Good things come in small packages...

This is a quick video of my low-poly model of the vehicle. Working name for it is 'The Desert Train'.
The poly count for this model was 500.

n.b. The audio on the video is unrelated (It's an episode of House MD that I was watching when I captured the screen video)

EEEETTSSS ALIIIIIIIVVEEEE!!!

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

My final design sketch. It may change a little as I'm modelling, but this is pretty much it.

Blueprints :P

Grayish-yellowprints 4

Slightly more train looking with this one. I'm not sure that I like the shape of the tracks though.

Grayish-yellowprints 3

I quite liked how this turned out, but couldn't help thinking I was inspired by the Mako from Mass Effect.

Grayish-yellowprints 2

This is my current formula for working out what I'll be making.

Grayish-yellowprints 1

I've started sketching some things out, trying to get a feel for where I want to go with my vehicle idea.

I'm not sure where i was going with this one, but it made me decide to work on the side view first.

Yeah this is just a big truck.

I really liked how this one came out, even after I realised that it looks quite like a duck-billed platypus.

From looking at desert vehicles (many of which were tanks or armoured transports of some sort) I had decided that I wanted a set of tank tracks in the vehicle design somewhere. This was one way that I thought I could include them. Combining the locomotion of a steam train, with the track system of a tank.

My first sketch of a design using my new 'steam-tracks' idea.

LOD practice test

Part of this brief involves using LOD (level of detail) modelling.

The idea of LOD is to have several separate models of an object, esach of which has a different polygon count. This allows a low poly model to be viewed from a distance, where high detail is not needed; and higher poly count models for higher detail at closer distances. Using low poly models for distant objects reduces stress on a game's engine, and so helps to reduce things like memory useage and lag.

This video shows my result of trying this out with a shpere as the object in question:

Nerdgasm!

It's very silly, and looks pretty damn unstable, but I could barely contain my glee at seeing this video:



Not massively related to my idea's theme, but still damn cool!

Inspiration will follow

This blog post I just found has pictures of the results of some fantastic chop-shop projects: LINK-LINK-LINK-LINK-LINK

Here's just one example:

A Boeing 727 re-purposed into a giant luxury limosine :D

...the last train home

I've just realised that I've not put a picture of this train up yet:

This train featured in teh James Bond film 'Goldeneye'. It's actually a British Rail class 20 No. D8188 and the menacing nose was added to fit with the 'armoured train' look that the film makers were aiming for.

Here is the same train minus its 'faceplate' but with most of the rest of it's conversion into a Russian diesel for filming the James Bond movie.

And here is what a standard D8188 looks like.

Anyway, I really like the no-nonsence look that they achieved with the train for the film set, and will probably incorperate something like it into my design.

A few vehicles whose designs have inspired me:

This is one hell of an over-the-top conversion of a truck, but I do like the use of piping all ofer the place. It lends itself to a 'steam-powered' asthetic.

The Bowler Wildcat. One of the fastest sets of 4 wheels in the desert. These are frequently raced in the Dakar rally.

A desert terrain patrol vehicle. Designed by a company in Sweden (should that be snow rather than sand?) uses a  combination of caterpillar tracks and standard tyred wheels for propulsion.

Monster trucks, Texas-style!..... Horny :)

This fantastic piece of truck cab modding comes from Russia, and just looks...well... badass! It's got a wolf-like look, and I really like the 'steamtrain-esq' riveted metal plates and the pilot (the guard at teh front). Very nice.

The ultimate in 'Big Trucks', the Liebherr T 282B truck, a 224 ton monster with a massive 3650-horsepower diesel engine.

I thought that this really seemed to embody the 'chop shop' mindset... Smart car + Monstertruck = SmartMonster! :D

Rolling Stock

  Some reference shots of some steam trains:

Bit of a look at the wheel set-up for a steam train.

Good shot of a steam trains front workings.

Nice picture of lots of pipes and gizmos on the side of the engine.

A slighty more streamlined look for a train.

It starts...

I have chosen to do the 'Chop Shop' brief.

I'm going to be looking at chopping together a steam train and a big wheel truck into a post-apocalyptic styled desert vehicle.