Just curious here. I did post a full reply to this, complete with links to some screenshots , but the post was never ... ( well ... ) "posted" ( by the looks of it )
!!!
In any case , I did , just for fun , " tamper" with the outer skin for a Red, White & Blue Dash 9 44CW , the same one most of you have already , which had been repainted by Andrew Pickell . I have another 5 more screenshots I took just last night (than the one I am posting today ) .
This being my first 3 or 4 "repaints" , I certainly did learn tons , especially trying to "fuse" digital photos from "Real Life" Diesels, to the existing skin .
It works , and then it doesn' t .
Either the skin I had used ( freeware ) , had both sides of the fuel tank using the same reference "panel" ( The Dash 9 44CW's had air tanks one one side / not on the other ), or I now found errors in the "shape" file ( the model I had used , the more I worked on it, looks like a Dash 8 ... a whole lot more than a Dash 9 44CW ...) .
The "ACE" files are actually labeled "C 40 9" , and this is a noticeably different (U.S.A.) "breed" of "Dash 9's ", than the Dash 9 44CWL's ( as used by CN and BC RAIL ) .
Cutting to the chase, here, have a look ; this is fun . But I have stopped working on this project ( this is all on my own ) , until I can either locate accurate shape files AND skins for the Dash 9 44CWL's .
Failure to locating those , I am certainly contemplating designing my own , as by using photographic material for "texture" material , I can leave the outer surface of the skins pretty much "blank" , as long as the "shape files" are extremely accurate in prototypical dimensions .
With the accurate shape files , I can much more easily "shrink wrap" digital photographic elements over top of it ( very much like those monster size Advertisement "decals" that are '"shrink-wrapped" over entire City Transit buses, etc ... ) .
In one word, if using photos "of the real thing", to paste over the skin / shape, if those 2 elelements are ( well ...) "bogus" , to start with , it' s not worth the effort . Freeware is freeware ... '-)
I will revisit all this after the Holidays , although I am ( personally ) looking into the "payware" end of things , to ensure greater accuracy / photo-realism , and reliability , moving towards the levels we would be "taking for granted", for the upcoming Version 2 of MSTS .
In the meantime, this sure was a super nice "Christmas Decorations" project .
Feedback / comments , most welcomed .
Jean Brisson Mesa Grande Shops
Click on link below / once on that page , next to “Avatar” icon , right below “BC RAIL models” , click on “photos”
www.flickr.com/search/people/?q=BC+RAIL+Models&m=names 
