Raritan River SW900

[liquidfantasy]

Once it was the Conrail which "integrated" the RRRR into their system, now it was me doing it the other way round.

The base for my SW900 H0 Models has been a Conrail Proto 2000 Unit. Here you see one of the early pics:



If you look at the details (www.rr-fallenflags.org/rr/rr.html) of one of the original pictures of the RRRR SW900 Units, you might recognize a bunch of Details to be added:
- The Firecracker Antenna
- Rotary Beacon
- Adding MU and Air Hoses
- Modifying the pilots to fit the original appearance

Additional I wasn't happy with the general appearance of the Radiator grille and the fan intake. They are molded in the shell and I wanted to replace them with photo etched detail parts to get this "see through" effect quite common on up to date production series of H0 Locomotives.

I equipped the locos with Digitrax DZ143 decoders. They fit perfectly and still remains a lot of space for resistors and the cabling. All locos got sunny white SMD LEDs. I needed them, because after applying the photo etched radiator grille and the fan intake there was no more space for the basic 3mm LED the loco came with - it would have be shining out the grille then


The 3 Locos are all different in detail! #1 has cab crew and is planned to be a operational unit on the layout (to come within the next 100 years - lol) #3 has the sun shades down, the shutters on the fan intake are closed and no cab crew - this unit was designed mostly to "stand" in the yard or do service as MU. #4 is the one having the most details. Beside cab crew and open window on engineer side I tried to put in some cab details which you can see when looking very close at. F2 will be able to switch on a cab light which lights up the whole interior - looks niiiiiceeeee

enough writing, have some pictures and please give feedback,

cheers,


Denis

[liquidfantasy]

let me share some other pics of the 3 units with you:
#1 and #3 leading a local freight southbound


#1 and #3 passing under the main line to pick up their next load at the Amtrak Maintenance Facility


#1 and #3 on the way back northbound in the second underpass of the main line (note the Mail Cars they haul behind the cab)


#1 and #3 plus Cab #9 bringing the mail cars - #4 with cab #10 on their way southwards


A closer shot of #4 with cab #10 going southwards


hope you like the units ...

Thanks,

[antlorch]

Hey Denis those are great looking engines,I saw them on the weathering board (I believe) and you have done some really nice work on those...........

[liquidfantasy]

Tanks,

and yes, the other board is kinda homeland - but I have to admit that most pl there are totally into freight car weathering and detailing, I think I can find more answers here when it comes to locos and how to modify, detail and paint them

[liquidfantasy]

pics from the layout will come with time ... it's not at my place, it's modular and we only have a few sections built up at a friends place to regularly work on it and detail it .. the pics you see under wire are from finished sections, the others are on a street running scene and are undergoing heavy detailing :-)

I'll have a look and let you kow when I have more pics,

cheers

[westernmaine]

Denis, very nice especially the subtle weathering! Can you share some of your weathering techniques?

thanks

Brandon

[liquidfantasy]

Brandon,

it's nothing really spectacular:
Once the loco is painted and has a glossy or semi glossy varnish, I apply a wash to it.
Second step is applying the dirt and rust using weathering powders and give it a thin matte varnish from time to time.
Finally I apply a dry brush and seal the whole work again with a matte varnish

(I apply the wash preferred on a glossy (shiny surface) because it won't stick to it too much - when the wash is dry, I use q-tips and a water + isoprophylalcohol mixture to remove it where I don't want to have it. This way it only will stay in gaps or deepenings and corners)

cheers

[liquidfantasy]

Thanks Stephen, I own the book since a while

If anyone ever get's into the RRRR like me, I highly can suggest this book! But it won't be available in stores any more, since it was released ages ago ... E-bay is one of the places you can find it from time to time, and it reaches prices between $30 and $60 ...

btw.
The ones interested should have a look on those two private sites, full of information and pictures about the Raritan River:
www.raritanriverrailroad.com/
www.raritanriver-rr.com/

Cheers!

[liquidfantasy]

you got a point !!!

That's good news for all the RRRR folks out there who didn't get one yet ...

[DRLOCO]

OK--I'm basically doing what you did--only to Athearn SW 1500's...
I have Questions for you--whose etched grilles did you use? I'm gonna have to have a slew of them!
Did you make your strobes flash? I'm was planning on doing that for mine...as well as sound. How many functions is that???

I must say, the job you did on those are really outstanding--the weathering is spot on--

[liquidfantasy]

Kris,

the parts are from Detail Associates, Walthers #229-2727 (contains only one piece if I remember correct) And the air intake grilles on the front are #229-2709 (there you have two pieces per package) ... but those you wouldn't need if I'm correct.

The strobe is programmed for flashing! Because of the little size in the switcher I used a digitrax DZ143 decoder which has those FX function outputs and is small enough to fit into the long hood. I didn't put sound in it and I know only few did. It's ok to do it, but you will loose much of weight and the loco won't be able to haul more then like 4 to 5 cars!

But I admit: With my improving skills I tend to build another SW900 for the RRRR with sound and better details (e.g. wire grap irons and not that over sized plastic ones)

[DRLOCO]

Thanks for the info, I think you're right, I"ll skip the sound...and have all the other good details to make up for it...
It's getting to the point I can see what I want to do, but the parts are too small for my fat fingers!

[liquidfantasy]

Why don't you choose an Atlas O scale SW900? Much easier when it comes to the details ... hehe

[DRLOCO]

Yeah--believe me the thought has crossed my mind!
but I think if I were to switch scales, My wife would give me "the look."
you married guys KNOW what I mean!

[liquidfantasy]

LOL - know what you mean

I really would like to do another SW900 for the RRRR with better details, but for the moment I have to finish a bunch of other projects first ... and a ton of freight cars to be weathered ...

[NCCR 2580]

Vey nice work Denis!!! The weathering, Awesome!!! But one thing, Aren't those SW8s? They only have one stack... The lighting in that one unit is awesome! Very nice in deed! I will be doing another P2K SW soon and this time I'm going with the new grills and such. I'm not all that happy with the molded in grills as I know they can be better. On the P2K SW9 I built that I recently made links for, I wished I had took that route. Silver paint did not help any on those grills.

David S.

[liquidfantasy]

David, those must be SW900 to all I was reading about them ...
Also see the pictures of the engines here: www.rr-fallenflags.org/rr/rr.html

I too would like to go into more detail for further units ... but cannon has no SW900 hoods in stock and I also would appreciate a exchange hood with more details and smaller holes for wire grab irons...

[liquidfantasy]

Hey guys, here a short vid I shot today during a local train show: video.google.de/videoplay?docid=1003754521407499887&hl=de

[liquidfantasy]

oh! I'm sorry, the SW900's are w/o sound ... there was a RS27 from Proto2k with QSI sound and about 5 GG1 with QSI sound more or less near by ... one of the GG1's was moved, this was the loudest ... you would have recognized

but see ... even if they are no sound you wouldn't need it when mixed up with sound locos on the layout - t makes enough noise

[liquidfantasy]

Thanks Stan - scale couplers would be cool, but we'd be running the #58 and #158 on all our equipment and a change would not be affordable any more