1978

I have been working on my 1978 locomotives over the last few weeks.  First was adding DCC to several locomotives, then adding details and additional decals as needed.

First up is a former Reading C630.  This is a Bowser Executive line C630 and I really could not find anything to add to the locomotive.  I did an overspray of dull coat to flatten the finish.  I then did an oil wash to highlight lies and grills.  I than used Pan Pastels to to the balance of the weathering.

This is one of Conrail's 10 C30-7.  It is and older Atlas model that I added a plow, antenna and train control box.  I weathered it the same as the C630.

 The Amtrak F40ph is from Rapido.  Agian I could not find any thing to add detail wise.  Weathered with Pan Pastels only, it represents a fairly new, well maintained locomotive.

Not much visible progress

I have made a bit of progress on the layout.  I have added some more feeders and I still need to add a few more to fix some dead spots.  I than discovered a missed a few spots will mortaring the old foundation last summer and had a leak in the basement.  I had to pull out the stairs leading to the basement to get at eh spots that leaked so I ended up replacing all the treads and risers on the that as well.  The final thing is I added three way switches to the basement so you can turn on and off the lights regardless of what direction you enter.  I have one more change in the basement, a move of some of the duct work for the heat that will improve the headroom and appearance in one corner of the layout room.

More scenery experimentation

Having been happy with my first attempts at static grass, I have giving ballasting and other scenery a try.  Not too bad for a first attempt.

First attempt at Static Grass

I am stating to try scenery on my layout.  I am stating the area by my model of the Thermos company factory on the south side of Norwich.  I have used Homasote  in this are and it is dead flat. To give the track work  bit of definition I carved "roadbed" into the Homasote.  It was fairly quick and easy to do.  I used a new blade in a utility knife that is is used in dry-walling.

You can see my carved ditches, as well as the handle of my knife.  Not perfect,
but it breaks up the complete flatness.

My wife gave me an electrostatic flocking machine for Christmas a couple of years ago and I finally got it out to use it.  (She calls it a grass shouter, which sounds much more fun.)  I followed the guidelines that Chris A. spelled out on his blog, xxxxx  I am pretty happy with the results.  I still have a bunch of things to do , but it is moving in the right direction.

 

Conrail RS-3m

Penn Central started the program of re-powering Alco RS-3s using EMD engine from surplus E-8's.  Conrail continued the program, and these engines out lasted all other Alcos on Conrail.  Back in the late 1980's a gentleman from western NY made a beautiful plastic kit for the distinctive hump that these locos had. I used an Atlas RS-3 as the base of the build

Here is and Atlas shell, I have removed the large radiator fan and the exhaust stack.

Another view.

I have oped up the engine room and this show the various parts i used.

A close up of the cuts.

The extended engine compartment has been added and the fan has started to be filled.

Another view.

The fans have been added as well as the cab.

This shows the center widow that have been sealed.

Another view

The top is a finished NH unit, the center will become and Amtrak unit and the bottom the Conrail unit.

Here is the finished model, I used a mic of Microscale and Accucal decals.  I weathered with Pan Pastels

Finishing the Last Wall

I finally framed and dry walled the last wall in the basement.  I did have to take down my south (east) end staging yard.  I added a bit of trim to the edge of the yard and painted in dark green.  The basement also doubles a a music studio, both of my sons are in various bands and we have set up a nice area for them to practice and record. 

How it looked as of a couple of weeks ago.

Here it is as of tonight.

New Power

While I am still going to work everyday, evenings and weekends are very open. I am getting more projects completed.  First up is an RS-3.  I picked up an Athearn shell in NH green and orange off of eBay.  I mounted it on an Atlas drive and installed a TCS Wow decoder with sound. I weathered it with oil washes an Pan Pastels

Next up are two RS-11's.  One is an upgraded Atlas and the other is a Rapido. I also weathered them with Pan Pastels.

The Atlas unit turned out nice, but is not a match detail wise to the Rapido model.

I hope everybody is doing well and staying safe.

Duke's Diner

This is the basic parts of Duke's Diner.  The Cast Resin body I found on line, the base I built out of sheet styrene and the stairs that are from a Walthers kit I had kicking around.  I used N Scale Architect brick sheet to wrap the base and stairs.

Here it is with silver paint on the body and brick that is a bit too bright.  I covered some of the windows for the "kitchen" area of the diner. I do need to remove the cross piece in the front left window to match the prototype.  I do need make the sign for the roof and add glass.

Here is the real on in 1958.

Plainfield Fright House

This is  photo By George Melvin from December 12, 1972.  I have never seen another photo of this fright house in Plainfield, CT.  If anybody has any, I would love the see them.

Plainfield, CT December 12, 1972, Photo by George Melvin

Wordless Wednesday

Clean up Work

I decide I really needed to clean up my workbench.  I had gotten to a point where if I had a square foot to work on I was lucky.  I should have done a before photo, but at least you can see how neat it is now.  I also found a few detail parts that I thought I would have to buy so I even saved a few bucks. 

Conrail Caboose Part 2

I have finished up my two Conrail Cabooses.