Last night, Jeff Merrill came over so we could paint our AC spine cars. Assembly was straighforward, and we painted ours in TTAX Trailer Train Yellow. This morning Tim posted the decal placement diagram, so I went to work on my first set of 5. What I would like to do with this thread is show tribute to Alan Curtis, by posting photo's of our Z Scale 48ft 5-unit All-Purpose Spine Cars, that Alan has provided us. I'll start with pictures from my first set. Here is the small intermodal cut arriving in the town of Timesaver: It is pulled by the MTL BN GP35, and has one 5 car set: The A car has an MTL APL container, sitting on a Searails trailer frame: Next is the C car with a GE Seaco container:
The D car has a Sea-Land container: The E car is sporting a MAERSK container: And pulling up the rear is the B car with an Evergreen 20 foot container: Decals were provided by Tim Beuhring and Michael Hilliard.
Hey, are you supposed to be working? Man, I have to work this week. Sheesh ! I have to wait on my decals from Z Track and the trailers from MMM.
I could not sleep well last night, thinking about finishing these models, so I cut work today. They will force me to work Saturday as payback for the holiday weekend, so I decided to take my Saturday today!
If! If the new Micro-Trains track system is 195mm, then the answer to your question is barely! The main beam that runs the length of the car prevents the trucks from turning at any great angle to negotiate a turn. Between each spine car is a metal device to limit the radius the spine cars can articulate. This device can be easily re-positioned as the metal spine car frame is made from a pewter type white metal. The spine cars could negotiate a tighter turn if you remove some of the metal beam, at the trucks, that prevent them from turning. The wheels hit the center beam! File or rind the metal to make it turn tighter, but this may alter the appearance greatly of the spine cars! I await MTL's larger radius track sections! Hobo Tim
I adjusted those metal tabs a bit, and without making the cars look funky, was able to get them to run around my small MTL test loop. I fixed the pivot point bind by painting the holes with liquid graphite/alcohol stuff from PBL.
Weathering these and Gunderson Husky rollingstock! Robert, What would you use to weather these pieces to make them as black and grimy as they are in most photographs? Please explain! Thanks! Hobo Tim
Weathering chalks Robert, While at Hobbytown yesterday, I was going to purchase a large assortment pack of the Bragdon weathering powders. It had 10 or 12 different powder chalks. The price was $27.95. Is this a good price to pay for that particular pack? Might I find it elsewhere cheaper? Now, I have a question. Once the chalks are applied to the rollingstock, does a clear coat of "anything" need to be applied over the chalk to prevent it from showing oils from fingers touching the pircrs or finger prints or any other smudges of such? Please let me know! Thanks! Hobo Tim
Ztrack has placed another order for spine cars and 89' flats (channel and flush side) from ACM. We will have these in stock shortly. Also, our last opportunity to order from ACM will be the end of October. I plan to place a stocking order at that time. So, if anyone want the spine cars or 89' flats, let me know so we can include them in our order. Rob
Tim, yes you should dull coat to seal the chalks our you'll leave finger prints and of course the chalks will rub off or transfer to others. NOTE: Dull Coat significanty hides many of the chalks, especially the grey ones. Put a lot of chalk on and you can really get the rub on chalks on stock plastic. You will either have to pre Dull Coat or deluster it with alcohol or even use the alcohol+chalk method to get it on (but that sometimes leaves a patchy finish). And Dull Coat tends to make the Bragdon's black soot chalk "spot". Looks a bit like fine spattering rather than the smooth pre-coated look.
