Tuesday 23 June 2015

VEA Vans: Weathered ODAs

Fastline Simulation - VEA Vans: This Railfreight liveried ODA has seen a little bit of service and the paint is fading as the grime builds up.

Fastline Simulation - VEA Vans: A slightly weathered ODV in Railfrieght Distribution livery loaded with a military branded crate.
Bright, sparkling wagons are usually a rarity on the rail network and cleanliness is often a short lived state after repairs. As such, we feel it's important to include some slightly more work worn examples of the wagons included in our Train Simulator expansion packs.

The ODA wagons that will be included in the VEA Vans expansion are no exception and we're pleased to show the more grimy versions of the two liveries to be included in the pack.

Monday 15 June 2015

VEA Vans: Work Worn and Dirty

Fastline Simulation - VEA Vans: A weathered example of one of the original 50 Maroon liveried VEA vans.

Fastline Simulation - VEA Vans: This heavily faded Railfreight liveried VEA van has been carrying compressed gas and still has a battery tail lamp hung on the lamp bracket.

Fastline Simulation - VEA Vans:  This Railfreight Distribution liveried VEA van has started to fade as the grime builds up and still has a hazard warning label applied.
It's always good fun to show the bright and shiny ex-works wagons. However, in the real world they soon found themselves in traffic and rapidly building a layer of dirt as the paint began to fade.

As with the majority of our expansion packs the VEA vans will feature both clean versions and the weathered ones featured in this post.

Monday 8 June 2015

Carflats: Fresh Paint

It's always good to start getting base textures on to models and these have been no exception as the application of colour is really starting to bring them to life. The paintwork at the moment is still very much base coat with the ambient occlusion added with a basic set-up on the shaders so still a way to go!

Fastline Simulation - Carflats: An FVV carflat to diagram 1/131 in Rail Blue livery with vacuum brakes, taller sides with removable sections with wooden ends and Motorail branding.
This Dia. 1/131 FVV is in Rail Blue complete with Motorail branding. The wagon has the taller type of sides with removable end sections and wooden ends.

This version will also be supplied carrying TOPS code NGV representing the 16 or so vehiucles that were transferred to the non passenger carrying coaching stock series for Motorail use in the mid 1980s as a part of the sectorisation of British Rail.

Fastline Simulation - Carflats: An FVW carflat to diagram 1/177 in brown livery with vacuum brakes, through air pipes and shorter sides with removable sections with wooden ends.
This Dia 1/177 FVW in brown livery has the short version of sides with removeable sections and wooden ends.

This model will also be supplied as an FVV without the through air pipe.

Fastline Simulation - Carflats: An FVX carflat to diagram 1/088 in Rail Blue livery with vacuum and air brakes, fixed sides with steel ends and Motorail branding.
A Dia 1/088 vehicle carrying Rail Blue livery and Motorail branding. The wagon has fixed sides and a steel end along with a buckeye coupling and dual brakes, hence the TOPS code of FVX.

the story of the carflats is complex and confusing to say the least and that was before in service modifications! As such we've taken a decision to portray the best fit of variations in terms of sides, ends, braking and draw gear. Vehicles to every diagram had a mix of all elements but those shown are the most prevalent for the diagram in question.

All that remains now is to start adding some grime and the finalise the set-up of the shaders oh and some loads of course. I've just seen a WIP render of one of the loads under development and I think there will be a very interesting blog post in the future.