LNER Pacific A1/A3
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Gresley Classes A1 and A3 locomotives were two of the most influential classes in the history of the British 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley. Between 1922 and 1935, 52 A1 locomotives were built, 51 of which were rebuilt into A3 locomotives along with 27 new locomotives. There is only one remaining locomotive that survived into preservation, the No. 4472 "Flying Scotsman," built in 1923.
Credit: Wikipedia
Before I began to model, I researched more about the locomotive itself. I found blueprints (pictured left) of the Flying Scotsman and sought dimensions for the driving wheels, locomotive body, and the rail gauge:
Locomotive Length: 70 ft 5 in (21.46 m)
Wheelbase: 60 ft 10.6 in (18.56 m)
Driving Wheel Diameter: 6 ft 8 in (2.032 m)
Gauge: 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
➀ setting up the blueprints
➂ creating the body atop the blueprints
➄ smaller details, rivets, trucks, bogies, etc.
MODELING
TIMELINE
➁ creating the Walshaerts valve gear
➃ smokebox door, dome, other rounded parts
➅ tender and final touches
The entire process took about a week.
Final product
After modeling the locomotive, I exported the .skp model as a .dae file, which I uploaded to Sketchfab, where I can adjust lighting, materials, and post-processing to get a realistic real-time render of my model.
Sketchup Make 2017
Sketchfab