BR 20 Ton Brake Vans (T&F)/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
The brake van made its debut in first series episode, Thomas & Friends, making several appearances since.

Gauge 1 models
They were made from modified LNER Toad D Brake Vans kits from Tenmille.

Close-up models
Close-up models of the brake van were built to be used for scenes where they had to interact with the close-up scale figures.

CGI models
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. The brake vans were recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. Their models were "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of the brake vans's Gauge 1 models were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.