EMD SD45 - Union Pacific
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Thanks everyone!
We've got wheels. OK, they're not precise but it's a start. Also added a bunch of brake system cranks and a sand dispenser system. I'm probably getting carried away with the level of detail but I need the practice. It's forcing me to model a bunch of intricate parts I'm not familiar with.
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Found more details thanks to a video from ccrx6700 on Youtube. Need to add the traction motor and brake system and modify it for a later version of the Flexicoil trucks. Looking like a restomod truck for now but that's part of the fun. Rendered with Thea Render.
On a side note. Grainger has 3D models for fasteners, bolts, etc. The lock bolt for example was downloaded as an stl file and converted to an obj file and imported into Sketchup. Needs some cleanup if you're going to use them a lot of times.
The blue is using metal flakes (car paint) from Thea. I won't use that for the final renderings of the SD45. Usually the railroad companies just spray everything with a single color and in the case of this example it's a silver paint. I just do this to keep me awake.
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Georgeous
How big do you estimate the file size for this model? I have always found for follows function can be extremely beautiful, Like a shark or fighter jet are beautiful but aesthetics was never part of the development. but by pure logic and pragmatism end up being beautiful. I use the analogy with the details of that prime mover 
And you are doing it justice with this model mate -
Thanks L i am.
Well the truck alone is less than 9 MB and the locotmotive is about 15 MB. Not too bad so far. I've had architectural models well over 150 MB alone. Some of these landscape elements like a Wisteria vine can by around half a gigabyte.
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Wow! Excellent work!
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Got the main (air) reservoir and piping laid out and the traction motor blocked in the truck model in addition to adding more detail to the truck. I'm searching for a couple of more details for the brake lever below that connect to the brake shoes.
The pipe fitting are fictional and just comprised of a couple of circles one of which is a six sided hexagon.
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Clay model of the entire locomotive with everything so far. The two point perspective views seems to distort the wheels.
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Top notch work!
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I judge this type of topc by the "Does it look 'solid' and 'right'", this has all that. It IS the subject rather than just looking like it.
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Thanks Mike and Bryan.
This is a tough one filled with many intricate details. Fortunately they're mostly at right angles. I can't believe the amount of steel they put in these locomotives. They're monsters.
This is the underframe. Can't get too carried away since there's plenty more down there. Had to adjust the trucks and the main reservoirs to line up right. Most everything is either dimensioned or traced which is within less than an inch.
I did a lot of structural drafting and design in the past so that helps. For anyone aspiring to do this kind of work learn about how it's built whether it's furniture or a locomotive. Or a house.
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Added more bells and whistles to the underframe. A lot of this is like ductwork or metal shop in high school. It's tedious but tedious is what creates good detailing. You just work through it.
Surprisingly there isn't much underneath the underframe.
I also did a little graphic poster. The linework is just a dwg export that I printed to a PDF and tweaked it in Photoshop.
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Its look great, looks like you are having alot of fun, really nice to work with such detailed plans!
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Thanks axeonalias. I do enjoy myself doing this. Sometimes it borders on an obsession while being a challenge to figure out the plans without spending weeks on one part.
I'm still amazed at the weight of these locomotives. The SD-45 weighs 368,000 pounds.
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A hand brake wheel and a sand filler cap. The wheel is comprised of 5 radial components except for the lug which is just a group. Sand is used for traction on railroad.
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This is crazy.... Wow!
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Thanks Majid. I managed to reduce that wheel from a 1.2 MB component to 146 KB. Laid it out at first in Autocad which imports with 100 segment circles. The Former component was made up of 5 identical components. With fewer segments and making it out of 10 identical components I cut it down to size.
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I've been working on the railroad!
So, back to the SD45. I haven't nailed down the exact horn used by this number and at first I thought it might be the Nathan Chimes P3 but I think it might be a Prime Manufacturing 920. It can also be a Leslie. I started off with the P3 so I thought I'd soldier through it and possibly beyond what's needed for an overall locomotive model. No plans were available so I had to eyeball it with images of the P3 which required a deep search on the internet.
The mounting bracket was a little complicated.
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Wow!
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Thanks Bryan. It looks more like a polished trumpet right now but that's the fun of rendering. The material is Brushed Brass Metal Texture from Poliigon. I added the scratches in a material layer which if from 4K Imperfections.
I had some of the parts pointing in the wrong direction and fixed that since. It's too detailed to include in the final SD45 model or maybe not since I can always create a Thea proxy. I did the line work for the Nathan logos in Autocad. It wasn't that difficult since it's all straight lines. I'm able to reduce the amount of linework in SU by using Thea's bevel.
Now I'm thinking about modeling a trumpet.
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