so as noted I have started heading down a road with this little Mantua tender and its really growing on me! underframe is pretty much done now other than the addition of some details such as rerailers, draw-bar and limiting chains on the trucks (just love those!!).... and yes those are leaf sprung arch bar trucks under there..... I think they look soooo cool! even if they will restrict this unit to its home road trackage. The tender shell still needs to have the CN decals stripped, cast on details removed, new wire grabs and railings, new steps, cut bar, tender light, and of course the decoder installed. Speaker will have to fire up through the coal load for everything to fit in but it can be done. Really starting to have fun with this again! Next I will turn to adding some weight to the loco to improve tractive effort.... this will be challenging but doable using some of Wayne's techniques for the Athearn Mikes.
I may actually convert this from left hand drive to right by moving the compressor to the left and the reverser to the right and replacing with brass details to help with weight.
Maybe need to re-title this thread to Bob's Loco Project.
That's what's different! I just this morning was watching a scenic RR show segment on tbe Boone & Scenic Valley, and their engineer pointed out one of the main differences between American locos & their Chinese built engine - left side engineer position! A-ha!
I say go for it. Swap details around & make it purty.
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!
Just another update. almost ready to paint... just have to add cut levers tweak that ladder a bit and do some mods to the light to allow insertion of an LED.....oh and the drawbar of course
I like the upgrades which you've added to the tender.
If you're looking for material for an insulated drawbar, Plastruct sheet ABS is pretty tough and is dark grey, so no need to worry about paint wearing off.
funny how nice weather delays model railroad projects isnt it? I have painted the tender and its ready for decals now. I am also working on the layout slowly but surely and as a result have been splitting my very limited time between the two projects. Hopefully some update images in the next few days. One further note is that I think I will be using the new soundtraxx dbx9000 harness to facilitate the reinstall of the decoder in this unit
Frustrated....... I painted my new tender steam power black, gave it a lot shot of gloss to prepare the surface for decals, applied the decals and then went on to dulcoat.
I only had this item to dulcoat so I grabbed a rattle can from the store shot it and waited.... CAN WAS MISLABELED!!! its glosscoat....URGH. okay so I fire up the airbrush thin some dullcoat and shoot it. half hour later I return and find that white haze on all the raised details and grabs....sigh. Okay so I figure no big deal I will shoot it again after it dries and the white will go away just like the last time this happened right? NOPE. ended up stripping it with Chameleon (awesome stuff!!) and now am starting over with a complete repaint of the tender. I have heard dullcoat responds this way when it comes in contact with alcohol and am wondering now if the issue was with my original paint which was polyscale steam power black thinned with windshield washer detergent which has a high alcohol content. but then again that is what I have used on a number of projects of late and had no issues. I did notice that even my bottle of dullcoat for use in the airbrush is not as "dull" as I am accustomed to... more of a satin finish even with good mixing. I can tell its dullcoat because you can see the talc in it but it just isnt all that dull.
The Dullcote shouldn't have reacted with the alcohol if the paint had completely cured - PollyScale recommends a full 24 hours. As for the less-than-Dullcote, I've noticed that some batches seem less flat than others, especially if I don't use enough thinner. I use lacquer thinner, usually about 50/50 with Dullcote, and get decent results.
I've tried spraying PollyScale thinned with alcohol and swore to never again use it. Then I checked the Testors' website and saw their recommendation for using distilled water and to spray at a lower pressure. I was surprised to find how well it works and regularly use PollyScale now, with no clogging of the airbrush. However, I still prefer Floquil for its ease of clean-up.
Oh but it gets even better Wayne..... repainted it and yes waited a full 24 hours later to gloss coat to allow decal application, a full day later again I wanted to get decals on so started applying one side... all is well ..... applied solvaset and it attacked the testors clear coat AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! I have NEVER had that happen!!!
Re-stripping now
will wait for 2 full days this time before applying decals and will use the microscale product instead of solvaset..........sigh
The thing I don't get is that is that the first and second shots at this were all done exactly as I have done previous work including the original tender for this loco and with the exact same products in the exact same containers.
I am a member over at protoweathering.com and got the comments their about alcohol and dullcoat not mixing <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://protoweathering.com/SMF/index.php?topic=479.15">http://protoweathering.com/SMF/index.php?topic=479.15</a><!-- m -->
![[Image: DBX-9000.jpg]](http://www.soundtraxx.com/access/Images/DBX-9000.jpg)
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I painted my new tender steam power black, gave it a lot shot of gloss to prepare the surface for decals, applied the decals and then went on to dulcoat.
Then I checked the Testors' website and saw their recommendation for using distilled water and to spray at a lower pressure. 
I was surprised to find how well it works and regularly use PollyScale now, with no clogging of the airbrush. However, I still prefer Floquil for its ease of clean-up.