Austrailian BHP Billiton Iron Ore Project

I decided to move this to its own thread as it was buried in another one.



I've decided to do a fun project of trying to paint one of the new Austrailian BHP Billiton Iron Ore "bubble" paint schemes. BHP has a number of AC6000 units but only one is painted in this scheme. They are also getting 13 new SD70ACE units in this paint scheme. Since there aren't any AC6000 or SD70ACE units in n-scale (yet) I'm going to use an undecorated AC4000 with low number boards as a base for this. My kit bashing skills are nil at this point in my modeling career so this project is more about painting than about than modifying the model itself to be an AC6000.



I have basic paint down and some BLMA detail stuff on it but I needed to order the correct cab parts and a GE loco data sheet from MicroScale. I didn't notice the grey carries over on to the lower cab portion of the shell so I need to paint that. The BHP logo in orange was a major pain as I hand cut the mask and making circles is no fun. I spoke to a buddy of mine that has a vinyl cutting business and he can order low-tack sheets that he can run through his cutting machine and get perfect matches with so I don't have to hand cut them in the future.

Thanks again for the kind words from everyone in the other post... If I didn't have the resources out there helping me to figure out how to do this stuff I'd still be at square one or two...

I don't have the exact mixes with me at work but I used your suggestions as a base Jim and went from there. The green color ended up being a combination of CNW Green with lesser amounts of Grimy Black and a touch of CSX Blue - to be honest it is still too green for my tastest so I'd get a little more blue in it as it should be more of an evergreen color.

The orange/red started primarily as SP Daylight as it was a little less vibrant compared to the Seaboard Orange. Then I added a little more Signal Red and some Reefer white. It needs a little more red and maybe a touch of of blue as has almost a metallic look to it. I only have two photos of the BHP AC6000 to go off of and a few of their newer SD70ACE units to try and use as color keys.

Lastly and the biggest headache was the lower silver/grey areas. I ended up hitting those pieces three times before I got them right (the photo above is after the second try). The final mix of paint was a mix of Milwaukee Road, Reefer White and a little New Gravel Grey (which isn't grey but more of a grey blue color which darkened the mix a bit and gave it some of the blue color it needed).

Right now I'm waiting on BLMA details, the ALPS printer and GE Data decals to arrive. I'm sure I'll have more questions about the ALPS printer when I get it.

I did some touch up, added rear 15" drop grabs and reshot the grey parts last night. I also added decals to the number board lights. I'll post more photos when I have more complete.

[ April 06, 2006, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: lashedup ]

 

Heaviest Train

BTW, wasn't BHP involved in the all-time heaviest train? I am sure it was an Australian company.

It sure is a nice model, too. Very difficult masking and a nice job. :thumbs_up:

 

That is a beautiful rendition of an unique unit. The colours are close enough (and you're on the other side of the world so who would know? ). The vinyl cutter is a great idea for the paint masks.

I look forward to the progress on this, too. Excellent work.

Flash, it is BHP Iron Ore that holds the record for the longest and heaviest freight train;

"The heaviest-ever train weighed 99,732.1 tonnes (220 million lb) and was 7.353 km (4.568 miles) long. Assembled by Australia's BHP Iron Ore, the train travelled 275 km (171 miles) from the company's Newman and Yandi mines to Port Hedland, Western Australia, on June 21, 2001 The train had 5,648 wheels, and was assembled to test out a new train control system, which essentially allows the driver in the front locomotive to control the other seven engines simultaneously, even though they are spaced at intervals of nearly a kilometre along the length of the train."

From the Guiness Book of Records site.

 

Awesome, great work

 

Eight engines, if you read more carefully.

 

BHP (before the merger with Billiton) previously held the record of 79,577t, of 10 locomotives and 540 ore hoppers in May 1996. The record was briefly broken by a coal train in South Africa before BHP Billiton took it back.

You can model a many Pilbara iron ore line units from off the shelf models. Mt Newman (later part of BHP) imported two F7As (ex-Western Pacific) in 1968 for construction of the line. They used C636s and M636s for around 20 years before they were rebuilt with GE engines. More recently BHP Billiton has imported 20 second hand SD40-2s from the USA and Mexico as a stopgap until new locos can be delivered.

Hamersley Iron also had an S2, a C415, C628s, C636s, M636s, C36-7s, SD50s and CM44-9s before they were taken over by Rio Tinto.

Robe River had RSC3s, C630s, C636s and CM44-9 before it became part of Rio Tinto.

Also of interest, BHP Billiton still has the Silver Star off the General Pershing Zephyr. It's used for VIP tours and inspection trains. Before the roads were upgraded, it was also used as passenger accommodation on the weekly supply train to the mines.


Cheers
David

 

Those CM44-9s could be modelled with C44-9Ws, but they'd need new cabs. And I don't believe any manufacturer offers the C36-7, the M636 or the C415.

 

Kaslo does a Hammersley Iron C-44-9W Cab (2 Window Style)

And a top site for reference,
http://railways.pilbara.net.au/

 

What a sweet shot,

 

...next question, the handrails, did you use wire or styrene ?

 

Jason that's a great shot, all we can hope now is that we get the ACes from Kato soon...
...yes, undecorated, of course

 

Love the photos.

 

I used stainless wire. To be honest being anal I would go back and either replace all the handrails with proper scale diameter wire (PITA) or use a slightly larger diameter wire or styrene rod that more closely matches Kato's original handrail diameter.

Detail pieces showed up today from BLMA so I can finish the cab details. Work progresses...

 

I know. I've had that one on my favorites list for a while now.

 

Hot off the press, Atlas has confirmed to its Australian distributors that it wants to produce the Hammersley Iron version of the C628 in N scale.

Cheers
David

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, the dark colour of the long hood is not green, it is in fact Charcoal. Other than that the paint job is well excecuted and i too cant wait for someone to release a AC6000 and SD70ACe in N.
Mitchell