vsmith As soon as I do the wiring... Been a bit occupied, did this set of cars this last weekend, then we had a horrendous wind storm here on Sunday night, 50-60mph gusts, got 2 hrs sleep that night (hard to sleep when the wind roars like large waves breaking right outide yer window) found Monday AM part of my back fence blown down, so spent part of AM reparing that, late to work, spent day as zombie, came home to sleep, and meet accountant today for taxes, so I've been a tad bit busy.
As soon as I do the wiring...
Been a bit occupied, did this set of cars this last weekend, then we had a horrendous wind storm here on Sunday night, 50-60mph gusts, got 2 hrs sleep that night (hard to sleep when the wind roars like large waves breaking right outide yer window) found Monday AM part of my back fence blown down, so spent part of AM reparing that, late to work, spent day as zombie, came home to sleep, and meet accountant today for taxes, so I've been a tad bit busy.
50 - 60....hmmm would be like a Tropicial Storm or regular rain storm here bro.
Have 180 +/- for about 8 hours is a CAT 2.
Nice looking loco!!!!!
Toad
Finished this one off a short while ago, finally got around to pics of it
Decided to do with something that would look better pulling my Superliners, looks nice to me, anyway another one off the bench.
Have fun with your trains
Neet vidio, so when do we see the 0-6-0 with slope back tender vidio
Dave
The head is gray, hands don't work , back is weak, legs give out, eyes are gone, money go's and my wife still love's Me.
Ok an update, no not paint yet, this is regarding the Superliners, whe I received them the coupler tongues had been cut off of each of them so I had to think a little bit about how to fix them, finally I tried an idea, replacing the tongue with a brass strip, held in place with pop rivets so the top is flush and wont scrape the car body, and I added the Hook and loop coupler the same way, its soft metal rivets and can be cut off with snips if needed. Wheels are small diameter B'mann, I want to get some Gary Raymond wheels but I'm aa bit strapped for cash right now. So any way heres a short video of the set being run on the indoor layout, the sight of these cars going around my R1 curves is likely to make all the scale/prototype people eyes bleed, but I figure if it can run on this torture track it will run on anything!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8iogWhacsc
Pics of the coupler
New progress?
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/vsmith/F40Paintscheme.jpg
Some paint studies, so far its going to be either scheme 1 or 4, depends how good my airbrush is at pinstriping.
Looking great man! I like it!!!!
The Acid Test: How does it look next to the Superliners?You tell me?http://www.railpictures.net/images/images2/n/NRPC709Blanco06251988.jpg.26179.jpgPS this little baby pulled 3 fullsize LGB passenger cars around the layout no trouble
Uh, Vic, think you can figure out how to make a paint brush cleaner, if they make paint shakers then I know you can come up with a cleaner design.
Ole Toad
Your best bet at this stage is to airbrush it with Floquil Platinum Mist and Engine Black, although the black you used on the underframe appears close enough.
But then at least she'll be in the right colors and you can worry about the stripes later. I'm pretty sure no company makes G scale (1:32 in your case) Amtrak decals. So custom run decals will probably be your only option. Might be a little costly, but nowhere near $250. Typically Amtrak stripes (especially phase III) are done with decals. Painting is just too tricky since the lines are likely to run over (more so in larger scales) even with the best masking job.
Here's a few links that might be helpful when you do get around to painting.
Website with painting tips on an HO F40
Floquil Colors
On the Floquil colors, you'll want Platinum Mist #110144 (at least 2 bottles) for the body color, and the color you used on the trucks looks good enough for the roof and cab black.
Don't be scared of airbrushes. We were new to them, but spending a lot of money on model spray can paint was not a good plan. However you might get close to the $250 mark for the entire paint project if you get your own airbrush, paint, decals, etc... But for future projects you have the airbrush and the high initial costs go way down after that.
We ultimately went with a fairly simple setup. Although prices seem to have jumped considerably since we purchased it, this is essentially the set we use:
Airbrush (this airbrush is the same one we have, just a bit newer. Great entry level brush)
Compressor (the compressor we got was a lot smaller, less heavy duty, and less costly, but unfortunately doesn't seem to be offered by Mirco-Mark anymore).
Back to the decals. The largest appropriate set I know of is Microscale's O scale set #48-58. But this is going to be too small for your loco even though it's close 1:32 -1:48. You might want to consider buying the set though and then scanning the decal sheet to your computer. Using a photo editing program (I use PaintShopPro8) you could then enlarge to the right size and print out your own decals. I did this with an HO set for some Rio Grande style lettering for my Silver Vista car. However a very big problem with most homemade Amtrak decals are that the white portions won't print out, unless you have a printer that has white ink (unlikely). So again custom decals essentially based off of the Microscale set would be your best bet. Stan Cedarleaf does custom decals for G scale (I'm sure you knew this already) and he has a printer that prints white ink. So you might want to check with him to see what a sheet(s) might cost. He might have even made some Amtrak sets in the past and may have the artwork all ready to go.
But the starting point is always the toughest with custom decals. That's why I'd suggest getting one of the Microscale sets to use as a starting point. The O scale one I linked above is good since it's the biggest and it's a good idea to work from the largest source you can. However some details are lacking in the O scale set and depending on how accurate/detailed you want to get, the HO version #87-424 has some special lettering such as the maintenance base "Los Angeles".
Whew, sorry for the long reply, but I hope it helps some.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
scoobster28 wrote:I would suggest painting it in silver with red and blue stripes, kind of like the Amtrak paint scheme. Then again, you could always paint it seafoam green with purple polka dots...
I wanted to paint it Amtrak colors, but at $250 for a custom paint job I'm rethinking that. I'm kinda lousy with rattlecans, and have 0 experience with an airbrush, so I'm considering all my options.
Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/
Chassis painted: really improves the look, this thing might just work!
Even got a basic cab interior in place.
Now the part I've really dreaded, figuring out what to do with painting the body
There's a beautiful Great Trains Rio Grande set on eBay. I remember seeing b+w photos of the set in a Walthers catalog (Large Scale 1989), but never before in color. Reminds me of the Ski Train, I like it
Great Trains Rio Grande Set
New "improved" plow plus couplers added front and back, using hooks for now, I have a feeling given my curves that this and the superliners will only work with the hooks.
Its starting to look pretty good.
Cab is the last big hurtle, though bending all those handgripes may prove to be the biggest headache of all.
Well, like I said you can get me to pour some and even more parts for free, did I say FREE? Yepo, just send them to me.
Should have a email.
No, I had to remove the whole thing, it came off pretty easily with a good sharp razorsaw. I'm going to scratch a new plow thats closer looking to the real one, but the coupler goes on first. Once that's attached I can simply add a styrene plow to it.
vsmith wrote: Toad, I'm begining to consider scratching a new plow, this one puts the coupler pocket way too high to be usefull, so you and Sweet may get your wish if I have to cut the beast off.
Toad, I'm begining to consider scratching a new plow, this one puts the coupler pocket way too high to be usefull, so you and Sweet may get your wish if I have to cut the beast off.
Vic, can you cut out the plow and a pocket?
vsmith wrote: plow looks a bit more agressive than standard.
Wow great looking!!! Well, as for the plow it is the new type there going to! It is called the "High Speed Plow".
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