Sunday photo fun 7/9/2023

[TBird1958]

 Busy with lots of other non train projects has meant slow progress, one end of an Intermountain 50' PS-1, with a lot of added parts not included with the stock model. Early Hydroframe cars had a strange, complicated cut bar, not done by any mfg., here's my attempt, plus some other bits......... 

Have a great Sunday,
Mark Hills

 


 I'll have to shoot a few more pics of this CB&Q tank, the frame is pretty much done and the tank itself is almost ready to be mounted to it. 

An unmodified frame and where I'm at today.

 

A little bit more wire work to do on the tank then it will get mounted to the frame, at which point I'll add ladders etc. 


  

[tom]

Impressive work so far on that tank car.

I finished one of the new releases from Tangent of the Penn Central Samuel Ray Shops GATC clone 4700 covered hoppers. The gray that Tangent used on the cars looked to dark to me for a five year old or so car so I faded it until it looked lighter. Because the white fade also faded the black lettering (which did not look right) I carefully wiped the fade off of the logo, numbers and reporting marks using a microbrush.  Weathering was applied using pencils, PanPastels and airbrushing  Tangent really have done their homework on these series of GATC cars.

[Donnell Wells]

Mark - Awesome work on the Burlington tank car! It looks like you started with an Athearn 62' tank? I have one that is itching to become a BN fuel tender.

Tom - As always, great job on the weathering. And, the scenery is top notch!

Donnell

[dti406]

I forgot to post last week, so here are two weeks worth of pictures.

First Up, a Red Caboose 1928 PRR X29 Boxcar kit, painted with Scalecoat II PRR Freight Car Red and lettered with K4 decals. The PRR had thousands of these cars that served through WWII in many services and were substantially rebuilt after the war.



Next a Bowser 1958CF Covered Hopper kit, painted with Scalecoat II UP Covered Hopper Gray paint and lettered with Prime Mover decals. An ex-Lackawanna car used to transport sand for various uses inccluding engine blocks at the GM plants in Bufallo.



Not complete at this time but I have replaced all the plastic lift rings and grabs with metal ones on a GP7 along with bending the large grab on the short hood of DT&I GP7's.



A pair of NKP Bowser RS-3's with a general freight on the Strongsville Club layout.

Good

First up, an IMWX 1937 AAR Boxcar kit, substituted Yarmouth Models Sill Steps for the plastic ones in the kit. Painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red #2 and lettered with K4 decals. The NKP and WLE purchased almost 5,000 of this style boxcar and this is a WLE subleased to the NKP used in general freight service.



Next is an old AHM Helium Tank car that I modified and upgraded with Wire Graps and new ladders and running board. These cars were upgraded after the US Navy stopped using blimps and the cars were sent to the US Bureau of Mines and were used shipping Helium to various government facilities including NASA Glenn here in Cleveland.



I finished up a Proto 2000 Phase I GP7 with wire grabs and lift rings and various other parts to match a DT&I unit. Painted with a 50/50 mixture of Scalecoat II Reefer Yellow and ATSF Red and lettered with a mixture of Herald King and Microscale Decals. #952 was one of the last GP7's still on the railroad at the time of the GTW purchase and was also leased to the PC at various times in the 1970's.









In keeping with the DT&I and July 4th, I will throw in a Bi-Centennial DT&I #1776 along with a pair of GP40-2's and an Auto Parts train running on the Strongsville Club Layout.



Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

[drsvelte]

In keeping with the “in-progress” theme….


I was looking forward to the arrival of Intermountain’s latest release of Pullman’s 50’ cushioned ACY boxcars. Unfortunately, before mine were delivered, I learned that there were a number of problems with this model. Dennis Lippert provides a thorough review of these issues, along with his remedies, in the MFCL.io forum:

(https://groups.io/g/MFCL/topic/99206854#99801).


So, I knew I would have some unanticipated work to do. The biggest problem is that the underframe does not fit the body correctly; in places it sits atop the floor stringers. I’ve shortened the floor stringers so the bolsters will fit flush up against the floor. I also removed the Hydra-Cushion cylinder as the ACY boxcars had a Keystone sliding system.







The model came without coupler crossovers, so I’ve installed a Plano (#128) framework for an Apex pattern (guessing here) platform. My fingers tend to increase in size by a multiple of two when contemplating working with coupler lift levers, so I’m happy to report that Moloco’s nice Stanray levers (UL-0451) went on without much drama.







I’ve built up a set of Moloco’s PS cushioning draft gear (DG-0413) to replace the overly-long Intermountain ones and will add them when paint touch-up is complete. Finally, I’ll be using Moloco’s 70-ton ASF Ride Control sideframes with Tangent wheels. Through sheer serendipity I’ve found that combination results in a very slick roller.






One defect that Dennis mentioned in his review was that some ladders were not securely attached. I forgot about that until I noticed a set of side ladders had gone missing. I did locate them – on the floor and in many pieces. Fortunately, I have an undecorated Intermountain PS-1 with extra ladders.


The Intermountain model is nicely painted and ultimately should show pretty well. I should be able to finish this soon and show some final photos.

[simulatortrain]

Love the IM box upgrades!

It's final assembly time on my Mercersburg (Wright Trak) caboose:



Lots of nice jewelry on the ends!

Edit: pic updated

[12bridge]

I have been drawing/printing/packaging parts non stop getting ready for my table at the St. Louis RPM meet.  


11 different styles of MU stand done and ready, with more on the way down the road.  Many of which have never been offered as a part in HO before.


Scale switch brooms..


One of my strobe light displays. 

[fr8kar]

This is a great week for photos. Wow!

I decided to pick up a "quick and easy" project: converting an Atlas C40-8 to the very similar predecessor the C39-8E. As far as I can tell the major differences are the fuel tank and reservoirs being configured like the GE locomotives that came before (with the main reservoirs on either end of the fuel tank and no indentation on the engineer's side) and the dynamic brake "cab" having intakes on the roof like the B40-8 instead of on the hood side. All I've done is the dynamic brake part and touch up the paint and decals after renumbering. The fuel tank and reservoirs are being printed.

[Gary P]

Everyone - The skill level of modeling represented here are down right impressive! I am amazed at the detail you've modeled, and the photography is fantastic too. Thank you ALL for sharing!

[rteusink]

Of note, the DT&I used Nathan M3 horns almost exclusively. DW 186 Nathan M3 would be a big upgraded from the generic Life Like Proto2000 horn.

Jul 9, 2023 13:10:15 GMT -8 dti406 said:

I finished up a Proto 2000 Phase I GP7 with wire grabs and lift rings and various other parts to match a DT&I unit. Painted with a 50/50 mixture of Scalecoat II Reefer Yellow and ATSF Red and lettered with a mixture of Herald King and Microscale Decals. #952 was one of the last GP7's still on the railroad at the time of the GTW purchase and was also leased to the PC at various times in the 1970's.








Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

[dti406]

Jul 10, 2023 7:15:35 GMT -8 rteusink said:

Of note, the DT&I used Nathan M3 horns almost exclusively. DW 186 Nathan M3 would be a big upgraded from the generic Life Like Proto2000 horn.

Jul 9, 2023 13:10:15 GMT -8 dti406 said:

I finished up a Proto 2000 Phase I GP7 with wire grabs and lift rings and various other parts to match a DT&I unit. Painted with a 50/50 mixture of Scalecoat II Reefer Yellow and ATSF Red and lettered with a mixture of Herald King and Microscale Decals. #952 was one of the last GP7's still on the railroad at the time of the GTW purchase and was also leased to the PC at various times in the 1970's.








Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

I was looking through my horns and none of them looked right based on my pictures and my cheat sheets from a friend of mine did not mention horns, I will be relaxing the horn soon as I find the proper horn.

Rick Jesionowski