This week I was finally able to get some Dull Coat sprayed on some recent work. Amazing how wet is has been around here when I have had time to work on these cars.
Remember that car that followed me home from the Strasburg Show? well it has been taking a bath.
The Black and the decals came off quickly. But there was a layer of red primer on this cars that was rather stubborn.
But it slowly coming off. The car is cleaning up nicely.
On the possibility of finding an elusive Locomotive Workshop CNJ Double Ender Kit that I mentioned before. The gentleman has located the kit, put a price on it and has agreed to sell it. He wants to hand deliver the kit to me at an upcoming show. I can do that. One step closer.
A strange thing happened to me at the Chicago Show in 2019, a PRR B6sb followed me home. First is was priced so well, I couldn’t pass it up. That was mostly because it had a very bad paint job.
After spending some time being converted to Proto48 by Carl Jackson, this fine looking model came home with me on Saturday. During the time the model was with Carl it had the chance to take a bath in his stripping tank. It needed it!
Now that all that ugly paint is gone, it revealed a couple of things the bad paint was hiding. It appears the previous owner had a mishap with the tender. The railings appear to have been damaged at one time. A repair attempt has resulted with too much heat being applied, which caused the rear tender deck to seperate from the side. There is also a little separation along the top rim of the coal bunker. So, I have some repair work to do before I can think about painting this model.
Next up was another model that came home from this past weekend’s show. It’s an RY Models Reading welded 55 ton twin hopper. It also is suffering from a case of bad paint. This time the issue was in the weathering attempt.
This is a good reason why you learn to paint and weather freight cars using a $20 Weaver car, not a brass model.
My first thought was to try to salvage the paint by just cleaning up the weathering. Better sense took over, rather than try to fix the bad weathering, I’ll just start over. So into the stripping tank for this one. I can say that with a little help from a toothbrush every few hours this model is now almost back to brass. I figure it will be done later today.
Yesterday was the Strasburg O Scale Train Show. I have to say first that it just felt good to attend a show again after this past year. Masks were worn, and the crowds came. It was a very good show.
We did have some new vendors attend the show. The new owners of the All-Nation Line had a number of tables at the show. They were displaying parts from the old line and new parts that were 3d printed. This is very promising that they are not just selling from the old line, they are bringing it into the modern day and making it grow. Lots of stuff to look at.
Todd Architectural Models & Layouts was also there with a wonderful series of laser cut buildings and window parts. It was great to see a new vendor at the show, but I have to admit my mind was not thinking about buildings.
Paul Yanosik brought some new models to share with me. He had a nice DL&W cabin, a pair LNE FA-1’s and a pair of LV ALCo’s. Sorry the only image I made of the LNE FA-1’s were of the models upside down.
Afterwards we went out to his car where he also showed my his second pair of the CNJ Baldwin Babyfaced Freighters. these were built using the noses from the old Locomotive Workshop Kit for the CNJ double ender.
Funny how these locomotives attract CNJ fans. As we were talking, a CNJ modeler came up with a friend of his. He admired Paul’s models and when we started talking about the LW kits. He mentioned that he had built three of the kits in the past. More importantly, he mentioned that he still had one of the kits unbuilt. Talks are underway to see if that kit can find a new home.
I had a visitor to my workbench this week. My friend Michael Rahilly’s PRR SW-9 came in for some quick work. He wanted to change the wheelsets and it needed a repair to the footboards on the from pilot. These were the before images.
It happened that it was sharing time on the workbench with a couple of other SW9’s. That is former SW9/NW2 project looking more like a SW9 again on the left. The CNJ unit was getting the Right-O-Way retainer plates installed.
I started to go through the models that were painted, decaled but awaiting weathering. When I discovered that my H30 still needed trucks and couplers installed.
Bolsters added and painted. Couplers installed and checked with the height gauge. All is good with the world. These will be next in line when I get a chance to weather some models. Hopefully soon.
I have two Atlas “O” switchers, I thought my one project drive had been converted already. But when I got a phone call from a friend asking about Atlas SW wheelsets, I checked the model and it did have an upgrade set of wheels but they were the .145 NMRA wheels.
No problem, I had a set of P48 wheels on the shelf for a while (check out the old packaging), but the retainer plates I just got in a couple of weeks ago from Right-O-Way.
The retainer plate replace the original Atlas part. They are very simple to install, just unscrew the original plate and replace it with the new one.
Here you can see how much the ROW retainer Plates pull in the truck side frames. It’s a very simple conversion, four screws remove the retainer plate and four more hold the side frames.
I really should have painted them BEFORE installing them. But my “mistake” allows you to see them more clearly.
All done. My Frankenstein SW9/NW2 project back together. Still not sure this project will continue or be turned back into an SW9.
The Right-O-Way Proto48 Retainer Plates combined with the NWSL Proto48 Conversion Wheelsets really make this a simple and much improved looking conversion. I’ll time it next time, when I do the other switcher. It could not have taken more than a half hour to complete. The only tool required was a Phillips screwdriver.
Right-O-Way sells the retainer plates by themselves or with the conversion wheelsets. They really do make a big difference in the appearence of the trucks.
