After some serious digging and sorting, I found about 3 years worth of Accurail 'Trainfest' special run kits. I have spent the past 3 days assembling about 14 kits. Lots of painting underframes and replacing wheels(I-M) / couplers(Kadee #148).
With the foul weather, I have had the time(I did make 3 trips to the gym for my workouts with the 'Church Guys').
On to the storage totes for more kits!
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Jim, I am right there with you!
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I have recently assembled my entire stock pile of "shake the box" undercorated kits. They are all patiently awaiting paint.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
jrbernierI found about 3 years worth of Accurail 'Trainfest' special run kits. I have spent the past 3 days assembling about 14 kits.
Yep I have a bunch on my TBB (To Be Built) shelf as well. Some go back several years. Yet another reason to go to Trainfest and get their early Saturday while they last!
Dave Nelson
I have three partially completed modules, plus another to assemble then place in position for track and scenery. May as well take full advantage of the inside time winter affords us. Also have a bunch of Branchline sleeper kits that need assembly.
Boris
My winter projects are very similar to my spring, summer and fall projects, as there always seems to be more needing to be done.
I'm currently working on four gondolas built on modified Tichy flatcars. They're sorta based on TH&B prototypes....
...and a fifth, similar car, also based on- and quite close to a TH&B prototype, is this cinder car...
...although I'll be lettering it for my freelanced EG&E.
Also sorta started are five EG&E 40' single sheathed automobile cars. They'll be scratchbuilt on Branchline/Atlas reefer underframes, and some Santa Fe Bx3/Bx6 panel-side boxcars, built on Tichy underframes. I also have eleven locomotive projects in varying stages of not done/barely started/and one have-the-frame-and-drivers-and-boiler-but-nothing-else. Two of the locos are for friends.
And, of course, the layout needs work, too.
Wayne
Hi Wayne,
Whose rivet decals do you use?
Thanks,
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Dave, the ones on those cars are from MicroMark. I first used, for another project, the ones from Archer, which were very nice, but the variety offered at that time was limited. MicroMark's were more affordable and offered a wider variety of spacing, plus double rows, double offset rows, and blocks of closely spaced ones.
The Archer ones were a bit more responsive to Solvaset, but the MicroMark ones not very much at all. I finally resorted to a small brush, not-too-loaded with MEK, and a quick, light pass, For the most part, that did the trick. However, too slow, too much MEK, or too heavy on the brush is a wonderful rivet-remover. I just finished painting those cars about an hour ago, and will Glosscote them for decaling in a few days, once the Pollyscale paint has cured.
This brass tender, belonging to a friend, had some major damage (partially cut through with a cut-off disc by a previous owner. I soldered some sheet brass to the inside as a backer plate, then put some JB Weld into the cut, keeping it below the level of the outside surface of the tender. When that hardened, successive applications of Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty, plus sanding between coats got things looking better, but the sanding removed a lot of the rivet detail, which was a bit finer than it should have been.
...I simply sanded-off the rest of it, then re-did with decals...
I used the Archer decals on these modified Athearn cars, both to replace ones accidentally removed...
...or, like the block of lower ones here, to represent the sidesill-to-truck-mounting-bolster connection...
These, I think, are also from Archer - the Train Miniature car's diagonal framing was wrong for the car which I wanted to model, so I carved it off and replaced it with Plastruct styrene "T" - not exactly prototypical, but the closest to scale that I could find - no room on it for rivets or bolt heads, though....
The diagonals near the ends represent flat steel bar however, so room for rivets...
...and on the car's ends, too....
This scratchbuilt boxcar, sheathed with insulator's aluminum tape, was done with the MicroMark rivets, and was the first on which I used the MEK application...
It was basically an experiment, and I should be able to do a better job if I want to try again.