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. 

Building Cassettes

Well since space is somewhat limited in my basement, I wanted to be able to have somewhere for the trains to depart from to deliver their cargo to the appropriate destinations. So looking through some books I figured on building a cassette would be the best option. I build a smaller one before for this layout when it was in construction phases in another location. It wasn't too bad for my first attempt but I knew I could do better.

I did some looking around online through various blogs and articles. I also did some reading in some Model Railroad magazines, forums and even a book. Taking all this research in and it then dawned on me I should just get this over with. I had more than enough information, but just felt the need to drag my feet for some reason. The other day I buckled down and begun building the cassettes. I figured on two so I could shuffle them as needed.

What I ended up doing was getting a piece of lumber from Lowe's. Nothing fancy just a 1x6 piece of lumber. I took that and cut it into two 4 foot sections. I then took thinner wood to make a U shaped frame. I glued the wood together and put some foam from a 2x2 project board on top. Once the glue dried, I added a coating of brown latex paint.

My next step is to add some track, and probably a wye to maximize the real estate. I also am going to put some side on the cassette to prevent and derailments resulting in a loss of assets.

(WARNING THIS IS A WORK AREA AND IT IS A SLIGHT MESS!)

Basic wood framed base

Foam Added

Painted up!

"New" Power comes to the Aberdeen Shops

Well over the holidays I worked on finalizing some wiring, test ran a loco and worked on a few more things which you will see in upcoming blogs. I made some purchases on eBay. One of them was addressed in my last post, the 3D printed silos. The next was a GP 39-2 with LokSound decoder. The model is an Atlas Trainman, and it was weathered and had the BNSF Scheme. Sadly it wasn't my favorite scheme (The old BN theme), but alas the price was great, especially for a sound decoder installed.

The locomotive arrived the other day and I have a few plans for it. I plan to patch it out for the Washington Northern, and add some detail parts to it. The Atlas Trainman models aren't bad and I feel they are geared more toward those on a budget. But with a little extra money, and of course effort, you can turn a Trainman model into something very nice. A few years ago, Model Railroader did a nice article about detailing an Atlas Trainman model. That article was republished recently in the special issue put out in December about modeling modern era.

Stay tuned for some updates as I work to make this one of Washington Northern's patched units.

Adding to Industry

 Well I have been very busy over the holidays with work, family, travel and of course the layout. I took some time to do some more work on the food processing/bakery industry on my layout. I decided to add an unloading building where workers come to hook up to the tank cars and unload their cargo. I also bought a set of silos off eBay. The silos are not a kit, but they are 3D printed. Let me tell you they are pretty awesome. I am going to sand them down to a smooth surface and paint them, but until then they will remain gray.

 Next started the work on the unloading building. It is pretty simple. I cut two (2) pieces of corrugated metal from Evergreen and painted them blue, to match the man building. From there I added cut out some doors and and added some vents form some Pikestuff and Walthers kits. I put on some building safety signs from a Microscale kits and boom, mission complete!

After that, I mounted the completed front to a piece of 1/4" foam core board I purchased from AC Moore and placed it next to the industry. Making low relief building out of foam core and Evergreen sheets is a very inexpensive way to kitbash and add some variety to your layout!

Track Down...Feeders installed

Last week I was hit with being sick and had some remnants of that this weekend. Today I was feeling much better and decided to hit the train room. First up was some cleaning and organizing with a deep clean of the area rug that is in the room. After that I decided to organize some containers with my rolling stock. You never realize how much rolling stock you have until you go through it.

I then decided to break down and do my least favorite, but most important, part of model railroading. The wiring. I guess because my soldering iron skills aren't the best is why I shy away from it. But you only get better with practice. I practiced on a couple pieces of track a few years ago and the results weren't bad but nothing like the guys that have been doing this for years. So I decided to solder directly to the rail as opposed to soldering to the rail joiners. I saw in some places that this was frowned upon because you do not have the best electrical connectivity as you would going direct to the rail. Plus this method was mentioned in the book How to Build a Shelf Layout (http://www.amazon.com/Build-Switching-Layout-Lance-Mindheim/dp/1453811346/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450061846&sr=8-3&keywords=lance+mindheim.)

Got a little too close with the soldering iron and melted some of the foam. 

I will fill it in with foam putty.

I also worked on another industry for the layout. Not sure what it will be. This is a City Classics kit. Its a pretty easy build and one of my favorites. I painted it using rattle can paints from Rustoelum and Valspar. The concrete color is tan camouflage paint and the brick is the brown primer. The door are a light olive type color from Valspar. I tested out the car entrance and I need to lift the building a bit to achieve rolling stock making entry.

Stay tuned. Hoping to have the wiring completed this week!

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