Here are some pictures of my FINALLY! done bachmann / kato project. The most agravating part was the new wire handrails. I am getting better on the handrails now that I've done it a few times. The shell started out as a Bachman painted red & silver. I tossed the stock handrails and stripped the paint. I then detailed it with Sunrise's new etched cab shades, mirros, ditch lights, snow plow, & mu cables. I also installed microtrains pilots to hide the gaping hole in the pilots. I the painted it up in red & silver using floquil, & microscale decals. the handrails were installed a couple of months after painting, they were bent from .08 wire and GMM stantions. (Lots of work). The mechanism was donated from a KATO C30-7. The result is a locomotive that looks great and runs just as good. The pictures just don't do it justice. Brian
Brian, For some unknown reason, the computer gods are only letting me see the first picture, but man, is it nice. Looks really good. I wish I could do some detailing things to my locos, but I am afraid I will end up scrapping a shell that is not replacable. Any other projects ongoing?
Very nice, Brian! You nailed the warbonnet painting and decaling...very key component in my opinion. Nice work on the handrails too. Are you going to attempt flush-mount windows? This looks real good on these locos (you may recall one I did a while back). Russ [ 20 February 2002, 16:21: Message edited by: tehachapifan ]
I have too many projects going on to mention them all here. I am in the process of upgrading all of my rolling stock with low profile wheels & body mounted couplers, as well as weathering every freight car. Decalling all of my kits from Alan Curtis. (about 3 spine cars, 6 89' flats, 2 tank flats, and a few pup trailers.) Finnish my SF-30C kitbash, along with the cast resin shell mould. Paint and detail all of my cast resin vehicles. Finnish my GP-60M kitbash with wire handrails and flush mounted windows. Start my Dash-840BW kitbash. (Waiting on an undec Atlas Dash-840B, to which I will add a bachman wide cab to.) ATSF GP39-2 project from Atlas GP38. ATSF SD-39 & slug mate from KATO SD-40. Detail all of my factory painted engines. Maybe even add flush fitting windows & number boards to my Dash-840CW. Finnish a layout... ...start another one. Many things that I have overlooked. Brian [ 20 February 2002, 17:09: Message edited by: brian ]
Brian, I am having a hard enough time right now finding time to work on my layout, none the less start and complete N Scale Projects. Hopefully when I finish the bathroom remodeling and nursery, I will have some time to get a couple of Locomotives and buildings painted, along with completing my town and intermodal yard.
Brian! You may want to hold off on that 8-40BW bash! Someone on the Atlas board pointed out that Atlas posted a pic of their N LMX 8-40B sporting an Amtrak-style fuel tank arrangement. One might assume that the wide cabs must be well in the works...there's really no other explanation for that chassis showing up on there. Russ
Brian. Nice loco. How did you do the handrails? I have detailed my 6 Bach's and the handrails are the only thing that bugs me about them. I can't afford to re-motor mine. they really don't run that bad for me anyway. In fact I just finished installing decoders in 4 of the six. I tried a little trick to make the wheels pick up current better but I won't reveal it til' I'm sure it continues to work right.
Brian: Great job! You do good work. I just finished a couple, that I'm going to re-do. I had a bunch of Dash-8's which I stripped and re-painted for MOPAC "Screaming Eagle". These ran at train shows for a couple of years before they died. They were thrown in the junk box (I never throw anything away). I just did two C30-7/Dash Conversions, digging the body shells out of the box, and I love them. Now I will have to get a couple more Bachmanns to re-do the body shells to a higher level. A big thanks to Alan and others who figured out this retro-fit, and posted it here.
It looks great Brian, unfortunately I can only see the first photo (others are red crosses ) Like you, I have loads of things I would like to get working on, but I am putting any spare time I get into getting the layout basic jobs done. I actually stripped down several locomotives ready for detailing and repainting, and they have been like that for a few weeks Whilst typing this, the postman just delivered a packet full of lovely detail parts from Craig Martyn Now I will have to get some work done on those locomotives I did the C30/C40 conversion, as you may remember, so now your model gives me the inspiration to get it detailed! I still need another C30 chassis for my other C40.
Awesome 'Bonnet! I love the warbonnet scheme, but have no locos in that paint..... I am in process of a LL SD7 BN strip-repaint, a pair of Kato SD80MACs & 1 SD90MAC paint job in BN colors. I'm doing the 90 in BN Tigerstripes, the one 80 in BN 20th anniv. scheme, and the other 80 in BN Grungestain colors. I also have a snoot that I removed the numbers from, and still am waiting for decals to replace them.... I did a pair of snoots in BNSF all detailed, from Kato BNSF shells. I sold the pair on ebay for an astounding $227.50! Anyways, I am working on another detail project, and will soon need to order more BLMA details. Craig's grabs are easy to install! The pair of the snoots are on my web album in my WWW/signature link.
