Doing Some Pad Work

The other night I took some time to add a concrete pad to the unloading area to the bakery. What started as just a little project, turned into a bigger operation.

At first I just added the concrete. That was just a gray in color project foam piece. You can pick these up at AC Moore or other craft store. These make great little areas in spot where it would be cumbersome to do with sculptamold or hydrocal. Once cut, I glued it into place with some white glue.

 I then took the unloading area of the bakery and decided to weather it. After two weathering layers it was where I wanted it to be. I sealed up my work with some dullcoat and called it a day. I then moved on to the other unloading area. I wanted this to be a little more weathered for the look of it being the original area. A few layers and I think it is done. I went a little overboard in the one area, which is fine because I plan to put the sign for the bakery in that area. I still need to add some roof details to the one part and some other odds and end detail-wise but in the end this will turn out good!

Finished product...well for now anyways!

Patched Out Power

Well it's been some time. Hoping to get back on track as work sometimes takes the front seat, as well as family. I was lucky enough to get some work done on some motive power. I scored a GP39-2 off eBay. It was an Atlas Trainman unit that had been weathered,and had Lok Sound decoder installed.

First thing I did was clean off the weathering. It wasn't very prototypical. I also removed the horn from the front and filled in the hole with some styrene rod.I touched up the area with some reefer orange paint. I then removed the factory BNSF lettering from the long hood. I then masked and airbrushed the reefer orange onto that area to finish the patch out. 

Next I added some BLMA RV AC units to the roof and relocated the horn. I had some of th BNSF Heritage Green, however it was not cooperating. I ended up painting a brass horn I had BN Cascade green to show the horn was replaced. I also added a small piece of metal rod between the AC units to represent an antenna as seen in the prototype photos. I also repainted the handrails yellow. Metal lift ringers were also added.

 I wasn't happy with the yellow handrails, so i reverted them back to white. I also touched up all the grab irons with white as well. I also removed the factory numbering on the unit. I kept the 2703 because of the number boards. I added some Gothic Numbers form a Microscale Industries sheet, and added the Washington Northern logos to the nose and below the numbers.

I'm currently in the process of updating all the warning and caution labels, and I will be adding some safety striping to the sill later. I also added some Details West MU receptacles with cable, Atlas Air Hoses and a Details West Plow to replace the Atlas one..

Below we have WN 2703 switching out the foods plant. 

Moving Along!

Hey Gang! Sorry for not updating as usual. I got hit with sickness truck and was unable to get anything done. I am feeling better so it's back to the train room.

I clear coated the warehouse building of the paper company. I need to just install a roof section and paint it, clear coat the building and that will be ready for some details decals and some weathering. I also added a second story to the food processing/bakery plant. I also reconfigured the silos to go along with the track plan i had in a previous post. I mounted the background building to a piece of 1/2" thick foam board, then I glued some plastruct metal siding to the top to match the original structure . I still need to add some more details and weather the top. I am also working on an unloading area for grain and tank cars. Still in the planning stages with this not exactly sure what I want to do.

(I was taking the picture at a weird angle)

I also go to gluing down my track. I am now about 85% done. After that hoping to start installing feeder wires and have some trains running soon. The sickness put me back a few days.

A view from the paper plant side of the layout.

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

Recommended Reading

From time to time I will be sharing what I have used to help me along this process of model railroading. I will post some reference books, how-to books and publications which I feel are of great value. I will also try to include articles from magazines which I find useful as well. One thing I should have done was research things before jumping into them. That is one piece of advice I'd like to pass on. In today's age books, coupled with the internet and other online references, have launched our hobby into a new arena!

A few weeks ago I placed an order for a magazine from Model Railroader. I know some people I know have let their subscriptions run out because it seems all they (Model Railroader) cater to is the Steam Era folks. Nothing against those guys because everyone is entitled to do their own thing for modeling, but sometimes it'd be nice for us modern era folks to get some spotlight. Well now insert this special publication.

IF you are just starting out with the modern era, or you want to spruce up what you have, I would suggest getting this. It highlights articles from past Model Railroader editions. Some of the articles are also included in some of the book I have purchased as well. 

This covers the article done about Lance Mindheim's Downtown Miami layout (track plan included). There is an article about the Utah Belt. (A layout which I just love, but the motive power paint scheme looks fantastic).

One of the best articles, in my opinion, covers how you can take a basic Atlas Trainman GP 38-2 and turn it into a nice model with just using some basic paint and detail parts.

In the freight cars section, they cover how adding some Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) placards to your tank cars adds some realism to them. The decal sets can be picked up from Microscale Industries. Another article covers how to re-letter without repainting. Some other articles are adding custom graffiti and weathering a box car.  

There is an awesome article about adding a modern Corn Syrup terminal to your layout. The photos were great, as was the information.