Post by parkerlocoworks on Sept 8, 2016 15:12:17 GMT -5
Hi Everyone!
Posting my first project over here. I'm modeling the Arizona & California Railroad in N scale and am wanting to model some of their locomotives in a bit more detail to match the prototype. The first locomotives on my workbench are GP35's 3502 and 3503. The ARZC had a few GP35's, but 3503 was the only one with Southern Pacific heritage. On my railroad, both 3502 and 3503 will be of Southern Pacific Heritage. I'm doing this because I like the details present on the real 3503 and it gives me a chance to build and detail two locomotives and learn a few things along the way. The models are Atlas/Kato Classic GP35, however, I do not know what phase they may be. Hopefully the folks here can possibly help me with those kind of details/information.
ARZC 3503
ARZC 3503
I've been lucky enough to get some photos from an employee of the railroad, but most of my research has been done online. When 3503 was repainted for the ARZC, the SP light package had already been plated over. The models feature a single headlight on the long hood and a single headlight on the cab. On the rear, I've added the extended steel housing for the lights using strip styrene to match the molded on light. I then used strip styrene to create the plates. On the cab, I plated over the light between the numberboards. I had to move the headlight to the nose and cut in the portion of the light housing that was removed. I will add rivets to the plates using Archer decals after a primer coat.
On the pilots, I sanded the Atlas molded details flush and rebuilt the plates at the bottom. I used two different styrene sizes to simulate the plates. On thing that has really bugged in N scale is MU hose detail. We have some very nice etchings by BLMA, but they are flat. Every picture I have seen of MU hoses show that the hoses come out of the pilot perpendicular and then turn down. There is also a small angle above the hoses. Even though they are very out of scale, I tried to replicate this on the pilots. I used styrene channel cut in half and sanded thin to simulate the angle. From here, I will mount the BLMA hoses to the bottom of the channel and then turn them down. I like the look of these as of right now, but if anyone else has suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I know Brian Banna would install individual hoses made from brass wire in his pilots and clamp the ends to simulate the glad hands, I may still try this approach.
Up to this point I've also removed the handrails from the molded walkway. I will build the handrails and stanchions with brass wire. Still to do includes the need to fill the little notches on the pilot where the molded handrails attached, add the horn, the bell, the anticlimbers and the MU receptacle.. I'll build the handrails before paint and will install the cut levers at the same time I also need to add plates where the class lights used to be as I sanded them off before deciding to build these models with some accuracy. Any thoughts on how to do those? After paint and decals I'll add the grab irons all around.
Thanks for helping!
Doug
Posting my first project over here. I'm modeling the Arizona & California Railroad in N scale and am wanting to model some of their locomotives in a bit more detail to match the prototype. The first locomotives on my workbench are GP35's 3502 and 3503. The ARZC had a few GP35's, but 3503 was the only one with Southern Pacific heritage. On my railroad, both 3502 and 3503 will be of Southern Pacific Heritage. I'm doing this because I like the details present on the real 3503 and it gives me a chance to build and detail two locomotives and learn a few things along the way. The models are Atlas/Kato Classic GP35, however, I do not know what phase they may be. Hopefully the folks here can possibly help me with those kind of details/information.
ARZC 3503
ARZC 3503
I've been lucky enough to get some photos from an employee of the railroad, but most of my research has been done online. When 3503 was repainted for the ARZC, the SP light package had already been plated over. The models feature a single headlight on the long hood and a single headlight on the cab. On the rear, I've added the extended steel housing for the lights using strip styrene to match the molded on light. I then used strip styrene to create the plates. On the cab, I plated over the light between the numberboards. I had to move the headlight to the nose and cut in the portion of the light housing that was removed. I will add rivets to the plates using Archer decals after a primer coat.
On the pilots, I sanded the Atlas molded details flush and rebuilt the plates at the bottom. I used two different styrene sizes to simulate the plates. On thing that has really bugged in N scale is MU hose detail. We have some very nice etchings by BLMA, but they are flat. Every picture I have seen of MU hoses show that the hoses come out of the pilot perpendicular and then turn down. There is also a small angle above the hoses. Even though they are very out of scale, I tried to replicate this on the pilots. I used styrene channel cut in half and sanded thin to simulate the angle. From here, I will mount the BLMA hoses to the bottom of the channel and then turn them down. I like the look of these as of right now, but if anyone else has suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I know Brian Banna would install individual hoses made from brass wire in his pilots and clamp the ends to simulate the glad hands, I may still try this approach.
Up to this point I've also removed the handrails from the molded walkway. I will build the handrails and stanchions with brass wire. Still to do includes the need to fill the little notches on the pilot where the molded handrails attached, add the horn, the bell, the anticlimbers and the MU receptacle.. I'll build the handrails before paint and will install the cut levers at the same time I also need to add plates where the class lights used to be as I sanded them off before deciding to build these models with some accuracy. Any thoughts on how to do those? After paint and decals I'll add the grab irons all around.
Thanks for helping!
Doug