N scale "What's on your workbench?"

Mark Watson Oct 28, 2009

  1. BCR 570

    BCR 570 TrainBoard Member

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    A major milestone for me modelwise this past week as two long term projects reached completion: the two coaches for my planned consist of the Prince George Auxiliary. These have been under construction since March 2013 and were challenging scratchbuilds so I am very glad to see them finished at last.

    Tool Wash Car BCOL 6506
    This car was converted by the British Columbia Railway from former Canadian Pacific mail car 3703 in 1976 and provided crews with a place to store tools and wash up. It was retired in the mid 1990s and now resides at the railway museum in Prince George, where friend Chris Dittmar was able to obtain field measurements and reference photographs for me:

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    The carbody for this model was a gift scratchbuilt for me by friend Geoff Gooderham who sells a line of resin kits for various CPR coaches and cars. The styrene body incorporates a Con-Cor roof. I added Archer rivet decals to the end sheets, Gold Medal grab irons and sill steps, scratchbuilt roof vents and Miniatures By Eric smoke jacks. I built the underframe and detailed it with Precision Scale Co. brake equipment and empty equipment racks. The correct trucks were printed via Shapeways by Eric Cox of Panamint Models and are fitted with Fox Valley 36" wheels. Jeff Briggs painted and weathered the model:

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    Tim
     
  2. BCR 570

    BCR 570 TrainBoard Member

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    Cook Diner BCOL 6508
    This car was converted by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from sleeping car WILLIAMS LAKE in February 1969 and provided accommodation for the cook, a kitchen, and a dining area for the work crew. The former Pullman car was cut down to the belt rail and new upper sides added, and the vestobule at one end was plated in. The underframe water tank was supplied by several overhead water reservoirs in the rooftop enclosure. The car was retired in the mid 1990s and now resides in Terrace where it is home to the local model railway club. The location was fortunate as it is also home to friend Doug Davies, who obtained many field measurements and reference photographs for me. This picture by Doug was taken upon arrival at Terrace and shows a silver roof which would have been applied after my era:

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    I scratchbuilt the body in styrene incoporating a Con-Cor roof, and added a BLMA air conditioner, Gold Medal grab irons, sill steps and ladder. Archer rivet decals were applied below the belt rail. The underframe was detailed with Precision Scale Co. dual AB bake equipment, scratchbuilt Pullman steps and water tank. The roof includes a scratchbuilt water tank enclosure and smoke jacks from American Model Builders and Miniatures By Eric. The model rides on Micro-Trains heavyweight passenger trucks with Fox Valley 36" wheels. Jeff Briggs painted and weathered the model:

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    Here are the two models pictured together from above:

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    These now join the recently completed cable car and panel track car, and next up is the crane idler BCOL 6502.


    Thank you for looking,

    Tim
     
  3. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    All your models have great attention to details. Some awesome work there ^5 :cool:
     
  4. tayder

    tayder TrainBoard Supporter

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    Simply gorgeous! At the museum just down the street from me (give or take a couple of km :)...
     
  5. SP&S #750

    SP&S #750 TrainBoard Member

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    A pair of Kato GN SD45's, chipped but I'm not using the Kato supplied couplers. depending on how I feel tomorrow they may get MTL #1015's.
     
  6. SP&S #750

    SP&S #750 TrainBoard Member

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    Hot off the bench soon my two LL Alco C424's will be going on the bench to receive a small modification to the coupler system. The LL C424 is an interesting beasty when it comes to couplers it has a Kato style coupler holder which put pressure on another piece that holds the whole assembly together. After the issues on the SD45's and the NW2, I'm going to be using the screws provided with the MTL 1015-1's I bought recently. this should make servicing easier and reduce the risk of coupler failure.

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  7. BCR 570

    BCR 570 TrainBoard Member

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    My three ex-CP coaches for hte Provincial Museum Train now have windows and blinds installed:

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    Decals are next.


    Tim
     
  8. santafe

    santafe TrainBoard Member

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    great job tim




     
  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    What are the blinds made from? Is it as simple as styrene? Or something else?
     
  10. BCR 570

    BCR 570 TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, a strip of styrene behind the windows painted to match what I am seeing in photographs. However, this method has resulted in a gap between the window panes and the blinds due to the thickness of hte walls, so I am now contemplating replacing the styrene with paper cut to fit into and against the windows. It is a lot more work that I wasn't counting on this late in the campaign . . .

    Tim
     
  11. Bill Denton

    Bill Denton TrainBoard Supporter

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    MP15AC conversion is on my workbench right now. I'm following an article by Steve Lohr that was in NSR back in 2010.

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  12. Fishplate

    Fishplate TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looks great so far, Bill! Having seen your work, I'm sure your MP15AC will turn out better than mine.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 20, 2014
  13. jpwisc

    jpwisc TrainBoard Member

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    Bill, I'm doing my happy dance right now. That looks great!
     
  14. Bill Denton

    Bill Denton TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks Steve. Hope I'm up to the task. I had great instructions to follow!

     
  15. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Even though it post-dates my chosen era, it's still MILW, it's N and it's Bill doing the modeling. So I'm very interested in following along!
     
  16. rrunty

    rrunty TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well Bill, you've certainly got my attention with this one. Looking forward to seeing it finished. Just a question, and please don't take it as criticism, did you give any thought to using Archer louvers on the hood ahead of the cab? I could see that they might not hold up or register well during the mold making process.

    Bob
     
  17. Bill Denton

    Bill Denton TrainBoard Supporter

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    I tried the Archer louvers on another project but felt they were too subtle and wouldn't show up well enough. I'm using Gold Medal Models louvers and they aren't as bad as they look in the photo. I think they will cast better. We shall see.
     
  18. DrMb

    DrMb TrainBoard Member

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    I finally decided on what my first scratchbuilding project will be. Simply put, my LRC locomotive needs a steam generator unit to haul VIA blue cars. I found an old article on how to scratchbuild a CN/VIA GM-built SGU in HO scale, but it's done in a way that makes it possible to "miniaturize" it into N scale. The only catch is, finding all the equivalent detail parts in N scale and figuring out if I need to change materials to get the required thinness when scaling down.
     
  19. u18b

    u18b TrainBoard Supporter

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    My 1948/49 Railroad Fair locomotive is finally almost done.

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  20. subwayaz

    subwayaz TrainBoard Member

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    Really nice the way that's shaping up. I'm also interested to follow along
     

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