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Post by Raeder on Jan 20, 2010 23:50:04 GMT -5
Hi Deez,
Thanks for the advice. I looked at my unit, which, like yours, was a Conrail unit, and I can get things pretty close, but looking at it, I can still see a gap under the blower duct. The walkway appears to be flush with the bottom of the shell, and I'm sure I'd have trouble getting that any closer, but I think some thin styrene under the blower duct would be the thing to do. The tabs you're pointing to on yours don't appear to be interfering with the shell on mine. Did you notice any interference with the chassis or anything with those four tabs? When I have the walkway and shell off the chassis things fit fine, but good luck getting them to do that when they are attached. Something to keep working on, anyways.
Kevin
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deez
Chairman
Midland Belt Railway
Posts: 949
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Post by deez on Jan 22, 2010 18:49:47 GMT -5
Yeah, I havent put that locomotive back together yet. I still have to strip the paint off of the shells. I'll do some more research in a bit because you just might be right about how everything looks once it's back together.
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garyrsatx
Trainmaster
It's been a while, but I'm back!
Posts: 119
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Post by garyrsatx on Feb 24, 2010 14:42:44 GMT -5
Freaken outstanding!!! To bad SP didn't have those....
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Freightrain
Chairman
Modeling CSX from 1995 to present
Posts: 625
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Post by Freightrain on Jun 10, 2010 13:19:50 GMT -5
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Post by Raeder on Jun 13, 2010 9:42:14 GMT -5
Hey, that is a nice shot of them. I have to wonder if they are using all four of those things together. That'll move some small mountains!
In other news, I experimented with a resistance soldering iron on the handrail for the TEBUC6...now I am rebuilding it since I melted it in half!
Go me.
I also took the SD38P to the club and painted it black. I also broke one of the wires off the front beacon, so now I have to replace that. Sigh...
I'm making progress, really I am!
I also found out that QSI is now selling a Revolution sound decoder in the A/U format, which is supposed to be the right size to fit in this loco, since it was setup for a QSI sound system originally, but never had one, being a Silver series unit. If I decide I need sound in this unit, which I might have to do, that'll make things a little easier for the install.
Kevin
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Post by Randy Earle on Jun 13, 2010 13:17:23 GMT -5
I just looked at my SD40X and my HH SD35 and they have the rear cab gap too.
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Post by Raeder on Jul 19, 2010 23:30:18 GMT -5
Do you ever have one of those days hen you get so much done you just can't stop, and you end up feeling really, REALLY productive?
I had one of those days today. It felt really nice!
I decided to wander the DD until I felt inspired to do something on my projects. I wandered a page or two, and BAM! Inspiration hit me! I felt the mad need to do some soldering on really tiny LED's!
I just so happened to need to do some of this since I tore the leads off of two of the strobes on the SD38P getting the tape back off of them. So I soldered like a fiend, and then glued, taped, filed, drilled, slid, fitted, wiggled, taped again, assembled, disassembled, and put back together again, and finally had the SD38P all in one piece! Yay!
The disco lights are working again! Oh happy day!
Kevin
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Post by diesel on Nov 26, 2010 23:33:49 GMT -5
Kevin Johnson, just looking through here and was wondering if you've made any progress.
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Post by Raeder on Nov 28, 2010 22:17:10 GMT -5
On these units, no, nothing lately. At least, no new parts added, that sort of thing.
What I HAVE made progress on was something else that was bothering me a great deal.
Namely, the paint.
These units will be painted in black and green. I painted the SD38P in black and was really not happy with the way the job came out, but I can live with it. Mainly the paint job looks "sandy", as if it was sprayed over a bunch of sand. Not a good look.
The problem lies with my airbrush. The unit is an Iwata, and it is a good brush, but it only has one size of nozzle and needle available, and the aperture that it is equipped with will not spray acrylic paint without producing this sandy finish. Will not. Period. I've painted so many different colors, and tried everything I could think of, and I just can't do it. Either I need a new airbrush, or a new paint. Paint being cheaper, we decided to experiment with enamels instead.
A bottle of Model Master black later, I have figured out how to make this work. And the finish is so much better that I will be using them from here on. I only spray at the club, which has an airbooth, so the whole chemical thing is mostly not a problem except for cleaning, when a set of gloves is recommended.
Further work with a load of BN green over the black on another project confirmed that this change is the way to go. The green sprayed on just as nice as the black, though not as glossy, being a different brand. I don't like the extended drying time, but the finish is well worth it, so we'll make it work.
Now that I have the paint figured out, pretty much the next step is to get the cab roof figured out on the TEBUC6, install a different set of headlamp LED's, and then look at getting it into the paint shop.
I have had the units out running on the club layout as I tested out some trackwork, and they are the units I use for kicking cars in the yards (yes, we actually are "kicking" cars like they do in real life) and the units are running well.
I have noticed some of my projects get held up like this for some time until a problem I have gets figured out in another project. I think this one is pretty much figured out, hopefully it'll be moving again here soon. Especially with the holidays coming up and some free time from work in there as well.
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Post by diesel on Dec 3, 2010 0:22:57 GMT -5
Kevin Johnson, ya my projects move along just fine too, until I hit a wall, then it can take some time to get over it. As for the paint, I'm sorry to hear it. I'm sure that stressed you. I painted last weekend too and I actually had some of that badger paint made for models I wanted to finish up. Woops! I got a few blotchy patches and a sandy finish as well. I cussed, then quickly got out the reliable Floquil and all was fixed. -just a side note here... you can spray chem over acril but NOT acril over chem,... it'll peel right off. I have a question though... do you always shoot the black first? I always spray green first, and in general the lighter color first. BUT, does the BN green look nicer when shot over black? I do use the blue gloves rated for chem & a painting resporator; if you can smell it then it's bad. I have decided to do SD38P 1801, which is one of the FEW of these from a 38 instead of a 35. -I'm not sure if if's gonna be accurate, I'm using the Athearn which is not a -2, but the prototype was: www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=615635www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=813482www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1088196
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Post by Raeder on Dec 6, 2010 8:46:20 GMT -5
Hi Dan,
I can't say I've had any problems doing it one way or the other, the black doesn't have to be masked and the green does, so that's why the colors go on in that order.
I have to say, after the way things went yesterday, I need to find whichever paint it was that had the thinner mixed in already to the correct proportion. I remember reading in MR there was a paint that was already thinned and all you have to do is mix and spray. This whole thing of mixing in the thinner is getting stupid, because I end up with paint and thinner everywhere. On me, the airbrush, the work area...everywhere!
Plus, now I have to go pull another shell and strip it because of the paint not being mixed properly, so the paint came out of the airbrush all splattery and made a really bad finish right on top of the shell.
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Post by Raeder on Oct 15, 2011 17:05:03 GMT -5
Okay, so it has been a long time since this project was updated, but that's okay because it's been a long time since I've done anything with this project.
I finally redid the headlights on the TEBUC6 unit, and rebuilt the handrail. Now we're back where we were, oh, about six months ago...
I think it's time to get some paint on the unit. That's the next step. No photos for now, because the overall look of the unit hasn't changed. Just the replacement of the headlights so they don't light up the cab as much, and getting the left handrail replaced.
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Post by diesel on Oct 15, 2011 20:07:07 GMT -5
So, all these need are paint, pilot candy, decals and weathering!??!?!?! yyyyyeaaaaaahhh!!!
I can't wait to see that,... I've been slow to restart modeling myself. I've done only a few things here an there, like finally adding stanchions and handrails to one of my Empire units.
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Post by Raeder on Oct 19, 2011 7:46:10 GMT -5
paint, pilot candy, decals and weathering
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I've been running the units at a friends layout, and I like them, but the lack of such things and the fact that they are unfinished is starting to bother me, so it seems like a good time to get moving on them again. Plus the headlight issue has been fixed, which really needed to happen before paint went on.
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dstark
Probationary Member
Posts: 3
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Post by dstark on Dec 11, 2011 11:09:50 GMT -5
Very nice work.
I just signed up here and hope this isn't too late - I'm curious as to why you're not changing the radiator intakes on the SD38P - at least I didn't see this mentioned. All the prototypes received new corrugated intakes. When I get around to modeling one of these, my plan is to shorten Cannon GP/SD40-2 parts.
Doug Stark
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Post by Raeder on Dec 12, 2011 9:18:49 GMT -5
Ummm...hadn't noticed it, actually. Now I've gotta go look again. I think I've got some of those intakes lying around here somewhere...
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