counterweight.

Cheers Bazza

[captain_bazza]

When a wheel is made up of several sub-objects, the most important factor is to maintain the wheel's smooth rotation - with the pivot/axis being centered on the axle. Everything else must be centered very accurately on that axis point, too, otherwise the wheel and constituent components will 'wobble', or 'jiggle' appearing off center during rotation.

Generally, driver wheelsets on some narrow gauge loco types are inside the frames, thus they don't need to be of architectural quality, but I do like the wheel to appear round, so I'm generous with polys. I think the current wheel is just over 40 polys around its circumference - add a bit of smoothing and she looks real good when rotating, even when semi-hidden behind the frames and that huge flailing outsider counterweight.

Cheers Bazza

[captain_bazza]

Sometimes the number of spokes isn't shown on the plan, or mentioned in the dimensions, so you have to troll the net for a photo of a wheelset minus loco. The average for locos is between 10 to 14 spokes per wheel. By this I mean 10 - 12 - or 14. Looking at photos of locos with outside counterweights, vainly trying to count the spokes, is not something you want to do when already tired. I've gone with 10 spokes for the K36. I like solid spokes, with some shape, so I'm also prepared to expend some of my poly budget on nice spokes.

Don't get me started on colour picking for wheels texture art.... That's another subject altogether.

Cheers Bazza

[railguy]

One other note that I would make is that the stack is likely a bit too tall for a K-36. The Denver Public Library Western Collection is a great on-line source for photos of the K-36's in various guises and eras. Link here:

http://digital.denve...g/cdm/railroad/

John West also has a nice set of his photos on-line, as well. Link here:

http://narrowgaugeme...es.com/main.php