IHH Diesel Crane

[Sly401]

The Diesel Crane from IHH has been released

http://www.ironhorsehouse.co.uk/

A manual courtesy of Andy Lawton is available on the IHH site, and prospective purchasers are advised to view the manual prior to purchasing.

Please use this thread for any queries relating to the above, purely to keep everything in one place.

Regards

Sly

[styckx]

Just purchased at work, will give it a run tonight. I just read the manual though, very well done and detailed and just wanted to thank Andy for writing it! Very complex little beast you modeled Sly!

[alexnick]

So do we get any scenarios with this pack?

AN

[ightenhill]

From the site..

Scenario Information:

Limitations mean that any re-railing scenario will necessitate changes to your routes
For this reason no working scenarios are bundled
Full instructions included

Im sure it wont take long for standard scenarios involving it (just being dragged) to appear though... The other alternative I think would be a rerailing scenario would have to include a cloned route that has been adapted to the individual scenario

[styckx]

I honestly didn't even expect scenarios with it. After watching the demo, then reading the manual, I can imagine many of sleepless nights were had perfecting all the animation, scripting, and control mapping.

[RobertM]

Just ordered mine, cant wait for the download to finish.

I was wondering if you were planning on doing any of the steam ransom and rapier 45 ton cranes as a future project perhaps, be a nice site to see one of them being hauled on RW behind an 8F

http://mrsphotos.fotopic.net/p64865818.html

Rob

[ightenhill]

Gonna order as soon as I get back to home... I would love to get this in some scenarios but I have two midway through that I must finish first.. Think this will the next project though

[chrisj2k9]

I would love to get this in some scenarios but I have two midway through that I must finish first.. Think this will the next project though

Me too! . The next scenario I make, will definitely include this.

[styckx]

Finally got home to try this sucker.

Took a little getting used to the way Sly has pieced this together.

Short review: Brilliant

Long review.

As mentioned in the manual crane operations itself is only done via a modified view #1 "cab view". Any movement etc you do in this view will only be viewable from this view. Let's say you lift, rotate the jib etc, and then switch to #2, 3, 8 view etc. It will be folded down on the train as it you never moved it. Move back to #1 view and it's in the position you moved it to previously. Understanding how all this works, this is perfectly understandable why this happens and there is no way around it. It is a cab view, so you are in a fixed position, and can "slide" right (passenger seat view) and back left, zoom in, or out. Depending where you park, you may get your view blocked. You can drive the train from any view you want to. The fact Sly thought outside the box enough to pull this off is amazing and the little thing between cab/8 view if you move the crane isn't even a concern to me, nor is the limited view when actually operating the movement on the crane.

Driving audio is the Class 56. Being as this is MOW equipment, I honestly could have cared less if it sounded like a lawnmower when you drove it. It's a crane and will be towed to most places. Any driving is in very short little distances, and using the Class 56 is beyond perfectly acceptable for me. I will be highly disappointed if someone asks "Why doesn't this sound like an authentic diesel breakdown train?"

Crane operation was very easy to control and figure out. The re-railing animated transfer point was easy enough to figure out. As the manual said you can maneuver the crane around to an "ideal" position, hit T to start the re-rail animation to pull off a realistic effect since Railworks objects can't "pick up" other objects.

Absolutely worth every dime and looks FANTASTIC in the game. *bows down* Great addition to the game.

[FoggyMorning]

Pretty much agree with everything Stykx has said there. Even as something to sit in sidings it's a fantastic addition; the fact that it's fully operable simply adds tons of possibilities to RW - hopefully RS.com will come through and add the ability to place transfer points in scenarios in a future update. It has all the little touches of detail that we've come to expect from IHH products; I particularly liked the ability to add a custom shed name that appears on the side of the cab below the running number.
One other (possibly unintentional) addition is that when towing the crane you've now effectively got an additional camera view available. Switch from the loco cab to the crane cab and you get a sort of wide angle camera 3 view that I really like.
The only sticking point I can see for some is that it may appear quite expensive for something that has currently got a very limited scenario use, at least of the shareable variety. To me it's worth it as is because I'm quite happy parking it in a yard and shunting around it, but it would be nice if RS.com can make the necessary alterations to allow more scenarios to make full use of it
Another first class piece of kit - well done and thanks Sly

[bigphill2]

Hi
I think what Sly wants is already possible in Railworks. There are a couple of examples of scenarios which include addons to routes. Pikes Eagle ridge scenario pack , Early morning yard work, ottos interactive foundary route, and i think some addon interactive pionts for Rich Garbers routes. Maybe these could spark some thought for the future. Buy the way,love the crane.
Phill

[styckx]

One thing I did change, is the view height of the "cab view" from 2-12. Almost 100% unlikely now to have a wall or bush block your camera view at that height. Also gives a nicer overall view of the "action".

Foggy, excellent point about that "newish" view you get.

Can't thank Sly enough for this one. Adds so much atmosphere and fun to play around with to make very nice scene setups.





edit: I just realized I have the jib runner facing the wrong direction.

[msey0002]

Bill, did you animate that Class 43 powercar in the same way as the default HEA wagon?

[transadelaide]

How embarrassing to have a derailment just outside the NRM, look at the crowd gathered!

[petestuart]

A fantastic job done Sly, my old man!!! One of the best things that has come out so far!
Will really enjoy doing a few things with this beast!.. Now all we need is a steam crane
Well done Sly!

Kind regards

pete