HEA Hopper Conversions: Sparkling CEAs

Time is always at a premium over the summer months with all those little jobs and fun family things to do! However, time has been found to finish the last of the models and base liveries to be included in our HEA Hopper Conversions expansion pack for Train Simulator 2014, a milestone marked by the completion of the CEA hoppers.

For a small fleet of hoppers the variation in livery and lettering they have gained since conversion, when they were a nice uniform fleet, is amazing. As a consequence the red liveries are a bit of a best fit compromise that gives the correct feel but isn't necessarily correct for every wagon.

The first picture in the post shows a red liveried CEA (one of the few converted from the early batch with central ladders) in what feels like a bit of an interim livery to spruce up the hoppers but still very much in the style of the original Loadhaul livery.

 This second hopper has gain fully branded red and gold livery. Even with this livery there is little standardisation in the extents of the red paint and the positioning of some of the labelling specific to the CEA hoppers themselves.

Moving right back to the start we see the completed Loadhaul hopper that has had a trip back to the Paint Shop for the application of the lettering that was still to be applied in the previous post.

With the shapes and base textures completed, control of the project now moves to our texture artist to add a little grime to the clean ones and to be distressingly creative with the weathered ones.