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Post by iomalley on Jun 28, 2014 18:33:04 GMT -5
Well, with TLTs announcement of the CN Pte St. Charles van coming in HO, and the fact that they actually HAVE the old (ahem) Rapido moulds for it (so its not a TLT pipe dream) I figure I may as well finish my last Athabasca brass van kit as the drive to complete it after the fact will be zero... This one was a bit of a PITA build cuz I think it wasn't left in the etching solution long enough as pretty well every slot was too small for its corresponding tab. GRRRRRR! I had to twist an xacto in every slot to open them up. Anyway, my bottle of Scalecoat CN Red also dried up so I had to paint it with Testors MM Chevy Engine Red. Its a mirror finish, MM is great stuff! TLT warm black, and Floquil CN Yellow.  This one is going to be International van 78138 with the ubiquitous yellow cupola. And yes, those of you with keen rods and cones will spy the ol' Athearn caboose trucks under it, as the wheelbase of them is just a hair less than Atlas and Kadee so it'll actually pivot past the step gables with Proto88 wheels. They're old but they work with Athabasca's prototypical steps and clearances. I would have loved to use Kadee's gorgeous rendition of the modern caboose truck, but it won't fit no matter what I do. I have one Athabasca CP Van kit left, and some misc parts (thanx Efram!) but with Rapido's CP Van out there, puts it all to shame, and I imagine the CN van will do the same too. I'm sure this one will find a home in the collection. This one brings the PSC count to 5, and the modern CN count to 8. WIth a couple more PSCs from TLT that should fill a healthy roster on the caboose track...   So speaking of Athabasca, in this photo there are 2 CN PSC Athabasca (Ath) kits, one PMI resin van with Ath end railings, one Sylvan resin T van with Ath end railings, and a H&D CP resin van with Ath brass end railings too, so there are lots of Athabasca parts in this collection. If anybody has any of those H&D resin CP van kits they want to sell, LMK!! |
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Post by emd16645 on Jun 28, 2014 19:42:21 GMT -5
Looks great Sean. I've always liked the look of the Athabasca kits, just haven't got my hands on one. I have a Sylvan kit to build at somepoint, but with TLT doing a run of the Alaska PSC vans, I don't know how much motivation I'll have for more of the kits either!
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Post by nsc409w on Jun 28, 2014 23:55:25 GMT -5
Excellent job on the CN Van. The Pt. St. Charles Van has always held a special place in my heart as my parents bought one when I was 9 and it has been in my parents back yard for the the last 20 years. I'm sure I've posted it before but here is a pic. Shane  |
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Post by iomalley on Jun 29, 2014 7:41:02 GMT -5
Shane, that is tres cool! Did your parents do anything with the interior, ie convert it to a cottage or better yet put a layout in it!?!?! That's a cool number to do, with the new style cots stencil, but still has its ACI label from the 70's!
There's one in a doctor's backyard 20mi from here that has a layout in it. He never uses it, and a friend of mine does his bi-yearly trip to his house to clean the cobwebs, track and vacuum up the mouse sh^t.
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Post by iomalley on Jun 29, 2014 7:49:14 GMT -5
Looks great Sean. I've always liked the look of the Athabasca kits, just haven't got my hands on one. I have a Sylvan kit to build at somepoint, but with TLT doing a run of the Alaska PSC vans, I don't know how much motivation I'll have for more of the kits either! Actually, I think the Sylvans are the best kit out there. It is more dimensionally accurate than the AThabasca's and you're not hemmed into incorrect details like you would be with brass. Here's my Sylvan PSC...  I would rate them as follows #1 TLT (Rapido, from the pre-production one I saw at the Toronto RPM) #2 OMI #3 Sylvan resin #4 Van Hobbies (cupola end windows are off) #5 Athabasca (cupola end windows are off, predrilled holes in wrong locations for side grabs, truck mounting pita) #6 PMI resin (looks ok, cupola end windows square, decal window frames) #7 AMM (poor quality resin pour) |
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Post by nsc409w on Jun 29, 2014 11:26:45 GMT -5
Sean,
We put in propane heat, laminate hardwood flooring, bunk beds, running water via the pre-existing tank, painted everything white, new hardwood desks, screen doors, composting toilet, and buried an electrical line from the house. Mom also reupholstered all the chairs. This was our guesthouse since our house didn't have room for guests, and my brother and I spent hours and hours playing on it. We also watched trains from it as CSX's Montreal Secondary passes by 100 ft away. When we painted the exterior we did it section by section to match the paint as it arrived at our house in rough shape. We bought it directly from CN and it traveled by rail from Edmonton Alberta. Conrail at the time dropped it off right on the mainline and we had a 60 ton crane waiting to pick it up. It was quite an experience. I also am partial to the sylvan kit as my father built a matching model. As crazy is I may sound we also owed another Pt. St. Charles Van for over 10 years that was amtrak rated and was leased to the Adorondack Scenic Railroad but it became too expensive to keep FRA rated.
Shane
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Post by emd16645 on Jun 29, 2014 12:16:08 GMT -5
As crazy is I may sound we also owed another Pt. St. Charles Van for over 10 years that was amtrak rated and was leased to the Adorondack Scenic Railroad but it became too expensive to keep FRA rated. I would love to see a PSC tacked on to the end of an Amtrak train. It would be a sight to see. |
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Post by emd16645 on Jun 29, 2014 12:21:57 GMT -5
Actually, I think the Sylvans are the best kit out there. It is more dimensionally accurate than the AThabasca's and you're not hemmed into incorrect details like you would be with brass. Here's my Sylvan PSC... It's too bad that Sylvan kits are out of production. I talked to them about the PSC at the last Springfield show, turns out they are no longer produced due to the cost of the etched set that goes with the car. Apparently the etcher began demanding unreasonable quantities per etch order, so Sylvan opted to end production. |
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Post by CP_8530 on Jun 29, 2014 14:00:39 GMT -5
Brass, you gotta love to hate it sometimes  Nice work on the "Charlie van" as a friend sometimes calls it. |
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Post by tjmfishing on Jun 30, 2014 7:37:12 GMT -5
That MM Chevy Engine Red is good stuff eh, its all I use.
On the other hand...I also have two Athabasca's to build as well as a Sylvan Transfer Van so it looks like this winter will be devoted to cranking out CN RS-18's and cabooses.
As you said though, I have five TLT cabooses on the way but I don't think I will lose interest
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Post by iomalley on Jul 1, 2014 21:20:45 GMT -5
Decals on!  |
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efram
Chairman
Posts: 206
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Post by efram on Jul 2, 2014 7:22:39 GMT -5
Nice to see that kit has gone to good use, let's see some weathering!!!
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Post by iomalley on Sept 20, 2014 13:15:11 GMT -5
All Done! No weathering on this one, seeing as it was probably painted this way in the early to mid 80's...my era. One thing about having 2 kindergarden-aged daughters is that I have alot of cellophane packaging from barbie boxes and the like, so I will never be short of window material for my models!   |
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Post by icghogger on Sept 20, 2014 13:41:46 GMT -5
SWEEEEET!!  |
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dtinut
Chairman
Modeling the DT&I of the 60's & 70's
Posts: 661
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Post by dtinut on Sept 20, 2014 16:37:31 GMT -5
Nice job Sean - looks really nice.
I have one of the Sylvan kits on a shelf somewhere in the basement.
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Post by tjmfishing on Sept 20, 2014 20:41:06 GMT -5
Awesome Sean, really very nice. Where did you get the International Service decals?
Also, what was the point of the International Service cabooses? I'd always assumed that they were cleared to cross the US-Canada border, much the same as how certain engines were. Any idea how far from the border they tended to stray?
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Post by iomalley on Sept 21, 2014 8:48:40 GMT -5
I had the decals made custom by Highball, even the car numbers are stencilized...
Where I live, they were pretty much only on the Toronto to Chicago trains like the Laser. Towards the last years of their use they had a flashing red light added to the end gable which is still a US requirement.
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Post by tjmfishing on Sept 21, 2014 9:28:16 GMT -5
I had the decals made custom by Highball, even the car numbers are stencilized... Where I live, they were pretty much only on the Toronto to Chicago trains like the Laser. Towards the last years of their use they had a flashing red light added to the end gable which is still a US requirement. I'll have to ask my uncle about this one too. Nice Voodo by the way, I didn't see it first pass through. |
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sd40t2
Probationary Member
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Post by sd40t2 on Mar 23, 2015 8:04:07 GMT -5
Shane, I have passed by that caboose a number of times nice to know a little more about it
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Post by analogbeatmaker on Mar 24, 2015 1:12:54 GMT -5
Super nice build Sean! The detail is very well done and the paint is very crisp.
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Nice work on the "Charlie van" as a friend sometimes calls it.
