I started to fabricate the large water tanks for this car with materials I have on hand... Even though they won't be attatched until after the car is painted, I wanted to go ahead and get them made-tonight I'll try to scratch the wodden boxes that are mounted to the right of the tanks.... I had some Evergreen tubing and stock on hand so I used that; none of the pics of these tanks that I have show any kind of detail at all (at least on the part that hangs below the sill) so I just measured by eyeball per the plans and cut... gluing things together, then adding some 'end cap' disks to close up the tubing (I punched these from a leather craft punch that I finally found in the garage) I haven't done the final sanding yet; there's a tiny seam yet to fill...but I had to test fit and cut styrene stand-off pieces on which to mount the tanks. I want them to hang below the bottom ladder steps per the prototype, so they're going to be very evident when the car is finished. I'm assuming these are mounted on both sides of the car...if anyone here has any evidence to the contrary, please let me know! According to the photos, the wooden boxes (I'm assuming it's a tool box) hang just as low as the water tanks...so I have to figure out how to mount these as well...I may need to remove a tiny bit of underframe detail that is still molded on the underframe...I hadn't considered that it would interfere with anything, otherwisei would have removed it when I originally removed the main items... Thanks for looking, Bruce
paint is on! after bending the corner grab from 28 gauge jewelers wire (I'll use 30 gauge next time), I decided to go ahead and paint the body. I cleaned the shell with isopropyl alcohol, then got ready to paint... i've mixed a large batch of ATSF color based on the formula credited to Andy Sperandeo-4 parts Pollyscale Great Northen Empire Builder Green to 1 part Pollyscale Signal yellow; I really like the way this color translates to N scale. It's definitely a lighter shade than Pullman Green, and has ayellow to it that, I'm told, is a proper ATSF green... I did not paint a primer coat-I've found that I don't really need one with Pollyscale acrylics. also, cleaning the brass with alcohol seems to give the parts a little 'tooth'. I'm now in the habit of thinning my Pollyscale with isopropyl alcohol (about 30%)...I'm also in the habit of adding clear semi-gloss to the mix if I plan to decal over the paint job...belive it or not, it is possible to decal right over Pollyscale acrylics without a gloss surface without silvering...however, I add the semi gloss just to be sure; this way I don't have to add an entire new clear coat for decals. And another GREAT characteristic of spraying Pollyscale acrylics- the paint is dry to the touch within minutes...I'll be able to start decalling within the hour...! Thanks for looking, Bruce
Do I understand your horse express car is all closed up? Roof glued on? etc? How are you going to get the horses in it?
lol...no...no horses for these...just lots of express material for the Fast Mail..."this magazine smells like Horse manure!" Bruce
started decalling, and attatched the water tanks.... the Horse Express car is sharing the workbench with another ATSF heavyweight..the Combine... This rivarossi car is an actual ATSF prototype...the 2602 series combines...so all i'm really having to do is accurize it for my era...plating the windows, adding the steps (previously posted), and accurizing the underframe details (the rivarossi cars all share the same underframe detail arrangement-doesn't seem to be accurate for any of the three prototype ATSF cars-the baggage, combine, and the diner). I'm getting rather accomplished at removing the stock Rivarossi underframe details rather quickly, and with a minimum of 'impact', bot on the carbody and the parts! Bruce
You keep showing the "end door" end of the car, how about the brake wheel end? How did you get the cast-on brake wheel off?
I just used an Xacto chisel blade to remove the cast-on brakewheel...the brakewheels provided by Roberto are much nicer... I plan to use tiny model ship chain and glue it to the proper location. Here is a pic of the brakewheel side of the Horse Express car here isa pic of the brakewheel end of the repainted and detailed 85' baggage...you can see where I didn't bother to remove all the molded in chain...I figured it will be covered by the new chain... hope that helps... Bruce
had a chance to work a little bit more on this, now that I've determined my method for body-mounting 1015's on all the heavyweights based on the Rivarossi/Atlas/Concor bodies (I had to wait until all the wheelsets were available.. Also used another kit to help me bend the roof lip/overhang from scrap brass (I save all the brass and stainless steel frets from photo-etch kits) a little CA worked perfectly on the lip... all that's left now is the new details (ventilators) for the roof...flat coat, and weathering... Thanks for looking, Bruce
