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Post by jbconn on Oct 28, 2012 18:48:36 GMT -5
This story began with a desire for a blue dip GP40-2W. I already have a Big G (stock atlas gold) and a PAR Phase 1 511 I painted myself last year. The supply of undecorated units seems to have dried up, so when I saw this one on eBay (for a bit under $100, I bought it. The paint job looked sketchy, but as I was going to strip it anyway, no problem (I thought).
When it got here, I was a bit surprised. "sketchy paint" was a severe understatement. I could see it had been painted with a brush, apparently without benefit of masking tape. The paint was extremely thick (and also hard to get off). Worse than that was a lot of tube-type airplane glue had been used everywhere (including places that should not have been glued. Globs covered the walkways, blower bulge, non-dynamic hatch, and several cab windows. One ditch light was non-functional. I found later that gray paint seeped under the deck and coated the LED. Many detail parts were missing (e.g., all lift rings). For some reason, the original owner had drilled out all the ladder rung holes in the wrong spots and installed them all crooked. (maybe because the OEM Atlas holes were obscured with the thick paint.)
Having said all this, the original owner's ambition exceeded his skill level. I've done the two-tone blue PAR and it wasn't easy for me. It took two tries to get mine right, even with masking tape and an airbrush. I could have sent it back, but I thought, "hey, a couple of weeks of work, and it's done.
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Post by jbconn on Oct 28, 2012 20:03:21 GMT -5
Six months later...
It took me almost three weeks just to get the paint stripped. I was told it was Testors enamel, but whatever it was resisted multiple soakings in 91% isopropyl alcohol, and a couple of soakings in pine sol (maybe because it was so thick). Eventually it came clean with some staining left. The bell was destroyed during this process, and the more paint that came off, more gobs of glue were revealed. One nose step grab came off and was lost. The sand fillers were too glopped up to save, fortunately, the square ones were wrong for 505/506 anyway. The non-dynamic hatch had serious glue damage, as did one cab front and rear right cab windows.
To the parts bin!
Pretty much everything I needed was there, surprisingly. The new bell was from Miniatures by Eric, Lift rings and round sand fillers were spare Atlas parts, Nose top step grabs were Cal Scale. Drop grabs by BLMA (after filling and sanding all the "extra" crooked holes. Dogleg grabs by the front number boards were made from wire stock. I wrecked an otherwise operable ditch light LED digging it out of the gray paint it was embedded in, so replaced it with a wired 0603 LED from Traintek. The non-dynamic hatch was replaced with a spare from an Atlas GP40, whittled to fit the tabs on the newer shell. A new horn to replace the original (trashed during stripping) was also from Miniatures by Eric. Fuel tank and associated parts were extra Atlas parts.
Several rounds of filling and sanding glue damage and gouges, especially on the blower cover, using Bondo spot and glazing putty, as suggested by some here, finally had good results.
Primer, paint, and dullcoat are Tru-Color. Decals by Highball Graphics.
I salvaged the damaged windows by sanding the glue off with a fine sanding stick of the sort used to polish fingernails. I followed up with 2000 grit sandpaper, leaving them smooth but "foggy". I flowed on a thick goat of clear gloss enamel, which filled the ultrafine scratches and restored the clear. Touch up the edges with a file, and they fit back in the holes in the cab. You can see some damage with a magnifier, but they're pretty well fixed.
In attaching the photo, I just noticed that the sight glass plastic lens is not installed. Ooops.
If you don't count the cost of all the parts left over from other projects, it came in under $100.
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Post by bf1982 on Oct 29, 2012 0:17:49 GMT -5
Nice job.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2012 3:17:58 GMT -5
This sounds like a labour of love. Great work.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using proboards
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Post by tamaman on Oct 29, 2012 9:14:29 GMT -5
Nice work.
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Post by CP_8530 on Oct 29, 2012 22:12:21 GMT -5
Pretty good rescue on that. Sometimes it's just painful seeing what other people do to their models...
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Post by graftonterminalrr on Nov 1, 2012 14:06:52 GMT -5
Wow. That was an incredible restoration. Dan, I fully agree. Randy can back me up on this one. Many people out there shouldn't be allowed to get within 15 feet of a model especially when their tools of choice are a dollar-store paintbrush and a tube of Testor's glue  |
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liengineerbob
Chairman
Sitting at my workbench trying to figure out what to do next!
Posts: 335
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Post by liengineerbob on Nov 2, 2012 13:41:04 GMT -5
Nice save on that model. I scratch my head sometimes at what people will do with a several hundred dollar model.....then again.......at least they are modeling!
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spike
Chairman
They say I can't be Spike anymore, so Mr. Burns it is!
Posts: 561
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Post by spike on Nov 6, 2012 18:02:13 GMT -5
Nice work! Boston and Maine is my fav. road. Its fun to see what Mr. Fink and co. will do next.
Hope to see you sometime in E. Deerfield or Ayer.
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Post by jbconn on Nov 7, 2012 19:14:47 GMT -5
Thanks Spike.
I was in Ayer yesterday. Boys had day off from school so we went for a run at the track and stopped by the station to see a couple of commuter rail trains, MEC 611 (as AY-4?) and AYMO heading west.
Saw two other railfans there, chatted with one but didn't get a name.
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