WIP Wednesday: Workin’ on that Railroad

Wednesdays are usually reserved for sharing what we currently have in the works here at 3DRPG Studios in sunny Chandler, AZ. It’s a fun peek behind the curtain, as it were. Plus, maybe all our elbow grease will get you fired up to tackle a few of your own Pile of Shame projects. 😉

Lots of fun bits and bobs to share, including a check-in on our train car 3D-printing list, a few more hovertrain door paint tests, and a new Secondary Construct. Let’s dig in!

Our delightful Twitch channel has been running hovertrain prints by Aether Studios nearly non-stop. We just can’t help ourselves!

Here’s the current checklist:

• “Coal” Car | Onasan | 
• First-class Car | Pegasus (WIP)
• Third-class Car | Fairhaven | 
• Fourth-class Car | Fairhaven | 
• Prison Car | Fairhaven | 
• Golem/Inventor Car | Onasan | 
• Tech Car | Onasan
• “Cattle” Car | Onasan | 
• Empty Car  (wood & metal versions) | Fairhaven & Onasan 
• Cargo Car | Yardworks 
• Sleeper Car | Pegasus 
• Caboose | Freight Pack
• Bath Car | Pegasus 
• Large Tanker Car | Freight Pack 
• Liquid Storage Car | Yardworks 
• Long Flatbed Car | Ziltek
• Short Flatbed Car | (WIP)
• Small Tanker Car | Freight Pack (WIP)
• Dwarven Pub Car | Vrai Foundry (WIP)
• Military Car | Ziltek (WIP)
• Orc Engine | Orc Rail (WIP)
• Precious Ale Car | Vrai Foundry (On Deck)
• Train Tracks | (On Deck)
• Train Roofs | TBD (On Deck)

You might have noticed that our inaugural list of train cars keeps growing! We blame Aether Studios! There are just so many cool combinations and their July Patreon release was pretty epic, including a whole new Orc Rail Set! Most recently, we completed the final assembly of the Large Tanker (pictured above), Long Flatbed, Liquid Storage, two empty cars (wood and steel), and a Sleeper car. Huge progress!

We shared some of our DecoArt Metallic initial paint tests the other week, but we wanted to try a few more, this time with Pokorny Paints. First up was Shallow Water Seaweed Green, which was just a bit too bright for our liking.  As usual, the right side includes an Army Painter Soft Tone Wash over it (so we can see it both ways).

Next up, Deep Lava showed some promise as a dark red option. Notice how the base layer paint application gets a little streaky on smoother FDM sections. This is a common problem. Hence, we’re thinking a dry brush application is worth trying, and if it looks blah, we’ll go back to layering the paint on. Still, this color choice is intriguing.

Lastly, we wanted to try one more green tone but one that was a bit darker like Deep Water Green (one of DM Ben’s favs). We liked this one because applying a wash doesn’t even seem necessary (which would save us a paint step).

We also snatched up another Construct STL file! This time, we purchased these slick Spiderball Clockwork robots from Mechatronist for a mere $2.33. As beloved Star Wars fans, we thought this creepy crawler could be The Forgotten Rails’ Observation Droid of sorts.

We’re still debating the paint scheme, but we are leaning toward the copper motif suggested by the STL creator. There are even stationary and legged versions for your Resin printer.

Waterdeep locals have dubbed these fellas “eye-ballers,” as anyone walking into a Hovertrain station or on the train itself will almost certainly spot one of these rolly pollies monitoring the area. These fall in the Secondary Construct Category simply because they fill a monitor role. Not meant to be aggressive, they have a self-destruct defense mechanism as a last resort.

Until next time!