[WIP] Bigtrak Jr.

[chickenplucker]

http://www.bigtrakisback.com/?q=home

Howdy everyone. I was debating on whether or not to start a topic on this but figured that it would give me more motivation to actually finish the project if I started a thread. So here it is, a work in progress Bigtrak Jr. for Kerbal. I never had one of these as a kid but my cousain did and every time we would head over to his house we would always run the batterys down on it. My goal for this project is to have a connector on the top accessory port for attaching rockets/whatever, parachute mount points around the sides for air drops, and possibly a crate/bay that will allow it to hitch a ride on a rocket. Eventually this will be running on a modified version of the Cart Plugin\'s source code so you can actually go crater racing on the Mun. Its been a while since I\'ve made my last GTA mods so I\'m not sure on a release date as I\'m a bit rusty, and the only time I have to work on this will be the weekends. Heres some pics of what I got done in 2hrs last night, please ignore that I model in Zmodeler 1.07b . I have Lightwave and Max but for some odd reason find this version of zmodeler easier to work in. Let me know if there is anything else you guys would like see from this and I will see what I can do

[Spoot Knight]

That\'s a particularly interesting design.

[Capt'n Skunky]

Oh man, I remember that toy from back in the 70\'s! Great fun!

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

[Tiberion]

That is very cool, it will make a SWELL Munrover.

I would like to see it fit within either a 2m or 3m tank 'flat' (the wheels sitting on the bottom) so it can go on a large munar lander; the tank segment its built into could eject its shroud and lower a little door/ramp for it to drive off onto the munar soil.

[chickenplucker]

Thanks for the comments guys

I like the idea of it sitting flat on a tank and that wll make it much easier to work into anyones favorite lifter if they choose too. The ramp idea sounds neat as well, much better then the Dukes of Hazzard unloading method I had in my head. I wonder how the games collision engine would handle some type of sliding extending ramp contraption.. starting to think to far ahead lol, need to worry about getting this thing in game first .

I have redone the body since the first post because having a set of wheels and a side rod thingy was boreing to look at, and the body was kind of the wrong shape anyways.

[Spoot Knight]

Looks good so far, not much I can think of.

[NovaSilisko]

Looks like all you need to do now is add some small details and texture it!

[Tosh]

I\'ve just released a universal Cart plugin. See http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=8661 for modelling guidelines; probably you can do without code modifications (though they are allowed by plugin license).

[chickenplucker]

Thank you so much for your cart plugin, that thing is amazing. I couldn\'t believe how well it works in the game. The suspension is amazing, great for ramping off mountain cliff faces . That documentation thread on it will be immensely helpful in getting this thing moving, thanks so much for releasing it.

Here is a small update, I know I said I would only be working on this on weekends but now just really want to see this done. Finished most of the roof, just need a few more details then time for textures. Also I will be redoing the tire tread as its just way to high poly for what it needs to be.

[chickenplucker]

Just started messing around with some textures, still a long ways to go yet. Would you guys rather see it nice and shiny, or slightly scratched and roughed up?

[mincespy]

Just started messing around with some textures, still a long ways to go yet. Would you guys rather see it nice and shiny, or slightly scratched and roughed up?

-snippetysnippetysnippetysnip-

Go for the slightly scratched one, can\'t wait to see how this turns out.

[Tiberion]

Just a thought; another texture without the decals would be cool too. I\'m all for going all in on a replica, but having it skinned to look like a \'for reals\' rover would be cool too.

Just sayin\'

[chickenplucker]

Progress is a bit slow but its getting there. I think I\'m going to split the difference of making it realistic and a toy replica, as if the kerbal engineers found the toy and just scaled it up into a rover. I\'m going to redo the bed textures to something that looks better becuase the one on it now just looks like crap. Still have to add some fog lights and other bits yet. Then its on to getting it proper sized and in game.

Strip looks funky from this angle, may have to look into that

Got it in game! Someone in R&D must have enlarged the original blueprints on the scanner.

Bill, Jeb and Bob figured what the heck and took it upon themselfs to see how she flew.

After many fireballs later the design was scaled down to managable size and placed on a Cart for testing.

[tadeass]

Whoooa! That\'s greatest kerbalized toy mod, I love it. Looks great and simply, textures are gorgerous. Go(o)d job! 8)

[chickenplucker]

Thanks tadeass!

Been off enjoying the warm spring and working on getting the tractor out of the barn and the plow setup again, but I managed to work on it a bit more tonight. So far the some of the attachment nodes are on it, one on the hatch for .5m rockets and 2 on the bed one can fit a .5 with no clipping or a 1m with mesh clipping, and the farthest back can take whatever. You cant have two 1m\'s on the bed due to the space between them. Also the collision model is finally in, its a super fancy trapezoid of wonder, and its orientated the correct way for the cart plugin now. This weekend I hope to redo the wheels since they are way too highpoly, at the moment they make my laptop cry.

I really built this thing as a pack mule for hauling Nova\'s awesome Probodobodyne bits around since that pack is a riot. Something about little tiny rockets and satellites zipping around like gnats in space cracks me up.

Do you guys think that it should have those windows on the front? I\'m still on the fence about them.

[chickenplucker]

Another small update.

Having a bit of trouble getting the suspension worked out. Heres how it looks normally and it does not have any issues scooting around on its belly.

In the VAB and when climbing stuff if there is no load on a wheel they will return to normal positions.

With no weight on any of them they are fine. This issue is driving me up a wall. Moving the wheels around and the anchors don\'t seem to help the issue. The only thing that I can think of is the .cfg file is set to the scale of .1 which may be affecting it some how. May have to get a hold of Tosh to figure this one out.

[Tosh]

May have to get a hold of Tosh to figure this one out.

PM me a model along with the code you\'re using. I\'ll be glad to help.

[chickenplucker]

First release is out!

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9404.0