I wanted to put into practice some of the subdivision modeling tips that I’d picked up here and there recently. I picked a completely fictional steam car because that’s well outside of my genre comfort zone, and that sort of subject would have a lot of little details and gnarly bits and bobs that are well-suited to giving my somewhat-atrophied-from-too-much-coding modeling muscles a workout.

I didn’t get as much done over the weekend because of the amount of research I had to do first, but here’s the start:

I did the wheels, underframe, boiler, firebox, wheels, feedwater tanks, coal bunkers, and roughed in the floorboard before running out of time. Next weekend, I’m going to tackle the steam condenser, suspension components, and a number of other parts like the firebox doors and coal bunker covers, and hopefully get a start on the steam piping and the motor.

I want it to look like some kind of ridiculous, thoroughly impractical, dangerous, mechanically unreliable, over-the-top prototype put together by some wacky inventor/tinkerer type. The gonzo size of the boiler makes me giggle, and I want to add a little afterthought-like 2 wheeled covered trailer for luggage and stuff because the absent-minded inventor didn’t even think about it beforehand.

It’s been pretty fun so far. Steam powered vehicles and their history make for some fascinating reading, and is an interesting change of pace from the more futuristic stuff I normally do.