WIP AT&N Class 280-157 Consolidation

[mrennie]

I've made a start on the tender. The trucks are just about finished. I've also begun detailing the main frames in preparation for doing the spring rigging for the driving wheels.

280WIP24Aug12-001.jpg

280WIP24Aug12-002.jpg

[ozinoz]

There is so much incredible detail in your modelling I am afraid of having to use a calendar to measure frame rates in stead of a watch when it finally hits release.

As usual, beautiful work, but the hard part is going to be sounds...



G

[thecanadianrail]

i just noticed that the driving wheels are the same size as the pilot wheels on the loco, ive never seen that kind of setup before on a 2-8-0?

[jpetersjr]

Engine and tender are looking great, will be ready to see it released.

Tomorrow will find a photo of the speed gauge.

[mrennie]

There is so much incredible detail in your modelling I am afraid of having to use a calendar to measure frame rates in stead of a watch when it finally hits release.

As usual, beautiful work, but the hard part is going to be sounds...



G

Thanks G :-)

I've run the Consolidation (with its tender) on the HSC route with my usual display settings (everything on maximum, detailed shadows enabled) and I get the same FPS as with any other loco from RSC, varying between 16 and 30. On the Castle Rock route, the FPS reached 59 (my monitor's refresh rate). Today I had three of them side by side on the HSC and the FPS dropped by about 2! Yes, there's a lot of detail, but I do make an effort to be efficient in how I achieve it . When it's closer to completion, perhaps I could send you a beta version to test on your computer so you can let me know of any issue with it.

I'm looking forward to doing the sounds. Jonathan sent me some sound recordings when I started this project, but I haven't yet got around to trying to make them into sounds for the loco. I hope to do that soon, because it's a bit eerie running her in complete silence.

Cheers,

Mike

[mrennie]

i just noticed that the driving wheels are the same size as the pilot wheels on the loco, ive never seen that kind of setup before on a 2-8-0?

It's an optical illusion caused by the three quarter angle of the screenshot. The loco isn't big compared to something like a Hudson or a Big Boy, and it's a freight engine designed for traction rather than speed, hence the comparatively small driving wheels. In fact, all the major (as well as many of the minor) measurements are taken from the original Lima engineering drawings I bought (some are so big that I have to lay them out on my bed!), and are modelled in some cases to within 1/64th of an inch. The drawings show that the driving wheels have a 46" diameter, and the pilot wheels are 30".
Here's a side-on shot showing more clearly the wheel arrangement:

280WIP24Aug12-003.jpg

By the way, one of the driving wheels does need to be fixed ... the one connected to the main rod should have a bigger counterweight, but I just haven't got around to doing it yet.

I couldn't get original drawings for the tender, so there I've had to go by some less detailed drawings and rely more on photos and youtube videos, but the overall dimensions are accurate to within about an inch, I think.

[mrennie]

Engine and tender are looking great, will be ready to see it released.

Tomorrow will find a photo of the speed gauge.

Thanks Jonathan!

[johnmckenzie]

Stunning, Mike. Stunning.

[jpetersjr]

The tender height is correct for this particular engine, that's how the prototype was.

Consolidation.jpg

[mrennie]

The tender height is correct for this particular engine, that's how the prototype was.

Consolidation.jpg

That's right. There are many different 2-8-0 locomotives. At first sight they might all look the same, but when you look closely, as I have done hundreds of times, at dozens of different 2-8-0s I've found through Google and YouTube, you realise that there were many differences between them .... "the devil is in the detail"! In fact, the tender I've done isn't even exactly the same as the one in that particular photo (which, by the way, is my main source of reference), because the drawings I have of the tender (which aren't very detailed) are of a slightly different model. Also, my original Lima engineering drawings show small differences with respect to the photo ... the cowcatcher for example. Where there's a discrepancy, I've tended to go with the drawings, but when the drawings don't show something, then I have to give preference to photos.

[mrennie]

Stunning, Mike. Stunning.

Thanks John

I'm improving it every day now that I'm back from my holidays. Hopefully it'll be ready before Christmas.

[mrennie]

I've done some more work on both the tender and loco today. I also did a test run on the HSC, starting out from Altoona, and took a lot of pictures. I've posted most of them on my blog (http://mikerenniesmodels.blogspot.com.es/), but here are just a few of my favourites ...

280WIP26Aug12-010.jpg

280WIP26Aug12-016.jpg

280WIP26Aug12-020.jpg

I'll change the colour of the tender to match the boiler.

[jpetersjr]

This is defiantly going to look great on NYC District 1935 route once I finish it.

The engine is looking great, I have always been a big steam fan so I'm more interested in steam then diesel.

[evafan002]

wow just wow words fail me at the moment this is looking to be my new favorite loco hands down no exceptions man keep up the great work

[mrennie]

Thanks, I really am glad you like it