Well now there are 5 of these wagons finished and ready to roll even with removable loads. No I know there are a few details that are not fully true to life but all in all these do capture the look of these wagons in my view. No just to finish off the last 10.
Another Aspect of my Operation SD70 project is adding details to the Athearn units I have from the earlier runs which were lack a bit in the detail department particularly around the under frame and the front and rear ends. The first part that I do is to get the detail pack from Details West that are bespoke for the SD70M units with white metal parts for the under frame. This includes the piping for the sanders, bell, brackets for the fuel tank, jack mounting points, release values for the fuel
Operation SD70 is a go!!! I currently have 6 of these iconic US locomotives and with UP owning in the region of 1200 of these locos I could just just keep going but the wallet says other wise. Either way I am now in the process of getting all of these harmonised with the same Tsunami2 sound decoders, LED upgraded lighting with a new Technique and weathered. Currently all of them now have the decoders installed and speakers fitted using a 52 x 16 speaker mounted in the space above the decoder.
With all the KFA wagons now finally weathered it is time to make a start on the Timber loads. Now near where I live there is a tree species of which the bark on it branches, particularly on the outer ends, looks like pine bark. So I went out and found one with some dead branches on it. Collecting the dead branches are far easier and doesn't hurt the tree. I then break off all the parts that I want with twigs ranging from 2mm - 5mm in diameter with straight sections on them to be cut out and
So I have a client come to me asking for sound and lights to be installed into a Broadway Limited Trackmobile unit. If you have ever seem on of these units or own one you can imagine the challenge. Either way here it is all finished. Here is a post of the video: https://www.facebook...15033893029743/
Just about finished all the weathering for these KFA units. Here is a updated shot showing the detailing on the sides and Bulkheads. The next job is to now start with the making of the log loads. Just need 75
Its been awhile but I have now finally had a chance to start weathering my KFA timber carrying wagons.
These are about half way through. There is more detailing in the weathering to do and then next the loads themselves.
Next thing on the books is to put sound and lights onto my two Patriot 4-6-0 class locomotives. I have Hornby 45528 - R.E.M.E. and 45531 - Sir Frederick Harrison which I will also rename to 45521 - Rhyl and 45532 - Illustrious respectively. First Thing I do whenever I do an install is to completely disassemble the loco and remove all unwanted wiring as I always hardwire the decoders into my locos to ensure a solid connection. This also removes the change of the PCB failing on me and removes
Getting around to some more painting and this time working on the painting of the Hornby Mk1 TSOs. Just getting the roofs painted.
And now after the final coat
As per usual life will through unexpected things in your way what has meant progress on some of the modelling project has slowed down. However, The carriages are getting there with the first 2 more or let done and another 2 just needed the detail to be painted on the bogies.
I am now working on finishing the TSO Mk2 Carriage (Bachmann) and the 2x TSO Mk1 Carriages (Hornby).
On a side note I updated the tower case for my computer and this left me with a spare tower with no real use. Then I had a thought, which is dangerous I'll admit, about converting the tower for a new use. Up to date I have been doing all my weathering outside as I didn't have a way of venting the fumes outside from indoors. I didn't have the space or cash to buy or make a spray booth for my weathering projects. Now that I am going to be doing this more often I wanted to move this inside so I wou
Have now got the first 4 Coach sides decaled. Next step is to paint the coach ends and roofs where necessary before placing the sides back on the chassis.
So I have been Adding some of the EOT lamps from DCCconcetps onto some of my wagons. These fit onto the wagons pretty easily coming with spring pick-ups, wire, lamps, flashing device and a reed switch with magnets in case you wanted have a automatic switch on the layout that turns the lamp on and off. I see no need for the reed switch as in real life the lamp is always and on the train. Having said that these lamps look pretty prototypical when installed and have a nice flash rate when running a
So this weekend I had a slight opening weather-wise and as such took the opportunity to paint the coaches I have set aside for my WCRC excursion train. It took a bit to get the color right but I think I got pretty close. This week I will be starting to apply all the decals which I go from Railtec. These have all been stripped using IPA in a Spaghetti Container which doubles nicely as an overnight bath for the Coaches. Using a tooth brush I scrubbed off th
Having painted the Handrails it was just a case of fixing them onto the bulkheads. Now the next step is weathering which will hopefully happen this weekend.
Well now comes the "fun" stuff with making the finer details like the handrails that sit on the side of the bulkhead. Time to put on a good series and get the tweezers out. I found some .25mm nickel silver wire which is just about the right size for handrails in my reckoning. After making 30 of these with 2 spare I will paint them white tonight and fix them in place once dry.
Also I have seen in pictures that after they added the holes in the bulkhead to allow air through that they
Well now every wagon has had the bulkheads fixed on and the vertical struts fixed down. Next step will be weathering all of them which will hopefully be something that can be done this weekend as the weather is looking good for it.
Next step: Remove the factory up rights and take the wooden decks off the wagons and replace with 0.5 thick styrene sheet and spray the tops with a red brown paint to give a base coat of rusty brown for when we get to the weathering stage which will blend it all together.
Having now cleaned all the bulkheads it was time to create all the verticals of which I need 210 of them and with each having 11 parts to them that ends up being 2310 components to make!!!!. Its a good thing I made a whole bunch of these earlier.
Now that everything has been made it is time to paint it all...
So it has been a long time since I have been doing much with my projects as life in its usual way as gone off on a tangent. Lately though I have finally had a chance to get into my scratch building projects again.
Now I have been getting back into this project to make 15 KFA log carriers converted from cargowaggens. I have had the ends 3D printed and have hand built most if the stays and am now at the point of assembling the everything together.
In the shots below we can see that the pin
I saw this load and it looked like a simple thing to recreate.
The load is made using 0.2mm Thick Styrene sheet cut into strips 26mm wide and cut to varying lengths depending on the prototype.
These are then sprayed a gun metal grey and then using a nice reddy brown paint the rusting is made. The trick is to put the paint on the brush then wipe it all off. Then lightly go over the 'steel' and this will prevent over painting them.
The wooden supports are made from scale cut basswood tim
Its been awhile since I have done any dry brushing as part of the weathering on my wagons. The skill is know what colors will work best, in what sequence they should go and experimentation is also key I find.
I have a few timber topped flat cars and so using the dry brushing method seemed the best as I have more control over where the paint goes than when using an airbrush.
I started with using a dark brown and then followed with a series of lighter browns made mixing a very pale grey not
