CSX YN3 C44-9W & ES44

[SCLALINE]

Thank You Very Much

[dejoh]

A big thanks for your paint jobs.

[imnew]

[XDriver]

Those units look real good man.

[MontanaRails]

Im glad everyone likes them!

Thanks for releasing the ES44 YN3, it is a most welcome additon to my roster and that of most other users.

Colour rendition and perception are very difficult subjects. Additive vs subtractive, lighting, "the human factor", etc. etc.
No two batches of paint are exactly the same, sun and rain quickly weather prototype units and each user's monitor is different. I'll bet the units will look quite different on an old-fashioned CRT compared to the LCD's of today.

Have you done a unit with sun-bleached weathering like the famous CSX 727 in addition to a slighty rusty/dirty well used one, like with the SD40-2 you participated in?
With those 3 variations all of our rostering needs can be fulfilled.

I will change all my boring black ES44's to yours staight away on the COARW.

Edit: the units are out and running, thank you very much !!! There are supposed to be no numbers on the rear hood's end?
Old CSX 727 can finally be relegated to Ronceverte pusher service. It will be experimented upon to get that much desired exhaust stack fire. Got me a good enginescript.lua with the required logic, now only that fire needs to be found.

I like this idea - I'm already working on a 'alternate' YN3 texture. And regarding the numbers on the rear hood...yes, they 'should' be there, but I couldnt find a good way to model it. In reality, they are dark blue, or black in color. The problem is the way the unit numbering is set up, there are numberboard textures, and cab hood textures, and the hood textures can be only one color. I chose gold, and the ends of the cab are a tradeoff...with there was another way...

Not to spoil anyone's day, but there are other big issues, like the truck sideframes are wrong for CSX and the rear headlight is in the wrong location (which caused me to have to move the CSX logo down). Oh well, gotta work with what KUJU gave us, right?

[XDriver]

Oh well, gotta work with what KUJU gave us, right?

Ain't that the truth.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Oh, don't mind those small quibbles. One has to make do with what is at hand. On the road your repaints look great from all angles! BNSF, UP, NS and CSX, we have them all now and are able to cover 99% of the US with our ES44's.

A new and more detailed model of the ES44 from RSC would be fine for sure, particularly on those self steering maximum adhesion trucks. Or a model in kit form, with different trucks, plows, number boards and what else as separate child objects. Plus the all important, clearly labeled photoshop template for your own paint jobs. Now that would be nice, foresight from the part of RSC (or any asset publisher)?

That small vertical stripe behind the step on the engineer side needs to be pointed out to find it. How have the NS Heritage repainters dealt with this?

Those trucks, actually only their sideframes, can easilly be swapped in place of the regular trucks. I have swapped some trucks around for variation, we have dull and bright silver, dark and light gray, "dark" black and with the sudden abundance of repaints some more shades of gray are to come.

Wouldn't be too difficult a project to learn 3D modelling by starting with one of those trucks. Are there drawing available, otherwise one has to "eyeball" it? Which shouldn't be too difficult either as they are quite plain and simple.

[MontanaRails]

I thought I had located the yellow stripe location. . . but now that you mention it, how did they get past it? I'll look into it again just to be sure.

I used to be pretty well versed with AutoCAD...but its been a long time. Modelling is something I'm thinking about, just havent taken the plunge yet.

Newtonian Reflector Telescope mount close-up:

[MontanaRails]

A few more pictures:













BTW, Anyone find the spot the rookie conductor jokingly wrote "Wash Me" in the dirt on the weathered loco?

[MontanaRails]

Update: Unfortunately, all previous ES44 paints I can find also have the stripe problem (well, those with a sill stripe, that is).

Here is it on Joe's excellent NKP Heritage paint:



As a side note, I'm glad to see Norfolk Southern remembering their history in this way - and thanks to XDriver for the paints!

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

It seems that Kuju back then forgot to texture that part of the hood properly, it lies exactly in line with the small metal vertical step guard under the handrail mount. In a flat drawing board side view one can think of it as part of the "side"(-sill) of the frame. Oh well, we can all live with it, can't we?

Would you care to release your psd file? That way one can do weathered units themselves or perhaps recreate DC units with another number series or those named "City of ... " units.
It will save you some questions and work and allows other users to learn repainting in a somewhat easier way. CSX roster is enormous, and these units are very common so exist in many varations of weathering. I once thought that auto weathering is possible in the same manner as auto numbering, but without access to the source files to put the "dirty area" placeholders in place this is impossible.

Hopefully, CSX in one day will honour its heritage likewise. Would bring a welcome varation to their roster as well.

[NDORFN]

I thought I had located the yellow stripe location. . . but now that you mention it, how did they get past it? I'll look into it again just to be sure.

I used to be pretty well versed with AutoCAD...but its been a long time. Modelling is something I'm thinking about, just havent taken the plunge yet.

Newtonian Reflector Telescope mount close-up:

I'm in the same boat. I use AutoCAD to design kitchens in detail and am going to have to take the plunge into RW scenery object for my route soon. I reckon if you can use ACad, you can use anything.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Thanks for the "idle" position on the throttle lever. Just what the engineer needs, occasional idleness.
Doing my first P&LE scenario writing now and enjoying the lovely scenery from the cab of my brand new CSX YN3 gently trundling along with a mile of hoppers in tow.

Anyway, regarding the rear numbers and headlight: one can take some more artistic license and paint the upper part of the rear end, let's say down to where the radiator wings meet the body, dark carbody blue. That way the numbers show again and the colour scheme's "balance" is not disturbed. It is only a backside afterall.

[MontanaRails]

Thanks for the "idle" position on the throttle lever. Just what the engineer needs, occasional idleness.
Doing my first P&LE scenario writing now and enjoying the lovely scenery from the cab of my brand new CSX YN3 gently trundling along with a mile of hoppers in tow.

Anyway, regarding the rear numbers and headlight: one can take some more artistic license and paint the upper part of the rear end, let's say down to where the radiator wings meet the body, dark carbody blue. That way the numbers show again and the colour scheme's "balance" is not disturbed. It is only a backside afterall.

Interesting idea, I'll play around with that on the back hood when I get a chance. I think thats a reasonable tradeoff! I'm not sure about releasing the psd's just yet - I want to tweak some areas a little more - and maybe give some more flexibility with layers.

[MontanaRails]

Based on feedback I've recieved, I'm nearing completion of an "alternate" CSX ES44 pack. It will include slight (but noticeable) improvements in the YN3 blue for the existing ES44AC repaint, along with ES44DC locomotives, and ES44DC loco # 5500, "the Spirit of Cincinnati"



















Anyone see anything that could be better before I package this one up?