TTOS Episode 8 Production Log (2/1/25)

Last production log of January, and I kiiinda forgot to post it on Friday, so it's technically the first production log of February, but... Eh, whatever.

That said, since it's the end of the month, that means I'll be covering EVERYTHING that's been worked on that we have yet to mention.

First, let's talk about the progress on the remaining routes, Ballahoo and Ballaswein Tramway.

The West side of the town was what was closest to completion, so I figured I'd just power through and drop a whole bunch of houses down, with a little bit of dense town areas as well.

Finished up the West side of the town, at least from the rail view. There's a whole patch of road that has no houses but... it's fine, you're not really gonna see it from the rails anyways :P

After that, I wanted to take a break. Working on towns constantly is... exhausting, honestly. Very monotonous and repetitive. It's the reason Crovan's Gate still isn't done lmao

Ballaswein Tramway was completely retextured, since I had accidentally done all the texturing with the scale at full, which made the ground textures look really weird. It's practically unnoticeable at this scale, but trust me it looks way better up close.

Powered through, placed down a whole bunch of trees just so I could get it looking a bit more green for the parts where Topham will be walking the tramway while searching for Toby. I also added the ocean, since Ballaswein is essentially a port town according to the map I'm basing it off of.

I also added a cute little cottage near the crossing, since the crossing will be a somewhat high focus area when it appears.

It should be noted that I intend to make the route look significantly more overgrown once it's all complete, just because there will be some flashback shots in Episode 8 that would probably show the line in its prime, and I wouldn't want the line to look rusted and overgrown at that point.

There's also the issue of... I didn't really lay out the trackplan too well? I want it to seem like there's actually quite a bit of distance traveled between the crossing and Ballaswein town itself, but in reality, it's maybe... half a baseboard? So I'm making a filler set. Just a stretch of track that runs through some hills with trees flanking either side of the line.

That just about covers the route work I've done... But there's something else to mention..!

One of the locations Topham visits is Ballamoddey, a station on the Mid Sodor Railway. To those attentive to the production log on 1/18/25, there was a small teaser at the end of some characters that will be appearing...

For starters, Topham DOES find a tram engine at Ballamoddey- namely, Tim!

October made a couple of concept art edits of what Tim would look like, both of which will appear in the episode.

A few additional faces were modeled, such as a normal sad face, and a neutral expression.

ATropicalMango got to work making the Tim model. I'm not super certain on everything being done, so I'll just drop the pictures they've sent while working on the model, with little bits that I remember them talking about.

The Peter Sam face is just a placeholder, since October hadn't finalized the faces for Tim just yet.

I trust both Mango and October when it comes to making models. They're both quick workers who have always proven themselves as people I can trust when it comes to making models. There is a new modeller on the team who I'd love to give their time to shine, so I'm sure you'll see some work from her soon!

Only just now noticing Mango added a lil bell to Tim's roof... that's so fuckin' cute.....

All work and no play makes Mango a dull fruit

I think Mango said they were worried about the controls not being fully accurate?

"quarry hunslet layout and fire door, reverser, valves and gauges from a Jinty and regulator/handbrake handle from Peter Sam. I love being lazy" - Mango

And that's the finalized Tim!

However, it wouldn't be the Mid Sodor Railway without a very special engine...

It was initially a joke, but... Yeah! Duke is appearing in Episode 8. Granted, he's only on screen for about 10 seconds, and has only one line... but it felt like it'd be hilariously out of context if Duke just... appeared in the middle of Season 1.

The engine himself is modeled by ATropicalMango, and the faces are made by October!

Now, the fun part... Since Mango had already made a Small England... I figured, why not throw another one into the mix?

So... Bertram will ALSO be appearing, as a cameo, in Episode 8, faces again made by October.

A bit of weathering work later, and the two engines have been added into the game!

They aren't fully complete, Bertram only has one face, and Duke only has 4, but I think they'll work for what we're doing in Episode 8!

With that said, thank you everyone for reading! See you next week!