Sunday Photo Fun 6/4/23

[hudsonyard]

Well someones gotta start it!

The A&W Allentown shop forces, who all broke in as teenagers working in the roundhouse are still getting a bit used to their new diesel shop. The jury is out on these new fangled six axle GEs, but nothing that comes on the property is gonna impress the old hands.

[surlyknuckle]

Last week, I got a wild hair to weather a Trainworx 40' trailer decorated for B&O. Trainworx did these a while back, and I neglected to reserve one or two. Then they became hard to find. While doom scrolling on Facebook one day, I noticed someone had the B&O trailer for sale in a group I belong to. $20...sold! I should have posted a "before" picture, but it's hard to gauge these things sometimes when the creative juices start flowing. I got home early in the morning from work, saw this thing sitting there, and started to dig-in.

I have a 35mm slide of one of these exact trailers taken in 1978, and it was aggravatingly pristine for it's age. I model 1981 so I guess the weathering process really sped up over the last couple of years. I added brake lines using some craft wire, and moved the wheels further inboard. I weathered using a combination of pan pastels, and acrylic washes. The roof patches were done with scotch tape. It rides on a BLMA F89J flat that I outfitted with some wonderful Tangent trucks while between weathering coats on the trailer. Amazing trucks they are. The flat still needs it's air hoses put back and some touch-ups. I digress...

B&O Trailer 1/3 by Freight Engineer, on Flickr
B&O Trailer 3/3 by Freight Engineer, on Flickr
B&O Trailer 2/3 by Freight Engineer, on Flickr
F89J Top-Down by Freight Engineer, on Flickr

[dti406]

Here are this weeks accomplishments!

First, a Bowser Covered Hopper kit, painted with Scalecoat II UP Covered Hopper Gray and decaled with Herald King Decals. Car was assigned to sand service for the Owens-Illinois Glass plant in Ottawa, IL.





Next, a Con-Cor 60' Auto Parts Boxcar kit, changed the wheelbase from 41' to 46' and added Molco ACF Extended Coupler pockets to the underframe. Also carved off the rivits and scored the weld lines. Car was painted with Scalecoat II PRR Freight Car Red and lettered with Dr. George Drake's/ Mark Vaughns decals. The 167 above the PRR notes that this car is assigned to the Cincinnati, OH transmission plant moving transmissions to the final assembly plants.





Finally, the Resurrection project, I started this old Robbins Rails kit over 40 years ago and had glued the weight to the underframe before packing the car away before one of my moves, well the GOO had not completed outgassing and ended up melting the underframe into a blob. I found a junker 60' box and appropriated the frame and modified it with Hydro-Cushioning and Coupler pockets from Moloco to match the prototype. Also scrounged the junk box for ladders that matched the factory applied paint. The 190 above the NKP means the car was assigned to the Monroe MI stamping plant which mostly made bumpers for Ford Cars.

The modified frame!



The finished car! (The last new cars the NKP received before the N&W merger)





A pair of Bowser NKP RS-3's on the Strongsville Club layout here in Ohio!





Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

[TBird1958]

Not new, but a couple of models that are much like Rick's nice models above.

PRR 90192 showing its age and several painted out plant assignments, I made this model more 20 years ago after reading an article in Mainline Modeler.


NKP 83026, this was inspired by a picture in the Rio Grande's historical society publication, on this model I carved off the door rods and track then replaced them with freestanding parts. Both models started as the old Robins Rails/Con-Cor kit.

[12bridge]

Jeff, Would love to see more shots of your flatcars and the deck weathering you did, looks fantastic!  Thats one area I have yet to find any real good photos of. 

I spent the day drawing up a sprue of various styles of strobe lights and rotary beacons.  I have 10 different models (so far).   An engine I am currently working on has an older Prime 8901 Stratolite - the older version of the one so common, but it used a larger base and different lens.  I said what the hell, and drew it up, and it went downhill from there.  Along with horns, this is another area of my gripes - so many great models, but everyone uses the same 2 different beacons! I printed them in Grey resin as a test, and they came out fantastic.  I have the clear on ordered.  If all goes well I should have a few sprues worth to sell at St. Louis. 


(paint is still wet here!) 

[jako]

A picture from FREMO meeting in Zwickau / Saxony.

Greetings Sven

[jako]

Jun 4, 2023 17:11:12 GMT -8 TBird1958 said:

Not new, but a couple of models that are much like Rick's nice models above.

PRR 90192 showing its age and several painted out plant assignments, I made this model more 20 years ago after reading an article in Mainline Modeler.


NKP 83026, this was inspired by a picture in the Rio Grande's historical society publication, on this model I carved off the door rods and track then replaced them with freestanding parts. Both models started as the old Robins Rails/Con-Cor kit.

 Top Work

[danpik]

[michaele]

Busy yesterday, so sorry I'm late.

This is a Deutsche Reichsbahn Br.95 tank locomotive. It was designed in 1922 by the Prussian Railroad, and after 1924 was designated the Br.95. It was designed for mountainous areas in eastern and southern Germany. It was the most powerful tank locomotive in service through the 20s, 30s, and 40s. So much so it was called 'the Mountain Queen'.

After the war, West Germany took 14 and East Germany got the rest. The West retired them in '58, but the East used them until 1981. In 1971-1974 ten of them were reworked for oil firing, and several received new boilers. There is one museum train still in operation, 0027. This model I have was scrapped in 1981. It is an oil-fired rework.

The model is TRIX with extensive sound functions, lights front, rear, and cab. Smoke can also be fitted, but I'm not crazy about the possible mess. It's a great puller, hauling seven coaches up a 3.5% effective grade with no signs of slowing or slipping. I want to test it further by adding several more coaches. Detail is very nice with many applied parts. Hoses have not yet been installed in these photos.

[Christian]

Jun 5, 2023 6:56:27 GMT -8 michaele said:

This is a Deutsche Reichsbahn Br.95 tank locomotive.

That's a beautiful model. A brief Googling found that it is priced reasonably for how well-detailed the model is. As well as the electronics. Three cylinder exhaust sound is particularly well done.

It is so beautifully presented that the two areas in which European models are weak jumped out at me. (In my opinion.) Namely the couplers and the flanges. I understand that the couplers are a prototype issue in that they are buffer and chain - not much to see and not practical for an operating model. Nonetheless, for me, they share a cringe with the 1950s horn hook.

The flanges make the locomotive have drivers that are too small so that the flanges will fit in the frame. The small pilot and trailing wheels are really obvious in this model. That wheel diameter/flange problem also was part of steam models in days long passed for USA importers and manufacturers.

Well, sorry to take up space which looks like a bash. It isn't. I even had one of the models in a shopping cart, briefly!

[surlyknuckle]

Paul, the weathering on the flat car deck is as follows; A few years ago, I started buying up flats for my 80s pig needs. I found it difficult to source photos, both of the subject and for the era. But I was able to come up with enough info to create a system for my pig flats. It's not the best or only way, but it beats naked flats running around!

First I pop off the hitches.

I take craft acrylic slate gray and apply over the top surface of the flat car with a make up sponge ripped in half. I dab this over the top of the deck. It gives the anti-skid service more depth instead of a single, un-yielding tone of grayish-white.

Then I take a wide, flat brush and get some burnt umber oil paint on it. I use a brush dipped in water, then mix it into the paint to make a wash. I do a coat or two of the burnt umber wash to the degree of my liking. The oil paint wash catches the rough edges of the craft acrylic paint and creates some nice patterns and splotching.

With that mostly dry, I turn to the pan pastels. I have a black color that has some shine to it (don't know the name) and I dab this onto the deck where the hitches would be. This simulates the oil caked with dirt from lubing the hitches. Truth be told, I don't think I did that on this particular car because it was the first one I did. But I did complete this step on the other cars.

With black pan pastel, I dab some straight lines where the rubber would create tire marks on the deck surface. Similar to the areas under the hitches, I dab and dab a little more, building up the grime little by little.

I don't think I sealed anything on the deck after I was done. The slightly wet oil paint makes the pan pastels stick, not to mention the deck surface doesn't see any handling that would rub the powders off. But it probably wouldn't hurt if you wanted to seal it after. Hope this helps.

[glenng6]

michaele,
European locos don't usually get me excited, but that Deutsche Reichsbahn is beautiful. I hope you use it well, for a long time. Glenn

[michaele]

Jun 5, 2023 9:39:04 GMT -8 Christian said:

Jun 5, 2023 6:56:27 GMT -8 michaele said:

This is a Deutsche Reichsbahn Br.95 tank locomotive.

That's a beautiful model. A brief Googling found that it is priced reasonably for how well-detailed the model is. As well as the electronics. Three cylinder exhaust sound is particularly well done.

It is so beautifully presented that the two areas in which European models are weak jumped out at me. (In my opinion.) Namely the couplers and the flanges. I understand that the couplers are a prototype issue in that they are buffer and chain - not much to see and not practical for an operating model. Nonetheless, for me, they share a cringe with the 1950s horn hook.

The flanges make the locomotive have drivers that are too small so that the flanges will fit in the frame. The small pilot and trailing wheels are really obvious in this model. That wheel diameter/flange problem also was part of steam models in days long passed for USA importers and manufacturers.

Well, sorry to take up space which looks like a bash. It isn't. I even had one of the models in a shopping cart, briefly!

If I remember correctly, there is a company in Germany that makes replacement prototype couplers. I've only seen them used once in a You Tube video. They look to be a PITA to couple and uncouple, and they don't look very strong. I don't know if they are plastic or metal, but they do look good on a model. Most models without sprung buffers though, I would think would be a problem on curves under 28".