Railworks America

Here's my very first reskin using Michael Stephen's 50 ft. box car. I decided to do one of those "what if" paint schemes so it would be virtually impossible to screw it up.

SPSF box car in two versions:




What can I say? I couldn't resist.

So now could someone please help a newbie out and tell me how I can change the numbering to better match the reporting mark? I'd also love any suggestions you might have for improvements.

The numbers are all individual textures that usually live in the Textures/ folder ( along with a .bin file that tells the wagon what textures go with what numbers ). I haven't actually got round to looking at this model yet but it's a common practice anyway.

As for the paint, I'd suggest reducing the saturation to turn off the glowing effect, and check the alpha channel isn't pure white or the end result will do wierd things in strong light or at night.

You shouldn't paint so fast.

micaelcorleone wrote:You shouldn't paint so fast.

That one's a keeper for sure. Change the gloss, weather it a little, but don't change that name. It's gonna be famous!

That gave me a good chuckle. It looks great.

Michael has included a yellow set of numbers in Arial font that would be a good match for that. If you haven't already, download the numbers pack that's here in the file library.

Very nice work for a first try.

There is a numbers pack????

Thanks Mike, I never knew about that.

PapaXpress wrote:There is a numbers pack????

Thanks Mike, I never knew about that.

There's more fonts and colors with the Hawker Siddley hopper repaints Michael did as well.

Thanks for the comments/suggestions guys. I've made some adjustments but now I've got a new problem. After changing the numbers, one of them isn't showing up:



Any ideas?

Also, do you think it needs any more decals on it?

I think you have enough detail. On mine you will see some text just above the trucks that state "2 inch comp brakes" (or something like that). And on the door there is sometimes the manufacture's brand and some "slide to unlock" text (just guessing here, I can't find a good picture to verify).

What program are you using to repaint?

Thanks Papa. I'll look up some more pictures of these boxcars and see if there's anything else I want to add. And it was painted with Photoshop Elements.

If you like I can send you the 'decals' I made up for SP and Cotton Belt. Just PM me your email and I will send them out tonight.

Do you have a version of Elements that give you access to add an alpha channel?

ATSF3814 wrote:Thanks for the comments/suggestions guys. I've made some adjustments but now I've got a new problem. After changing the numbers, one of them isn't showing up:



Any ideas?

Also, do you think it needs any more decals on it?

The missing texture is caused by the number set not supporting the x character Michael uses to limit values. Enter any 6 digit number in the right flyout and it will fill in the missing texture. Find the .dscv file in the same directory as the .GeoPcDx files. Open it in notepad, change all the character sets (e.g. 12345x) to 6 full digits (e.g. 123456) and save it back. Then it will automatically assign the correct numbers to eliminate the blank.

Thank you Mike.

PapaXpress wrote:Do you have a version of Elements that give you access to add an alpha channel?

I'm using the latest version of Elements and I don't really see any options for adding an alpha channel. But then again, I've just been learning Photoshop as I go so I've probably overlooked it

I was unable to create an alpha channel in Elements v8. There is rumor around the web that v9 has access to it, but I did not pursue it any further, and forced Adobe to reset my activation counts for my CS3 (full Photoshop).

You will need to access the alpha layer to get the "gloss" off your models.