N scale "What's on your workbench?"

Mark Watson Oct 28, 2009

  1. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

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    slapped some decals on late last evening after work...
    Glad I purchased the Microscale sheet...loads of markings for lightweight head end cars...now, the door openings are mocking me...
    Bruce

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  2. Brian K

    Brian K TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks!

    I ordered them back in January, right before he went on summer vacation...he knocked them out a few days after he got back and had them in the mail two days after I made the payment. Couldn't have been any easier. Very good shells, too!

    Brian
     
  3. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Not happy with the relative absence of heavyweight roofs without AC ductwork I've been doing my own for awhile and have managed to improve my technique some. Using .100 quarter round for the bulk and then .040 for the final outside edge piece I've come pretty close to filling the area and having the curvature of the duct. Slight sanding to level off contours where edges meet and then a little Squadron Green and White putty applied and some more gentle sanding. The AC ductwork was not the same for car to car instead it was based on the car interior arrangements so you will see some that have almost the full length on one side and then a short section on the other, while others have shorter sections on both sides with maybe one side having half on one side and half on the other in a staggered pattern. Not all AC equipped cars had these as it depended on the type of AC system the car was retro'd with.

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    There really is a small cottage industry oportunity for someone to make either retrofit AC roofs for Rivarrossi and similar cars or to just produce a sprue assortment of different length ducts.
     
  4. Delamaize

    Delamaize TrainBoard Member

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    More progress on the Northern Pacific A-5
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  5. Sierra117

    Sierra117 TrainBoard Member

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    Wow! Looking good! Is that a Kato GS4 chassis under that shell?
     
  6. SP-Wolf

    SP-Wolf TrainBoard Supporter

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    Been working on part of the fleet. Planning on how to install DCC. Doing a little paint detail work.
    N-Scale 001.jpg

    Thanks,
    Wolf
     
  7. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

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    After removing all the underframe moldings from the Rivarossi car, I cut 'out' the channel where the stairs used to be on this ATSF baggage converted from a 'something or other', a library-buffet if I recall...the rivarossi car is actually an ATSF car, so all I need to do on this one is accurize the underframe details (battery boxes and such), add some details (which I've done here-baggage door steps and handrails), and accurize the roof (remove two vents and replace with a couple of other types).
    I mixed 4 parts Pollyscale GN Empire builder green with one part signal yellow to reproduce the ATSF green...and gave the body a couple of light coats.
    Then the decals...where we are right now....

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    Thanks for looking,
    Bruce
     
  8. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    NICE! I have a Q- where would I find a body shell (resin?) for an NP A-4 or A-5? Also, isn't your pilot an A-4 all-steel pilot? Cheers,

    -Brian

    PS FWIW, I am modding a Bachmann 484 shell into as close of an A4 as I can get. A LOT of sanding and filing! :)
     
  9. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Continuing to refurbish my passenger fleet and create some specific trains for the SP&S in this case the consist of trains 5 and 6. That contained a full baggage, a 30 foot RPO/baggage express, and a coach/cafe car. The RPO was originally a Pullman 12-1 that was rearranged into a 13 section tourist sleeper and then bought by the SP&S and converted to a RPO/baggage. An old Lima RPO/baggage/coach is the nearest thing that could be converted that I have on hand.

    So like the SP&S I'm filling in the windows and doors and have moved the 7 foot baggage door to the other end of the car. I simply swapped the side sections on the car and next will do the fill ins. The RPO section will have two more windows added on each side to make the 15 foot RPO section into a 30 foot. A new letter board running full length will be installed and some of the rivet lines will be removed. The only thing not completely right for the car is the location of the RPO mail door to the end. It should be about 5-8 feet further from the car end, but I'll live with it.

    The before and after moving the sections shot.
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  10. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow, The 4-8-4 looks great !!!

    All these passenger train modelers here are making me feel like a slacker....

    Randy
     
  11. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

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    Blanking upper windows on the combine in anticipation of ATSF paint..a few more details to add (baggage door steps, etc...).
    Also, I'm adding rain gutters to all the roofs...curious as to why these weren't modelled on the original molds, when other details WERE added.....they're so obvious.
    Here are two pics of the RPO and the 85' baggage...one can see the difference in the ATSF green as opposed to the Pullman green on the pre-painted combine...
    these two cars are the easiest to model of my Fast Mail consist, since they're ATSF protoypes, all that's really needed are details, accurizing, and correct paint and markings...they're serving as the perfect primers for the M&R brass sides' cars immediately in line...in fact, removing underframe details, started on these two, are already in process on the core cars for the Horse Express and baggage cars...
    Thanks for looking,
    Bruce

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  12. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Continuing with the conversion to a RPO/baggage glued .010 X.250 styrene inside as backing behind the windows. Then cut some .020 X .156 styrene to fit the windows. Decided to go with the .020 thickness as it is more flexible and if sanding needed also easier. Therefore each window gets two pieces layered in.
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    I'm leaving the window cutting until everything is backed and filled in. Strengthens the car when I start drilling and cutting.
     
  13. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finished the window filling and plating over the end doors. While studying the prototype photos I noticed that in the conversion they did a lot of welding getting rid of a lot of the vertical rivet lines when they plated over the windows and the entire area around the 7 foot baggage door is round welded metal. The bottom rivet line is still there and the middle belt running horizontally is still riveted. However life just got better in the sanding department, particularly around the windows. So it will set until tommorow when I'll start some sanding while working on my other cars.
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  14. timhar47

    timhar47 TrainBoard Member

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    Just finished a kitbash of the Heljan Furniture Factory. Wedge shaped for an angled siding. I used GloorCraft Loading Doors and one Double Door and Steps from Walthers Modular.

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  15. Delamaize

    Delamaize TrainBoard Member

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    thanks!
    Yep, it's a cut down Kato GS4, with the rear truck extended.

    I got the orginal shell from Superturbine, But me and all my wisdom didn't look at his example pictures, and tried to mill the shell out more, witch lead to me blowing out the side of the smoke box. After that I decided to just try to make a new boiler out of a brass tube. I tried to reuse the cab from the resin shell and messed it up also, so I ended up fabing up a cab also. the rest of the details are scavenged from the orginal resin shell. their is some things that are not right, but I can live with it, and I don't think anyone will notice right away. The pilot is the all steel version, I'm planning on making it number 2673, witch had a steel pilot.
     
  16. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    All the sanding finally done on the filled in windows and the narrow white strips are styrene added to the door frames to round them using .015 rod since the smallest quarteround was still too large. Located the extra RPO windows and drilled them out to begin material removal.

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  17. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    And now that the primer is on I can see where I need to do a few slight touch ups.
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    Have to apply a small amount of putty to left end where window filled and some slight filling where I spliced in the switched sections and one RPO window needs a little squaring off. Big change from the original car body shown above.
     
  18. bnsf dash 8

    bnsf dash 8 TrainBoard Member

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    All the detailing is done, just to do a few little things and this ex CEFX SD40-2 will be ready to pull some freight.

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  19. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    Been working on this beast. New paint job, hand rails and an LED in the nose.
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  20. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    A little closer with the near completion of the RPO car for SP&S trains 5-6.
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    Still need to clean up a few pesky finish issues with the paint and then the RPO and the full baggage get steps below the baggage doors, trucks with MTs, diaphragms, mail catcher on the RPO, and finally maybe by this weekend I can begin applying the 4 yellow/gold stripes to the cars. Consist as shown is a full baggage, the RPO, and a cafe coach which will all be pulled by a 600 series class H5 Pacific which I have two Trix locos laying in a drawer to be decaled and get oil bunks and turned into SP&S H5s. Cars may stay solid green depending on what the timeline turns out to be for the four stripe paint scheme.
     

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