Weekend Update 12/10/17

[btrain]

With respects to SPWolf who posted an image last week of his fine rendition of SP SW1 1004.
The NWP leased SP 1004 in early 1951.
It is shown here after picking up some loads of lumber at a mill near Hopland California.

After decaling two of these, I now know why the prototype gave up on painting tiger stripes.
(Attachment Link)

That is one extremely well-done paint and decal job that you have there @Mike the Modeler ! I apologize if you've been asked this before, but I'm about to decal a SW-1 into the Nickel Plate Road scheme with chevron stripes. I was curios if you stripped the factory paint, and how did you remove the cab windows and the handrails that lead up to it?

[narrowminded]

Finally took a break from chassis work and did a few minor scenery fixes and detail items on the old Seaboard 2.0.  There were some ground foam and other minor touchups needed from Dave's last track mods and then all of the detail work that Dave hadn't yet started.  And I'm pretty much a scenery newbie so a lot of this is me trying out some things, gaining some experience.  It's fun! 

This view is yesterday's effort, completed this morning.  It includes some dry brushing of the ground foam to break up the uniform color as well as a few weeds.  Also the building I recently painted is in the background and the two hoppers in the view have a couple of coal loads I just made, too.  I also cut the bases for another 30 or so while I was set up.  That should complete all that I have without loads. 

The dry brushing was with two different shades of yellow.  The weeds are static grass clumps made up on a sheet of waxed paper, lightly dry brushed with yellow, and then added some hogs hair bristle snips.  Some of the bristles were tinted green with acrylic paint and others left their natural color.  The coal loads are foam scrap bases, blackened, with black sand covering and sealed with PVA.  They are removable.

I also touched up the facia (no pic) with some of the left over paint Dave furnished with the layout.  There were a few repairs that Dave had finished where he had attached his varied extensions to the main frame.  They were all ready for paint with only very minor sanding needed and then me remembering to pick up a small 2" touch up roller and tray.   It's small but for me, it's progress.

[Mike the Modeler]

That is one extremely well-done paint and decal job that you have there @Mike the Modeler ! I apologize if you've been asked this before, but I'm about to decal a SW-1 into the Nickel Plate Road scheme with chevron stripes. I was curios if you stripped the factory paint, and how did you remove the cab windows and the handrails that lead up to it?

The cab windows are glued in and not removable without damage so I left them in place except for the side windows which I removed as I model them open. I started with the black PC version of the loco and did not strip off the paint. I sanded off the small emblem and numbers. This left some discoloration, but I was going to weather the locomotive so was not concerned. The hand rails are also glued in place so I left them on and worked around them. I did have to cut them loose where they insert into the face of the piolet near the steps in order to get the stripes under them. ( did not cut them loose completely, leaving them attached at the walkway)  Same with the uncoupling lever. I did this with a fresh #11 xacto blade. Once these were loose I could slide the decals underneath them. The stripes on the SP switchers end below the windows so I did not have to decal around the windows. To seal the decals I hand brushed on some Polyscale satin followed by Polyscale flat. I considered spraying with an airbrush which would have required masking the windows, but took my chances with a brushed layer. This is the scariest part as one needs to lay down what appears to be too thick of a layer with essentially one stroke. Excessive back brushing will cause it to be blotchy or streaked, especially with the flat. As noted, I weathered the locomotive, which was done with weathering powders, and this tends to hide any streaking in the hand brushed seal coat. It took me north of 12 man hours to do two of these simultaneously, along with some good breathing exercises.   

[peteski]

The hand rails are also glued in place so I left them on and worked around them. I did have to cut them loose where they insert into the face of the piolet pilot? near the steps in order to get the stripes under them. ( did not cut them loose completely, leaving them attached at the walkway)  Same with the uncoupling lever. I did this with a fresh #11 xacto blade. Once these were loose I could slide the decals underneath them.

Now I have a question: Did you slice the handrails clean off (flush with the pilot's surface), or simply used the knife blade as a tool to pry the slippery-plastic mounting pegs out of the pilot?  If you sliced them off, how did you reattach the handrails?

[Mike the Modeler]

Now I have a question: Did you slice the handrails clean off (flush with the pilot's surface), or simply used the knife blade as a tool to pry the slippery-plastic mounting pegs out of the pilot?  If you sliced them off, how did you reattach the handrails?

Sliced them clean off. I have not reattached them. ( you can see in the photo the rear one a bit out of plumb as it is unattached. photos serve well as a way to check ones work ) I plan to use a small dab of AC.

[coosvalley]

Big fan of the powder blue. (your SW-1 is outstanding) Having lived on New England for a time in the 80's, I must say your technique for the split granite canal walls is spot on.

Thanks!..Your SW1 is pretty sweet too!.I also could not get the windows out of the first one I tried that with(and nearly destroyed the cab face ), but, more recently, I managed to get them out of 4 different cabs, (PC and B&M factory paint), so I guess it depends on who was doing the glueing that day!. I did not get my handrails off correctly either

Also, in an unexpected twist, the B&M models have a blue shell...

I really dig that so many of us have been working on these little SW's

[chuck geiger]

Great work posted this weekend.

[Mike Madonna]

With respects to SPWolf who posted an image last week of his fine rendition of SP SW1 1004.
The NWP leased SP 1004 in early 1951.
It is shown here after picking up some loads of lumber at a mill near Hopland California.

After decaling two of these, I now know why the prototype gave up on painting tiger stripes.
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)

Mike,

SW-1, very well done. The lumber loads, can you elaborate on those please? Thanks!!

[tehachapifan]

....I would like to see some photos of your back drop. I have always associated the tinge of purple you mention with the hills of southern CA. I recall it showing up in landscape paintings through the years.

Here's a photo of an area on my layout butts right up to the backdrop, which is the only wall where this actually occurs. There's an isle between the layout and the wall on the other (three) sides, but they're also painted with the purplish mountain color extending all the way to the floor there. My layout is LOOSELY based on the Tehachapi's, so what you said about SoCal applies. This is the one area on my layout where the backdrop actually looks pretty good...



Sorry about the dust, but I did clean off most of the cobwebs for the photo.

....and, yes, there is still some old school lichen left over from when the layout originally began as an HO layout some 25+ years ago.

[Mike the Modeler]

Mike,

SW-1, very well done. The lumber loads, can you elaborate on those please? Thanks!!

Lumber Loads: I drew these in Sketchup and had them 3D printed at Shapeways.
I went ahead and set up a "shop" so you can buy copies of them if you want to give them a try: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/mike-the-modeler
The stakes I added after painting. They are .030 x .030 styrene glued on to match the stake pocket spacing of the car type :MTL or WOT.
They help hold the load onto the car yet allow them to be removed.
Then used some .005 styrene for the stretcher board at the top of the load that keep the stakes plumb in real life.
I used a fine black nylon thread to model the cross wires.

The area I model cut and shipped douglas fir and redwood. The coloring is meant to represent douglas fir.
I used acrylic hobby paint to make a very light cream/yellow base color (using a piece of wood as reference) that I painted onto the entire load.
I then used acrylic artist paints to make a wash to lay on  brown/orange highlights to represent the darker colors found in fir.
I used a wide brush to get a very light coat to highlight, then used a thin brush on individual boards to accentuate the horizontal line of the load and wood grain.
I am currently working on a color to represent redwood.

Time permitting I could try posting some better photos, perhaps on a separate thread.

[Mike the Modeler]

Here's a photo of an area on my layout butts right up to the backdrop, which is the only wall where this actually occurs. There's an isle between the layout and the wall on the other (three) sides, but they're also painted with the purplish mountain color extending all the way to the floor there. My layout is LOOSELY based on the Tehachapi's, so what you said about SoCal applies. This is the one area on my layout where the backdrop actually looks pretty good...


Sorry about the dust, but I did clean off most of the cobwebs for the photo.

....and, yes, there is still some old school lichen left over from when the layout originally began as an HO layout some 25+ years ago.

Looks pretty good to me. Yes you could scale back some of the red to get more blue than purple as you suggested. But the snap shot you posted does say SOCal. 

[Cajonpassfan]

Here's a photo of an area on my layout butts right up to the backdrop, which is the only wall where this actually occurs. There's an isle between the layout and the wall on the other (three) sides, but they're also painted with the purplish mountain color extending all the way to the floor there. My layout is LOOSELY based on the Tehachapi's, so what you said about SoCal applies. This is the one area on my layout where the backdrop actually looks pretty good...



Sorry about the dust, but I did clean off most of the cobwebs for the photo.

....and, yes, there is still some old school lichen left over from when the layout originally began as an HO layout some 25+ years ago.

That's a nice scene. And there's nothing wrong with using old school lichen when handled properly, along with other materials, IMHO.
I'm in the process of doing my "LA circa 1950" backdrops, and there's a lot of purple going in... The air "quality" was truly nasty then. The rest of my SoCal layout has clear blue skies, but LA *needs* some smog to look right...
Otto K.

[Chris333]

Since it was dusted off and the tracks were cleaned:

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[John]

I finally took the old LL SW1200 apart to fix the wheels. I picked up new NWSL wheels about 10 years ago, and finally got around to putting them on the engine.  Next I need to fix some pickup issues, and the coffee grinder sound


Put a decoder in an old first run Kato F40PH .. the one without the ditch lights.

Put a decoder in an Atlas C40-8W and wired up the ditch lights to flash .. not overly trilled with how they work yet. Need to see if I can make the flashing work better.

Replaced a decoder in an Atlas C40-8W that only worked in one direction ..

Had two 20amp circuits put into the basement along the wall to finally get some more power in places where I need it .. eliminate the "extension" cords some.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

More paving progress and a question about more roads in York.



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https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=30583.msg553907#msg553907