making hay bales

[Curt84328]

I have a few issues, and want your opinions.

First, in my layout I have a section that features making and gathering hay bales.

I have a hay baler, and every so often want to drop a hay bale to the ground.  There is one behind the baler, but it is hard to see.  I figured I could place a track contact on the track and use it to make a bale already placed become visible.  The problem is that It becomes cumbersome to implement as each bale then needs it's own event. Can I create some sort of table that lists each bale name etc?      

I would then make them invisible again and a corresponding bale appear in the wagon.

The second issue regards turning.   

 

when the tractor turns, the baler or wagon attached swings out and rotates around the back of the tractor.   Is there some sort of coupler that can be attached to the baler so that it bends like a railroad car?

Curtis

[BahnLand]

Hello Curtis,

is it correct, that your baler is not a Train Studio model of type "vehicle", anf therefore, it is grouped together with the tractor? Then, this is the reason for the behavior you see. Dissolve the group, append a dummy vehicle (model "Dummy Abstand kurz" or "Dummy Abstand lang" from ghe category "Bahn\Rollmaterial\Dummies") to the tractor, adjust the baler on the dummy vehicle and connect it to the dummy vehicle, and finally, makr the dummy vehicle invisible. Then, the tracor as well as the (indirectly) appended baler will stay on the track also in the curve.

Many greetings
BahnLand

[Curt84328]

30 minutes ago, BahnLand said:

Hello Curtis,

is it correct, that your baler is not a Train Studio model of type "vehicle", anf therefore, it is grouped together with the tractor? Then, this is the reason for the behavior you see. Dissolve the group, append a dummy vehicle (model "Dummy Abstand kurz" or "Dummy Abstand lang" from ghe category "Bahn\Rollmaterial\Dummies") to the tractor, adjust the baler on the dummy vehicle and connect it to the dummy vehicle, and finally, makr the dummy vehicle invisible. Then, the tracor as well as the (indirectly) appended baler will stay on the track also in the curve.

Many greetings
BahnLand

You are correct that the baler is not a vehicle, and I just figured that one out, but good to know.

[simonjackson1964]

22 hours ago, Curt84328 said:

The problem is that It becomes cumbersome to implement as each bale then needs it's own event. Can I create some sort of table that lists each bale name etc?      

The answer to this is to use a keyword on the track contact, say "Hay bale Contact", and an object variable called (say) "Hay bale" also on the contact which contains the object id of the bale you want to appear. This can be set by simply clicking on the bale when you create the object variable. Select both the contact and the bale, copy and paste both, and this will automatically populate the new track contact's variable with the corresponding new bale.

Your event then looks like this:

I use "Upon Leaving" because that lets you put the bale on top of the contact that triggers it. If you ise "Toggle" on the visibility state, you can use the same event for both vehicles, as long as the visibility is correct to begin with, and a separate event on the following vehicle will make the bale appear in the wagon. (not sure about this one, but with the above as a starting point, I expect you can work something out?)

[Curt84328]

Yes, thanks,  Metallix, showed me the same thing, and after an afternoon of false starts, I got it working.  

this is the tractor and baler before track contact

Track Contact Triggered, and

a hay bale dropped, and ready to be picked up by the wagon

closeup of the rear of the baler

Side view showing Hitch, Power take off shaft and fly wheel.

Thanks everyone.  

Curtis