@unknownuser said:

I do think you should begin the journey into rendering. You'd enjoy it. I know you use Renditioner so dust it off and give it a whirl

Well, one reason I never really got too interested in rendering my cars is that, except for this one, they are all classics, and if I've done my work well the rendering would just look like one of a million photos already out there. I can see the value of rendering a model of something that does not exist in the real world, that would be interesting.

And yes, I have tried my hand at rendering several of my models, just out of curiosity, but the results pretty much sucked. No, that's wrong -- they completely sucked. I just don't understand the rendering process, especially the lighting. I've never been able to add any lighting to my models, just can't get it to work. Another problem was copies of textured components, like hubcaps or headlights, one would be fine but the copy would be all messed up. Oh well, maybe I just need to spend more time working at it, someday when my life is running low on frustration

I have played around with rendering a little, but only to get a decent chrome texture for parts I've modeled that I couldn't find a decent photo to use as a texture. Haven't really had much luck with that at all, don't understand how to use lighting, can't get it to work. As far as rendering the entire model, I don't do that, my goal is to get the model to look half-way decent without rendering. But that's just me. If I post the model to the warehouse someone else can play around with rendering it.

Solo, I will model the tire treads, I've done it before and it's kinda fun to do.

Which reversed faces are you referring to, Rich?

I should point out that when I started this I used a model posted on the Warehouse for a modeling contest (photo attached). There's nothing left of the original, and I've decided not to enter the contest, but to be fair got to give credit to original model.

Anyhow, thanks for the inputs, and the positive feedback. Much appreciated.

No one? So it's perfect?

Some hidden geometry pics

Surely somebody has a suggestion or criticism of this model. My purpose in posting any model is not to fish for compliments, I would really like somebody else's ideas on how I could have done this thing better, or at least areas where I did it badly. One thing I've noticed about these forums, people seem very reluctant to criticize other people's work. Sure, compliments are nice, and you should point out what they've done well, but it seems to me that the best way to help fellow modellers is to be honestly and openly critical of their work. Sometimes it's very difficult to look at your own work objectively, and let's face it, you can't improve if you don't know where your shortcoming are. My skin is thick, let me have it!

It would be easier to see what's going on if you could post the model.

@d12dozr said:

you may need room for more squirrelpower

Yeah, I tried increasing the squirrelpower, but they kept kept arguing about who was head squirrel and the engine starting running rough

Been playing with my roadster, this is one of three designs I've come up with. It's a retro roadster, no LED lights or digital instruments (I even threw in an 8-track player ). This being the first car I've designed and built (I've only made classic cars before this, so I knew in advance what they were supposed to look like), I'm not sure how good my imagination is, so I would really appreciate any comments, suggestions and/or criticisms (sp?). (I'm still working on my seats for this, so for now I modified a seat from \\FOOF3R///).

I'm especially proud of the eco-friendly engine.

Actually I changed the color too
I don't have a problem with giving credit, but with only a few edges of the original remaining someone will take a look at it and see "original model by...." and think "oh, this is just a rehash of somebody else's work, probably just added a radio knob or something".
Oh well, I'll probably never get around to finishing the thing anyhow, it was just an interesting distraction for awhile. I'm back to my real love - my oldies. Cars with class and character that will still be remembered long after the stuff they are stamping out nowadays have joined the computer junk yard heap. (old man rant now concluded)
Actually, to me, the classic cars are much more challenging to model well because they are so well known and everyone knows just how they should look, so your work has to be much more accurate. And let's face it, when you're creating something that only exists in your head, how is anybody going to know if it's true to what you were trying to make, for all they know you meant to make a toaster and it came out looking like a car (or visa versa)

Well, thanks for your inputs, much appreciated as always.

I was browsing thru the Warehouse the other day and came across a car modelling contest. Thought I'd give it a try, and as I played with the original model it somehow turned into a sorta basic roadster thing. It was interesting because up to now I've only created classic cars models, and I knew from the start exactly how they were supposed to look. With this all I had to work with was my imagination, and it was kinda fun, although I think I'll just stick to my classics in the future.
Anyhow, I've decided not to enter the contest, but was wondering -- if I ever get around to finishing this thing and want to upload it to the warehouse, at what point can I consider it to be my model? In other words, although I did start out with the contest model, there is very little of it still there, maybe a few edges here and there are left in there somewhere, so can I call it mine or do I have to give credit to the original? I'm a firm believer in giving credit to other people's work, so I wouldn't want to step on anybody's toes.

@gaieus said:

The WH statistics have never been accurate and up-to-date. It more or less reflects a sort of average on a weekly basis.

You're kidding, right? Why would they not be accurate and up-to-date? Why on earth would it just be an average, on a weekly basis? You download a model, the number of downloads increases by one. How difficult can it be to have it set up that way? I realize that Google has gotten grossly huge and to them SU is no more than loose change in the couch and most of it's time is taken up with trying to buy everything in the world/universe, but you'd think they could devote at least a tiny portion of their vast resources to properly support the community that they created. I really think that when a company reaches a certain size it should be required to be broken up into smaller independent companies. Probably doesn't matter, the world is on it's last legs anyhow. But still, it's annoying.
Uncalled-for rant now concluded, have a good one

My only concern with this is that the person who took the time to create the model is (apparently) not getting credit when somebody deems that model worthy of downloading. I understand why you can't do this with your own models, some people would try to inflate the popularity of their models, but I don't understand why this is happening with other people's models. Nobody has any ideas on this?

When I download a model (not my own) from the warehouse, the downloads total for that model does not change. If it showed the total downloads as "0", it is still "0" after I download the model. Days later, still "0". Jeez the Warehouse is getting twitchy. Any ideas as to why this is happening?

Yep, there they are! Thanks. So this is a problem that affects all Firefox users?

For some reason, I cannot view the ratings of any warehouse model, mine or others. Everything else seems to work fine, I can download models, but when I try to view the ratings, it just shows a blank page. Any suggestions?

Once again this great community has come thru with some good suggestions. I'll try them out this afternoon. Thanks to all.

Thanks. I figured I would just have to grit my teeth and live with it, but I've discovered that sometimes there's an easy solution to a problem that I would probably have never figured out by myself, so I thought I would throw it out there. As far as orbiting more toward the active component and zooming in closer, sometimes that that helps, but a lot of times you need a certain angle, and distance, to accurately judge the results of your efforts.

Your "Legend Of Zelda" reference went completely over my head, my taste in computer games run more toward graphic adventures like Myst and Riven and such, and even the (very) old text adventures like Zork, games that let me sit back and enjoy the scenery, and think about a problem for a couple of hours without getting penalized (or killed). I also like some of the classic driving and racing games, but only the ones that use classic cars. For quite a while now they've only used the fancy exotic cars, and they don't interest me at all. I'm still in mourning over the demise of the great Motor City Online (sigh). Yeah, I are an old fart

Anyhow, I appreciate your input, thanks

A minor headache I suppose, but one that drives me crazy on a regular basis. I have two mirrored components, and I want to select one of the points that is next to the unselected component, but no matter what I do it insists on selecting the endpoint of the unselected component. Sometimes after fiddling around with it for a couple of hours or days it will select the right point, but more often the only solution is to move one of the components away from the other one, and this really slows things down. You would think that since you have selected one component, it would know that you want the endpoint of that component. Why would it think that you want to select a point in the unselected component, since you can't do anything with that point?? I'm probably trying to apply logic to a situation that has none (a frequent occurrence in SU), and there's probably no way around the problem, but hey, you never know unless you ask, right? So, is there a way to force it to limit selections of points to the active component?

@ben ritter said:

Great work, especially this one (56). I took many a vacation (camping with the homemade rooftop carrier)in one. Ours was two tone, white and green. She got stolen, packed with all sorts of camping gear. My dad was heartbroken to say the least.

It would be fun to give him one for his 80th birthday.

Thanks for sharing

That's rough. Yeah, it would be great to replace it for your Dad, although the replacement cost of this particular car has gone up just a tad over the years

Finally got about 30 of the wheels into the Warehouse, will get the rest there as soon as I can