My AMRoad Silver Streak Movie Train - Idea and Making of

[Road Foreman of Engines]

That came out great! Thanks for sharing!

 Loved the movie, also. Many great train movies out there, this is one.

Paul

[philo426]

I really liked that movie and the AMroad scheme looks great!

[Flintlock76]

Great job Martin!  You're quite a craftsman!

It's true Williams trains aren't very high on the collectability scale but you can't beat them for rugged reliability.  And if the relative lack of demand keeps the prices down that's good for us, right?

Congratulations on a job well done!  

 

[martin67]

Hi everybody,

as I already told you in my "Relaunched-Thread", I'd like to share the story about my AMRoad "Silver Streak", the fictional train from the 1976 movie "Silver Streak" with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. I think most of the train buffs here in the forum know the movie and have watched it at least once if not several times, right?

First of all I wanted to show an American style O-Gauge layout on a trainshow in Germany, that was the initial thought in January, nothing more. I love F-units as most people do, it's the icon of American trains and even Märklin, the German train maker, had this locomotive in their range since the 1960's. So, a US-themed layout means at least one train with an F-unit. The classic warbonnet Santa Fe with silver streamlined coaches? Well, little bit too standard, but nice anyway. Maybe something different....

My first option actually was a black Penn Central with a string of coaches. I like black diesels, they look impressive. Then I came across the Griswold house when looking for accessories and buildings for my layout. And I found a K-Line tank car "Ewing Oil". And then I got obsessed with adding movie models to my collection just to make it more interresting to the audience. A movie train with F-units, the "Silver Streak" came to mind. I checked the internet if somebody ever modelled this train, a few did. And I also found waterslide decals from Circus City Decals. 

Circus City Decals - Waterslide Decals, Graphic Design, Hobby

They offer the "Silver Streak" decal sets in black or blue basic colors and in different scales. In my eyes the prototype had black stickers, so I ordered two sets in black. One Set includes all decals for an entire 8-car train and twin locos, but I needed some more for spare in case of decalling accidents (wise desicion...)

Then came the train. A Williams F3 was my choice, collectability close to zero, quality close to perfect, and affordable too. Even better, I found an AA-Set in Milwaukee orange and gray (like new boxed) from the Golden Memories Range for something around 160 USD in the UK, which kept postage low. And they had Williams aluminum streamliners (the Lionel clones) also on sale. I ended up with a ACL combine, a couple of Pennsy coaches, a coach and diner GM & O, and a Lionel Santa Fe "Super Chief" dome observation. 

I took the locos apart and sanded the lettering off. Then came a layer of gray primer. All of my paints are standard spray cans

A few thin layers of semi gloss red came next. Don't know if the shade of red matches the real CP-red, in my eyes it does.

I masked the vents and the rear ends of the diesels, black was next, also semi gloss. I was happy that the masking tape was working well, and there was no overspray or paint coming to areas not supposed to. Looked good, I was really satisfied.

 

My 16 year old daughter actually loved to watch how the whole thing developed.... Never thought she would call a model train "really cool" 

The decals turned out to be of a really high quality. Fun to work with and in the end almost invisible that it's a decal. 

Unfortunately I had to trim the nose decals (pin stripes), the shape of the nose does not fit to the print. Now it looks like if Lionel had done it in the post war area, ending just below the headlight. Anachronism at its best, as the movie came out in the MPC-era, when better printing was already possible....

With some Microsol softener, the decals fitted smoothly into all the dents and corners. 

And then, a final layer of semi gloss clear coat, details added, that's it.

The coaches were next. The real trains had eight passenger cars, mine has only four, it's the limited space. I have a combine, coach (sleeper) diner and dome-observation.

The combine (baggage-dormitory) and also the observation are corrugated above the windows, so I had to fill in this area with putty in order to attach the red stripe. 

It's quite hard to get dome observations in O-Gauge, Williams had a few 6-car sets with dome obs, but I could not find one of those. My UK dealer suddenly offered a Santa Fe Super Chief dome observation, I took the chance and bought it. For the Silver Streak it's a little bit incorrect with its smooth roof, but better than nothing. 

Actiually, this car was so beautiful with polished body..... I sprayed it silver, after flattening out the area above the windows. Then I applied the dull red stripes, it's 7mm self adhesive tape (from the car and boat supply).

The diner and coach already had those so-called canal sides with recessed smooth areas above and below the windows, prefect for applying stripes. Then came the decals, and here we go. The final step was painting the trucks black, took the pictures before.

What's missing? The coach... For some reason I did not take a picture. Will do next time!

This train is the classic Lionel look-alike, with quite a few compromises to the prototype. For example, the real coaches had no skirting. You'll find some more, for sure.

It was an easy project, with lots of painting, and not so really much kitbashing or model building. 

Happy Christmas time,

Martin