Used and Abused Santa Fe

[ace]

I've noticed over the years that the health of ex Santa Fe 8-40CW's have really gone down hill since the merger. I have been wanting to model one of these and finnally got around to doing so this past spring. It was my first fade/peel job and its a little heavy but i like it that way
Now i know the real units have 4 little BNSF letters underneath the cab numbers but i decided to skip over that detail because i have seen several ex ATSF warbonnets with the BNSF faded well off. Other than the weathering it is pretty much just a stock Santa Fe Atlas



A comparison with the Santa Fe SD75M i havent had a chance to finish yet (someday )

[Randy Earle]

That poor thing is really abused.

[gnsteve]

The 8-40CW I did could be the before picture for your engine. Yours is what I see roll through town these days. You really captured the look well. Good Job.

[DRGW 5398]

I think you did a great job on that...looks real to me...the ATSF Red faded worse than on the SP AC4400's, where red not pink! Yuck! I think it would be nice if UP and BNSF would repaint them as REAL HERITAGE UNITS!

Nice job again...I like!

[mrlfan]

Ace that engine looks very nice the way I like the Santa Fe to look(grin). What is the MRL engine in the background on the 2nd picture? Glenn

[RunningExtra]

Excellent job on the fade and weathering!!

[icghogger]

Very Nice Work Indeed, Ace!

[railfan]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Nice work though.

[ace]

Thank you very much for the kind comments! I faded it out with a mixture of white paint and denatured alcohol i believe. Fading is somewhat of a hard process it just takes alot of expermintation, i tryed my mixtures on about 5 warbonnet life like GP38 cabs before i finnally jumped on the Atlas.
Mrlfan the MRL unit is a Atlas SD35 highhood, in real life it was converted to a chop nose but i think the highhood looks pretty nice in the MRL scheme.

[icghogger]

Well, now that kicks MAJOR butt, Ace!

[wpdivwldr]

Both engines look good Ace, care to share on the mixture of whire paint to alcohol? just what I've been looking to do on a SP. very nice John

[ace]

Thank you guys. As for the ratio of paint to alcohol i honestly have no idea it was probably more towards 50/50 i just exprerimented a little. To get the clear coat peeling effect i used a little gray paint mixed with just a little bit of red paint to create a almost pink color and brushed it on with a fine brush. It's pretty much just all trial and error and im still suprised i didnt mess the unit up doing so.

[Ridgeline]

NICE! I'm a big fan of those beaten-down warbonnets.... Planning to model a few dash-9s after my current project...

[mrlfan]

Thanks for sharing Ace, I have a couple of SF units I would love to fade like that. It would drive the Fe fans around these parts nuts to see them like that. ;D Glenn

[railfan]

That... Looks... AWESOME!!!!!!

[Randy Earle]

Ace, you wouldn't happen to have a video about that Scanty Fe unit on UTube do you? I saw a video with a guy showing one just like it.

[ace]

Again thank you guys for the comments! ;D
Nope, no videos of my stuff on youtube, im not much of a videographer as opposed to photographer.

[Raeder]

Hmmm... I don't see these units coming through my part of the country, so they must not be based anywhere around here. I do see the the Dash 9's that are heading the same way. What I've noticed about them is that they are not as uniform, some paint will be pink and faded on the right, but the left will be decent.

The other thing I have noticed a lot of is the Dayton-Phoenix air conditioners being swapped between units. I saw a Dash 9 today where the A/C unit was painted BNSF orange to begin with, but it had faded so badly it was more of a tan color than anything else. I want to do a model with one of these ex-Santa Fe units with the Heritage a/C unit on the side, and vice versa. I don't know if they do that with the Dash 8's, but it would be an interesting detail.

Kevin