Weathered rebodied dia. 1/146 HTV Hoppers

We showed off some pictures of the clean rebodied dia. 1/146 21t hoppers a few days ago. To bring the story of this pack up-to-date it seemed only fair to publish some pictures of the weathered ones too.

As can be seen from the pictures, time in traffic has effected the wagons in different ways and especially the degree to which the paint has changed and faded. From top to bottom we have: freight brown hopper with black under-frame; freight brown hopper with brown under-frame and a maroon hopper with black under-frame.

In the last two pictures you can also glimpse the randomised load profiles that have been added to these wagons.

Rebodied HTV Features

Not only have we been working hard on a stack of new models we've also been adding new features to them. We told you about the texture swapping and graffiti that has been applied to the EWS liveried Sea Urchins on Wednesday and are taking the opportunity to share the special features of the Rebodied HTV hoppers today.

You should have noticed from the four pictures above that there are a selection of subtly different data panels applied to the wagons. These panels are applied at random as the wagons are placed in the game and when mixed in with the different weathering levels and liveries produces a nicely mixed rake of wagons.

However, what if you're placing a nice neat row of ex-works wagons? We would expect them all to be lettered the same. This is why we have also included the option to override the randomisation of the data panels if you wish in the Scenario Editor by prefixing the wagon number with a code to choose the panel you want.

In addition to this automatic ability to mix things up a bit we've also developed something that we're calling 'Intelligent Tail Lamps'. In the past we have stuck with producing discrete rear versions of wagons fitted with a tail lamp as we didn't feel that any of the other solutions that had been developed really gave the level of control we wanted.

That was until one of our testers pushed the issue again and a chance comment sparked an idea. With a little bit inspiration, a fair amount of sweat and frustration and possibly a little swearing we have produced the solution that is quoted from the manual below.

The key features of our ‘intelligent’ tail lamp are:

• Player services will display a lamp at the rear end and this will move up and down the train as vehicles are coupled/uncoupled.
• AI services will display a lamp at rear and this should move up and down as vehicles are added or removed in scenarios
• Loose consists should not display any lamps - including portions detached from Player and AI services
• Lamps can be prevented from showing by adding a N prefix to the vehicle number in the scenario editor either before or after the decal override if this is used
• Lamps can be forced to appear in a similar manner by using a Y prefix.
• AI services with a Service Class of ‘Special’ will not display a lamp and this needs to be forced to appear with a prefix
• Loose consists are treated by Train Simulator as ‘Special’, if you wish a tail lamp to appear on one end (or indeed both ends) of such a consist you will need to force it to appear by adding a Y prefix to the relevant wagon(s).
• In a free roam scenario, selecting a consist with a Special type to become the player service will enable the lamps as per a normal service.
• In circumstances where the automatic display of a tail lamp is not desired, for example during shunting manoeuvres in a yard, adding a prefix of N to the vehicle number will prevent a tail lamp from being displayed on that vehicle.
• Conversely, if a tail lamp is required to be displayed and this does not happen automatically, for example a loose consist left in a siding, adding a prefix of Y will force a tail lamp to be displayed on the outer end of that wagon.

When adding prefixes for lamp control and decal overriding the order of those prefixes does not matter.

Freshly Rebodied Common Hoppers

A while ago we showed you some work in progress renders of a rebodied dia. 1/146 21t coal hopper. As can be seen from these pictures they have progressed nicely and are currently undergoing QA with Dovetail Games as one of our range of wagons under development for Marketplace.

The pictures show three different livery variations that the hoppers received no doubt due to the long rebodying program and the fact that a number of different workshops with possibly their own understanding of things were involved! From top to bottom we have, freight brown with black under frame and running gear; freight brown with brown under frame and black running gear and finally maroon with black under frame and running gear.

If you'd like to read a touch more about the 21t hoppers and their rebodying take a look at this post: Rebodied HTV Render

Rebodied HTV Render

Carrying on our series of blog posts with renders showing new models in production we're excited to be revealing this re-bodied dia. 1/146 coal hopper.

Diagram 1/146 started to appear in about 1952 and with its BR style hand brake, Morton brakes and welded body can be considered to be the standard design of 21T coal hopper. This is further reinforced when you consider that some 17000 wagons were constructed.

However, carrying coal in any type of steel wagon has one big problem, corrosion. This was originally dealt with but cutting out corroded sections and welding in new metal. By the late 1960's this approach had been generally superseded by the process of replacing the whole body. From 1971 to 1978 a major re-bodying program took place with larger numbers of wagons from all diagrams receiving a new style of welded body with two ribs on each side.

Given their sheer number a many dia 1/146 wagons would have received the new body and this is what is featured in our renders above. Fitted and unfitted wagons from other diagrams were also re-bodied and some gained vacuum brakes at this time too.