First up are a couple of rescued and partially rehabbed Ortner hoppers: The Conrail one is missing some end components, but I now have two of these for routine work on the line. Anyone have experience lowering these cars? I may try some of Ed Nadolski's etched coupler pockets from The Railwire on these bad boys so that I can file down the bolster. And in case anyone thought the BQ project was dead: The large side logos ar enow on both sides, and my first cab number is on. Considering that I've had the decals for about 10 years, and that each number has to be applied individually, I'd say I'm good. Still to come are the cab numbers on the other side, the red and yellow stripes around the nose, and figuring out if I want to remove my carefully applied etched uncoupling levers and MU hoses on the pilots to install the zebra stripe decals. :facepalm:
Just got my first laser kit from American Model Builders. Its the N&W Class CF Caboose. Can't wait to put it together. Unfortunately, it is going to have to wait until the weekend. Will post pics upon completion. Any tips on how to build it would be appreciated.
Having built five of the GN 25 Ft. versions I'll pass along one tip that was given to me for the end rails. Coat them with a thin ACC that will soak in and strengthen them and if you plan to use their handrails for the roof do the same to them to strengthen them. I also used a single edge razor to cut the small tabs left on the parts in the laser cutting process so they would stay in the parts sprues An Exacto blade tends to be to wide for this delicate cutting and the single edge blade works quite well in starting the paper backing off the adhesive backed parts. I also pre-painted the detail parts before applying to the car body and the car body was painted ahead of the details and I used solvent paint rather than water base. A pair of very fine point tweezers come in handy for handling the window frame parts which can be a bear to handle and align. I did use the Atlas caboose trucks that were recommended for my kits and MT 1015s for couplers. Careful alignment and taking ones time these come out nice.
I have had a little time and some desire to modify a Kato SD40-2 mid into a patch BNSF I have seen before. Here is the real one. Here is what I have so far. I will not be adding more detail as this will be a worker on the layout . I also did not move the antenna ground plain backwards. Thanks , Mike
Oh you kidder! You know why !!!! I will likely see you guys tomorrow but I am not feeling too good. Tail end of a cold or something I guess. Mike
Working on a Walthers kit I bought from Mike - the Al's Victory Service. In my home town we had Al's Texaco on main street and gas was 33 cents a gallon. I still have more details to add - tire racks, etc. John
I have an undec Con Cor tanker I plan to paint in Texaco colors. Found a photo of a similar rig that I will use as a model Can't upload multiple pictures.
ns737, Very nice job on that unit. I am wrapping up a body load and pup unit that is a combo of 3D printed tractors and Concor tanks. I think it is looking good. Carl Carl
John, Wow, .33/gl. Sort of brings a tear to one's eyes, doesn't it. I moved from Albuquerque to Arlington, Texas in 1972 and when I left Albuq. gas was .19/gl. Of course there was a price war going on with a new brand in town. Carl
I picked up the new Kato C&NW E8 along with a train set for it to pull. I am installing a decoder in the locomotive. Kato now installs all the tedious roof detail parts on the passenger cars so I will not have to do that. After all these years I was getting pretty good at that task. Now I can recreate this scene, with me and my two older brothers. My new locomotive number is 5021-A instead of 5023-B. I may have to change that.
Very cool Russell. Showing your age now. I guess it would be safe to say you are older than 27! LOL Mike
