Paint Shop

[sarge]

Pete:

Thanks for the kind words.

I actually don't have a caboose for them,so that is one thing I'll have to hunt up.

I have a couple NYC diesels as well, a Kemtron RS3 you guys saw when we were on about Kleinschmidt drives and a CLW GP35. There is an old Max Gray bay-window caboose here that is still in the raw. That very well might be the next US project on the bench.

I enjoy them as a mental break from the usual UK stuff for the railway. I just finished up a long string of structures and some vintage van kits, the latter made an article for the Guage 0 Guild Gazette, so getting ones hands into something different clears the mind.

I modelled the steam era in New England for many years, but these projects are trips into my own era. If I ever was to do another US outline railroad, I think it it would be late 60s or early 70s. It was a fascinating yet desperate time in American railroad history...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

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[Chris Webster]

This was a very beat-up Overland C628, handrails absolutely mangled, lots of poor joints, pretty typical earlier Ajin product.

Sarge, do you have any suggestions on how to unbend stanchions? I have an OMI Alco Century that was shipped to me without anything between the railings and the body shell; the railings were pushed inward and the stanchions bent.

[sarge]

Chris

Depends on which one. I did a couple NYC C430s which I believe were later models, and they were pretty robust. I rather wish I had kept one, now.

This C628 had rather brittle castings for the stanchions. Several were broken, several were loose, a couple missing great chunks, and all were bent from being grabbed like it was Lionel.

Straightening was done first by fingers, working the entire length a little at a time, one, then another, then another, then start again at the beginning. Once in close-to-finished position, a pair of smooth-jawed hemostats worked well to take the final curves and twists and kinks out. The back of the jaws had been slotted with a Dremel cutoff wheel to fit over the railing itself so you could grab and straighten the stanchion. Go slow and careful; softly softly catchee monkey.

Soldering the broken stanchions back together, a pencil iron, Tix flux, 60-40, clean the ends and butt-solder 'em.

Soldering stanchions to the frame, Tix, 60-40, clean the area on the frame and the back of the stanchion, used a resistance iron, single carbon probe (no tweezers) and earthing clamp, heat from the sill side of the joint or you risk the stanchion burning away.

The two that had great chunks missing were completely replaced with brass strip of the same width. Solder to the sill, then bend over the railing. Trim the end at the railing so there is enought to wrap, and wrap it with the hemostat we used to straighten. Solder the wrap with the pencil iron. Once painted, no-one will notice unless you point them out; worked a lot better than I thought it would.

Does this help?

[sarge]

Pete:

You are a baaaaaad influence, you know. I have an LV caboose coming in the mail. Weaver did what looks like a good start with their socalled "Northeast" car in plastic, though closer to a Reading car than LV. Once it arrives, no doubt we'll see about some LV details like the plated ends at the railings, perhaps cutting a corner window in the carbody ends, that sort of thing just to tart it up a bit.

Right off, I need a set of Walthers caboose trucks, the leaf-sprung Bettendorfs.

Should be fun...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

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[sarge]

I thought I did, but I must have given them to someone in need.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

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[sarge]

I have a set of decent cast brass leaf-sprung Andrews I'll trade you, so you would have something appropriate for freelanced cabins to backfill your stock.

They probably were intended as tender trucks, but they were used by some railroads for cabooses as well.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

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[bob turner]

If all else fails, Stevenson may have a rubber mold to produce brass versions. They might be 17/64 scale.

[sarge]

Strasburg would be brilliant. I'll bring the Andrews along so you still have some shoes in stock for the next caboose that pops up in the queue.

BTW, the Walthers will be fine before the KTM; that smaller spring seems to be closer to what LV used, and they perform perfectly well. Save the spiffy ones for one of your's- Grin!

[E7]

suggestions on how to unbend stanchions? I have an OMI Alco Century that was shipped to me without anything between the railings and the body shell; the railings were pushed inward and the stanchions bent.

Nothing new for sure, but the old line is if you can apply the same force in the opposite direction (easy to say, hard to do) the damage will be reversed. You might try working slowly with a burnisher.

[De Bruin]

Rufus, I'm still working on the Electromobile...... have to see the jig though he used to assemble those body castings with, receiving some expert assistance from Ed Bommer on it as understand....

Pictures & more pictures!!!

My acute college-learned skills at reading sub-text in long rambling sentences detected a suggestion from Rufus to render some photos of said Electromobile kit in progress so.... here we go.

Here's the unpainted car body sans roof (made Joe take that home with him along with the interior insert) laying in the clever assembly jig he fabricated with Ed. This will come in handy in securing this weighty and fragile pile of white metal as I return to OKC via UPS.

Here's the car body right side up. Stripping and repainting this was difficult, the jig came in handy as I had to re-epoxy one side that detached itself in the acetate wash. The paint is a mix of white Testors and Scalecraft IC Orange. The stripping done with MS decals. A tad small relative to the prototype but close enough for me, hopefully Joe agrees.

Head on view of my somewhat crude brush work; this car body given its sectional white metal casting composition is unlike anything I have worked on in the hobby and in fact reminds me of the time I dabbled in lead soldiers. I look forward to seeing Joe's model when it's finished, hopefully he''ll provide some shots of it.

[sarge]

I did say I would come back with the caboose for those LV units, a project that was Pete's fault for suggesting it of course. Grin!

So, a stock Weaver Northeastern car off the bay of E was the starting point. They aren't bad models, but very Reading in their configuration.

I decided something that evokes the Valley would be good enough for the purpose, so added the corner windows in the car ends, the nod at the rock-plates on the railings on the ends, and the drip-strips over the side windows.

If I was to get neurotic about it, and I might still, I'd change the roofwalks to perf, add the hoops at the top of the ladders, and a third step on the end-steps.

As it sits, it evokes the LV car while not replicating it completely; a pleasant morning at the bench:

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