Hiro (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Background Information
Hiro is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by Sharon Miller.

Hiro first appeared in the special Hero of the Rails, which was released in 2009. His last appearance was in the twenty-fourth series episode Kenji on the Rails Again, which was released in 2021.

Throughout the CGI series, Hiro was voiced by Japanese-born english actor Togo Igawa in both the US and UK english dubs. Igawa portrays Hiro with a calm tone and Japanese accent, referencing his home country.

Pre-production
Before it was decided that Hero of the Rails would be produced entirely into CGI, there were plans to build a live-action model for Hiro. Two faces were made for Hiro, to be used as reference for his merchandise. Hiro's faces were designed by model maker, John Lee, which was one of his final contributions to the series.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Hiro was modelled in full CGI by Nitrogen Studios for Hero of the Rails. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

According to Greg Tiernan, the CGI models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval. ​​​​​

Texture variants
In addition to his standard livery, a few other texture variants exist of Hiro's CGI model. These texture variants include: ​​​​​

Fonts
The following fonts were used on Hiro's CGI model:
 * Bookman Old Style Bold
 * Clarendon Medium (number)

Trivia

 * Hiro's Whistle model is a modified version of Thomas'.