September 2nd, 2009

The trucks keep coming. The new run is based on Tim Muir's Autocar shape and Niko Moritz's Autocar render.

Tim sent me the TSM file for the Autocar shape as well as the textures he created from Niko's artwork.  So far there are three sets in the Elvas Tower library.  All of them are based on black and white photos from the 1940's and 50's. The colors are "artistic license"...

The American Motor Freight ragtop is based on a Daniels Motor Freight truck and as far as I know is completely fictional. The red, white and blue were a given considering the name. The Blue Comet truck colors are based on a similar truck I think I remember, as is the Akers truck.

There are several more in the works, but the next one to hit the library will be this "freelance" version of a Borden Milk truck. The actual photo shows short insulated trailer without reefer units, but I went with shortened versions of Tim's Cudahy trailer. This rig is small. Both trailers together probably don't pass 50 feet. Unlike the LASME twin released earlier, the Borden "road train" has a fifth wheel dollie connection between the two trailers. It's a nice detail I hope to add to a revised set of the LASME twin.

Another White WH-4 is coming up. This one is based on the 178" wheelbase frame (another Tim Muir enhancement). It's a Lucky Strike cigarette truck. More on that later.

It occured to me that it might be helpful to explain how we make the textures for all these variations. I've been learning a lot about using Paint Shop Pro doing this series and there may be some useful information I could share. Sounds like a future article.

Well I think that's about it for now...Thanks for listening.