Hi Tom! I hope we see it in a video soon! You have some of the best rolling stock I have ever seen! Take care, Dale
Believe it. I had to create a "path" just to get to the bench... but as proof that I did it, I took a couple shots!!! Yay!
A little less dust. The model is an "accurate" C39-8 constructed by splicing RPP shells for the correct number of engine access doors. Athearn C-C U boat frame was "stretched" by repositioning bolster and lengthening fuel tank. I experimented with techniques picked from mags of the era. Raised X panels were fabricated and added to shell (long hood and nose) and dynamic brake intakes were made see thru (using needle point mesh). There are at least 4 more sisters in various stages but none have been completed!!!! I started work on a high short hood version but have only finished basic shell fabrication! These projects would benefit from 3D printing, something unheard of when they were started!
An AMB laser cut kit of a New York Central 19000 series caboose. This is a wonderful kit, and a joy to build!
I'm a newbie so this is probably old hat for many of you. I'm not particularly picky about my rolling stock, but one thing I can't abide is having two cars with the same numbers. After trying various chemicals for removing road numbers -usually not very successful and requiring painting over the spot afterwards- I found that simply lightly sanding them away with extremely fine sandpaper was very effective and required no patching. Gloss varnish over the spot, then decal, then solvaset, then more gloss. I'm really happy with the results on these 3 hoppers. The decals are from a Walther's Amtrak set. I don't know if these numbers have exact prototypes but the first two numerals on each are correct for the type. The difference between the black and green lettering is much less obvious in person.
Great stuff everyone! Too much for me to keep up with! Here is the BN 7502, a SD40-2B this was of the more interesting rebuilds as they moved the dynamic brakes to a cooler operating environs. I built this one from Athearn and Cannon parts detailed it up with my kind of standard detail package, painted with Scalecoat paints and Microscale decals. Just adding some weathering and out to the layout it goes for a while. Thanks for looking.
In their day, I was fascinated with six motor Bs from BN and Santa Fe (at least) as well as other schemes like fuel tenders! When you end up with a surplus of SD40-2 shells, there's only ONE solution!!!
No hobby time for the past year or so, what with a fixer upper house. I did finally get a permit to start finishing the basement - it's a lot of work! Here is how it looked (more or less) at the beginning of December. Photo from a couple weeks ago: So that is what is on my "workbench" for a few more months, then hopefully I can get to work on this:
I've been without a layout most of my life for various reasons, so I can relate. I only finally got to build a modest layout between 2014 and 2017 only to have to tear it down summer of 2017 to move again. Here is the one that only lasted a few years and got torn down: Overview of one side while under construction. Then came destruction. At least I was able to save all of the track and basic frames.
The first of what will likely be many resin kits; a B&O M53 boxcar! The build is essentially done; i need to weight the frame, then decorate and weather it!
The M53 above has been painted, but the decals are frankly horrible. I will NEVER use F&C decals again; i will buy a set from Microscale, Tichy, or somewhere, anywhere else. The film is thick, they look very obviously pixelated, and in all... not what I expect from a 35 dollar resin kit. Hopefully some Micro Sol will get them to behave. If not, I need to order some from Microscale, I guess. Also... my word do high nose Geeps and SDs look amazing! That NS unit looks just like the one which came by daily on its run from Conneaut to Cleveland!