Weathering some Motive Power

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday. Mine was full of traveling to family and enjoying GREAT food!

Over the holiday I took some time to work on some of my GP35s. With the painting done and just some minor parts being installed, I figured I would begin weathering. I first started with doing a wash of 70% rubbing alcohol mixed with some black India Ink. Results were OK, but noticed some paint beginning to wash away. Then I realized that the clear coat I used was acrylic. So I fixed what I could and blended in the paint. Crisis averted! SO i decided to try out my Valljo black wash. Results were, but after it dried, I realized I went a little too heavy and it was really bad. SO I decided to take sum rubbing alcohol and try and fix what I did. It actually worked and with some patience and some fine tuning, I was able to salvage. So my wheels were turning and decided I would try and make a wash using oils and some Turpinoid. Well let me tell you, results were AWESOME. After everything dried I realized it was heavy in spots. SO i got out the turpinoid and worked on thinning out the heavy spots and blending. I was happy with the results.

The top 3 photos were pre-touch-up work.

A little more touching up.

Posed by the paper plant

Little dark.

This one turned out the best.

As for the photos, you can see in the last set that the track is starting to get put down. I am about 60%-70% done with putting track in place. Next up will be to glue it down in place. After the track is glued, I will be putting in the feeder wires and get all the wiring hooked up. Hopefully I will have some trains running by next week!

I also took some time to work on the paper plant and extended the walls a bit to match the other background building I installed. Once all that is in place, I will begin detailing.

I also scored an Atlas Gold Series MP15DC w/sound off eBay. It was a undecorated unit. I plan on working on putting it together and preparing it for paint. I noticed some of the extra spots for the number board and marker lights. I am going to tape those areas off to prevent any paint from getting on them. My plans for the marker lights are to paint them with some clear red paint. I was always a fan of marker lights and I wanted to keep some nostalgic symbols on the locomotive. I also have some Kato SD 40-2s that will need to be prepped for painting as well. I also have an old GP unit that will be getting a makeover. It was from my old freelanced layout. I plan on repainting and redoing that loco as well.

Lastly I also won a Atlas Master Series GP 38-2 on eBay as well. This too is an undecorated unit and will be painted up as well. LOTS OF WORK AHEAD!

Atlas Gold Series MP15DC

GP35s

I have been very busy with working on some rolling stock and some locomotives for the railroad. Thanks to Kevin for the guidance and words of encouragement.

Painting has been completed, and clear coat is applied. I used Tamiya clear coat thinned to a 30% paint to 70% thinner ratio. It went on great. I prefer it better than a rattle can. After clear coating, I began to apply the decals.

 

Decals were provided by Kevin, and the number boards were done with Microscale Decals numbers from a lettering/numbers set. I was thinking about using the EMD numbers set from Microscale, but that would not match the photos Kevin provided. Decals were applied via the Microscale Micro Set and Micro Sol process.

 

After applying decals, I painted the white on the handrails and clear coated the engines again to seal the decals prior to assembly. 620 still needs some truck details, and some other small details. 611 needs to have some touch up paint jobs for the details on the pilots and couplers. I also need to add some airlines and some other small details.

 

Both units will need to have DCC decoders installed. I am also looking at having ditch lights put in as well, but that will be down the road. I also want to weather these units as well. I am still on the fence about safety striping as per the era I am modeling is the late 90s. That may change though due to the lack of vehicles for that era.

 

 

 

I put the Geeps aside and started to work on some rolling stock. I picked up a few undecorated ACF covered hoppers on eBay a year or so ago. I took some time to paint them and worked on some decals. The numbers and letter are from a Microscale set and the WN logo is from the decals Kevin sent to me. I still need to add a few more details, weathering and data decals.

Motive Power!

I wanted to start some work on some locomotives for the railroad. After talking with Kevin, he mailed me some decals for the locomotives when I was finished painting them. My first set of locomotives I would be painting were Kato GP35s. I picked the up off eBay for a decent price. Kevin provided me with the specs for the engines and I printed off some reference photos from Kevin's website, as well as some photos he sent me.

The paint scheme is Burlington Northern Green and Union Pacific Harbor Mist Gray. Painting the locomotives was fun due to the new airbrush I purchased. I am using a Passhe H Series airbrush. Its simple to use, and for a beginner like me, its a great thing to have.

I coated the locomotive body with the BN green, and I taped it once it dried for the application of the UP Gray. Prior to the UP Gray, I added Detail Associates lift rings and a Cal-Scale curved grab iron to the rear. The base of the shell was painted UP Gray with the pilots painted flat black. Once everything is completed, I will paint a clear coat on in preparation for decal application. I also plan on adding a few more detail parts to the front of the locomotive such as MU hoes and the coupler bars. The grab irons are the stock Kato, as well as the handrails.

I also had some figures sitting around. The Kato locomotives do not come with crew members so I added some of my own. Its a mix of custom figures and some Preiser figures. The custom figures are from Melissa at MeDO Miniatures and the Preiser figures are from the crane operators set. I had another set of Preiser figures I plan on customizing for my conductors.