As you can see, Tatra type 815 is my favourite vehicle.
Well, not the most favourite, but at least the second favourite. If not so, I did not
probably had so much patience and create it
three times!
The first version was oversized and the second too small. The third correction is
final, and it will hopefully stay so. In the game can be found many versions of 815:
first of all the corrected grain and bulk versions, then the concrete mixer and also a
wood truck with a typical trailer and its Simutrans
counterpart - planck version. I thought it would be unfair to other painters,
to just spit thousands of vehicles based on one chassis
so not much work in fact would be done but with very visible results. So I did not
continue making other versions; if you really demand lots of
Tatra trucks in
Simutrans, wait till I finish types 813, 141 and
138!
Short info: In 1982 RVHP decided that Tatra company should become monopoly producer for all RVHP countries (regarding trucks over 15 tons). This encouraged growth a lot and a new truck type was developed in order to replace previous types 148 (outdated) and 813. Type 815 was used for many tasks; I have personally seen end-dumping trucks (most common), concrete transporters, wood trucks, tankers, cranes, military applications...
Type 813 is my second major Tatra attempt and first
favourite vehicle. Its first prototype was constructed in 1960. 813 existed in more
sub-versions (8x8, 6x6, 4x4) but the gigantic 8x8 version nicknamed "Colossus" was first.
Incredible power of engine with 12 cylinders and great mobility in terrain made 813 very
interesting for army, but typical civil application was pulling heavy load trailers - up
to 100 tonnes on road! I tried to paint for
Simutrans the biggest type and trailers for
cars (bulldozer), concrete (pre-fab blocks) and steel (tube). The army camo version is
a byproduct.
To keep things accurate, bulldozer and also recoloring of army version is work of Tomas Kubes (Napik), not mine!
After a longer break I continued my work and painted another
Tatra. This time is it type 138 which was introduced
in 1956 on 2nd Czechoslovak machinery exhibition in
Brno. The production
was terminated in 1971 but 138's successor - type 148 - was just 138 renovated after some years
of experience and technological progress. It looked just like 138, too. Of course it cannot be
nowadays seen very often, but it was one of the most common trucks on the Czech roads of the
second half of 20th century.
At the moment I have finished only one version but expect some more, 138 was not only dumpster truck.
One day I accidentally ran upon a picture of very strange steam locomotive. It said it
was Garatt of australian QR railways, high power locomotive. I immediately thought that
Simutrans steam engines usually annoyed me because
of low power - and here is something
that can change the fact! I searched the internet and found the following: Beyer-Garatt
locomotives are those which have two bogies with engines and fuel storage; boiler and crew
cabin are slung on frame between them. This means that the whole vehicle is articulated and
can drive through more sharp curves - but higher power is achieved through two engines instead
of only one as usual. Moreover, boiler can be wider, which is ideal for burning low-grade fuels
like oil - no need for coal. And finally there is more space for water tanks, essential advantage
in hot tropical climate. Although this articulation design was quite a breakthrough, it
was not very popular in Europe (I don't know about U.S.) and although garatts were produced in
England and Germany, their real home were overseas countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Iraq,
India, african colonies etc. If my information is correct, some of them are still used in SAR.
My attempt is only partially succesull because garatts have short middle part, but this is impossible in Simutrans. Apart from that, it does not look very bad and works exactly as it should - very useful for long trains with heavy cargo (steel etc.).
In more recent 128 tileset versions is my poor artwork replaced by much nicer one made by Raven. Visit his site, his complete vehicle sets rendered from high quality 3D models are astonishing.
Links: Nottingham Victoria pages are a bit outdated, but you can find there good explanation of how steam engines work plus a lot of information on steam locomotives, including articulated locos. The Garatt Locomotive pages say that you can find a complete list of Garatt locomotives built EVER (!) and technical data. Well, for laymen like me is probably more interesting their large photo gallery.
In spring 2007, a new graphic set was started - this one being special in that its base tile is only 32 pixels wide (or more accurately, narrow), because if Simutrans once attacks also world of mobile devices, their small screen sizes could make larger pak sets rather uncomfortable to play. Until this comes true, you can at least enjoy views spanning half the map with your PC monitor! Because of the small size, it was decided that overall style would be comic-like, with strong outlines where possible.
I made these buldings, but mobo, Pak32 maintainer, made at least this many other, and he isn't the only who did so. But instead of reading, go try out the complete set! Or, you can contribute your own ones - the chosen style is very easy, all it takes to create a building is just a few clicks if you know what you are after!
A few buildings painted for the "pak64 Urban Renewal" project.
One of new features in Simutrans are station extension buildings (since version 0.86.x. Some of these in 128 tileset are also made by me. In fact, these images were made long time ago to show how nice such thing may be and I'm keeping them here mostly for historical reasons...
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