Some of what I've been up to

I've been quite MIA as of late. I think I ought to create a little thread here with a few photos of my recent activities...

A few years ago, I picked up a Balboa "Cooke" mogul for around $220. Not bad for On3. I say that it is "Cooke" and not Cooke, for it has a number of small detail and dimensional issues. Since the South Park numbered them in separate series (39-40 and 69-74), I chose to leave it unaltered and make her #40...so she won't look out of place next to correct (bashed/scratch) #69-74.

While painting her, I used Sloan's old formula for Russian Iron. I wasn't happy with it, and so I set her aside over a year ago:


Well, equipped with Jim Wilke and Kyle Wyatt's views (the first is the most esteemed 19th century RR color expert, the second is the big Kahuna at the California State Railroad Museum...both have seen/own plenty of samples of Russian Iron), I created my own approach.



Now it is time to touch up the paint job and give some protective coats to the rest of the locomotive and finish the lettering (I need some scroll work for the domes and such).

I've been working on the design for my planned resin kits of the South Park's 1879 shop built cars. While I haven't touched her for months, here's the 1879 baggage car which gave me the epiphany that the 1879 cars were a family. After realizing that #6-8 had common details, I discovered that she had arched windows (barely noticeable in the only photo of her) and so I'll need to fix her:

The only commercial parts are the end beams/rails which are a temporary measure until I get correct parts made. Everything else is scratch built and specific to the prototype.

And I fixed the lettering (a spacing issue) on my South Park stock car:

The decal films are virtually invisible now...they will be undetectable once I seal them. It is scratch built featuring board by board construction except for the sub-roof. The trucks are also from scratch and correct for the prototype.

Michael

 

I had a side project a couple months back. I built my Nn3 hopper car kit.

Here were the components:


Here's the scratch built end posts/grab irons:

A fun little project. I'd like to build a few more of Republic Locomotive Works' kits. Perhaps an EBT 2-8-2 and a few more of the these cars.

My big project has been my first commercial kit, coaches for the Oahu Railway. I'm created the necessary hardware to build either Carter or shop built versions, and head end cars will follow:


Furthest at left is the steel bolster for the shop built cars (truss rod irons are to be fabricated later when I prepare a new master floor frame with this bolster integral). Next is the wood bolster common to the head end cars, Carter products, observation cars, and the shop built arched roof cars from 1921. Next is the end beam, common to all the cars with all the hardware in place. Second from right is the needle beam common to the shop built 36' coaches and observation car #64. The QPs are scratch built along with the transverse needlebeam truss. Last is the needle beam type used on the cars, #64 aside, which used the wooden bolsters. These cars had QPs of varying heights and Grandt Line offers suitable castings. All cars with wood body bolsters had their truss rods attached to the end sills as Carter did, while the cars with steel bolsters had the more common attachment at the steel bolsters. In photos, you can tell the needle beam type (and hence, builder of the coaches) by whether the truss rods are readily apparent or not...those running sill to sill were 12" or so from the edge of the car while the others were only around 3".

Here's what they look like when installed on the frame:


I'm really looking forward to our next house when I can start the Oahu Railway empire and assemble 30 or so of these coaches...(not to mention all the South Park cars)

Pretty soon, I'll have to build samples of each car type. I'll also kitbash (my local NMRA says it's just scratch building since I fabricated all of the masters) one of the cars into the Oahu Railway's gorgeous Carter-built parlor car Pearl (a rolling palace).

The molds are ready for the car sides, ends, roof, and windows. I even have two different fascias for the shop built (6") and Carter built (8") cars. I still need to make the door and box step patterns.

Michael

 

WOW ! Some excellent looking projects, and NO Bandages on the fingers? Pleased you've returned and brought us all "Gifts." When you get time, I appreciate a deeper look into that "Russia Iron" coloration...Welcome back...Bob C.

 

My approach to Russian Iron was simply to use Floquil's gunmetal. I applied it in thin coats using my double action air brush (I spray with the maximum pressure my harbor freight compressor can give and the minimum level of paint being fed). After the coats had dried for a couple days, I sealed it several times with gloss coat. I then baked it in my hot attic for a day or two.

The gloss is important as locomotives of the era were highly polished before each run. They were assigned to crews which took great pride in their locomotives. Further, Russia Iron was a shiny material. It could have highlights of several different hues, but its color is best described as medium gray. The high gloss helps to provide the green or blue highlights and protects the color. I haven't yet decided if the entire locomotive will get a glossy seal, but it won't be as glossy as the boiler jacket.

For understanding the color, Kyle Wyatt has some fine opinions here:
Russian Iron
I highly encourage you to scroll down halfway for his 1998 comments.

Over on PacificNG, some material will soon be published on Russian Iron. It'll be really good when it arrives, and played a major role in influencing my technique.
PacifcNG.com
Pacific NG is currently the best source of historic color info on the net. Clicking on historic data will give you some very, very useful information. The focus of that site is on everything WEST of Colorado, as there are many other sites overwhelmed with D&RGW/RGS info.

Michael