Army Strong

[randycarnley]

There have been several request over the past couple years concerning Military loads. Well I decided I would give it a shot and see what I could come up with. Its still not perfect, but I think it will work for its intended use.

I currently have only 90% completed an M1 Abrams tank. Still some minor detail stuff to add. Two versions, one for static display use and another with the turret reversed to use on railcars. I am going to get with a someone who has already completed a good 89' flat car so I don't go "Reinventing the Wheel" just for a flat car. All it will need is a small modification to triple axle heavy duty trucks.

Anyway, Here is my list .
M1 Abrams tank
M2 Bradley
Humvee
HEMTT heavy duty trucks
Cargo trailer
Maybe Howitzers
Maybe other stuff if I get around to it.

Hopefully intrest will be high,
Thanks,
Randy

[rdamurphy]

I have an 89' flat car, built for hauling vehicle and tie down loads, see JTTX Flat in the file library. I'd be happy to put them together, and BTW, I've also added my new couplers and trucks to the older cars. My JTTX flats are identical to the DODX cars. They wouldn't work for the Abrams, but they'd be good for the rest. I was also planning on doing some three axle tankers, and they use the same trucks as the 12 axle DODX cars. Wouldn't be hard to do those up.

What are you using?

Robert

[randycarnley]

I use TSM.

Thanks,
Randy

[NS4Life]

Yes we do need those.

Austin

[rdamurphy]

Cool, I have that, I used GMAX to build the cars, but it can still be done! Have you checked out the JTTX cars yet?

Robert

[RSD 12]

People have been requesting modern Army equipment for years and years. I am sure interest in this will be EXTREMELY high. Myself included!

Mark

[randycarnley]

Robert, your JTTX flats should be perfect for the wheeled vehicles. Is there a way that they can be converted to TSM format?

Looks like there is no other way than to build a new flat car model for the tanks though. Measurments are somewhat different, about 60' long and 10.5' wide.

Here is an updated shot of the tanks, with some new textures.

Currenlty about 2700 polys for the tanks, I might add a few more details on the static model such as armor, antennas and machine guns. Most of all this is striped off for shipment.

Enjoy,
Randy

[rdamurphy]

No, they can't be converted, BUT! They don't need to be! If you make them one object, ie, multiple objects into one, we can use a Freigh Anim line, and your TSM vehicles can ride on my GMAX flat! I can also do the DODX flats. Or, if you prefer, you could send me the TSM files, and I can set them up.

Robert

[RSD 12]

Yeah, multiple objects as one with freight anim. Most every picture I see has at least two of whatever vehicle on one long flatcar.

Mark

[randycarnley]

O.K. Got two of them put together and for the fun of it I wanted to see what it would look like on a flat car, I used Roberts JTTX flat for test purposes.

There seems to be a very big problem though. The doubles do not want to work in MSTS for some reason; in game or in the RE. Combined they are 5408 polys.

When I try to bring them up in RE I get "Shape Failed to Load"

Once I added them as a Freight Animation tag and load it up in the game, I get "Can't Load to World"

They show up fine in Shapeviewer, but just not in MSTS. I have tried to reexport the file several times just to make sure something did not get corrupted.

Any suggestions would be helpful,
Thank you,
Randy

[randycarnley]

Well after finding this great program in the F/L called "Shape file fixer" I was able to fix the problems with Sim and RE loading.

Here are shots of the flats loaded on Roberts JTTX flats leaving the Army base on the Canton route.

Enjoy,
Randy

[rdamurphy]

NICE! Very nice indeed!

Robert

[RSD 12]

Very nice job. I'm sure they will be very popular once they are finished.

Mark

[randycarnley]

Well I just finished up a another vehicle; this time its a Stryker Infantry Vehicle. I put three of them on an 89' flat car. Had to run "Shape fixer" again to get the triple set to work in the sim and RE.

Enjoy,
Randy

[csxstack1]

looking good there keep up the great job.

[randycarnley]

First off; Thanks for all the great comments.

Well, I decided to go ahead and try my hand at a triple axle heavy duty flat car for carrying the tanks. I feel that it was a success, using Mr. Rowes new trucks and couplers, I modified a set for triple axle and built a flat car using specs from the CSX and BNSF UMLER database. These cars have a deck width of 10.5', length 68' and hight of 4' riding on a heavy duty frame and triple axle trucks.

After some modifications to the .wag files and adding some tie down devices the tanks and flats should be ready. I am going to start on the M2 Bradley which will ride on the same type car.

I am going to leave the 89' flat cars alone as Mr. Murphey is working on an update that will be sufficent for hauling the other wheeled equipment. Also Mr. Murphey will notice that I borrowed his textures for the deck, which I will obtain permission for prior to release.

Thanks again for the support,
Randy

[rdamurphy]

As they say in the Army: "Permission Granted!"

Robert

[RSD 12]

Static versions of the military equipment would be very welcome. Will you have an M-1 that can be used by the car spawner on roads? Heh heh.

Mark

[randycarnley]

It would be very possible to add any of the vehicles as car spawners, although an Abrams rolling down a city street would be quite odd (unless of course your route is in Bagdad)

I just finished the M2 Bradley up and worked no the .wag files for the flat cars. I am going to add some tie down devices and the Heavy duty flats along with tanks and bradleys should be ready to go out to anyone wanting to beta test this first set.

Enjoy,
Randy

[mestevet]

It would be very possible to add any of the vehicles as car spawners, although an Abrams rolling down a city street would be quite odd (unless of course your route is in Bagdad)

That statement got me thinking, this is just slightly off topic, but I did a search because I was curious and found a few links, this one was interesting because it offered a recent photo:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93784609

and of course the Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Railway

I found it interesting, although I doubt any US military equipment uses the rail line.

Steve

[randycarnley]

Here are some more links to the Iraqi Railways
http://www.iraqrailways.com/private/indexen.htm

http://www.ajg41.clara.co.uk/iraqrailways.html

I doubt you will see any American equipment on there tracks, but it would be very possible for supplies and small equipment to be moved.


Thanks,
Randy

[Rick-MONON]

These are looking great.
I am definately interested in testing. I have loaded many a military vehicle on military trains and I definately want a finished copy to run and would be happy to test also.

[randycarnley]

I am having a hard time getting a good chain/tiedown look. Does this look sufficent to everyone or should I go back and come up with something else.

Thanks,
Randy

[rdamurphy]

Download my tank car on the flatcar, and check out the tie downs, it might help...

Robert

[oakpalms]

Randy,
All of the military vehicles look just great. They will look great on all of the ATSF/BNSF routes on the Transcon with drop off at Barstow, CA for the USMC tracks used in conjunction for 29 Palms. I am sure anything going in and out of the Seattle area would look appropriate for Fort Lewis. Thanks for bringing us into the modern era for military vehicles.

Bob Edwards

[Rick-MONON]

Well
Up to 10 years ago what WE DID was we had 2 chains in the front and two in the back.
The chains were criss-crossed.
In front of and behind of each track side was a wooden block. so two blocks in front and two in back.
I think I have a picture of my tank on a flat car at Fort Stewart, Georgia if you want it.

[randycarnley]

Thank you the picture would be very helpful. Robert I looked at your chain set-up for your tank cars and did something similar, but when I went to adjust the chains the textures would become distorted.

Thanks,
Randy

[rdamurphy]

Hmmm, I'm not sure why they would, I just use two simple faces, back to back, without sides, spaced .01 meters apart.

Robert

[randycarnley]

I was using more of a box shape, I'll give that a try

[rdamurphy]

Try setting the shape up first, the angle, length, etc, and then set up the texture last, you might have to either tile it, or not use the entire length of it, etc...

Robert

[kingk0214]

I'v got a M1A2 in gmax format but cant export it to the train sim or the S format. My last export atemp ended with the vehicle pointing north and south so I gave up on the effort. If someone can export it into the game I'd be more than willing to share. Have a Hummer also and a few helo's ( needs camo paint scheme on both ) Avid TSM fan and new to da max

[rickwhitetx]

I see the last update to this thread was in October. Has there been any progress since then? I have an Army base on my fictional route and would reslly love to use these.