"Patching" Locomotive Models

[faraway]

This old BN GP9 got weathered and patched some time ago. It is still waiting for some minimal lettering.
I did the weathering intentionally before the patches got applied. That permits an easy restore of the original BN GP9 when the patches are removed.

[eje]

That looks great, Reinhard. How does one remove the patches?

[faraway]

That looks great, Reinhard. How does one remove the patches?

Let some Micro Sol set for 3 minutes and you can remove them with tweezers. There is a perfect point where the decals has lost it's bonding power and is very soft but is not converted to mud already. To do so they must not be covered with dull coat etc.

[Brakie]

Reinhard,Will that Geep be leased by "power by the hour" or "flat lease"?

[faraway]

Reinhard,Will that Geep be leased by "power by the hour" or "flat lease"?

The contractor will provide on a flat lease but with a guaranteed availability of 99% 7/24 over 30 days with 4 hours scheduled maintenance between 8pm and 3am every 6 weeks. The penalty is 1% of the monthly rate for every hour of missed service level agreement without capping. The contractor got a backup contract with GATX. The customer can terminate the contract for convenience with 3 days advanced notification. It's tough business...... I would never approve that in my real job :o

[eje]

That IS a tough business! Thanks for the information. Ric

[Green_Elite_Cab]

The engines (Athearn GP9 DC version, Zimo MX630R added some minutes ago) to be patched arrived an hour ago at my doorstep. I love CR but they did give up to early for my layout. The can opener and the CR lettering will be patched with plain blue decals and a freelance switching RR will become the new owner.

I may come back later asking for advise how to weather an old patched CR GP9 still in switching service after the year 2005.

Not a GP9, but I bet it might look something like this RS3M.

[Mike Kieran]

Here's my patch job until better lettering becomes available:

[faraway]

The former CR GP9 are proceeding to become modern times engines after the lamps have been upgraded to LED. The front lost the foot boards and got the ditch lights and some paint details. The sides got the ugly reflector marks. Now where are the patches....?
I do not know. The first order from Microscales got lost somewhere over the Atlantic, the replacement is on hold not to arrive when we are on vacation and a quick buy at 1001models in Paris, France is dead since one week. I am afraid the patches will be done sometimes later in June :oops:

[faraway]

Microscale TP-23 (trim film CR blue) arrived and the patching could be done. I thought about a phantasy RR but LLPX might be a nice alternative. They have most engines in CR blue, some with white short hood, some with black roof but many in plain CR blue. They do not have any old GP9 on their roster. May be they got some with a residual book value of $1 for a special low cost offering in SoCal.


ps. All envelops from Microscale had in the past a label German customs office at Frankfurt or Leipzig airport. This one had a label from Hamburg "seaport" customs office. I assume USPS put my envelop by mistake on a ship and not on a plain. That would explain the very long shipping time as the USPS start stamp is correct in earls April. International shipping is still an adventure :o

[shortliner]

A good example of a patched loco, and bloody awful track, on this video - shot on the Maumee and Western !

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YYHUTbyPUS0#">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... HUTbyPUS0#</a><!-- m -->

[faraway]

A good example of a patched loco, and bloody awful track, on this video - shot on the Maumee and Western !

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YYHUTbyPUS0#">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... HUTbyPUS0#</a><!-- m -->

And it is exact that kind of GP7u I am currently working on. I did think about it but it is very far away from SoCal.....

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I just went through a massive patching/renumbering project. I renumbered 4 GG1s, and patched/renumbered one of those GG1s, as well as my now Ex-Reading GP30 (now Conrail #2168, technically the "first" reading GP30).

I unfortunately have not got my camera working yet, but as long as we are discussing patches, this place sells whole sheets of conrail patches, including the "stenciled" versions. I think I'm gonna buy a few just to keep around. I can think of plenty new patch jobs to do! I REALLY want to do an ex Lehigh Valley GP18 (CR #7499), and a ex CNJ GP7 (#5679)

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mountvernonshops.com/CRP.html">http://www.mountvernonshops.com/CRP.html</a><!-- m -->

Also, they offer some E44 decals, which is great considering Champs has gone under for a few years (they were the only other ones offering the right decals for these motors). The warning stickers are perfect for any of the rectifier engines (E33, E44, E50, etc).

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mountvernonshops.com/E44.html">http://www.mountvernonshops.com/E44.html</a><!-- m -->

[Green_Elite_Cab]

some of these still need some detail work

Conrail 2168- needs horns, rain gutters, and some weathering.



NJ DOT 4883-

Technically, I still need to add the "N.J. DEPT. TRANS. OWNER" decal to this one, but I need to find the right font, and its going to be a rough day when I get around to that one. I also need to find a small PRR Keystone with the PRR logo in it. my GG1 sets all come with small keystones that are blank for the road number. I'm not so happy with this job, for some reason, renumbering this unit was a nightmare and the old number did not want to come off easily. the finish might be a little marred, but I think some dull coat (once the other decals are on) will fix it.

I patched over all the "CR" markings that were on this GG1 with Polly Scale Brunswick Green. for the prototype, this is the third patching in this paint scheme (first Penn Central, then Conrail, now NJ DOT).

[gbwdude]

Hello gents,

By chance do you know when railroads started patching locomotives and cars instead of giving them full repaints? I model the late 30's to early 40's and except for the occasional shortline or industry I have seen that from that era. Just curious, because I'm planning to give one or two of my cars some history.

Tyler