Does anyone know what details can be added to bachmann diesels besides air hoses & sun shades to improve realistic look? The engines are the gp40,rs3 and s1, also where are these parts applied to the model, I cant find any clear pictures online.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Back in the day, the MRR magazines would run a "Detail this diesel" article in nearly every issue. They don't do that so much today. One of my first projects, lo this many years ago, was detailing a Southern Pacific GP9 in the black widow paint scheme. There were SP only headlamps to install, lighted number boards, brake pistons and actuator levers, some air tank piping, crewmembers, glazed windows, and safety yellow painted handrails, and diode controlled directional lighting. Back then I didn't do separate wire grabirons and handrails. Nowadays I would.
I had some decent prototype photos, culled from magazines, MR and Trains. Now we have the Internet and a wealth of color photos. Some googling ought to find good photos of your locomotives, on the railroads of your choice. Pay especial attention to things like the color of the exhaust stacks, which get hot enough to burn off all the factory paint, the look of the trucks with some road dirt on them, dirt markings around the roof fans and other air intakes. Check out the horns, and various antennae. Winterization hatches, roof mounted air tanks, speed recorder cables leading down onto the trucks. Good wire handrails and railing chains contribute to the look.
Glazing the cab windows is easy and very effective. Fix up the lighting so the headlamps at the ends of the hoods are illuminated and the cab windows stay dark. I don't do diode controled lighting anymore, I like both ends of the locomotive to light up when it is getting power. I've seen plenty of prototypes burning headlamps at both ends, in daylight no less. If the locomotive fails to move when it should (not uncommon) you can look at the headlamps to see if it is getting juice. On the layout you can only see one end of the locomotive, and if you have directional lighting, the end you can see will be the dark end, making you think you are lacking juice, when the real problem is something else.
Check for battery boxes and tool boxes in your photos.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Bear,thanks ill try the site.
That would depend on the era you wish to portray. Ditch lights come to mind if you are modeling the mid to late 1990s or later. Mu recepticals and and wires would also be a good fit for the GP40 abd possibly the the other two, check prototype photos. A pilot mounted plow on the gp40 and rs3 or footboard on the ends on the S1, depending on prototype and era.
davidmbedardDitch lights date to the early to mid 70s........
In Canada maybe. The came much later to the US.
Rob Spangler
Detail Associates and Details West are two companies amoungst others that supply detail parts for diesels, available thru the Walthers onj line catalog. http://www.walthers.com/
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
If anybody cares about being this accurate....
In the US, ditch lights became mandatory on locomotives when doing more than 20mph over grade crossings after December 31, 1997. Most of the big railroads started installing them in 1996, maybe even 1995.
As a modern modeler, I don't put operating ditch lights on my shortline's locomotives since they run at less than 20 mph. These days, there are still examples of locomotives without ditch lights, but they are on class III railroads. However, almost all locos have them since even those on shortlines are hand me downs from class I railroads at some point.
If modeling post 1996, the RS-3 and S1 likely wouldn't have them, but the GP40 would.
- Douglas