RACHA 707

The testing went well enough to make it to my official in-progress list

Nice! I'm working on a similar project, so I'm curious to see how you cope with all the intricacies of a bus

Oh god, the memories, buses were one of first mods made for LFS. There were XFG-based buses back in LFS S1 times (circa 2004)! Can't find those ones on YouTube, unfortunately....

Quote from Cutie pie :

Oh god, the memories, buses were one of first mods made for LFS. There were XFG-based buses back in LFS S1 times (circa 2004)! Can't find those ones on YouTube, unfortunately....

on topic though its looking good so far, cant wait to race 40 grid in SO3 with these

The tyre model seemed to hate my truck so I thought that was the obvious next step too.. I've since got very distracted by 2 wheelers though so importing and cleaning up the model a bit is as far as mine ever got.
I went city bus to keep the height down but a coach will be more fun in VR with how much you'll see


This lad has some fantastic models for bus fans which I was originally planning to use - I couldn't get them to load in blender properly but if you have real paid for software you might have more luck ^^

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/29cec9c6-f55c-49ed-b67a-765f1ce76a73/Leyland-Royal-Tiger-Coach-with-plaxton-paramount-Bodywork

Quote from nikopdr :

on topic though its looking good so far, cant wait to race 40 grid in SO3 with these

Custom pits required

Quote from Cimanu :

The tyre model seemed to hate my truck so I thought that was the obvious next step too.. I've since got very distracted by 2 wheelers though so importing and cleaning up the model a bit is as far as mine ever got.
I went city bus to keep the height down but a coach will be more fun in VR with how much you'll see


This lad has some fantastic models for bus fans which I was originally planning to use - I couldn't get them to load in blender properly but if you have real paid for software you might have more luck ^^

We love the LCT over at PM DD, we did a round on an SO3

I have done about a million drop-test comparisons with LCT in one window and Racha in the other, so thank you for you help

I'm trying to avoid using other people's models, I don't want to pay for them and I'm not yet sure how to find a way to trust the sources of the free ones (watching that discussion closely). If I run into something I can't do with LFS editor, I'll try to learn a little blender

I'm going to need some help dialling this one in as a WIP I'm as close to getting the modding part right as I'm going to get by myself, so now I'm just trying to get enough time to get the modelling up to WIP standard. So, here's the background for reference, and some very quick (potato quality, sorry) clips.

The specs are from a range of coaches, but most closely the MAN Lion and its many versions and copycats. The wheelbase, track, height, width, length are to a blueprint-type illustration of a mid-year Lion, and the basic shapes are my favourite bits from a few different makes and models of that style of coach.

It seems a little narrow visually, but it's not numerically and it's still enormous, so probably best not to widen it. Maybe it's just me. The front tyres are the correct size for the Lion, the tyre pressure is MAN's recommended maximum for highway use. The rears are wider to account for not being double wheels. They get a really thorough stretching (see clip) at anything other than a snail's pace, because...

The weight is ~19 tonnes, just under the limit of 20 I found listed. Other sources say 20 to 25, but I thought best to play it safe. I was already surprised it as that heavy. I also found a COG diagram for a loaded Lion - it's very high, well above the top of the tyres. I haven't found a good guide for engine position, but it's so much weight that the engine position, even at 600kg for a 12 litre V6, is almost inconsequential

Front suspension is double-wishbone - no problem - but IRL they are mostly solid axle in the rear with some intelligent balancing or other, depending on the manufacturer. I figure for modding purposes, I can upgrade to double-wishbone rear and use anti-roll. That helps a lot with the tyre-stretching too. It can be a little boaty when you drive it hard, but the bounciness seems about right to me when it is driven gently. I have no reference for just how boaty a coach should be when hooned

The engine I have tried a million variations of, and this is in the ballpark, I think. It's got less torque and more BHP than for the Lion. I've gone with 7 gears - they are usually 6 in an auto, but up to 12 in a manual. 6 was a bit of a pain to go up through, 7 doesn't seem unreasonable. It's not exactly spec, it may be a little overpowered, but this little extra doesn't seem out of place when driving it properly, and much less really does limit you from driving it "like you stole it".

The current engine lets you just about get to 100mph/160kph... if you have enough road. You can just about get there in the entire length of the Westhill before running out of road, and you top out there briefy at KY1, but not quite on BL1. It's difficult to find a real top speed - I know it's at least 90mph from my own motorway adventures It'll lap at least as good as: KY1 in 1:09, SO3 in 1:08, BL1 in 2:16, and BL3 in 1:45.

I'm going rogue on the roof details - the weight frame has so many bars up in the top to get that COG high enough that I need some kind of justification for it to sit right in my head. So, this one has humps at both the front and the back, and I can imagine that the air-conditioners that they house are made from depleted uranium or something It's less usual to have two, but there are some out there like that.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I've got a complete mesh (as in 'lacking holes/features', not as in 'finished') that I can submit, but what little time I do get is split between this and many other projects

Against some unrestricted cars, from the line:



From an MRT & BF1:



Suspension and tyres:




Classic


Stop stop stop stop turn turn turn turn!


Mixing it with the UF1@50% boys:


They left a gap on the inside... so big you could... *ahem*

I've managed to confirm a few more details about engine specs, and I've found examples with more torque than I've got, and a video of the speedo on a 0-60 run which clocked in at 14 seconds - exactly the same as I had arrived at through experiments 0-100 is around 45 seconds ( ), but only if you have enough road...

The outer mesh is no longer full of holes, the interior is finished to the 'shell', the lights and LODs are done, there's a temporary dash whilst I work out how it should be laid out, and the steering animation is only half terrible... so it has now been submitted as a WIP!

Left to do:
Next update (soon)

• Engine tune (*lower RPMs)
  
• *Widen
  

Further update (asap, but not so soon)

• Full interior (passenger compartment)
  
• Full dashboard (replace temporary)
  
• Suspension/setups tune
  
• More exterior detail/ some smoothing
  
• Better/smoother steering animation
  
• Make skinnable
  
• Tidy up texture usage
  
• *Switchable sides
  

*From feedback

https://www.engines.man.eu/global/en/marine/engines-for-commercial-shipping/in-focus/D2676-comercial.html

figures look right, but about 1000 rpm too high

Thanks, I will have a go at lowering it.

Driver Switch support and we be haulin!

It's slightly surreal seeing it out there in the wild

Thanks for the feedback (here, discord and online)

I will split the updates into 2 parts, and get lowering the RPMs and widening the body done relatively soon.

The other things I will do in the next update, but that will be longer. Interior ref pics for the later update attached.

I have further split the first update into width and engine - the width change went well and fixed a whole host of issues I was still fighting in setups do that is pushed now

The engine I need much more experimentation time with - bringing the revs down needs changes made all over, and I can't find the balance yet. But, I think RPMs are the most important thing to match to real-life, number-wise - Torque numbers don't really mean much if it feels appropriately strong, but RPMs you can hear.

Been enjoying driving (crashing) this on TC. Look forward to the interior updates

Quote from Racon :

I have further split the first update into width and engine - the width change went well and fixed a whole host of issues I was still fighting in setups do that is pushed now

The engine I need much more experimentation time with - bringing the revs down needs changes made all over, and I can't find the balance yet. But, I think RPMs are the most important thing to match to real-life, number-wise - Torque numbers don't really mean much if it feels appropriately strong, but RPMs you can hear.

Try this as a base, im sure you will be pleased.

Wow, thanks for doing this I will make some time over the weekend to experiment

One thing that comes to mind is the max steering lock currently is 35 degrees, but on a coach I would expect higher, somewhere around 45-50

For ex. Volvo coach can do up to 50
https://www.volvobuses.com/us-en/coaches/coaches/volvo-9700-uscan/specifications.html

Couldn't find steering angle for a MAN coach but imagine it would be similar

Nice find, thanks!

Steering lock is one of those things where I have conflicting info - most Lions seem to be listed at between 18 and 24 metres turning circle, but that corresponds with 15 to 20 degrees of turning angle. 35 degrees of steering as we have now is a 9 metre turning circle, so we're already pushing the boundaries of the data I found

Having said that, it is important to me that this can be used by everyone who wants to, for any purpose... including drifting. Once you throw the back of this thing, it just keeps going and going and going, maybe a bit more steering angle would be useful for that. People who want lower angles can always do it in the setup.

I am thinking maybe when they list turning circle instead of steering angle, that they mean it in real world terms, ie, the space it needs to turn including the overhang. These turning circle calculators don't include overhang, which would make a big difference and render my numbers above useless.

Slow progress on the important things (too many things to do, not enough time to do them), but I've made a minor tweaks in the meantime. Now skinable, driver-side-swapable, less likely to stall in default sets, and more coach-like wheel hubs.

Left to do:

Engine tune (*lower RPMs)
Widen
Full interior (passenger compartment)
Full dashboard (replace temporary)
Suspension/setups tune
More exterior detail/ some smoothing
Better/smoother steering animation
Make skinnable
Tidy up texture usage
*Switchable sides