Question for Diesel Detailers out there...

[Anonymous]

Alright, from what I gather, people used to detail their diesels because by adding stuff yourself, you could get a much nicer looking diesel than what you could buy in plastic.

My question is: is this still true? Or if you do the work yourself, will it not look as good as the snazzy new plastic diesels?

I'm noticing less and less of the diesel detailing projects in MR. Is this becoming a lost art? It sure looks like fun - taking an Athearn $45 engine and fixing it up.

[jrbernier]

The 'new' engines usually have better paint jobs and nice 'basic' detail, but many times you have to add 'prototype specific' details. I have a C&NW GP7 & GP9 from P2K, painted in a real nice 'zebra stripe' delivery paint scheme. I have added/changed the headlights, added the upper mars light, etc to fill out the details per the pictures in the 'color' books. A lot of things I do not have to do(carve off the D/B, add lift rings, M/U hoses, paint, decal, etc). Now it takes me about one evening to DCC, detail, weather a model and it is 'layout ready'.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

It depends on whether you can live with the model the way the manufacturer delivers it. Even now in most cases these $100+ plastic beautys have several compromises vs. whats really installed on the prototype. In my case as I model the Southern Railway even now only a few loco's come prototypically correct. But since most new loco's are constructed in a way to allow variations the job of putting a high short hood on a new P2K or Kato hood unit is much easier than it was to convert an Athearn unit.

Bob DeWoody

[GN-Rick]

I agree with Jim. The current offerings from the various manufacturers are well
detailed. Most of the time, however, that detailing is basic "as delivered" or
off the shelf stock. I model the Great Northern and to capture the looks of
GN equipment I must re-detail much of what is available. F-units in particular,
the GN really altered the appearance of their covered wagons after very little
time-adding things like roof mounted air filter boxes, aftercoolers, winterization
hatches, snow pilots and other items. All these things add up to a unique look
that I want to capture. Fortunately I enjoy that facet fo the hobby very much and
am also a custom painter so I prefer to work with undecorated models if I can.
So, in my opinion, yes, it is fun and it can be a good source of personal pride,
duplicating in miniature your favorite prototype. Try it-and good luck.[:)]

[Anonymous]

I know a couple of guys that are strictly into HO (I'm an N scaler myself), and have heard them talking about how they have to add details and things to the hulls of their diesels to make them more authentic. As far as I'm concerned with mine. As long as the basic details are there, that's good enough for me...

trainluver1

[Anonymous]

I do like Jim and Rick as my locos are GN, NP, Frisco, BN, BNSF, ATSF and Kodachrome SF. Antenae, air conditioning, winterization hatches, headlight, plows, paneled over windows, horn placement and beacons are usual add-on's and modifications to get it right for the ones out of the box. All that plus more if you want something different like a GP-39M.

[Anonymous]

well for me, super duper detailing locos and rolling stock is by far the funnest thing for me in this hobby, even more fun that running trains to me. so yeah i will take any new engines an add $50+ of details to it, until it looks like brass or better!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the respnses. A question that I should have asked at the beginning was whether "homemade" paint jobs could match those of the newer nice plastic models.

Seems back in the old days, from what I've read, if you wanted a good paint job, you had to do it yourself. But is it the opposite now? - if you want the best paint job, you need to buy a decorated unit?

[Todd McWilliam]

[:D]I detail athearn locomotives, I go to the CNWHS and pull pictures and detail locomotives to their protype. I enjoy this, I have some of the P2k's and Atlas locomotives, and I modify them some, but I prefer Athearn detailing. This is what I enjoy in this hobby, some of the guys in my club say I am wasting my time, but I am modeling not RTR ing[:D]

[Anonymous]

Some of the better quality diesels are excellent for detail right from the box. I would recommend Broadway Limited, Atlas Master Series, Athearn Genesis, Stewart and Kato are very nice as well.

[alcodave]

I am just getting started in the serious detailing part of the hobby. I havent done much yet,but my first project locomotive is on the way right now.I am going to do a model of the Southern ry. 4610 gp59. I remember seeing this engine in Trains when the Norfolk Southern first painted it.I forgot about it until I saw it pass thru my town on a frieght train over Memorial day weekend.Imagine my surprise to find one of the Athearn models on ebay later that week!!! I bid on and won the auction and I plan to make this my first detailing project so maybe somebody like modlerbob give give me some pointers on where to start? Does any body else have an interest in the NW, SOU,NS?Also Conrail Since alot of there stuff is joining the thourogh breed stable.

[cwclark]

I still detail my locos even the ones with really good detail...mostly it's changing road number decals (there's noting worse in my opinion than having two identical diesels with the same road numbers) i also add snow plows, MU hoses, A/C units, bells, horns, uncoupling bars, and weather them..so no..it's not a lost art ...chuck

[Anonymous]

I find it better to start with a GOOD locomotive (that already has a good drive, paint and detail) and then add those parts to make it road specific. An example is my Atlas GP40, where the correct P5 horn, firecracker antenna, side mount bell, snowplow and class lights were added to make it up to Rock Island standards. That way I add fewer parts, but have a better loco in the end!

And it may be cheaper than starting with a less detailed loco, to boot!
The parts to get and alter an Athearn GP38-2 to RI specifics add up to far more than the P2K model !!! (See Railmodel Journal, March 1999, to see all the parts that are required to do this!) So in the end I have one Athearn and two P2Ks !!!

Besides such mags as RMJ, RR society newsletters sometimes have the part info you need. One good source for the RI is the RITS newsletter ("The Rock"), which have good modeling articles by Steve Hile (the Atlas GP40 conversion is discussed in Issue 121). Another source are railfan web sites - the Unofficial Iowa Interstate site has lots of info about converting models to create various IAIS locos.

It's lots of fun - go for it !!!

[MichaelWD]

There is a Yahoo group that deals with this subject. Jim Six the moderator just finished a GP7 for NYC. The next one is to do a F3 in Central of Georgia colors.
Mike Dickinson