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Post by CP_8530 on May 22, 2013 1:04:47 GMT -5
Yup, it's about time for a build thread on one. Mine has progressed a bit so far, but it's best to start at the beginning... A long time ago in a galaxy somewhat far away (Canada), L-L Proto 2000/Hobbycraft Canada did a bunch of E8 models in Canadian schemes in the 1990's, I've so far seen block lettering CP units and VIA Rail units (they did both 1800 and 1802 in both CP & VIA). But I have never seen a listing for or photos of action red ones, so figure they probably never did them. 3 were bought by CP (1800-1802) in 1949 for the Alouette/B&M Red Wing passenger trains, but by the time they got the action red in '72 or 73 the two remaining units were mainly in service on the Atlantic Ltd between Montreal QC and St. John NB. That is, until VIA took over passenger ops, repainted them early on, and stuck them on the Canadian all the time (*as shown here*). They were renumbered once, retired in 1982, bought back by CP for parts and scrapped in 1984. But, getting back on track, we want one painted in action red ( *like this*), and it doesn't seem they were offered, so we're left rolling our own. I'd been keeping an eye out for P2K E8's and managed to find a decent deal on a NIB undec one, and thus it began:
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Post by CP_8530 on May 24, 2013 3:06:03 GMT -5
The stock undec paint job (P2K generally shoots some primer grey on their undecorated units) was pretty good, and there weren't too many body modifications to do, so I didn't bother to strip it. However, I did sand off some of the molding lines around the nose and upper windshields (and filled some holes around the molding lines above the windshields). There was also a slight indentation on the conductor's side nose by the door that needed filling (where the track for the working doors was cast behind). I got out the ol' tube of Squadron putty and gave it a few applications, and sanded it smooth. I also patched the roof grab holes, centre horn hole (with styrene) and sand hatches (which will be drilled out later to install the earlier style). I also took it upon myself to modify the front windshields. A common complaint is they curve off down to the sides too much, so I removed some material from the lower middle and upper corners of the two front windows to try and reduce this. I also removed the gasket around the front windshields, as looking at photos it was actually set into the housings and not out. Additionally, I began drilling the holes out for the nose grabs. CP had some extra ones installed around the nose (you can see I wasn't happy with the initial holes on this side, so filled them in and drilled others. After patching and sanding everything down, I shot the nose area with a light coat of grey to expose any imperfections in my patch job to fix. That done, I started marking out locations to drill the holes for the engineers' side grab ladder. These were installed on all CP passenger units in the late 60's (but only a few of their freight F's), and varied slightly from unit to unit. I worked from prototype photos of 1800. It got a little messy, and a few holes had to be patched and redrilled, but it got done in the end: I also eyeballed, marked out and drilled the offset horn location above the engineers' side for the 3-chime horn. Initially 1800-1802 were delivered with two single chime horns, changed to a M5 over the engineers' side (on 1801 is was actually over the conductors'), and later they got M3H & K3H variants. The M5 horn here is just a test for now, it's going to get an M3 or K3. I also already went ahead and did the winterization hatches red.
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Post by CP_8530 on May 24, 2013 3:22:28 GMT -5
Now the plow. The CP units were delivered with passenger pilots, but during the 50's got retrofitted with freight ones. There were a few dimensional differences between the models and the prototypes, specifically the side curves. I patched the sides with bits of CA cut to fit the sides, making sure to cross-hatch score the surfaces of the styrene and plow for a better joint. Once dry, I carved it to the right profile with a hobby knife and applied some body putty to fill any gaps/hide the joint. I also modified the section of the pilot below the coupler with some makeshift hinges, as it opened up to expose the steam lines when needed. As with the nose grabs, it got a little messy locating exactly where the new cut levers would be. I drilled the holes, but left off the mounts for now (the cut levers will be bent out of wire and installed later). And last but not least, CP's E & F units got a D-shaped cutout in the plow on the right side when they got the side nose ladder, to act as an extra step. I drilled it out and opened it up/squared & rounded it off with a file.
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pacbelt
Chairman
Building Layout #11!! ;)
Posts: 682
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Post by pacbelt on May 24, 2013 5:09:47 GMT -5
THAT'S some great work, on one of my favorite Covered Wagons!!
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Post by CP_8530 on May 24, 2013 16:42:22 GMT -5
Thanks pacbelt. The next installment: a quick test-fit shot, taken while I was working on my CP 6234 (SD60) project. I also patched the nose door a bit (will install a nicer latch later). The holes for the sand hatches have been drilled out, I'll be borrowing a set from a Highliners B-unit shell to use. I wanted to get the numberboards out of the way, and devised an interesting way of creating that "behind the glass" look. I decalled them backwards on the inside of the plastic numberboard glazing as shown below, and when the clear dried I painted over the decals black, giving the appearance of them being mounted on the inside. This wouldn't have worked if I did 1802, but since the digits involved in 1800 looked the same either way it worked out fine. CP's units had 5-slot numberboard assemblies, and the exact positioning of the numbers varied over their lives, but by this time the 1800's were offset to the left on either numberboard, so: I installed the sand hatches, gave the unit a quick primer coat of CP diesel grey to cover any further patching, and began painting some of the separate parts (nose door red, pilot red & black), and test-fit the numberboards, grilles (CP's had the earlier style) and a Custom Finishings 3-chime horn for this shot. The chassis got Kadee #58's early: Next step, red.
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Post by m a y o r 79 on May 24, 2013 22:45:16 GMT -5
Looking good. I really like that number board effect!
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Post by iomalley on May 25, 2013 11:01:46 GMT -5
Wow, you do great work Dan!
I've laid decals on backwards before, it is dicey but possible. You have to pull it off the backsheet in the water and carefully place it on the model. I also use this method for yellowed decals to remove as much adhesive as possible. The decals don't need adhesive if you work at it with a pick and solvaset afterwards...
of course this doesn't work with anything but all white or non-white backed decals.
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Post by 57603oh on May 28, 2013 12:48:56 GMT -5
love this, looking great already. Cant wait to see it finished
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Post by CP_8530 on May 30, 2013 0:58:33 GMT -5
Thanks guys, the more I work on it the more I like the results. Even though there are some shortcomings with the old circa 1994 tooling, the P2K E8 is still a solid base. The painting and pilot work was then completed. The whole thing got a coat of TLT Action Red, and after leaving it to dry for a day or two the end was masked off and painted warm black (as the base for the white and black stripes), as well as the skirting (photo below). Everything then got a coat of Gloss glaze in preparation for decalling. Don't be alarmed by the lax masking on the sides, I had already removed ("unwrapped") most of the side tape. Microscale decals were used for the lettering, 5" striping (E8's never got the 8") and multimark (although the multimark sheet didn't have one quite the right size, so I had to extend one vertically a little bit with a small bit of white cut off another - not really noticeable and it didn't alter the look of it). Small F's at the front were added, and the time-consuming 1800 below the cab window area, as well as the CP Rail lettering on the sides. Some small illegible writing was used to simulate the "lift here" lettering above the 4 jack points. 1800 seems to have lost its class and builders' plates by the time it was repainted red, so none of those were applied. "Water fill" lettering was later present above the side skirt cutouts for the twin 567B water fills (not the fuel and water fill lettering which will be applied on the tank below those two fills) but as-repainted it seems to be missing those, so again one less thing to apply. Both the front and rear striping took a bit of extra work. The rear was a bit of a pain because no matter how much Microset was used, the striping had a difficult time settling over all those E-unit ribs at the back, and got a bit distorted when I started cutting the decals around the ribs for a better fit. It was a bit of a mess. I went back and touched up the broken white stripes with white paint after everything had settled. Below is just after applying the decals (not showing all the fun aftermath): Now, CP action red units had a few versions of the front stripes: early ones went all the way up the nose, later ones stopped halfway up the headlight, but some went a little higher. Studying photos, it tended to vary from unit to unit, along with the black anti-glare patch on the nose: early repaints didn't have this, and the nose was simply red on top. A small black half-circle for anti-glare was later added on the nose (on some units over the top of the stripes that went all the way up the nose). This was later enlarged, and the black part also went up the bottoms of the front windshields. Repaints from then on typically had the stripes stop a bit before the black, halfway up the nose headlight. Minor stripe and anti-glare variations like these existed and differed from unit to unit, depending on when and where they were repainted. Units were even repainted with the stripes going all the way up under the black patch later in the game. And some of the later 8" stripe repaints also varied like this 5" scheme. A bit mind-boggling. Anyway, CP's two E8's were repainted in 1972/73, and by then they got the full black anti-glare, and the stripes stopping around halfway up the nose. I wasn't happy with how the stock Microscale CP F-unit decal fit on the nose, so cut the top flat and cut little stripe decals to get the tops of all the stripes at the right angle, at the right height (there was a bit of a curve down from the headlight). I didn't take any photos of this step as I wanted it quickly done for the next step (but see the window fitting shot 2 down for an idea). The black anti-glare panel on the nose needed to follow the contour of the top of the nose stripes, so I saved that step for last once the nose stripes were done. As there were no decals for it and it varied slightly unit to unit, it had to be painted on. The decals were all sealed with a good coat of gloss (so the nose masking wouldn't rip them off) and the nose was masked off with some Tamiya model masking tape. I cut some curves into the wider pieces to start and tried to fit them going by photos of the nose, touching up areas with more or less tape. The whole body was shielded with a few small plastic parts baggies taped over to avoid any black overspray whatsoever. All the masking around the nose was checked and double checked before airbrushing the coat of black (since we don't want any black spray spots after all that decalling). Even then, it wasn't shaped exactly right. Fortunately the black wasn't fully dry, and the gloss coat made it easy to scrap the black off any too-wide areas by lightly using a toothpick. Any shallow areas were touched up with a fine brush, and once everything settled the nose top got a light coat of clear to blend in any minor colour touch-ups. Since the body was painted and decalled, I could now start applying detailed parts. All the metal grabs were bent with 0.015" wire according to photos (bent and fitted before painting, set aside until now) and installed in the holes already drilled (maybe in the future I'll experiment with some NBW castings, but for now...). In 1968 the "extra" (non door) grabs/handrails were all initially painted black, but this changed to white on later repaints like the E8's. The CP F & E units with the ladder of grabs up the right side of the nose (late 60's mod) had the existing two grabs enlarged and moved around, and new ones added up the side to the top of the nose. The arrangement was generally the same although the placement could vary slightly, and units often had them applied unlevel (always consult prototype photos). The two top "eyebrow" grabs on the cab roof could either be straight (like on 1802) or bent to match the roof profile (like on 1800). Since I altered the front window housings, the existing glazing wouldn't fit. So ever the glutton for punishment, I stole some clear plastic glazing from a Cannon & Co cab and made some custom front and side windows from it, cutting and filing until a good fit was achieved. Microscale Crystal Clear was used to secure them (although the Cannon window plastic is a bit slippery). All the side portholes and square door windows were stock P2K glazing (weeew!) that had a tight enough press-in fit not to require any glue. Next, some light electronics work.
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Post by icghogger on May 30, 2013 3:17:35 GMT -5
Nice Work, Dan!!
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Post by CP_8530 on May 30, 2013 14:20:56 GMT -5
The next task was to redo the electronics in our nearly complete E8 model. There wasn't too much to do, but number one was to swap out the non-DCC friendly circuit board. The wires were all cut, the MARS/Gyra light wiring was removed (no 2nd nose headlight so not needed) and the circuit board was removed. Some LED lighting from Miniatronics was installed for the front headlight, wires were rerouted and spliced, and everything hooked to a replacement DCC 8-pin female plug for future DCC/sound conversion. A custom male dummy plug was installed in the other end for the time being (the end pin part cut off a P2K GP9 diode board and rewired).
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Post by CP_8530 on May 31, 2013 14:20:01 GMT -5
Final touches include installing the cut levers on the pilot. The P2K unit doesn't have any for the front pilot, so I built one for the front used some spare brackets from a Kaslo kit and wire bent/glued/soldered into shape. I also installed the extra-long grab on the right side of the anticlimber. Now, on CP units it went around and fastened to the side of the frame under the cab, but since the body comes off separate from the pilot simply mounting this grab with glue would be a no-go. I came up with a little compromise: I cut a tiny section out from below the hole in the body so it would fit over the grab iron when placed on the chassis, and bent the grab back and glued it back to the rear of the pilot. The side door handrails were painted white with red ends and installed on the unit. The kickplates by the steps were also painted silver before the cab steps were installed. The long stainless steel grills (early horizontal style from the undec) were then installed. I should have used something more flexible like Walthers glue, but just CA'ed them to the carbody instead. There were some minor "popping" issues near the ends that required regluing, but once those were sorted out the grills sat nice and flat. Applying the glue to the carbody and carefully "rolling" the grills onto it (rather than just sticking the whole grill on at once) helped. The unit is basically complete, although still missing a few knick-knacks like the nose door latch (needs to be installed), a small nose vent on the other side (needs to be made), Sinclair antenna (I always run out of those). They didn't frequently run with CP's passenger geeps, but:
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Post by railfan on Jun 1, 2013 7:55:33 GMT -5
What a beauty, mate.
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thb71
Probationary Member
Posts: 9
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Post by thb71 on Jun 3, 2013 17:02:33 GMT -5
Excellent job again Dan! Thanks for sharing. Bill
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Post by CP_8530 on Jun 3, 2013 18:54:47 GMT -5
Thanks guys! I'm tempted to do sister unit 1802 to have a nice matching A-A set, but I think I'll wait a while before doing another E8.
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Post by tamaman on Jun 4, 2013 9:27:50 GMT -5
Nice work Dan!
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Post by jakeloyst on Jun 4, 2013 21:47:13 GMT -5
Unit looks Great! Did you consider doing one in the classic maroon and grey?
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Post by CP_8530 on Jun 5, 2013 1:36:37 GMT -5
Unit looks Great! Did you consider doing one in the classic maroon and grey? I was actually throwing around the idea in my head of doing an 1801 in maroon and grey. That way I could do the matching set in red (1800+1802), and have one in M&G as well (1801). It would be a long term goal though , I really don't need many E-units at the moment.
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Post by railfan on Jun 5, 2013 2:29:18 GMT -5
One can never have to many E-units.
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Post by jakeloyst on Jun 5, 2013 21:07:50 GMT -5
lol, I model CN, in the late 60s, and I still feel the need for at least of the CP units wandering around, its all good. Fortunately CN has an E9 I think now, that is used on business trains, and it will end up in the green and yellow, thats 2 so far
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