When you detail a diesel locomotive.. what do you think are the 5 most important items that need to happen to make it look good?
New handrails? steps? appropriate lights?
A lot of that depends on the manufacturer and model. Athearn Genesis, Broadway Limited Imports, Proto 2000s and Bachmann Spectrums come pretty well detailed from the factory. Another factor is the road you're modeling. Different railroads had different equipment. One model that I've had a lot of experience with is Athearn blue box kits. What I ALWAYS do to them is: (And this is all based on running DC.)
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Most of the models I have are Athearn's either Blue box or RTR's. These are a good starting point.
I generally always add:
- Decoder for directional lighting (day-glo LED's are standard now for me)
- A snowplow (if it had one, I use railpictures.net and fallen flags for research)
- Air Hoses
- Coupler lift bars,
- Drop end walkways
-MU receptacles
-nose light (if its missing)
-Grab irons (if not already installed)
-light to heavy weathering (There was a reason the Rio Grande was nicknamed the Rio Grunge)
I will also check the location the horn. The Rio Grande used to move the horn (in the later years) back by the Dynamic brake housing to keep it from freezing over in the winter time.
I don't usually bother putting the sunshades or windshield wipers on as they have a tendency to break off.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
I go for MU hoses.
On this P2K GP9, the MU hoses were already there. However, they were joined to the pilot, and they were the original molded black plastic. They were so non-descript that I went out and bought a set to install, but then realized that all I needed was some paint and light weathering to make this detail stand out. Not all models have them, so it's a nice upgrade if they don't.
This old Geep on the left was an Athearn blue-box with rubber-band drive from the 1950s, my first HO-scale engine. It had no handrails at all, so they were a big improvement. This is a dummy engine that I put a SoundBug decoder in so this old friend could provide sound while it's silent partner provides the power.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Aside from weathering, I generally don't do too much. I try to look for what I might call "signature details" that make an engine different from other railroad's engines. For example the Minneapolis & St.Louis and Northern Pacific Rys. both bought their early diesels without bells. They then added "recycled" steam locomotive bells to the engines in their own shops. So adding a steam engine type bell to the long hood of my Atlas M-St.L RS-1, or to the cab roof of my Atlas NP RS-11, does a lot to make the engine look "right", even if other detailing is fairly generic.
TA462 Correct lights, bell and horn are the most important to me as well as a light weathering job and add the detail pieces that come in the box. I'm surprised by the number of loco's I see that don't have these put on. Sun shades, snowplows etc look great on loco's.
Correct lights, bell and horn are the most important to me as well as a light weathering job and add the detail pieces that come in the box. I'm surprised by the number of loco's I see that don't have these put on. Sun shades, snowplows etc look great on loco's.
Same as TA462, except I usually don't bother with sunshades. They tend to fall off a lot.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
It depends on the road, era, loco and what's already on the model to me.
One thing is air-conditioning for more modern locos in the South. A lot of times they are white and stand out from the top view which we normally see first on our layouts. And it's often left off the model.
MU lines/receptacles as well as air hoses, particularly on the front where so obvious. Also I paint the ends of both as appropriate.
Some locos I Ieave in "new" unweathered condition and some I weather. Not every loco is old and weathered on the line--usually. For example, the UP Heritage units looked like new for years and still may.
I really like sunshades where appropriate and use the metal ones so they don't fall off. Also, the antennae.
Richard