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Post by TBird1958 on Mar 5, 2023 11:35:13 GMT -8
Some in process and finished pics of USLX 125. The prototype was built by ACF in 4-'67 and appears to originally have been painted in Evans lease blue and white colors, the car seems to have then been leased to Dresser by Evans in 1974 at which point it was repainted into this scheme at Blue Island, IL. This shot in Oct. '75 by Henry O'Connor was where I decided to begin, note the 4-'74 BI date and 2 panel COTS (not that I obsess over these things!) If anyone has other prototype info to add/correct, feel free   My model started as an old Front Range kit, it's a bit of a dog by today's standard but it seemed when I started that it was the best choice out there short of making the sides from scratch. I've posted some shots of the build already so these are just the finishing up pics. I decaled the model with bits from Herald King, Microscale and CMR, which got me close but really not correct for this specific car, HK decals have a flat sheen to them once applied so upon finishing the decals I gave the model two wet, heavy coats of gloss to help seal and hide the film.  The weld seams on the model are very faint so I brought them up with a bit of dark brown colored pencil very lightly applied, using the weight of the pencil as I dragged it along a piece of card stock, taking care to keep the pencil's tip very sharp.  To get the rippled welded car sides I shot dullcote at the panels using a piece of card stock along the weld seams, I left some areas very glossy and dulled down others, it's a subtle effect that I really like. I use a double action Iwata brush for this, it works quite well, and as you can see I've come in with a little MIG Track Rust as a wash to bring up some of the door detail.  The roof is from Moloco, it's a masterpiece! I shot it silver then gave it some orange overspray. Once dry I dropped some salt onto it and set it with 70% alcohol, after that I shot a light gray wash and once that had dried scrubbed the salt off with a toothbrush, finished with a little MIG wash to bring up the beautiful rivet detail.  Some desk shots of both sides.....I'll try to do some "beauty pics next week. I'm reasonably happy with the model even though it has several inaccuracies - the good thing is, a better one is in the works from a recognized high quality manufacturer. Happy Sunday, Mark Hills   |
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Mar 5, 2023 14:20:48 GMT -8
Really nice Mark! I especially love that roof!
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Post by onequiknova on Mar 5, 2023 14:24:09 GMT -8
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Post by TBird1958 on Mar 5, 2023 15:15:20 GMT -8
That is really fine work on the scraper, John, wow!
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Post by Baikal on Mar 5, 2023 15:38:11 GMT -8
Beautiful work on that boxcar, Mark. I have been been working on backdating the rather toy like, 2000+ era Norscott CAT 627 scraper into a mid 70's 621B.... 
Beautiful work, esp the cab interior.
Did Caterpilar and/or Trailer Train change from a lighter, brighter yellow to today's brown-ish yellow sometime in the late 70s? Are Cat and TT the same yellows, then and now?
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Post by simulatortrain on Mar 5, 2023 15:48:49 GMT -8
Wow, that scraper is incredible! I whipped up a Crown truck this week to go on my F41B/Ds. Shown under an F41 for now.  A beauty shot of the F41 body:  |
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Post by onequiknova on Mar 5, 2023 15:53:21 GMT -8
Beautiful work on that boxcar, Mark. I have been been working on backdating the rather toy like, 2000+ era Norscott CAT 627 scraper into a mid 70's 621B.... Beautiful work, esp the cab interior. Did Caterpilar and/or Trailer Train change from a lighter, brighter yellow to today's brown-ish yellow sometime in the late 70s? Are Cat and TT the same yellows, then and now?
It appears the older CAT equipment may have been a bit brighter, but I can't say if or when the formula changed or how it relates to TT yellow. I've been around Cat equipment for the last 25 years including a lot of worn out junk for the 70's and 80's, and this color looks close to me. I plan to do a few more loads, and wanted an out of the bottle solution so everything matches. |
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Post by ncrc5315 on Mar 5, 2023 16:45:25 GMT -8
I know on some farm equipment, the colors took on a darker look when, lead was removed from the paint. For instance if you look at a Field Queen chopper from the 70's, it is a brighter yellow then what was found in the 80's. I remember when asked why, the lack of lead was the reason given.
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Post by danpik on Mar 5, 2023 16:57:30 GMT -8
Nice work by all this week!   |
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Post by nstophat on Mar 5, 2023 19:14:55 GMT -8
Beautiful work, esp the cab interior. Did Caterpilar and/or Trailer Train change from a lighter, brighter yellow to today's brown-ish yellow sometime in the late 70s? Are Cat and TT the same yellows, then and now?
It appears the older CAT equipment may have been a bit brighter, but I can't say if or when the formula changed or how it relates to TT yellow. I've been around Cat equipment for the last 25 years including a lot of worn out junk for the 70's and 80's, and this color looks close to me. I plan to do a few more loads, and wanted an out of the bottle solution so everything matches. Tamiya has a color called Camel Yellow, which is an in-between color, between CAT Yellow and TTX yellow. I have been working on a heavy equipment wheel load, and with Mr. Surfaces 1500 Primer gray and Camel Yellow, it is nearly a dead-on match for the CAT Yellow thatClassic Construction Models uses on their modern CAT models. |
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Post by Christian on Mar 6, 2023 4:22:23 GMT -8
It appears the older CAT equipment may have been a bit brighter, but I can't say if or when the formula changed or how it relates to TT yellow. Mission Models has the older "Heavy Equipment Yellow" which MM says is good from 1930/1990. It is a yellow ochre (duller) where as the original TT yellow is medium cadmium yellow. They are not at all the same. Soon I will post another heavy equipment model on which I used TT yellow which is screamingly wrong to my 2023 eyes. It looked pretty good to my 1990 eye! But, in 1990 yellow was only "reefer yellow" for model railroaders.  |
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Post by Christian on Mar 6, 2023 4:41:01 GMT -8
The models in the photo below were built in the early 1990s. The LeTourneau loader is scratch built following an article in Model Railroader. Tires stolen from the children's diecast tractors. The yellow is what the author used, but screams "wrong" to my present day eyes. LeTourneau didn't have a corporate color like Cat and the loader could have been any color specified by the buyer. The flatcar is also scratch build from a Model Railroader article. Brand new in my modeling era. Again, thirty years later, I could have made different truck and coupler choices. The brand new to my modeling era trailer is Front Range. The tractor is Athearn with air dams from the early days of freight trucking experiments with airflow.  |
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Post by trainboyy on Mar 6, 2023 5:14:38 GMT -8
The models in the photo below were built in the early 1990s. The LeTourneau loader is scratch built following an article in Model Railroader. Tires stolen from the children's diecast tractors. The yellow is what the author used, but screams "wrong" to my present day eyes. LeTourneau didn't have a corporate color like Cat and the loader could have been any color specified by the buyer. The flatcar is also scratch build from a Model Railroader article. Brand new in my modeling era. Again, thirty years later, I could have made different truck and coupler choices. The brand new to my modeling era trailer is Front Range. The tractor is Athearn with air dams from the early days of freight trucking experiments with airflow. I'd love to know what issue of Model Railroader had that flatcar build. |
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Post by Christian on Mar 6, 2023 5:45:24 GMT -8
I'd love to know what issue of Model Railroader had that flatcar build. Early/mid-80s? That article was by Andy Sperandeo. At that time decals were available from Herald King. The flat was a former SF wallboard flat. The hitch is also scratch-built. MR had plans for a variety of hitches with some construction steps in several issues - again. early/mid-eighties. |
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Post by stevef45 on Mar 8, 2023 4:33:51 GMT -8
The extent of my modeling this weekend was adding this large decal to this scaletrains operator multi-max rack. Finally adding the handrails to my CSX SD40E-3 (eco) and fitting the scale sound systems speaker in the original opening. Needed to grind out the mounting pins to slide the speaker more forward as the weight needed to be ground to allow the rear longhood recessed brake.  2023-03-08_07-28-11 by Tripps Pics79, on Flickr  2023-03-08_07-16-54 by Tripps Pics79, on Flickr |
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Post by csxt8400 on Mar 8, 2023 6:41:52 GMT -8
A little bit of everything this week. Well done gents!
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Post by Christian on Mar 8, 2023 7:26:31 GMT -8
The extent of my modeling this weekend was adding this large decal to this scaletrains operator multi-max rack. Cowabunga! It's real.   |
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Post by stevef45 on Mar 8, 2023 7:50:42 GMT -8
The extent of my modeling this weekend was adding this large decal to this scaletrains operator multi-max rack. Cowabunga! It's real. There is a Marge simpson and Krusty the clown which is probably my favorite of the simspons's tags. |
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Post by ncrc5315 on Mar 8, 2023 14:48:00 GMT -8
Did you hand paint Homer, or is that a decal?
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Post by stevef45 on Mar 9, 2023 4:42:25 GMT -8
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