Richard these are amazingly well done! On the firemans side,the fuel tank,is this the alteration you mentioned?If not,then what is it?Also,whats your trick for the glass/number board "rubbers" ? I have one of these Kaslo -9 cabs sitting here,but if Mark is re-doing them,then please let me know if & when,I'll put me hand up for half a doz or so. Might be a long shot,but do you know where I can find some Kaslo GP40-2W/LW kits? Im also after some SD50/60F kits as you very much seem to be the CN man Would luv to see more if possible.
:tb-biggrin:Richard, Do you have any spare sets of decals. i'm especially looking for the CN.CA logo. BTW very impressive engines!
Guys, the C44-9WL fuel tank got modified by filing a rectangular notch at the rear end, and then I filled that with a thin, flat piece of plastic that looked similar to proto photos (I think I used a piece of trough hatch from a IMRC hopper kit, filed thinner and cut to fit). I did the gaskets with a Sharpie pen, but painted the interior of the cab including the window opening sides first using a light tan colour. A microapplicator brush (available from MicroMark or N Scale Supply or MBKlein, etc) is easier to use here than a regular paint brush. The windows are made from Krystal Klear or equivalent, I think I used the MicroMark product which is a lot better than the same stuff they had a few years ago. Every couple of months, I gently remind Mark Gasson of the "teardrop window cab" project, and he does respond. However, he is very busy professionally doing architectural RP work and the railroad model stuff is not a priority. You can contact him yourself and let him know you want some cabs too. Look up Mark4Designs (he's in New Zealand) and you should get his email. BTW, he isn't redoing the 4 window cab, which is fine, but the two window one which sucks. The CN web logo decal set is available as a new release from Microscale, and should be on their list of new releases on their website, so you can get plenty for yourself. Most Kaslo Shops products are available, but John Whitmore has other commitments and hasn't got his new website going for a long time. He can be reached at info@kasloshops.com and I think he is only "home" on weekends. Also try Central Hobbies in Vancouver, they carry most of his stuff, as does Credit Valley Railway in Mississauga. Hope this helps, Richard.
CN SD60F #5526 This is an almost ready project on my workbench, window frames, sunshades and glass lacking while I decide on weathering and what kind of DCC, ie sound or silent to put in. Ditch lights are also missing since they will have 0603 microLEDs in them. This is a Kaslo Shops kit. It allows an exquisite level of detail if you try hard. I have opened up the dynamic brake intakes to allow a see-through effect as per prototype and with the Atlas SD50 mechanism in it, you can actually see right through the engine. BLMA fans were installed and the molded in dynamic brake fan was painted carefully before adding the etched fan cover. The kit comes with very fine etched stainless steel parts as you can see. You still have to bend wire for the corner handrails. I scratchbuilt the 5 chime horn from cut apart pieces of Atlas and Kato horns (this was done before BLMA came out with their horns). The side steps to the cab and their handrails are a particularly delicate task, but once glued, are quite stable. I believe I used black decal stripes to produce the window gaskets instead of the Sharpie technique. This takes longer but you can't mess up in an instant like you can with the pen. The instructions on these kits are kind of minimal and obvious, but great exploded diagrams with parts listed come also. The large resin parts need a bit of finagling to fit well but the etched detail parts like the porch handrails fit very well. They are not as hard as they seem, and you get a unique Canadian prototype that's still in service (most of the similar SD50Fs have been retired, presumably they had the same problems as regular SD50s did). The Kaslo Shops website has been "under construction" for over a year, but the products are still available. You can get info and buy stuff by contacting John Whitmore at info@kasloshops.com. A group of us from literally around the world are currently trying to get the GE Dash 8-40CM done in N scale, another uniquely Canadian engine used mostly by CN, also BC Rail and QNS&L. It could be a mostly etched kit with resin or RP trucks, or an injection-molded RTR model, or a mostly RP kit with some etched parts. It's all in the early stages, but we have the CAD, RP and etched expertise.
Thanks, gentlemen. I just get a kick out of turning a box of parts into a thing of beauty (at least to me) or taking a stock US engine and making it as close as I can to the Canadian version. I'm not the only one either: the fellow who lit the fire and taught me most of what I know, Jeff King of milwaukeeroadtrainshop.com says that CN has replaced ATSF as the most recognizable RR in the world and the majority of his prototype customers from around the world, are asking for CN stuff. Often weird one-off rebuilds too, well beyond my ability. I have a couple of SD70M-2 conversions he did, but since I didn't make those, I won't show them. I do plan to do one of my own however, with the Trainworx conversion kit. That I would show. I do have an F59PH Phase II largely completed but unpainted, also a Kaslo kit, to become a GO Transit engine. I need advice on paint selection for that. I'm also a rather slow worker, so things don't pop out of my shop too often. Right now I'm detailing my second FVM CP GEVO, hoping not to repeat the same mistakes the second time 'round. One of the mistakes was wearing vinyl gloves a lot, I think they lifted off the printed numbers on the cab. I'll stick to cotton except when painting. And I hope I can retire in less than a year, because, frankly, this is a lot more fun than working and I could build models all day, every day! Richard.
This beautiful thread reminds me of two important things ::thumbs_up::thumbs_up: 1. (re) start my SD60F projet i had on hold for a very long time! 2. Build a small photo case and start doing better pics! Guys keep the pictures coming!:thumbs_up:
Richard, Again another sweet peice.Thanks for the tips,although I'd like to bug you for one more nerdy question.What brand of paint are you using? I do caht with Mark from time to time,top bloke & yes I too will now get on his case lol. I will contact John @ Kaslo,I need a bunch of stuff. Thanks for all the info Richard.
Thanks again, guys. The paint I use is acrylic CN specific colour paint recently brought out by TrueLineTrains, who also make locos and rolling stock. I get mine either from PWRS or Credit Valley (cvrco.com) or Broughdale Hobby in London, ON (rrhobby.com or .ca I think). The problem is shipping paint across international borders. The USA has made restrictive new rules that all but forbid import/export of paint, even relatively non-toxic acrylic. Anyway TLT is a Canadian outfit so you probably can't get it in the US anyway. Hopefully you can get it shipped from Canada to Oz. I use a lot of "warm black" which sprays beautifully and has a satin finish, CN red-orange #17 I think, and use Microscale decals for striping. CN grey has a green tone that is good for interiors of cabs of older engines, and the newer engines have a light tan interior for which any old paint can be used. Don't get "CN orange #11" as that is a lighter colour good for MOW equipment, but not engines. I find that I cannot paint the end of steps very well, so I put in the hours to cut and fit decals. CN engines usually also have the step faces painted so that alone justifies the extra time. It looks much cleaner and neater than painting. If you guys have difficulties with your Kaslo projects, I have a few pages of constuction tips from Jeff King of milwaukeeroadtrainshop.com . These are much better than the actual instructions. You can PM me if you want them.
Richard, Just want to join the chorus of compliments- your work is wonderful!! Now- do you have plans on the forthcoming IM wide cabs?
Sorry for the lack of scenery, this is the first day I actually got to run trains on my layout! biggrin:
KATO CN SD75i #5674 Here is my latest bash and detail job: The Kato SD70M flat rad morphed into a CN SD75i. See if you can spot the changes. Just for general interest, the roof fans are convexed into Q fans and I scratchbuilt the large dynamic brake fan behind the cab (I don't know how many blades it really has). There is a painted interior with crew (hard to see in the light I had). Relatively light weathering (less than the proto currently shows). Inside there is an MRC 1644-2 DCC/Sound Decoder with a 13mm speaker I installed into a notch I milled in the fuel tank--this larger speaker sounds much more convincing than the 10mm on-the-DCC board speaker. I also replaced the tiny surface mount LED with a 3mm Sunny White LED allowing much more effective lighting, and fiber optics lead to the main headlights with the original light tube to the ditchlights. The rear ditch lights are just for show. The dynamic brake intakes were removed and replaced with an etched grill behind which I added a piece of styrene to represent the CN stripe--it's not quite prototypical, but looks better than doing nothing. I did forget to paint the frame behind the grills, but I don't want to bother taking off the shell unless it's really necessary-I'll wait till then. I replaced the OEM front windows with acetate cut to fit, and glued in with Micro-Mark MicroGlaze--this gives a flush window which looks quite effective (it was a PITA but the molded in wipers were wrong and I am no good at removing them without wrecking the windows). Love those new BLMA horns! I had to add an etched stanchion to replace a wide gap on the right side next to the 75 series blower housing, and there is a safety bar across the stanchions. The wheels were painted with everyone's favorite substance, Neolube No.2.:tb-wink: Hard to realize these things put out 4300 hp, same as the new SD70M-2 but presumably with a lot more emissions. Enjoy (and criticize-I don't mind, it helps me learn) the engine, it's not perfect but is about as good as I get right now.:msmile: I have become addicted to sound. When I first ran my Atlas C40-8W yesterday, the flashing ditch lights were cool, but the lack of sound made me feel like an addict needing a fix! I have had no issues with the latest MRC decoders, they have improved their line, with a smooth running mech like Kato, the motor control is fine and the large choice of sounds and sound effects has a large fun factor. Plus they tend to be heavily discounted, around $60 at Kleins. Richard.
ram53- Nice looking SD75i! I agree that sound adds a whole new dimension, there is just something cool about being able to hit the airhorns...
Athearn SD70M vs. Kato SD70M Hello, I am very, very new. I like the CN and I want to buy now a Athearn SD70M release date 2006 or I have to wait of a Kato SD70M next year !
