Custom Painting

[Anonymous]

Hello I have (2) Kato SD90MAC (Undec) and I would like them painted in the BN Executive paint scheme (exactly like the NEW Atearn SD70MAC that is coming out this summer). I also have a KATO (Stewart) F7 A-B-A- (Undec) that I want in the same paint scheme.

If there is any one that can help me get this acomplised I would really appreciate it.

Thanks Scott Faller

[AggroJones]

[#welcome]

I don't want to speak for him, but Grayhound Challenger may be able to help you. Apparently, he does custom painting. He's somwhere on this board.

[FThunder11]

[#welcome]

[Anonymous]

You Rang?

Aggro is correct, I do do custom painting. I am however in the process of a move, So I wouldn't be able to get to it until about July. You check my website out, http://w3.trib.com/~mrljim for details. Please note that due to lack of time from being in college, and working an extra part time job to ensure gasoline money supply, the Website is horribly out of date. I hope to remedy this problem in the near future, The biggest things of note are that the "Model Railroad Design", "Wyoming Rail Tours", and "Presentations" are no longer being offered. Mainly because I can not make eneugh money at the model railroad design for it to be worth me to continue offering it, and the other two catagories are better handled through my personal affairs. I know that it also shows a waiting list under "Custom Painting" While it is still some what valid, progress has been made, and the flow re-organized to better handle extra traffic.

Let me know if you are still interested.

Just one point of question, on your BN Executive F-units, BN-1 and BN-2 are Givens, However for that third A Unit, Are you wanting that to be BN-3? In Real life it is an E-9. Your signing the paycheck, your wish is my command.

James

[Anonymous]

Greyhound Challenger,
Took a little visit to your site and I have a couple questions for ya. Do you do weathering? I have never had the confidence to weather any of my "good" locos, never wanted to ruin a perfectly good paint job! On the site you mention prototype research. What if a customer had prototype photo's of steamers in action? Can you work from anything? Pardon my ignorance, but I am not skilled in the painting department!

I still need to get to the dome car!! A nice cold beer is calling my name!

[Anonymous]

Hi Wes,

On the topic of wheathering. I used to do wheathering for people localy before I started Mitich Rail Limited. I decided I would not offer it because what looked like a good wheathering job to me, was never satisfactory to the people I did it for. It was iether to heavy, to light, had this problem, had that flaw. I could never make anyone happy. So when I started Mitich Rail Limited, I decided that was one service I was not going to offer, However, if you feel that you absolutly have to have your model wheathered and specificly request that it be done, I guess I could do it.

As for wheathering, John Pryke (spelling? He models New Haven) has a couple of very good articles in MR about how to wheather freight cars and locomotives. I reccomend you look them up. If you go slowly and are patient, I am sure you can develop an outstanding wheathering job. If you want to know what know what I use for wheathering my stuff, I just simply use one of those Crayola 32 color water color sets, and mix the droplets in little dixie cups to get the shade I need, and then follow the same principles for wheathering that Mr. Pryke spells out in his article. The advantage of the crayola watercolors. is if you mess it up, run it under the sink with some warm water and it washes away and you can start over. I have found with the Crayola watercolors, that it adhears best to a flat finish. As a matter of fact, if you could get the clear coat to "eggshell" which means it dries with a rough texture like that of an eggshell, that would be best. It gives the crayola pigments a nice surface to bite into.

On the topic of prototype research. If I have eneugh photos for obscure topics. In action photos are fine. What I am needing really is an idea of how the locomotive was painted and lettered. Some obscure common carrier logging railroad in Idaho would need this treatment than say, A Union Pacific Challenger in the Grayhound Scheme. (I know it so well I could probably do that one blind folded. [8D] I shold probably get a Challenger and do one sometime. Call up Bowser. Anyone know where I can get a metal centipede tender? [8D])

James

[Anonymous]

Thanks James,
I understand the dilemma perfectly. I have the same trouble with my profession (I lay tile floors), something that i think looks beautiful isn't what the client wants or likes. Comes with the territory I guess!

I'll have to take a look back through my MR's to find those articles. I'm modeling the steam to diesel era, so my steamers should look pretty weather beaten. I have photos of every road number I run (though some photos are a lot older than the time I'm modeling). I'll have to give weathering a try. I might have to bug you again when I get started.

[CBQ_Guy]

I know of a guy who could do it and he's very good. In fact, many reading this would recognize his name in a heartbeat as he's VERY well known in the Prototype Modeling community. He did a couple locos for me close to a year ago now and I was very pleased with his work. However, I won't be recommending him until I get back the reference slide set I sent him. Yes, I've NICELY reminded him once or twice...still no slides. After all this time it's getting a bit irritating.

And so it goes...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wes454
I'll have to give weathering a try. I might have to bug you again when I get started.

OK. I shouldn't be going anywhere. Though around the end of the month andi nto the first of June I may dissapear for a while as I will be finally moving out of my parents house and into my own apartment. One semester of college left before I graduate. Thank God.

[Anonymous]

Grayhound,

I'm also interested in a custom project. I'm trying to get my hands on a couple of SW9 or similar models, and I would like to get them painted after the old St. Lawrence Railroad (It's a long since defunct shortline). I have not been having a whole lot of luck on finding pictures of the engines, but I vaguely remember what they looked like when I was younger.

They had the same symbol as the Middleton & New Jersey boxcars with the Red, White and Blue circle. And as I recall, St. Lawrence Railroad was written incursively down the sides of the hood. The engine itself was blue with red trim and white/blue handrails.

Anyways, to make a long story short, I'll keep researching, but was wondering if this is a project you'd be willing to undertake.

Thanks,

Sean Hoyden
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Grayhound Challenger

You Rang?

Aggro is correct, I do do custom painting. I am however in the process of a move, So I wouldn't be able to get to it until about July. You check my website out, http://w3.trib.com/~mrljim for details.
James

James.
Just took a look at your web site. After reading your policies, I must commend you on looking at this hobby as a business. Your no-nonsense approach will reap you a loyal following, since everyone will understand everyone else, so there will be no confusion or false hopes. Get a gallery page of completed models up, and your backlog may grow by leaps and bounds!
One small note though. You may want to review the labor rate. Seems a bit cheap to me.
( Dont all scream at once!. You can make almost that starting at McDonalds, and its not half as tedious!)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by hoydense
I'm also interested in a custom project.......

Anyways, to make a long story short, I'll keep researching, but was wondering if this is a project you'd be willing to undertake.

Thanks,

Sean Hoyden
[e-mail]

Hi Sean,

Your project sounds like it would be a fun project to do and I am difinatly willing to do it when you are ready. However please note, I am preparing to move into a new place across town in two weeks and will need probably the whole month to get set back up and situated. After that I expect to be able to work on projects again.

QUOTE: Originally posted by kbfcsme
[James.
Just took a look at your web site. After reading your policies, I must commend you on looking at this hobby as a business. Your no-nonsense approach will reap you a loyal following, since everyone will understand everyone else, so there will be no confusion or false hopes. Get a gallery page of completed models up, and your backlog may grow by leaps and bounds!

One small note though. You may want to review the labor rate. Seems a bit cheap to me.
( Dont all scream at once!. You can make almost that starting at McDonalds, and its not half as tedious!)

Glad you like my site. When I wrote those policies out, I tried to make it full known as to what the exact proceedures are for setting these things up. I hope to getting the gallery up soon. I am going off this thursday to shoot my models and I hope to have the results posted shortly after I get set up from the move. As on the Labor Rate, I agree I should review it. It was set I was still working out of my parents house, and almost everything I made was pure profit. Now I have alot more bills to pay for and I agree it is somewhat inadaquate. I am still deciding at what the new labor rate will be though, and any commissions taken on before the rate change will be done at the old rate.

Thank you all for your interest. I look foward to reading for more of you people.

Have a nice day.

James

[jrbarney]

Sean,
If you go to the "fallen flags" Web site, you'll find pictures of several St. Lawrence freight cars that might help you reconstuct the livery:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-s/misc-s.html
Sorry, there didn't have any shots of locos. Have you done a "Google" search ?
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

James,

I finally found a pretty decent photo of a St. Lawrence Railroad SW 8 or 9 engine. When I was a little kid, they used to have GE 70T switchers, but I guess right before they went to the big yard in the sky, they purchased these SW9's.

There were a couple of others on this website.
http://yardlimit.railfan.net/gallery/nsl/

I can't figure out how to add the photo to this message, but if you give me your e-mail, I'll forward it to you.

No problem on the moving around, I know how it is. I won't be looking to get this done until mid-July anyways, might take me that long to find the engine. LOL unless the EBAY gods shine down upon me.

Can you give me an idea of your price?

Thanks again,
Sean

[Anonymous]

LOL,

Next time I'll check the website before asking the price question. I'm going to keep pinging away on Ebay or Athearn to see when I can come up with a couple of SW-9's. On the website, the engines I'm particularly interested in replicating are the pictures dated for the 1997 photos.

Just to give some background, my interest in the St. Lawrence RR is that it is the same railroad that thrived in my hometown all my life. Norfolk, NY is where all the engine shops and a large paper mill were located.

Conrail was always the most commonly seen power around my area, throw in a few CN's, but it was always pretty neat to see a little shortline like the SLRR on the move. I think the track route stretched out about 20 miles total, and that might be a generous estimate. I was always far more interested in the fast moving, long Conrail consists, but reserved a special place in my heart for my "hometown railroad". Consists were generally no longer than 10 cars, usually 5 or so, and crawled at a snail's pace between the Norfolk and the Norwood, NY SLRR/Conrail transition yard.

SLRR officially went off the tracks in late '98, sold all it's equipment, and now the operation is leased out to a RR corporation in Vermont somewhere. Today, you can still see Conrail power, running through Norwood heading for Montreal, or back to Syracuse, and more and more CSX SD-70's and DASH 8's are showing up. Have to admit, gonna miss watching the big blue's cruising through town.

Sorry guys, got a little carried away.

Sean Hoyden
[e-mail]

[jspinner]

Hi Scott,
you may want to try Papa's Trains, Check with Larry at [e-mail]
Home Page - http://members.aol.com/lareyman/

He has done a lot of work for me and I am very satisfied with his work.

You can see some of his work that he did me at the following sites:

http://community.webshots.com/user/jspinner3

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/johnspinner


Two Kato AC4400 NS # 4466 & Ghost Ship.

Kato SD80 MAC NS B unit.

Kato AC4400 NS & Ghost Ship.

John Spinner

[Anonymous]

Hi Sean,

Thanks for getting the pics for me. My Email address for business is [e-mail] . My rate is $6.50 per hour, and It appears to be a very simple paint scheme. I estimate that I can have it done between two to 5 hours. Six if I have to hand apply the lettering.

Visit my website and review my policies before committing to a project with me. I look foward to setting up a deal with you.

James

[Anonymous]

Well everyone, I have an update.

My car threw me a curve ball at the last minute. It looks like I am staying with my parents for a little while longer. I have my workshop set back up for the most part. Contact m about your business when your ready.

James