A couple weeks ago I came across some nicely detailed drawings of an 1820s Conestoga wagon, and had to see how it might work as a model. Turned out to be a lot more work than I expected. Those old-time carpenters and blacksmiths were really masters at building complex things like this, and my respect for them grows every time I try to model something they built.
This isn't the "covered wagon" made famous by the later Oregon Trail. (Those were just covered farm wagons, mostly.) This was a serious freighter used in Pennsylvania and New York from the colonial period to the Erie Canal period. They were large and could carry up to 6-8 tons of cargo. They were pulled by large draft horses in teams of 6 to 9, and the entire assembly could be up to 60 feet long.
This needs to be UV mapped and shaded, and a six-horse hitch and harness assembled. Many hours of work to go. So no immediate plans to use it in a scene yet. Maybe some time over the next year or two.
Wow, loving that fabric.
That's really awesome. You're quite a modeler! And thanks for writing down the background too, very interesting.
Thanks, guys. Cover was done in Marvelous Designer (of course). They were made of heavy linen back then (cotton was too rare/expensive), canvas later. Rest of the model was Blender, which I am more impressed with the more I use it. So fast and forgiving.
I'll probably do the mapping and shading in short sessions between some other projects I want to get started on. No rush with this one.
OK, here is a TG rendering of the shaded model. Mapping took a couple of days, shading just a few hours with Mixer. Color scheme is historically accurate. This will be dirtied up when I use it in a scene, and I'll wait till then to add the team and harness.
Still deciding on whether to switch to Mixer as my default shading app. (My Substance subscription expires in a few weeks, and I haven't updated to the new Adobe versions.) There is much to like about Mixer, especially the workspace and workflow. But there are a few key features missing, particularly with the paintbrush tool, which is very basic. (No symmetry mode, for starters, and no default textured brushes.) You have to bake your own texture maps (normal, curvature, occlusion, etc.) in a third-party app. (This is built-in in Substance.) It seems geared toward the gaming industry and not high-resolution still landscapes, where the models are often not lightweight. With large models it can be very slow. I understand that Mixer is free and is still in beta, so none of these are deal breakers. Still thinking about it.
Edit -- Mentioned this elsewhere, but even though Mixer takes a little more patience and effort, the resulting exported texture maps are beautiful.
Well, the result is awesome!!
Thanks, Ulco! Now I just have to think of a scene to build around it.
This is absolutely amazing! A stunning model!
You'll think of something cool, no doubt. But this vehicle needs a front place!
Really nice attention to detail. Well done!!
Thanks, everyone!
QuoteBut this vehicle needs a front place!
If you mean a seat or bench for the driver, these wagons did not have one. The driver walked alongside or rode the left wheel horse (the left-side horse closest to the wagon.) Interesting fact: because they rode the left horse, they passed oncoming vehicles to the right, which is why today we drive on the right side of the road in the U.S. (I wonder if the same is true for continental Europe.)
Yeah, interestng to know that.
And there's your scene to build! Perhaps with a little slant.