Postby _o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:27 pm
I have bought these to complement the DTM/VRC 4 axle high horsepower EMD units of late.
Here is my assessment of the UP model which I wanted the most.
Exterior model OK, the horns are a bit coarse in detail.
Nice truck and underbody detail, no wobbling wheels but the sanders should extend down to the railhead in front of the wheels.
Perhaps the wheel threads should be shining metal their whole circumference?
Cab a bit clean and sterile but with clear and readable textures all around.
I like the digital speedometer though it lacks the auxilliary display on the conductor's side.
No emergency air valve on the conductor's side, though the nook in the cab front wall is there.
Levers and switches as in standard DTG locomotives, no extra special features like independent front-rear headlihghts with all marked intensities.
Outside windows not animated along with the inside windows when moved by hand (Keys U and O are OK).
Instrument needle animations a bit off, esp. on the near gauge with the reservoirs.
Ammeter has wrong scaling, though it looks OK in the blueprint.
No rubber blades in the windshield wipers. No moving yank handles on the inside.
Pure white headlights don't exist in the prototype.
Power settings seem reasonable, I don't know if the real locos had a reputation of being slippery or weak pullers.
I cannot comment on the sounds, never been near a real loco. Cab still quite loud, cannot comment on the in-cab balance/spectrum.
Overall, no real breaking points, I'd give it 3.75 out of 5 so far and consider it money well spent.
Brakes not yet tested, still climbing Sherman Hill with 3 units pulling 40 TOFC of fast mail while I am writing this.
Zoom in (real dimensions: 1600 x 900)Screenshot_Sherman Hill_41.09980--105.13834_14-53-16.jpg
Screenshot_Sherman Hill_41.09980--105.13834_14-53-16.jpg (163.14 KiB) Viewed 47 times
There seems to be a problem with the cab inside a tunnel which I haven't encountered before:
with the gauge lights on, the gauges turn all murky and brownish (?)
Zoom in (real dimensions: 1600 x 900)Screenshot_Sherman Hill_41.08062--105.45911_15-36-25.jpg
Screenshot_Sherman Hill_41.08062--105.45911_15-36-25.jpg (55.28 KiB) Viewed 34 times
Finally over the summit, time to test the brakes.
Here a grave error has been made in the animation: the air brake handles operate the wrong way round!
See the above screenshot, the train brake handle is in the full emergency position while released.
Same goes for the independent brake.
Also, air brakes aren't notched and should conform to the 26L service arc IMO.
The wheels seem to lock under light dynamic braking, perhaps the curve needs some tweaking by a physics expert?
I put great emphasis on proper physics and handling, so this lowers my rating to 3 out of 5. I think that animation should be corrected ASAP in the service pack, the tweaking of parameters I can do myself.
Postby _o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:27 pm"
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