I borrowed heavily from the last two vehicles for inspiration, but the air stair chassis was created new this week.  Unlike the luggage conveyor, I used the Subdivision Surface modifier on the chassis for the air stair which helped the model look cleaner, particularly around the wheel wells.  Normally, I start from the ground up.  This time, I got the stair extension/retraction mechanism working first before attaching it to a vehicle. 

MOTW history was made this week (a full two weeks into the challenge): the model was finished on Thursday.  The MOTW followed the 'airport support vehicle' theme that started last week.  This will be the theme for a few more weeks until all the support vehicles are one big happy family.  This week was a tug and luggage carts that form the train responsible for getting your luggage from the terminal to the airplane.

After struggling to model the wheel wells last week, I decided a Subdivision Surface modifier is a requirement for nearly all vehicle models.  That worked reasonably well this week, but trying to keep edge loops intact throughout the model significantly increased my vertex count.  There are plenty of mistakes left to make, but I am getting better at linking assets during the creation but locally saving everything (assets, materials, images, etc.) packed in the final file.  The important Lessons Learned this week:

• Subdivision Surface modifier is key for vehicles (see above)
• Without blueprints, or at least a 3-view drawing, it is easy for relative dimensions to 'adjust' during modeling.  My 'need a human figure for reference' comment from last week still applies.
• Noise textures are great!  I've started using them in almost every shader.  Over the next couple of weeks, I expect to learn the lesson, 'Noise textures can be overused!' :)

The first several Models Of The Week (MOTW) will have an airport support equipment theme; this week's MOTW is a luggage conveyor.

Day 1: Spent the day finding reference photos and dimensions from the internet.

One of my many challenges in 3D modeling is knowing when to stop.  I started creating in 3D as a hobby, and endless tweaking wasn't a significant drawback.   But when working with teams and/or with a customer, being predictable and staying on schedule is vital.  To retrain this particular bad habits, I created several challenges for myself.  Through this MOTW challenge, I will attempt to create a (admittedly simple) model each week; due by midnight Friday.  In theory, I will choose a wide variety of models to create.  In reality, the first few months appear to be leaning toward mechanical objects with which I am most comfortable.  We'll see what the rest of the year brings. 

I will post images of the results here.   I've already started an informal pool to guess how many models I create within the specified schedule.  Feel free to join the pool.  The winner of the pool will likely win something terribly exciting, like a warm feeling of superiority.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome. 

Cheers!