Wow! What a model and promo video. All for $12. Can't beat that. K&L Trainz are proud to present the infamous Frisco 1522! The 1522 set comes as a package of (9) items! Package includes: Gold-Striped Engine, Tender & Aux Tender Non-Striped Engine & Tender (w/doghouse) (4) S.L.S.T.A. Accompanying Cars "Black Gold" - Tool Car "Firefly" - Crew Dormitory Car "Chouteau Club" - Kitchen/Lounge Car "Blue Bonnet" - Business Observation Car This set is packed with many features: - *New* Authentic Frisco 1522 Engine exhaust sounds & idle sounds - *New* Animated Firebox Torch - *New* Accurate powerful E-Spec File - Frisco 1522 (3) Part Echo Whistle - Animated Bell & Bell Cord - Alpha Running Numbers (both engines will default to 1522, can be changed manually) - Reverse headlight on both tender and aux tender - (11) External Engine Cab Views - Vestibule Views on the Blue Bonnet Car - Blueprint scaling The cost is $12. This model is available for TS09, TS10, TS12, TSMac1&2 & T:ANE! *The digital package ships via an Emailed Link including: The engines, tenders, passenger cars, bogies, sounds and scripts! Watch the Frisco 1522 on a fast paced run from St. Louis to Newburg, MO! Visit www.KLtrainz.com to purchase! The projects list is always growing! Don't forget to refresh the page!
Nice! It has the small smokebox door so re-skinning to some of the other 1500's would not be prototypical. It looks good in these scenes.
The video was fun; I will indulge in a few nitpicks. They missed a couple scenic details on the video like the color of the Kirkwood Station as well as the number of tracks by the Museum of Transport. They did not put a good likeness of Don in the cab on the scenes along old 66 (around 4:00), but they created a good impression of the kind of scenery in that area. All in all a very fine effort for $12.oo, though.
Yeah I don't believe anyone has ever created a model of the Kirkwood depot. It would be nice. I doubt these guys saw the value in taking all the time to create the depot. Even creating static 3D models is very time consuming. I really just can't imagine how many hours it takes developing these steamers.
K&L offers steam from many railroads. PRR predominates currently but there have been recent offerings of nice ones of C&O (J-3a Greenbrier and K-4 Kanawha) and a massive $25 one around the Reading T-1. The website notice for these feature "Auto-Running Numbers" which I take to mean a loco put into the game will have a number from any in the class. The 1522, on the other hand, is said to have "Alpha-Running Numbers." I am not sure what that means. In the Reading case, there is an option that will produce any of the 30 in the class. What is likely to happen after choosing an option in the Frisco model, especially the "non-striped 1522 with the tender doghouse?" It would be neat if this would show up with numbers appropriate to the narrow smokebox door. (Old heads will have to say which ones.) $12 is not that much to spend to find out. ;-) This offering is a great leap forward for TRAINZers, however. There is no question it represents a whole lot of tedious hours of research and at the 3-D model console!
Ah, but there has been at least one excellent model of the famed MoPac Kirkwood, MO depot. The Missouri Pacific Historical Society Fall 2013 issue (Vol 38, No 3) of their excellent publication The Eagle has an article "Kirkwood at 120" recognizing the Kirkwood depot's 120th year anniversary after it was constructed (1893). Essentially the entire issue was devoted to Kirkwood - the depot, the other facilities the MoPac had there, and pics of action at Kirkwood. The main article in the issue, however, was authored by Bill Herbert, who described how he built his excellent HO model of the depot. His layout also has models of the MoPac depots at Tuxedo Park, Webster Park and Lake Junction. An earlier MPHS issue of The Eagle, (Fall 1993, Vol 18, No 3), has an article "Kirkwood at 100" which gave added detail on the Kirkwood depot, including plans. Ken
Ken, I bet those models of the MoP Stations are fantastic. Someone ought to invent a reverse 3D printer to convert excellent HO (or other scale) models into virtual ones.
It is well worth the $12. The photos earlier in this thread show decent detail and real-looking texturing. K&L have brought virtual steam a long way. Animation is excellent, so wheel and valve gear motion is realistic as shown by the video at http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/the-highline.4294/page-14 (Good job, dricketts!) It is lots of fun to run, too. Operation in Cab-Mode is realistic and very satisfying. Pulling power is good. The boiler stays hot and builds steam pressure satisfyingly, but does not go unrealistically high. It is important to remain alert with the injectors though, because the water level really drops as the engine works. I have two small nitpicks about this fine model. K&L uses the stock "Big Steam Backhead" for the primary interior view. This is good for operation because it has all the usual functioning valves and levers. It does not look like 1522's backhead, though. As always, it is possible to toggle among different views using the "[" and "]" keys. However, these do not lead to the expected stock views. Instead, K&L shows a close-up of the piston movement and another the wheels. This is fine, but it makes cab operation a bit clumsy for someone accustomed to clicking on "[" to get a view to close the firebox and then "]" to resume the view through the front window. The package includes a locomotive and tender with no stripes. The tender for this one has a dog house. It would have been nice for this version to have variable running numbers within the class (1520 to 1529) so two different 4-8-2's could have a meet, for instance. Perhaps K&L may consider this for a later version of the 1522 model package.
Steve Lerro just sent me a PM describing how to change the number of the 1522 model in TRAINZ. Here is what he wrote: " ... in surveyor, if you click the ? on the train tab and then click the locomotive, there is a section where you can pick your own running number. This is why the model on my website lists the feature as "alpha running numbers" instead of "auto running numbers". " I was able to change 1522 to 1525 this way as a test. The numbers change on the boards and on the Coonskin. It is necessary to click on the tender to change its number to match the locomotive. Maybe dricketts has a meet between two 1500's somewhere on the High Line
I know this thread is over a year old now, but K&L are now working on 1630. https://www.facebook.com/KLtrainz/posts/1455562374489365
