We'll get it straightened out in the next two weeks. Hans Riddervold, Rob Allbriton and Rob Kluz check in periodically. I know Hans is very serious about accuracy but sometimes something slips. Give it a few days. .
Thank you sir! I find myself checking this message board much more frequently than ever before. I'll try to give feedback as I can. I have all the RDC parts, but Hans has assembled his set (In fact, I couldn't figure out what the number board part was until I saw the picture that Hans posted here! I thought it was some sort of internal mechanical spacer!) Anyway, I spent more of my time getting a working GP30 - yup, I've now got one that runs around track under its own power. The GP30's drive train is a derivative of the GP7, but the RDC has a totally new drive train. It works a little like the KATO RDC, but it is of our own design. You are correct - they are a separate add on part that will only be on RDC units that had them (SP) Best, -Rob
One nice feature about the RDC's is that they were all silver colored as Budd used shot welding in rail car construction. The one exception is Jersey Central which painted their roofs black in color. When I was a kid, I didn't realize that as the exhause from the engines was vented through the roof and all that carbon buildup made their roofs look black on the READING equipment. I guess there will be some weathering done of some of the models roofs. Robert
got into a big discussion over this a few years back with a cnj historian. he claimed they never painted their rdc roofs black, it was a myth, and it was just alot of soot. got to admit, i never could find any evidence that he was wrong. jim k
Please do not pay to much attention to individual details at this point. I was test fitting parts, not trying to assemble a unique roadname. But as you noted, those big numberboards are for the SP unit! WP had number boards on top as well, but they were shorter. We will not have a lot of individual detail, but the front door will have the option of dual light, single light and no light. We also have some different airhorns.
I did the artwork for the Kato CNJ RDC and was in the middle of that discussion. I based my opinion that the roof was actually painted by the very sharp color separation line between the black and the rest of the car stainless steel... especially across the curved smooth portions of the ends of the roof where the corrugations did not exist to provide a natural break for car washing to clean away soot. No car washing brush could yield a uniform and sharp separation between soot and clean stainless steel. Charlie Vlk
If you go to northeast.railfan.net home page and click on the CNJ photo roster. Then proceed down the roster under BUILDER to BUDD there is a listing of RDC cars and check out photos 551 - 559. Some cars had black roofs, some had a blue strip along the side and some were just stainless steel. Robert
the problem is you assume your opinion was correct. did you back it up with any research? the historian i discussed this with did his homework. you will see alot of photos with cnj rdcs with silver roofs, and some with black. do some digging and you will find a few of the same units both ways. you will also find some that switched back from black to silver. the black started showing up mostly in the 60s when cnj was going broke. why would a broke railroad spend money to paint a bunch of rdc roofs black? the answer is they didnt. i thought the way you did too, but this guy convinced me i was wrong. see if you were right and they did paint them then they must have painted them dirty gray too. like this: http://rr-fallenflags.org/cnj/cnj-rd553bkg.jpg jim k
I'm not sure your rationale provides an explanation as to how the 'soot' is so evenly applied around the ends of the car. It looks to me like two things are happening with 553. Finer corrugations on the roof making it look darker, and the roof around the ends may be a slightly different sheet metal which perhaps weathered differently. Hence the sharp division between the colours ? Ben
usually its not. http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?december06/12-31-06/CRRNJ552atElizabethportNJ8-6-77EM.jpg thing is you got to look at alot of photos and study them. after awhile certain assumptions start to fall apart.
Yep, did that. All I could find on Northeast Railfan, Fallen Flags and a few CNJ books I kept after I moved to Australian modelling. I've liked and followed CNJ and NYS&W for years. Not an expert but I have seen a lot of photos. So no assumption about it, just a guess that something different is going on with the roof of 553 as opposed to 559, for instance, where the soot only covers half the end areas. Unless you mean to suggest that a broke railroad employed a cleaner to spend extra time to make sure that the soot was meticulously kept in a straight line across the cab of 553 ;-) Ben
lets just say that the paint theory has to many holes to fill. like why only some units were painted and why some of those units show up later without paint, and why they were painted when cnj was strapped for cash. maybe the reason 533 has a clean line demarking the soot in that photo is the same reason it looks painted when the soot is thicker. think about it. id sooner believe some conductor got industrius with a rag than a broke railroad painted just some of their rdc roofs black just for the heck of it. we all see what we want to see right? so if we want to see paint we will see paint even if it doesnt add up. jim k
Sometimes I think modelers are discouraged from posting on Trainboard because there are rivit counters and other types that have encyclopedic minds out there. This is an RDC--NOT according to HOYLE- I made from scratch about 20 years ago- static model- and was probably the best ( since I've never seen another ) until AZL new model. It seems only the most authentic can be put on trainboard, or it gets picked apart. I too like prototypical running gear and lazer cut buildings, but that eliminates a good portion of Z Hobbiest that either can't afford the brass, or just want to run trains. Fred
another authority bites the dust. http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?june05/06-25-05/NYNH+H141atNewLondonCT8_31_69EdBacher.jpg
Surely even you know that the picture you produced is of 1 of the 2 end cab units custom built for the New Haven's "Roger Williams" in 1956 and as such is not one of the regular RDC units that is the topic of this thread. Nice try though. It shows that you're trying, but you just can't quite get there. (-: --Steve
Everyone is welcome to post here on Trainboard. If you model with toothpicks and magazine photo cutouts, or scale drawings and laser cut precision, it's all just a hobby in the end. I have admired your work Fred for a long time now, and I know it's not laser cut, but real scratchbuilt. It really captures the look and feel of the prototypes, and you are one of the true pioneers of Z Scale modeling. As the scale grows, there will be more and more who pick apart the work or offering of other, as that is what they enjoy, but don't let it affect your pleasure in the hobby. It's all for fun, and every model posted on Trainboard has admirers who appreciate them. I'm just happy that Z Scale is growing, and that we have so many models coming out these days. If I buy something that I don't think is correct, or I don't quite like, I modify it the way I want it, and share it in a post. I really don't like to pick apart the flaws in a release before they come out, because of fear of delays or cancels on those projects. Get it out first, then let me have at it I'll complain later if I have to.
Robert, Well said. Some have nothing better to do than count rivets...sad state of affairs.. I will get criticized for not being a rivet counter or detailed, but ask me if I care? Loren
