Tips for building smooth, realistic trains?

I will give u one word: practice!

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Practice makes perfect. In my case I was scared of making trains because I thought they would end up terribly

I had a bad mindset that I wouldn’t do what everyone else was able to whenever I would see a model way better than mine

3 and a half years later I’m able to make trains like this New upgraded trains

I may have ADHD, and I have no patience but luckily I was able to get the patience to make said trains and they turned out well!

It’s a matter of practice and determination, which is what I didn’t have when I first started

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wow you’re so good at making models, great job!

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Out of curiosity, why reply 4 years later? I decided to go into programming and refrain from building…

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Oh, I was gonna give you some helpful advice, I didn’t know you stopped building for a while lol. My bad

I grew up loving trains, and once I realized I had a talent for making things, I decided to make them. I didn’t start out great, but I got better.

Personally, I use a CAD program called Tinkercad, which is web-based although you can download a desktop app version straight from the website by clicking the little computer icon with a down arrow on it in the URL when you’re in tinkercad. Now, id have to somehow transport all the knowledge I have about tinkercad into your brain for you to be able to make stuff as good as me, but I think if you work at it for a while and just play around with it, you’ll get the hang of it. Heres a few examples of what I’ve been able to create with tinkercad (not a flex, but more of an example of what’s possible):





All of that is 100% made in tinkercad by me. Personally, I like tinkercad a lot because there’s a lot of stuff you can do and change with it, plus the designs usually have a lower-poly style, but not super low where it’s weird. It’s almost like Jailbreak style, if you’ve ever played the game. Not all the circles are “circles”, but have more clearly defined edges, but still are numerous enough to be perceived as “oh hey that’s a circle”. Try it, it’s free (#notanad). It’s really great especially compared to other cad programs that, sure, may have more flexibility and options, but also cost (and cost insane amounts of money) and are confusing to learn and operate. Try it and see if it works for you. Im not sure you’ll be able to get the 100% perfection style that Rails Unlimited and other subsequent games have, because those usually are made in more advanced CAD programs by way more skilled developers. But, maybe you could create your own style, and create your own things. I mean, you can see how much is possible with tinkercad alone. Try it, and let me know what you create!

Side note: this all depends on what kinds of trains you want to make. If you’re like me and you live in the good ol’ US of A, you’ll probably have an easier time making trains, as American trains are more “blocky” in style, mostly for safety features. This will be way easier in tinkercad. However, if you’re making something from say Europe, those trains are usually more curved and that’s going to be way more difficult in tinkercad. Plus, and no offense Europeans, but American trains look so much better and offer so much more diversity in your creation. Have fun with this!

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I have used Tinkercad for my Engineering class a few years back. However this post is 4 years old and I could not care less anymore about building. I became a programmer and I am working with proper developers.

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I think it’s still good to keep this post up imo, it allows new developers to engage in this particular topic even if you don’t.

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Your right on the diversity part near the end of your post haha, never tried Tinkercad but reading your post just makes me want to use it. Im the guy who makes European trains most of the time, never had the time to free model and make the trains we have here in the U.S, it just depends on what train you make regardless on where theyre from that shows its easiness.

Lets try a European train, the SNCF BB 15000, BB 7200 and 22200 all have the same looks (if you want information go here lol Locomotives Nez cassés — Wikipédia) They do look easy to make due to their “boxy” appearance. But if we take something like the CD 753, 750, 754 you may have some trouble like the the cab.

Then again its all a matter of practice, dont expect to open Blender and make god quality locomotives for the first time. Dont give up just because your model didn’t turn out right the first time, just use references like photos, diagrams, etc and see what you messed up! Making trains isn’t as hard then

Well thats all for me if you want to ask questions feel free to do so

True dat! Despite being related top railways it can be a “Resource?” to new developers getting into 3d Modeling, building,etc as a whole

You can start off with a base (a cylinder) then make shapes around it and union and negate as you wish!

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This post is 4 years old lad. I am begging a staff member to close this because its annoying the amount of notifications i keep getting.

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Good for you ig :skull: If you want to take it down that badly just name the topic something sussy (like bing chilling) and then change the category. Or you can just delete the topic itself

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