Sunday Photo Fun Sept 29, 2024

[cf7]

I got some modeling done this week, but nothing worth showing yet. Here are a couple of oldies from around 12 years ago...

Atlas GP7 that I originally wanted to just detail and use the factory paint, but I ended up carving off details from the shell and pilots, and adding misc stuff, The metal pilots were a pain to file smooth and drill holes! The factory paint idea pretty much went away as the only thing still Atlas is the stripe on the long hood. I used Microscale decals and mixed my own blue paint.

I got the idea for this Fort Worth and Denver boxcar from an old magazine.  I used an Intermountain AAR boxcar shell on top of an Accurail fishbelly underframe.  Styrene bits made up the sides of the frame and all of the brackets.  Microscale decals.

[tom]

I recently picked up another Bowser PRR decorated H30 covered hopper.  I replaced the supplied trucks with Tahoe 70-ton trucks and used Kadee #153 short shank couplers. To match the prototype PRR cars in the Penn Central era I patched out some of the data with decals and then added Microscale ACI labels.



These cars (especially the ones in this older PRR paint scheme) were weathered pretty heavily so I applied weathering using a regular pencil to highlight the rivets and panel lines then used Pan Pastels and an airbrush to apply the heavier weathering.

I also removed the big eyebolt that Bowser added on the roof corner grabiron and instead replaced it with a short length of .125" wire then reapplied the grabiron. 

[wagnersteve]

9 /29/2024, starting about 12:25 p.m., EDT

cf7 and tom, thanks for posting your photos of your fine modeling. I really like the detailing you did and the subtle weathering.

[sd40dash2]

Train show haul, keeping in mind a lot of added expense for food and travel plus the time involved and $12 entrance fee. FYI the fee was $7 in 2016, almost double in 8 years. Anyway point being that the bargain prices shown here are not the final cost. Many of us also wouldn't likely pay present-day excessive shipping costs for these sorts items either, so I guess this is a kind of sweet-spot or "Goldilocks" haul. Great old-school fun without breaking the bank.

[TBird1958]

Here's some in process pictures of the "salting" an 86' Greenville car


All taped up and two different kinds of salt dropped on it, just prior to being wetted down with 70% alcohol from a small spray bottle.





Here, the tape has been removed and the salt scrubbed off with a tooth brush exposing the factory silver paint, it's been lightly weathered with two colors of Tamiya Panel Wash.

[hudsonyard]

I think i've had this old Walthers GSC flat kit in my possession since I bought it off a white elephant table 18 or so years ago, i guess its time has finally came because I broke it out this week and assembled and weathered the deck and body:



I added Tangent ACI plates, need to find a decent brake wheel to replace the kit-supplied one that looked more like a triangle than a wheel. I've got a pair of Athearn 70T trucks I'm gonna swap on eventually. This car is a foobie, figured I might as well have some fun with it.

[GP40P-2]

Sept 29, 2024 10:04:25 GMT -8 TBird1958 said:

Here's some in process pictures of the "salting" an 86' Greenville car


All taped up and two different kinds of salt dropped on it, just prior to being wetted down with 70% alcohol from a small spray bottle.





Here, the tape has been removed and the salt scrubbed off with a tooth brush exposing the factory silver paint, it's been lightly weathered with two colors of Tamiya Panel Wash.

That really shows it! Thanks for sharing a new (to me) technique. The results are great.

[dti406]

Here are a couple of cars I finished before I got sick last week but did not feel up to photographing and posting.

First, a Steward 14 Panel Hopper car, the NYC and P&LE purchased serveral thousand of these cars to replace old worn out 2 bay hoppers with more modern cars to service their industrial customers. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Black Paint and lettered with K4 Decals.



Next a Tangent PS 4740 Kit, painted with Scalecoat II UP Covered Hopper Gray paint and lettered with Dan Kohlbergs decals. The N&W purchased two thousand of these cars in 1969/1970 for export grain service.




A pair of Athearn SD39's repainted in N&W after being acquired in the IT purchase running with a general freight on the Strongsville Club layout.



Rick Jesionowski

[slowfreight]

Just for phun, here's one I built from an old Walthers GSC 54' flat kit (like Hudsonyard's car above). I actually bought it new right when they first came out. But mine is not a true phoobie. While I didn't fix all of the lettering gaffes on the car, I otherwise matched a proto photo of my factory-painted car. Carving off all the factory molded-on grabs and getting the bulkheads right was a real personal challenge, but I needed something to be worthy of the stripwood deck.

Prototype: rr-fallenflags.org/cgw/cgw3011akg.jpg

[drsvelte]

Since this week’s SPF seems to be featuring historical modeling efforts, here is a real blast from the past! Like the mid-1970’s!


As best I can recollect, the model shown below was a Roundhouse or MDC offering that I stripped (with brake fluid at that time!) We lived near the Susquehanna River and that became the impetus for my railroad’s name. I always admired the N&W’s steam-era paint scheme and my wife graciously did the artwork for the S&W logo to abet my attempt to copy it.





Champ produced the custom decals. Kadee sprung trucks and Floquil paint.

[slowfreight]

In honor of the Branchline Berwyck thread, you'll notice a CP 7-Post box behind my bulkhead flat. After I de-CP'd it, here's what it became. And no, the muddy splotch is not a failed weathering attempt. The real one looked that splotchy.



Fox Valley car, Moloco trucks, Exactrail roof, smaller couplers, Plano cut lever bracket. Scratchbuilt cut levers. Microscale decals. Rattle can white and TruColor SOO red.

[cpr4200]

I have fond memories of watching 100-car unit trains of those N&W 4740's on the WM's west end a year or two before its abandonment.

[packer]

I weathered a couple cars:







I added a wheel dot to the BN car since taking the photos, might do something with the UP car.

[wagnersteve]

9/29/2024, about 9:17 p.m., EDT

packer, I like the subtle lettering. However, the photos seem to show a "wheel dot' on the UP car rather than the BN one. I also like the appearance of the tracks in the photos.

drsvelte, I seem to remember that either Hal Carstens himself or another modeler involved with Railroad Model Craftsman for many years had an HO pike called the Susquehanna Northern.

[cpr4200]

^^^ That's right, Steve, Hal Carstens's railroad was the Susquehanna Northern. I don't think it ever got past the benchwork stage, though.

[riogrande]

Sept 29, 2024 17:22:25 GMT -8 wagnersteve said:

9/29/2024, about 9:17 p.m., EDT

packer, I like the subtle lettering. However, the photos seem to show a "wheel dot' on the UP car rather than the BN one.

That's right. He added the wheel dot to the BN car "after" taking the photo, which is why the is none as shown.

[rockisland652]

I hadn't done a lot of modeling this Summer, but I did manage to put 285 into service.

[waverly5]

Wow!
Any other views of 285?
Looks phenomenal.

[drsvelte]

^^^
Great photography!

[Christian]

Sept 29, 2024 10:30:00 GMT -8 hudsonyard said:

need to find a decent brake wheel to replace the kit-supplied one

Kadee makes several types of brake wheels in various colors. Kadee also makes some other parts. All of which are excellent. Walthers lists the brake wheels at five bucks for 8.

[drsvelte]

In addition to the wheel, if you want to updgrade the complete brake assembly you might check out what Moloco has to offer. 

A set of 10 different appliances....

[Colin 't Hart]

Sept 29, 2024 10:04:25 GMT -8 TBird1958 said:

Here's some in process pictures of the "salting" an 86' Greenville car

All taped up and two different kinds of salt dropped on it, just prior to being wetted down with 70% alcohol from a small spray bottle.



Here, the tape has been removed and the salt scrubbed off with a tooth brush exposing the factory silver paint, it's been lightly weathered with two colors of Tamiya Panel Wash.

Great results! I want to try this too.

What did you do between wetting the salt and scraping it off again to make the non-salty parts of the roof darker?

[Christian]

Oct 4, 2024 3:33:58 GMT -8 Colin 't Hart said:

What did you do between wetting the salt and scraping it off again to make the non-salty parts of the roof darker?

I think TBird left out a step! The darker silver is over the salt. The brighter silver is the factory paint.

The Euro model paint manufacturers all make various materials to do this. In my Atomic Cafe, I used chipping mediums from AK Interactive and Vallejo. See photo. I was caggy at the time of the build, but I wasn't very happy with the coarseness of the commercial materials. They are intended for use on 1/35 models, which is a whole other thing.

I think the salt method gives a better result for small scales. It's certainly stood the test of time. I came across this thirty some years ago and only did one very messy experiment at that time.

TBird has refined the method, and I'm looking for a suitable boxcar roof. Note, you can use salt on any part of a model. Rust blotching is an example.

[TBird1958]

Oct 4, 2024 3:33:58 GMT -8 Colin 't Hart said:

Sept 29, 2024 10:04:25 GMT -8 TBird1958 said:

Here's some in process pictures of the "salting" an 86' Greenville car

All taped up and two different kinds of salt dropped on it, just prior to being wetted down with 70% alcohol from a small spray bottle.



Here, the tape has been removed and the salt scrubbed off with a tooth brush exposing the factory silver paint, it's been lightly weathered with two colors of Tamiya Panel Wash.

Great results! I want to try this too.

What did you do between wetting the salt and scraping it off again to make the non-salty parts of the roof darker?

 Colin, I didn't mention it in this post because I had in a post the week before, after setting the salt with the 70% alcohol, I let it dry, then I airbrush a couple of thin coats of gray onto the roof - the paint was very thinned out TCP.