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 By the late 1960's this approach had been generally superseded by the process of replacing the whole body.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.

BORAIL EB Render

We've been beavering away quietly on a few things lately and selfishly haven't shared! As an example of what's been going on here's a render of a brand new model that has it's first version complete.

The wagon in question is a British Railways designed, vacuum braked, bogie rail wagon used for transporting lengths of rail from steel works to customers and for export. Originally these wagons were not for the use of the engineers department and were built as a traffic wagon. This design was dia 1/483 and was the final design created following a number of variants based on pre-nationalisation designs.

The deep fish belly underframe is particularly distinctive and makes this wagon impressive at over 60ft in length. The vast majority of the design were overhauled and fitted with new bogies, air brakes and a new deck and bolsters, but that is the subject of another model and another blog post!

VEA Vans: Weathered ODAs

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.

VEA Vans: Work Worn and Dirty

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.