Re: Weekend Update 5/3/26

[nkalanaga]

Jesse6669:  I wouldn't bother looking for a suitable stripe, especially for a small project like yours.  Take a piece of blank decal film, the edge of a set, or a sheet of blank decal, spray or brush it the color you want, and cut out the stripe.  If MicroScale makes a "trim film" sheet  the right color, so much the better, but I've made decal stripes by hand for decades.

On my BSB cars, I have it easier.  Virnex (long out of business?) made some white stripes just the right width, and long enough for an N scale passenger car.  I bought a bunch of sets, and still have quite a few stripes.

[milw156]

Milwaukee's only E6 set, the Fast 15, is in charge of today's Fast Mail.  The North Shore's Electroliner passes overhead on Keith Kohlmann's "Oklahoma Ave" Modutrak module.  While on display at the show last week, a guy walks up, points to the Prefex factory, and says, "that was my office window!"

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The joys of prototype modeling!

[milw156]

A unique photo opportunity I had at Silvis was my Shapeways 3D printed F40C in the as delivered scheme with one of only 2 surviving examples of this EMD model in it's final paint scheme

paired with some equally high quality Con Cor Bilevels from the 1980s...

[nkalanaga]

Just out of curiosity, what are the differences between an F40C and an SDP40F, other than the body panels?

It appears that the F40C must have HEP, rather than steam generators, but that was a design option on the SDP40F.

[samusi01]

For the first time this year, I printed someone else's design: the M48A1 illustrated below. Subsequently found that the design could use some adjustments - always a pain to do - and the next pass included a separate travel lock and barrel for a more accurate transport model.

[Mark5]

Just out of curiosity, what are the differences between an F40C and an SDP40F, other than the body panels?

For one, F40C on a standard SD40-2 frame, the SDP40F is four feet longer ("extended" SD40-2 frame).

[nkalanaga]

OK, that's a big difference, especially as far as modeling!

Not surprising, though.  For short-haul service, and no steam generators, there was no need for the oversized fuel/water tank.

[delamaize]

No trains this last weekend, because I was at a Cleetus and cars event in indianapolis. For those you don't know Cleetus McFarland is a YouTube car guy, who does all kinds of automotive related stuff mostly dealing with motorsports. He holds events around the country that he calls "Cleetus and car" events, usually the first day they have a circle track race, where all of the vehicles are ex-cop P70 Ford Crown Victorias, that they have stripped out and put roll cages in and race tires. They are all driven by other YouTube car personalities, and sometimes they will have actual NASCAR drivers, and other professional drivers. It's a riot to watch. The second day they do a giant burnout contest, similar to an event in Australia called Summernats.

When I travel, I tried to make it a point to buy Rolling Stock that is representative of the railroads in that area. This time around I found a small hobby shop who had a lot of used stuff, and through my research I discovered that the Pennsylvania Railroad was very prevalent in this part of indiana. So I bought a old Atlas flat car with a Pennsylvania 53 ft trailer on it. Fast forward to the Cleetus and cars event, I realized that I did not have anything for the guys to sign when I met them, so I had the idea. Well pictures tell the story.

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All four guys that signed the train car, said that this was the first time any of them have ever been asked to sign a model train.

So next $500 question for the crowd, does anyone know if Tamya Matt clear will attack Sharpie ink? Because I really want to seal the signatures in on this thing

[davefoxx]

So next $500 question for the crowd, does anyone know if Tamya Matt clear will attack Sharpie ink? Because I really want to seal the signatures in on this thing

Only two good ways to find out:

1. Go for it, and keep your fingers crossed.

2. Get another trailer, write on it (with the same Sharpie, if possible), and clear coat that as a test.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[MK]

I was going to say exactly #2.  My strong hunch is yes it will attack the Sharpie because unless it's water based, anything out of a spray can is a solvent.

Do they make a water based clear/matte coat?

[chessie system fan]

Maybe try Vallejo? That's water-based acrylic.

[Chris333]

Hell yeah brother.

[nickelplate759]

I know that Testor's clear sprays will dissolve Sharpie ink, cause I tried it once, to my chagrin.


Tamiya clear smells similar enough that I would expect the same result.

[milw156]

OK, that's a big difference, especially as far as modeling!

Not surprising, though.  For short-haul service, and no steam generators, there was no need for the oversized fuel/water tank.

And with the Milwaukee being the Milwaukee,  just like with the SD40-2S, the fuel tanks were also shorter than a standard model, but the SD'S lost it at the front of the tank', while the F40 lost it at the rear.

[nkalanaga]

OK, yes, I see the gap now.  I wonder if they wanted to reduce the weight, or it really was just "the Milwaukee being the Milwaukee".

Mike:  Not important, probably, but that Pennsy trailer is a 40 ft, not 53 ft.  Those cars were around in the early 1970s (late 1960s?), long before 53 ft trailers.  For the time, that was actually one of the better trailers, and I still have a few of them in service.