Attached Link: "Tashmoo"

Hi guys! I recently built a model of the sidewheel passenger steamer "Tashmoo" which traveled the Lake Erie shorelines from 1899 until 1937. I know it is off topic since the model was created using Wings, but I thought I would post this here because I think it is some of my best work, and this is still the best forum at Renderosity. Cheers, Dan

Wow.  Impressive modeling, and I love the render, too.

!!!!AWK!!!!

I'm a Great Lakes boatnerd and am LOVING this!  This little beauty wouldn't be coming available for the public would it?

don't make me beg... please?

Now is that a shot of Lake Erie Canadian Side or States side?? ;)

Very nice model.

depends on whether the empties leaving the site are Molsen or Miller...;)

Indeed! Very impressive work!

Thanks guys!
@mboncher- WB. Sure thing; send me an IM with your email addy and you'll get first crack at it. I UVmapped it and made a very basic texture map. I made the map to get the "Tashmoo" logo in the right place, though I assign a lot of procedurals to the other parts of the ship. If you have any questions, just let me know. I can't claim that the ship is an entirely accurate replica of the Tashmoo since I don't currently have blueprints of her, but I tried to get as close as I could from eyeballing various photos from the web, and from trying to use the stated length, width and height of the ship as a guideline. I'm glad you like the model.:)

Thank you once again Danamo, PM sent.

The Tashmoo is what I'd consider on the short list of incredible, famous or iconic great lake vessels.

Other ones I'd put on that list are:

Edmund Fitzgerald
The Griffon
Lady Elgin
Waubuno
Great Western
Noronic/Huronic
Eastland
S.S. Meteor
 and the ultimate rarity: the Christopher Columbus

Once again Danamo, a fantastic model

Thanks again Danamo.  Here's the WIP I started with your model.

Some fantastic work you did there.

The picture looks better bigger than this mini version I posted. LOL  It needs a bit of postwork and some other element I

www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php

I think your rendering is spectacular. I really enjoyed it. The ship is well done, and I'd bet it is a lot more economical being constructed in Wings than in Rhino, which is the other app I use. I could put an insane amount of detail into a Rhino model with, say, the columns or posts all around the decks, but the polys would get high fast. I think you put just the right amount of detail and chose a good application in which to do it. Really good work.

@mboncher-Thats a vivid color-scheme, I like it. I'm glad you're enjoying working with it. :)
@waldomac- Thanks for that. I think Rhino can handle a lot more polys than Wings can, even if it's from the conversion of Rhino's native nurbs into polygons for export. As you know, Wings doesn't like to handle a real high poly count (60,000-100,000>) and can really bog down, so I think I'm learning to be sneakier about using polys where they really count,lol.
Thanks again. Cheers, Dan

That's beautiful, Dan!  I've wanted to do the Robert E. Lee, but oil paintings of it belching flames just aren't a lot of help.  Great that you could find enough documentation on it.  Wonderful boat!

John

Thanks John!. The Robert E. Lee was a beautiful ship and it looks like a real fun challenge to model! Have you tried an image search on G*gle, or MN search engines? I just checked 'em and found 11 useful images of  that ship from different angles. I bet you could find more by checking several historical databases Each pic can yield a clue about some details, or the dimensions and proportions of a ship. Keep in mind that even if it is only a picture of a real world scale model you can still pick up invaluable references for shaping your model. 
    
   I'm assuming you mean the riverboat and not the C.S. S. Robert E. Lee confederate blockade runner? There's several pics of that one also. I'm thinking of modeling one of the old steam ferries that lies scuttled, rusting and rotting in the ship graveyard off Staten Island N.Y. Maybe one of the old wooden steam tugs as well. It would be cool to try to show them as they once looked in their heyday. Warning: modeling ships can be addictive. ;-) Thanks again, Dan

You're welcome, Dan.  It's a beauty.

It was quite a while back when I researched the REL.  Since then I've learned what a help modeling sites can be.  Not just for the pictures, which can be invaluable, but also for valuable historical facts.  Many making the models, and reviewing them, have really done the research.  The models sometimes take a lot of license, and these guys nail 'em to the wall.  You pick up facts that would be hard to come by, if at all.

I'm to the point on the Missouri where I could start another, so I think I'll go try to fool the search engines into giving me some information.  Doesn't matter what you type in, they have plenty of them at eBay :)

John

Yeah, they sell a lot of nice ship models on eBay!

I was kidding.  I consider eBay like Vegas, only the best you can do is "not lose" ;)  You could literally type in any random set of words, and eBay would have the world's best selection.  They're automatically generated ads, and darn funny at times.

John