RSC 2-8-0 CONSOLIDATION

[mrennie]

Hi mate...

You know my thoughts already - my cc is sitting here on the desk waiting to be used :)

Unfortunately the screen shots just do not do your work justice - it can only really be appreciated when you see and hear it in action. From the BNSFDude video, it sounds like a perfect sound set. RSc will be cursing because all future releases are going to be measured against this benchmark. That is probably the last time it will run as it should on my system, cos if I have to fire and drive and lineside and pace, I cant see me getting too far Thanks again for the perseverance in getting this too us...





G

Thanks Grant

I've put quite a lot of time into making it work with the F4 HUD and auto fireman (it still can't match the performance with manual firing, even though I doubled the horsepower and tractive effort of that variant - useless auto fireman! - but it does alright

You're right about the screenshots. The jpeg compression doesn't do it any favours. I'm sure the Black 5 looks much better in the game than it does in its screenshots too.


Mike

[SargNickFury]

Ahem....what an ALCO 2-8-0 Consolidation SHOULD look like...

Southern #630 of the TVRM 109 years old, revitalized, freshly rebuilt, and still a sexy beast!
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7972

[mrennie]

Ahem....what an ALCO 2-8-0 Consolidation SHOULD look like...

Southern #630 of the TVRM 109 years old, revitalized, freshly rebuilt, and still a sexy beast!
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7972

Excellent photos! She looks lovely, gleaming in the sun.

Very similar to my Lima (not ALCO) 2-8-0 but perhaps slightly more modern (piston valves, more modern tender trucks ...).

At the request of some people on RSC's FB, I've done the opposite and made a dirty, weathered skin. Pictures are on my Smokebox FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smokebox/132794016882582. Here's one of my favourites:

859667_148342478661069_1589831883_o.jpg

EDIT: Wait, 109 years old!! So she was built in 1904. Was there a rebuild at some later stage to replace slide valves with piston valves?

[ozinoz]

That is just beautiful. The texturing, the weathering, the positioning - that could be real.

I am sort of following your modelling thread, not for the modelling, because one thing I do know and that is my limits , but for when you get to the texturing / painting stage. I am hoping to pick up some pointers, because that is where my interests lay - in repainting.

Great news too from your Farcebook update re the AI double head and read helper mods - that will be excellent.



Grant

[mrennie]

That is just beautiful. The texturing, the weathering, the positioning - that could be real.

I am sort of following your modelling thread, not for the modelling, because one thing I do know and that is my limits , but for when you get to the texturing / painting stage. I am hoping to pick up some pointers, because that is where my interests lay - in repainting.

Great news too from your Farcebook update re the AI double head and read helper mods - that will be excellent.



Grant

Thanks Grant :)

I did the weathered one in response to a post (or two) on RSC's page. I'm glad I did, because it turned out better than I'd expected and has now become my own favourite. I studied a lot of photos before I started it, so as to avoid overdoing the dirt. The problem with weathering a black engine is that the usual thing of applying rust and black soot doesn't show up very well. Instead what I did was to apply tiny white dots to a top layer in photoshop, Then I used a motion blur filter to turn the spots into fuzzy vertical stripes. Next was to use the "smudge" tool to smudge the top of the stripes (widening them and making them a bit fuzzier), but then filling in the top middle again with some more white. After that, I used the eraser (at 50% pressure and with a fuzzy edge) to gradually taper those vertical stripes so that they got thinner a you go further down. I also selected each one individually and adjusted its length so that they weren't all the same height. Another trick was to select each one and play with the light intensity so that they weren't all the same.

I did apply some black smudges around the smoke stack and top of the smoke box. I also put tapered rust "drips" under every rivet on the cab sides (that job took hours!), but you can't see them unless you go up close.

I love doing textures. It's about as close as I get these days to real painting.

By the way, I really hope the Connie does well (although I'm told that steam locos don't sell as well as diesels and electrics), because I'm almost certainly going to quit my day job very soon (my job makes me ill, literally) and spend my time doing models instead, maybe even a route.

I hope I'll have more time to do the next part of the tutorial during the week.

Cheers,

Mike

[SargNickFury]

859667_148342478661069_1589831883_o.jpg

EDIT: Wait, 109 years old!! So she was built in 1904. Was there a rebuild at some later stage to replace slide valves with piston valves?

Nice I am soooo looking forward to this engine! Would desperately like to build some Chattanooga routes with that engine. Any cab pics?

As for #630, Yes By federal law all locos must go through a complete dessassembly and rebuild every so many hundredthousand miles of service, not sure...exactly how many. Anyway #630 went in for a complete breakdown down to every bolt, about 1999, and she just came out again reassembled, repainted etc in March of 2011, She's from 1904, but she's just been freshly rebuilt. The work at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is refurbisihing and restoring locomotives and cars is incredible. She not only runs great but she really runs fast, been on mainline easily doing 50, and I could swear higher ;)

It takes a long time though as it costs well over a million to do, and there's only about 3-4 guys at any one time there working on it. Where as when Steam was the mode of transportation, they'd have hundreds of guys working on one locomotive and it would take a couple of months. Currently they have their more infamous engine the 4501 in the shop and I can only hope it's rebuilt sooner but it will be awhile, longer or shorting depending on donations. The #4501 is a Mikado, and teh first steam engine I ever saw as a kid. I would say it's still my favorite, but 630 is really growing on me, I think I may love them equally now.

If you're ever in the area you have to take her for a trip....great place to get cab pics and etc, there's more to their collection then listed if you look around the "shop".

http://tvrail.com/pages/our-collection-of-equipment

[mrennie]

Nice I am soooo looking forward to this engine! Would desperately like to build some Chattanooga routes with that engine. Any cab pics?

As for #630, Yes By federal law all locos must go through a complete dessassembly and rebuild every so many hundredthousand miles of service, not sure...exactly how many. Anyway #630 went in for a complete breakdown down to every bolt, about 1999, and she just came out again reassembled, repainted etc in March of 1911, She's from 1904, but she's just been freshly rebuilt. The work at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is refurbisihing and restoring locomotives and cars is incredible. She not only runs great but she really runs fast, been on mainline easily doing 50, and I could swear higher ;)

It takes a long time though as it costs well over a million to do, and there's only about 3-4 guys at any one time there working on it. Where as when Steam was the mode of transportation, they'd have hundreds of guys working on one locomotive and it would take a couple of months. Currently they have their more infamous engine the 4501 in the shop and I can only hope it's rebuilt sooner but it will be awhile, longer or shorting depending on donations. The #4501 is a Mikado, and teh first steam engine I ever saw as a kid. I would say it's still my favorite, but 630 is really growing on me, I think I may love them equally now.

If you're ever in the area you have to take her for a trip....great place to get cab pics and etc, there's more to their collection then listed if you look around the "shop".

http://tvrail.com/pages/our-collection-of-equipment

I'd love to visit, but the way things are at the moment, it's going to to be quite some time before I can get to the States, if ever. For material, I have to rely on what I can find on the Web, and what anyone can send me by way of pictures.

I'll make a cup of tea first, then do a few cab screenshots for you. There aren't any photos or drawings of the prototype Lima 2-8-0 cab (only four were built and I think they were all scrapped by the end of the 1940s or early 1950s), so I've had to use a lot of artistic license (and researching cab photos and cab ride videos of similar locomotives) to build the cab. What I aimed for was to get the right feel (along with the sounds). However, I've never been anywhere near a real life American locomotive (steam, diesel or electric), so it's hard to know if I got it right.

[mrennie]

Cab photos ...

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[mrennie]

a few more cab shots ...

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2013-03-03_00010.jpg

[ozinoz]

The last thing you want mate is a job that is making you ill (been there, done that ) For a little short term gain there is long term pain, and it is just not worth. The hardest part is getting established so that there is a cash flow to survive, however, with a full time dedication, the time involved in each project diminishes, making that cash flow intervals shorter. The trick I guess is to model to complement a route that exists (or will exist ) so that those that have bought the route have more rolling stock to run on it - ie, 800's for Sherman Hill or Kannawah or H8 for Tori's COA. That way there is a pre-existing market (probably telling you how to suck eggs I know ) He who can not be named seems to do alright by all accounts working freelance full time.

You might even be able to work with RSC long distance - it si not as though they do not know the calibre of your work

Good Luck with what ever you decide....we will all be here to buy your output



(love the cabsots - thanks for keeping us updated...)

[SargNickFury]

Hmm well I don't know if it would help since it is an ALCO, but I met a volunteeer there that works for the same company I do during the week. I am sure he could get cab photos for you of the #630. Granted the cab is where the different builders probably are the most different. (Course if you wanted to also make an ALCO, no one here would be upset ) The #630 has been updated in the cab some, they have put some digital readouts for temperatures to make it a lil more advance then using the back of the hand approach. The controls I think all remain the same though, and I imagine the pressure gaages are largely if not all period, but I am not sure.

It's been sort of my goal to go down there and start photographing all they have inside and out, and make it available. I can't really do 3d modeling, and I don't forsee any time between job and family any time soon to learn. However I can get photos for the community to use should anyone feel so inclined. If there's any photos of #630 that would help I'd be happy to, maybe someone here lives close to where a Lima is available? Or perhaps we could find some archive stuff.

I'll wager more then likely there's something here:
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/colleg ... hs-dc.html
If anyone is in Maryland area in community perhaps they could help.

[SargNickFury]

Someone has already posted #630 cab

[mrennie]

The last thing you want mate is a job that is making you ill (been there, done that ) For a little short term gain there is long term pain, and it is just not worth. The hardest part is getting established so that there is a cash flow to survive, however, with a full time dedication, the time involved in each project diminishes, making that cash flow intervals shorter. The trick I guess is to model to complement a route that exists (or will exist ) so that those that have bought the route have more rolling stock to run on it - ie, 800's for Sherman Hill or Kannawah or H8 for Tori's COA. That way there is a pre-existing market (probably telling you how to suck eggs I know ) He who can not be named seems to do alright by all accounts working freelance full time.

You might even be able to work with RSC long distance - it si not as though they do not know the calibre of your work

Good Luck with what ever you decide....we will all be here to buy your output



(love the cabsots - thanks for keeping us updated...)

I'm expecting a payout from an investment I made, and as soon as it arrives, I'll have enough to tide me over while I wait for the income from the Consolidation. It'll be a pleasure to hand in my notice.

RSC said the same thing about going for what's likely to be more popular. I have to strike a balance between what's popular and what I like (so it'll continue to be fun for me). I can't see me doing a modern high-speed train, for instance. I mentioned to RSC that I'd like, one day, to do a US short line set in the days of steam (AT&N anyone?). They think it would be a great idea. Problem is that it would take a long time and a lot of research to get the period feel. I'd even have to model some people (something I'm going to have to learn to do eventually).

My aim now is just to make a living doing what I like, with nobody to boss me about.

Cheers,
Mike

[mrennie]

Hmm well I don't know if it would help since it is an ALCO, but I met a volunteeer there that works for the same company I do during the week. I am sure he could get cab photos for you of the #630. Granted the cab is where the different builders probably are the most different. (Course if you wanted to also make an ALCO, no one here would be upset ) The #630 has been updated in the cab some, they have put some digital readouts for temperatures to make it a lil more advance then using the back of the hand approach. The controls I think all remain the same though, and I imagine the pressure gaages are largely if not all period, but I am not sure.

It's been sort of my goal to go down there and start photographing all they have inside and out, and make it available. I can't really do 3d modeling, and I don't forsee any time between job and family any time soon to learn. However I can get photos for the community to use should anyone feel so inclined. If there's any photos of #630 that would help I'd be happy to, maybe someone here lives close to where a Lima is available? Or perhaps we could find some archive stuff.

I'll wager more then likely there's something here:
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/colleg ... hs-dc.html
If anyone is in Maryland area in community perhaps they could help.

That's a very kind offer and I hope I get a chance to take you up on it.

My next project is going to be UP FEF-3 4-8-4 #844. I'll be grateful for any photos anyone can donate to help the project along.

[SargNickFury]

Found a Lima.
Someone has to have taken some shots of cab controls of the #7688 at PRR museum. If not I bet a call to their shop, and explanation would get some pictures!
http://prr.railfan.net/photos/teabow/PR ... hibaut.jpg

#630 is still better lookin then that newbie though