A production-only lens for reviewing the train, route, station, landmark, and environment assumptions. The goal is not to re-price the project; it is to find quantity, fidelity, reuse, and allocation problems before the art estimate is treated as locked.
These are review triggers, not automatic cuts. Each one can move hours materially or make the same scope appear in incompatible ways across the workbook and estimator.
The cost-workbook description promises 27 unique stations and 39 reused stations. The live estimator prices 27 unique and only 6 reused. If “reused” means station placements, 33 instances are unpriced.
33 × 50 h = 1,650 h · $330,000Unique and reused stations are both set to 43 artist + 7 tech-art hours each. That is not a reuse model; it is identical unit pricing with a different label.
Unique = 50 h each · Reused = 50 h eachThe two buyer-facing art rows total $1,857,337, while the live estimator's explicit train and route production children total $1,439,100. The $418,237 difference may be deliberate project loading, but it is not labeled in the art rows.
$1,857,337 − $1,439,100 = $418,237The workbook promises 50.75 route miles. Near-field quantities total 53 miles because each segment is rounded up, while mid/far environment uses 50 miles. This may be conservative, but the basis is not consistent.
Near field 53 mi · Mid/far 50 mi · Scope 50.75 miBlue, Green, shared, and extension station rows retain 43 artist + 7 tech-art hours per unit, yet each rolls up to $0. The estimator instead prices “unique” and “reused” station rows. This is easy to misunderstand or reactivate accidentally.
5 populated station lines · $0 effective priceAll 40 points of interest receive 21.5 hours each. A skyline mass, station-adjacent landmark, stadium facade, bridge, and generic background block do not have the same production cost.
40 × 21.5 h = 860 h · $172,000Four yard/turnout environments receive 50 hours each. That is plausible only for bounded, operator-visible representations using strong source data—not full operational yards, switch networks, signage, catenary, and facilities.
4 × 50 h = 200 h · $40,000The allowance covers all visible S70/S700 differences at 86 artist hours and no tech art. That is adequate only if the delta is tightly limited and reference-ready.
86 h · $17,200 productionCosts below are simple hours × $200. Parent rollups are excluded to avoid double counting. Project-level PM, QA, and overhead are not added here.
| Production item | Qty | Hours / unit | Artist h | Tech-art h | Total h | Production $ | Review lens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior cab | 1 | 543 | 500 | 43 | 543 | $108,600 | High fidelity |
| Exterior cab | 1 | 98 | 86 | 12 | 98 | $19,600 | Exterior scope / livery |
| Train-car shell | 1 | 98 | 86 | 12 | 98 | $19,600 | Articulated consist definition |
| S70 vs. S700 visual delta | 1 | 86 | 86 | 0 | 86 | $17,200 | Confirm delta |
| Blue near-field track | 13 mi | 28.5 | 279.5 | 91 | 370.5 | $74,100 | Track / signals / catenary boundary |
| Green near-field track | 11 mi | 28.5 | 236.5 | 77 | 313.5 | $62,700 | Street-running complexity |
| Extension near-field track | 29 mi | 28.5 | 623.5 | 203 | 826.5 | $165,300 | Immature source risk |
| Points of interest | 40 | 21.5 | 860 | 0 | 860 | $172,000 | Needs tier list |
| Mid/far environment | 50 mi | 43 | 2,150 | 0 | 2,150 | $430,000 | Procedural / reusable kit assumption |
| Yard / turnout environments | 4 | 50 | 172 | 28 | 200 | $40,000 | Boundary required |
| Unique stations | 27 | 50 | 1,161 | 189 | 1,350 | $270,000 | Master asset + local variation? |
| Reused stations | 6 | 50 | 258 | 42 | 300 | $60,000 | Qty + reuse logic |
| Explicit 3D production total | 6,498.5 | 697 | 7,195.5 | $1,439,100 | Parent rows excluded | ||
Scope boundary: this view includes only the explicit “3D Modeling — Train” and “3D Modeling — Full Train Routes” families. Technical-art hours embedded in controls integration, faults, networking, instructor tools, UI/display emulation, and provisional rows are excluded because they are not 3D art production line items.
The near-perfect total match is useful, but it can conceal scope movement between stations, route work, landmarks, and vehicle work.
Internal working estimate cited in the Metro proposal context; not approved pricing.
Station effort dropped 1,450 hours while track/yards and train increased about 1,435.5 hours. Validate the redistribution—not just the total.
These verified references show the current source standard. They support review; they do not prove that all 50.75 route miles, stations, yards, S70 deltas, and 40 landmarks have equally complete inputs.
If Brandon and River can answer these directly, the biggest pricing ambiguity collapses quickly.