Paint Shop

[Chris Webster]

All-Nation F-units look really good in the Seaboard Coast Line scheme: Ebay #386487594160

[De Bruin]

All-Nation F-units look really good in the Seaboard Coast Line scheme: Ebay #386487594160

Yes they do Chris , I think these were done with a MicroScale set I've used, a great set too and pretty much
will work on most any of SCL's fairly elaborate model roster especially if you're comfortable splicing stripes.
Opinion but silver road names/heralds/reporting marks look great on any dark scheme like Rice's post Champion black.

Have to give the seller credit for trying to get his listing/title and description right describing these AN F3 ABB's as E6's.
He obviously researched the A unit's road number(503) which was incorrectly applied by the builder but oddly correspond to the SCL's last E6''s, ironically Diesel Shop listed some surviving SCL F3's albeit in the 300 range back then.
Neat set though and kudo's to the buyer. Nice set indeed.

[R.K. Maroon]

Here is another item out of Pete's Paint Emporium:


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7wxzq9z9sfc3gvz6k2ynw/American-Standard-HW-14-1-Sleeper-MILW-Avalon-01.png?rlkey=3opgvhxm5ka9so23negmwcutf&dl=0
As usual. the second link is provided in case your browser is not showing the image at the first link.

This is a 14-1 open-section sleeper. As is typical, the window pattern on the two car sides is very similar but not quite identical:


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nh2xcpa2543w2htfp0x5n/American-Standard-HW-14-1-Sleeper-MILW-Avalon-02.png?rlkey=112sfst4bhcpnxxvxv2jis681&dl=0

The car was built from an American Standard kit by Bob Jarvis, who I met through Dennis and Kathy Mashburn. Bob knew I was looking for an 14-1, which was the standard sleeper in the post-war Milwaukee Road Columbian, which was the secondary train from Chicago to Seattle-Tacoma. Bob built this model up and surprised me with it as a gift (trust me, I don't deserve such friends). He did leave the painting to me, which was more than fair but also a bad idea. A two-color paint job like this is currently above my skill level and I didn't think practicing on Bob's car was a good idea. Pete came to the rescue. Not only did he paint and letter it (One letter at a time on the car name), but also populated the interior and added window shades:


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/plhzh30rs1b4n6c244exd/American-Standard-HW-14-1-Sleeper-MILW-Avalon-03.png?rlkey=mxitgv2hkkgx25zva4iolyvts&dl=0

Pete did say that Bob's car build was the best he has seen in his years of painting passenger cars. Note also, giving credit where it is due, that Pete's paint lines are clean and the decals are exceptionally well set. Wow!

I have a complete (and reasonably accurate) consist for the Columbian -- It was in fact the first complete train I managed to pull together. It's showing its age and wear a bit though, and has long needed some attention. Pete and I agree that it's best not to ship the 14-1, so he will bring it with him on his next trip to Dallas. That gives me time to get the rest of the consist all fixed up and ready.

Jim

[sleepmac]

Jim, simply beautiful!

Dan Weinhold

[De Bruin]

Thanks Jim
It was indeed a great build to work with and to further clarify, Bob installed the interior section seating and washroom dividers, including passengers!
My contribution to the interior detail was limited to the window glazing, shades and aisle rails only. I did learn some neat new tricks about modeling heavyweights studying Bob's technique here, foremost how to create a realistic looking roof canvas appearance and seams using permanently applied overlapping masking tape.
Genius stuff.

[R.K. Maroon]

Here's another Milwaukee Road HW sleeper, fresh from Pete's Paint Shop:


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ltawa0hu2szir1oonq3ll/GGD-PHD-12-1-Sleeper-MILW-Watertown-01.png?rlkey=5lnypaduzsjoee3fg095g6x0k&dl=0

This one is a Golden Gate Depot 12-1. It arrived from the factory as an unpainted model. Pete's disassembled it before painting. As with the 14-1, he added window shades to dress up the car.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/b87myzpnrs4d20tt0ncu3/GGD-PHD-12-1-Sleeper-MILW-Watertown-03.png?rlkey=na0iuximgqo2gm53imn1cwy5v&dl=0

GGD offered several if not most of their heavyweight cars in Milwaukee Road colors, but not the 12-1. It's a mystery to me why they didn't. By the way, the car name Watertown is prototypical. A photo of this car appears in one of the color guides.

Jim

[De Bruin]

Back to custom painting after a spring hiatus

I covet this CLW SD-40 version; one of the nicest models I’ve ever worked on, sturdy, well detailed with a very nice chassis and drive that Sarge tells me is likely a Levon Kemalyan product. Whomever assembled/soldered the car body really knew their craft well.

In late 1967 the B&O supplied nine of their SD-40’s to CNJ in the interest of maintaining their New York and Staten Island freight traffic. The CNJ merely painted out the B&O lettering and heralds, retaining the original blue & yellow car body and applied new road numbers and the “Lady Liberty” heralds to the cabs.

This was both an economic expediency (painting locomotives correctly an expensive process) as well as perhaps wishful thinking on the CNJ’s part as they had had a long term partnership with both B&O and the Reading and would’ve preferred merger/takeover by B&O over the ensuing protracted financial agony of bankruptcy.

Not ironically this is for the same customer I did the Reading Bee-line hood schemes. One of my favorites too as it’s minimalist in the same way as those 50-60’s era Lionel O27 FA’s or NW’s dip scheme with a single stripe or two, one herald and road number on each side. Certainly easier than the Reading Bee-liners as it thankfully has no safety stripes on the pilots either.

I’ve read eight of the original nine survived into the Conrail era ending their days in helper service on the former Pennsy mainline over Horseshoe Curve. The B&O also assisted with the financing of the GP-40P fleet which were delivered from EMD in similar albeit more elaborate version of the B&O scheme with large liberty heralds on both ends, safety stripes and CNJ spelled out on the sides of the long hood.

[R.K. Maroon]

All I can say is that I hope Pete wears this out before boxing it up and sending it on it's way. Really nice -- and thanks for the history of the prototype.

[R.K. Maroon]

Six years ago, I started work on a CLW cast PA for my brother's T&NO Sunbeam. Progress on this project has been reported in the "Machine Shop" thread. I finally finished the model in January of this year and delivered to my brother Pete for painting. He completed it in time to bring it and the train to the Southwest O-Scale meet in Oklahoma City this last weekend. Here is the finished model:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/28axp02nl5i8aj6gb6pmt/CLW-Alco-PA-T-NO-202_01.JPG?rlkey=xaa64mo7jnge5jx2ks853t4xe


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/upyk9bb0txby2fpine90f/CLW-Alco-PA-T-NO-202_02.JPG?rlkey=crst6lf65r2n3qf56c1yw2wi7


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/em52y6vutzgi7f4hlfz0g/CLW-Alco-PA-T-NO-202_03.JPG?rlkey=tbl6bp71aa6tm348hqfuwgq3b


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/14n780kpp0nwrabcg4vjr/CLW-Alco-PA-T-NO-202_04.JPG?rlkey=0a5zmff535jq97xw7s4t85a17

I am naturally biased to brag on my brother, but I have to say I was floored by how well this turned out. For convenience, here is repost of photos from the Machine Shop thread, showing the shell at the start of project and as-delivered to Pete's Paint Shop:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0o5c65q16gxmnx1to78u9/Project-Start.jpg?rlkey=i3zjhngowh3nfs3erolhw3yqh


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ag7wbgyv0yzpqyebh5rce/Test-Run-01.jpg?rlkey=gcui3rvx1kp0c4d32ye37twt0

Six years is a long time for one project. It's both satisfying and a great relief to see this one finally finished.

Video from the show next
Jim

[gregj410]

I’ve always been curious about how you prep that brass body for paint. Is that some type of automotive primer that goes on before the finish paint? Also, do you pre treat that brass before you prime it? Really beautiful, I love the daylight livery.

[R.K. Maroon]

Is that some type of automotive primer that goes on before the finish paint?

My brother painted the model but I primed it, and, yes, I used automobile primer. I would not have primed it, as Pete prefers to have control over the entire paint cycle. However, the sand-cast shell of the model had a good number of voids. I filled these, first with epoxy (because I couldn't find my Bondo) and then with the Bondo, which is faster and a bit easier to sand. I needed to prime the filled shell so as to see how well I did and where I missed. It took two or three cycles to get the shell filled and smoothed out. I recall using "filler" primer for at least the first coat, which worked very well at filling the scratches and micro-voids. I want to say I switched to non-filling auto primer for the last coat, but I didn't take notes.

Others will have to comment about brass. Given the shell is a casting, I was able to bead-blast it to clean it without worrying about distorting it (as is the case with sheet brass). I did wipe the blasted and filled shell lightly with acetone before each prime coat, allowing it to dry thoroughly before painting.

Jim

[up148]

Looks great! I hoped to attend the show, but family problems got in the way. I did pre-register, so I was able to support the show. How many attendees were there Jim? Hopefully there will be another next year if this was successful enough.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Lovely paint job, Jim!

...............the Southwest O-Scale meet in Oklahoma City this last weekend.

How was the show????

[R.K. Maroon]

Alas, I didn't think to take any general photos of the show. I am just guessing, but I would think this show draws about 40 people. There were eight from our DFW club and I imagine about the same or maybe a couple of more from the OKC club that sponsors the show when it's in OKC (some years it's in Fort Worth). Most of the attendees all know each other at this point, so it's as much a social gathering as anything else. Again guessing, I would say there were 25 vendor tables. As with many shows these days, there were more people selling than buying, but things did move. There were several presentations but no model contest (there hasn't been one in years now, it seems, probably due to the sparse number of entries in years past). Our club brought our two layouts, which everyone seems to enjoy. The OKC club is part of a local model railroad museum. They always have the museum open after the show closes on Saturday. We always enjoy going over to check on progress of their big D&RGW layout that they are building. They've been able to run trains now for several years, so grabbing a throttle and chasing a train around the layout is part of the fun.

Toward the end of the show, the hosts announced that the show would be back in OKC next year. We'll be there!

Jim

[up148]

Toward the end of the show, the hosts announced that the show would be back in OKC next year. We'll be there!

That is good news and hopefully I'm free to attend.