GPM&C Ry

[-E-C-Mills]

Thanks kindly Bear!

["JaBear"]

You’ve got some really good stuff going on here, Eric. I particularly admire that boxcar.

Cheers, the Bear.

[-E-C-Mills]

For decals apply microset on the surface, place, and allow to dry.  Apply microsol over the decal while soaking up the excess with paper towel.  Too much and the decal can curl and be ruined.  Repeat over rivets and braces to settle.

Boxcar data and lettering was Woodland Scenics dry transfer RR Gothic.  Weathering with grimy black 50/50 wash applied with car upright to settle into cracks naturally.  Some Bragdon powders.  All cars recieved 50/50 raw sienna sprayed low and sealed with flat clear.

Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

Thats it for Intermediate Modelling 202 ;)

[-E-C-Mills]

The gon was weathered with Bragdon powders light and medium rust.  The clear sealer blew out some of the powder inside the gon and also tones down the outside so, some repitition may be necessary.

Eric Miller, on Flickr

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The two flats.  These got the Bragdon powders and some of the grimy black wash.

 

Eric Miller, on Flickr

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And now the final results. You might be able to see the added air piping under the tank.  Corrosive chemical placards from the 1960s were ink jet printed and applied.

The tanks were first weathered with some diluted 50/50 Model Master light grey and made to streak down the sides.  Dribled over the hatch making spots.  Lightly applied and fanned down the rest of the tank.  Also diluted 50/50 Model Master grimy black was fanned vertically down the tank.  Very subtle hard to tell in the photos.  Some Bragdon powder rust was also applied over rivets and trucks.

 

Eric Miller, on Flickr

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At the end of the various weathering of the cars road dust was applied to the lower parts of the cars by spraying diluted 50/50 Model Master raw sienna while rolling the car by the stationalry air brush.  All cars were sealed with diluted 50/50 Model Master flat clear.

Eric Miller, on Flickr

[-E-C-Mills]

The black $3 boxcar was an undecorated model somebody tried to put Rio Grande decals on.  I removed the trucks and couplers.  I stripped the decals off with fingernail polish remover.  Before painting, wash everything with some dishwashing detergent and an old paint brush on the stiff side.

Sprayed the car with Model Master boxcar red diluted 20% with an acrylic paint thinner formla modified from Joe Fugate recommendations.  My version of the cheap thinner is: 30% DI Water, 30% Anhydrous Ethanol, 30% Armor All Glass Cleaner Clear, and 5-10% Vellejo Acrylic Retarder Medium.  This worked great!

 

I made a GPM&C herald using the vector graphics program Inkscape and printed on MicroMark decal paper at 720 dpi.  In order to hide the white edges, chopped the graphic using a razor blade and hammer.

Eric Miller, on Flickr

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And now the freebie BN 40' gondola.  Pop the trucks off.  Remove the wheels.

 

Saw the horn hook couplers off.

 

The Kadee #5 coupler box was shimmed with styrene spray painted with some green I have laying around.  Not real concerned about the bottoms of these cars.  It was nice that the outer lower portion of the car, with box, is the correct hight which was tested by a coupler hight check tool.  Trucks tuned.  Metal wheels installed.  Everything graphite lubed.  Weathering discussed later.

Eric Miller, on Flickr

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One of the flats is a Rivarossi and the other a Tycho but they look otherwise identical.  They were those piggy back flats with the two trailers.  I removed the rather unrealistic looking trailer hold downs.  The trucks pop out.  I removed the wheels and cut off the coupler housing and coupler with sprue cutters.

 

I used Inkscape to make a vector graphic for relettering the cars.  Printed out at as high resolution my epson printer would go 720 dpi.  Test fit with paper first.

 

I used the white decal paper from MicroMark.  The inkjet results, not so great.  Coated with clear gloss.  Used Microscale Microset and Microsol according to instructions.  Also painted the decks with Testors wood.  You can see quite a difference this alone makes.

 

Trucks were tuned with MicroMark truck tuner.  KayDee metal wheels installed with graphite lube.  Kadee #5s with couple boxes mounted without any shimming needed.  Couplers passing coupler height and clearances testing.

  Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

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These particluar tank cars did not have a separate coupler box.  The coupler box is incorporated into the tank frame.  So the horn hook couplers were near permanent when the frame was glued together.

 

Fortunately I did not glue the heck out of everything and coupler box cover could be sawed open.

 

I purchase a variety of small screws from Amazon that seemed to be a good fit for trucks and couplers.  I drilled the post at a small diameter and the cover a larger diameter according to the chosen screw.

 

The larger hole on the cover allowed for some adjustment of the cover.  And here is the result after graphite lubing the moving parts of the coupler.

  Eric Miller, on Flickr

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I've been pretty busy starting a modular group and my local NMRA Silver San Juan Division, so the GPM&C has been somewhat on hold.  However getting involved with the NMRA has motivated me to work on some rolling stock for my Golden Spike Acheivement Certificate.  I have everything required completed but 6 items of modified or enhanced rolling stock.  This has to be more than just putting couplers on a kit.  The cars shown below were given to me except the Rio Grande box which I bought for a couple bucks.  So I decided the two flats, the gon, and the RG box would get a coupler conversion (although not those mate o matics), metal wheel conversion, decals, and weathering.

  Eric Miller, on Flickr

For the other two I pulled out a couple Athearn chemical tank cars I built years ago.  These will get a coupler conversion, some piping, and weathering.

  Eric Miller, on Flickr

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The crew says hello!

Mini Palisades by Eric Miller, on Flickr

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Sunshine Music and Radio

  Eric M, on Flickr

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Test using NOCH 07073 Master Grass Blend 6mm.  The patch on the left was the previous failure.

Static Grass Test by Eric Miller, on Flickr

Now we have a little more texture.

Layout Static Grass Test 1 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

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After the last photo the layout needs more life.  So I decided to make a static grass applicator.  First I tried the $2 one from Harbor Freight.  However, when I got it all together it was dead.  I forgot to test it before I did the work on it.

I then upgraded to the Black Flag 2,750 V bug zapper for $8.  It tested good.  I then did the modifications as shown here.  I used a largish pill bottle for the hopper screen bin.  I wanted it small to get into tight spaces.  The ground pin is a peice of house wire filed to a point.  I just hold it to the ground.

Black Flag DIY Grass Applicator 1 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

Black Flag DIY Grass Applicator 2 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

Black Flag DIY Grass Applicator 3 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

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Newly acquired GN 121 is caught working the interchange at Jobyna.

Working the GPM&C by Eric Miller, on Flickr

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Thanks Mike.  Yeah me too.  There's not much available for the 10s-30s era. 

[mlehman]

Eric,

Good work on the Jordan pick-em-up. Sure wish that Jordan would get back in production.

[-E-C-Mills]

Mandy poses with her new 1928 Ford Model A truck.  My first Jordan Highway Miniatures model.

 

 

Street scene starting to come together.

  Eric Miller, on Flickr

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And now a little side project.  I got tired of dragging my airbrush stuff to the garage and so built this paint booth out of cardboard, duct tape, and a USB fan.  Here is the back.  Cut the circle out so the screws of the fan could hold it in place.

Paint Booth 1 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

Here is the back side showing the fan screws and the routing of the USB power cord

Paint Booth 2 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

All taped together.

Paint Booth 3 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

The angles help the light from the desk lamp to get in.

Paint Booth 4 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

The exhaust duct is made from some heavy card stock paper rolled to fit the USB fan.

Paint Booth 5 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

Seems to work good enough.  I only airbrush acrylics in small amounts and the USB fan is low voltage so there should be little chance of any fires.  Spent about $10 bucks.  (actually the fan was just laying around)  The first use was to airbrush a Model A Ford.

Paint Booth 6 by Eric Miller, on Flickr

 

[-E-C-Mills]

Thank you Dave.

And thanks everyone for the comments and visiting this thread.

Enjoy!

Eric

[hon30critter]

-E-C-Mills:

Nice work on the tailing bridge!

Dave

[-E-C-Mills]

 

 

[-E-C-Mills]

Chrysolite Metals Mine and Mill.

 

 

[-E-C-Mills]

The tailings bridge ties and stringers.  Stringers are 8x8 with 6x6 ties.

 

The tailings bents are 8x8 with 2x8 and 2x4 cross members

 

The bridge was stained golden oak, dark walnut, and grey.

 

Surveying for placing the bents square to the building.

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A final check just to make sure it might look ok.

 

Making indents on the back side of the gusset plates to create rivet detail.

 

A finished truss.  Doubled up 2x8 mains, with 1" tension rods made from guitar string.

[rrinker]

 All long threads seem to get that way. But it doesn;t really cause any problems in reading, you can jump to the last page with no problem.

                    --Randy

[-E-C-Mills]

Yeah its been like that for awhile.  I have no idea why or how.