Great job everyone. It is getting hard to keep track of all that is going on. Martyn-looks like your flat car is coming along nicely. Dutchman-great looking wood deck. Matthew- looks good so far. I don't know if I could ever work up the nerve to cut up a model so that I could kitbash it. Benny- great job on the rotary snow. Robert- looking good so far. I know how you can work in Z scale. I have enough trouble working in HO with my big clumsy fingers. I hope I didn't miss anyone. Now for my update. I have finished painting the MDC undecorated covered hopper pink. I now need to seal it and start the Ralston-Jefferson decals. I have finished painting and sealing the P2K wheel sets for both cars. My short term plans are to paint and weather the trucks for both cars. Seal the painted hopper and begin the decals. Add weight to the Albert City hopper and begin assembling it.
Wow, some of you guys are really moving ahead! My job kept me out most nights this week , so I am hoping to catch a few hours at the bench this weekend . Dave, any hints on your weathering techniques? Benny, terrific job!
<font color="336633">Well the extra 8 foot in length has now been added, next job is to add the new side pockets amd replace the jacking pads to match up with the new truck spacing, then its on to the bulkheads....... Tom, its not that hard a job to bring a knife and saw to a cheap freightcar but it does get a bit hair raising on the first cut to a Kato or Atlas loco..... </font>
Thanks to all you guys who commented about my pics! It's nice to hear that some of them look realistic. It's hard for me to gauge the pictures because I've spent a lot of time on whatever model I am shooting pictures of, and it's hard to see it as anything other than a model. Russ- I've never sent any pictures to magazines to be published (although I did send a letter that got published in the last MR!), and I think it'll be awhile before I try to do that. This layout is rather small, and I'm moving soon, so I'll be able to make a larger one hopefully. Then I'll try to really turn out some nice pics! Dutchman (nice work on your flatcar deck by the way. looks great)- as far as my weathering techniques go, here's what I do. Keep in mind I don't own an airbrush, so I have to do what I can to make up for it. I mixed some gray acrylic paint with a lot of water, then painted the mix over the car, covering everything (although you have to work in small sections). Then I get a paper towel, and blot the paint until the brush strokes are gone. This will leave you with a 'tweedy' pattern after the first coat, but after a few coats, it will look more smooth. It doesn't take long to dry. Then I go back and do a few more coats, until the model looks really dusty/dirty. Then I'll take a very small paintbrush and add scrapes in colors of black and rust, along with some white spray paint in a couple of places. Then I take some fine sandpaper (a file would work) and scrape away some of the dirty gray wash I had done, especially on the parts of the car that stick out (like the ribs of the hopper). Then I'll go in with some chalks on the trucks and wheels to give it that rusty color. On the hopper I also painted the trucks and wheels first with a couple washes of gray paint, like I did on the body. Here's a close-up picture: Hope that helps! Great job to everyone else who's been able to participate in the project! I check the thread often and enjoy seeing the progress. [ 30. May 2003, 13:29: Message edited by: daveheinzel333 ]
Well, seeing how I have two weeks still, I think I will go ahead and do the flatcar Kitbash MDC recommends in one of the 3-n-1 kits... I have the base, I have the wood, nothing stopping me now except...what do I need a flatcar for! This thread has been an incredible motivational piece. It is going to be hard to top out this one....kind of like how hard it is to top the first run of Lonely Hearts Club Band. I do have a kitbast running right now on a couple docksides, but I will have to find a secodn Lifelike docksider with a frame motor before I go an further on that one. Good afternoon B
Made some progress this week. The CP hoppers are ready for the paint shop: That's a SD60 dynamic brake / inertial filter section in the upper right... That a whole 'nother story. Procor Hopper B end in progress
Here is my update for week 2: The Athearn Albert City covered hopper has been assembled. I also added weight to it to bring it up to NMRA recommendations. Also as you can see the trucks and wheels have been painted and weathered. Now the next step is the weather the car. I have finished painting the MDC undecorated covered hopper pink and sealed it with Testors Glosscoat. Now I need to add weight to it to bring it up to NMRA recommendations. I will also begin the decal process. This will the first time that I have attempted a decaling project like this where one or two letters will be placed on each panel. This should be interesting. One note about the paint, the pink came out a little darker than I expected. I am not worried about since I figure weathering will take care of the color. Also not pictured are the trucks and wheels which are painted and weathered.
Well we're into week 3, so I'd better do an update...(i'll fix the title in a minute....!) The containers for the VTTX flat have been weatered and built, the tank container has the Plano roofwalk applied. The VTTX flat itself is getting some minor cosmetic surgery, on the prototype the deck didn't overhang the chassis like the roundhouse flat did, so i'm cutting the edges of the deck back to represent this, it's part done in this photo...
For now, I will need to do a strictly written update since I left my digital camera at a friends house this weekend, and it is over 2 hours away. Really getting forgetful! Anyway, I have completed more sub-assemblies, finishing painting, applying decals, and generally getting ready to make the final assembly of the work caboose. Decided that the wire grabs and steps looked so good that I should shave off the plastic marker lights and install brass lights. I found them in my LHS, still need to paint and install them. Overall, I have tried a number of new things, and am pleased with the results.
Milwaukee Road transfer caboose-- During week two I painted the flat car, assembled the dog house and painted, installed roof walks and ladders. Week three will consist of steps assembled and painted, railings painted, reworking trucks and painting. things seem to be going right on schedual. Still no pictures or decals!
Looks like the boys at the paint shop have been busy... I have a lot on the rest of this week - but plan to get the decals and the rest of the construction finished this weekend.
Looks like my spare time is gonna get scarce, so I won't be putting out too many more cars. However, going into Week 3 I have so far: </font> Built the two Bowser Frisco 100-ton hoppers, complete with weathering with chalks and addition of live coal loads</font> Built one E&C Carshops woodchip gon, complete with metal wheels and removable woodchip load, and</font> am midway into building a second woodchip gon, same as the first.</font> The woodracks will have to wait unless I can squeeze in time. I like what's been done so far by everybody else, and especially Dave's awesome weathering jobs.
Bummer, the walkways didn't come in, and it looks like it will be at least a month before they are here. Not sure if I am going to press on with these hoppers now or wait until the walkways are here. I would rather wait, as I don't want to do much more unitl I know the walkway supports are correctly in place for the walkways....
I missed a week due to that four letter word starting with W But I did manage to assemble all the bits. Before joining the sub-assemblies, though, I have to apply the decals and add weights. I also decided to wait with the side ladders till after the decals. And I thought four weeks was more than enough time for a simple project like this!!! William http://www.railimages.com/album/William%20Cowie/P1010003.JPG
Looking good William, there's still a week and a bit to go, but I have to admit i'm not nearly as far ahead as I wanted to be, but i'm hoping to catch up a little this afternoon!
I finished my first car today;this is an Athearn 50' plug door box-car. It is now CGW 522 and has KD trucks,roofwalk,brakewheel and 58's. Details West air pipes and cut levers and Oddballs decals. While I was at it,I decided to decorate a Walthers 60' Pullman Standard Auto box-car,this has reached the decal stage. Regards to all Steve
Here is the Albert City Elevator pink covered grain hopper I just completed. List of Materials Walthers/Athearn Iowa Co-op 54’ Covered Grain Hopper Albert City RREX 4203 Kadee #5 couplers P2K wheels Weathering: Drybrushing: Folk Art Charcoal Gray (613) Wash: Folk Art Charcoal Gray (613) 2 parts; Folk Art Licorice (938) 1 part; thinned 5:1 with blue windshield washer fluid Sealer: Testors Dullcoat Trucks: Paint: Folk Art Charcoal Gray (613) Drybrush: Americana Burnt Sienna Sealer: Testors Dullcoat Wheels: Paint: Americana Burnt Sienna mixed with Folk Art Bright Peach (682) 1:2 Sealer: Plaid Clear Acrylic Sealer-Matte (CS200306) I still have not started on the decals for the Ralston-Jefferson hopper. At the rate things are going I don’t think I will have it finished by the end of Week 4.
Tom, that's looking pretty cool. Steve, what road is the 60' box going to be? Was the CGW around late enough to have them? I 'spose they had SD40's, so they must have been existing into the 1960's. I got the container pedestals for the VTTX rack installed last night, still hoping to get it done by the end of the week.... [ 09. June 2003, 09:01: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
