I've been weathering my pair of SD45s in the last couple of weeks. I included a picture of the finished Erie Lackawanna unit in "Weekly Photo Fun" for the past week. Before I tore into the Reading Unit, I wanted to refine some basic "fade" techniques. The Reading unit's yellow and green paint is much too bright to reflect the dilapidated look I want to create. The EL unit got a good blast of gray from my airbrush, and I wasn't left with a result I really liked. Ran into a good tip from YouTube (Boomer Diorama) who sang the praises of brushing on Tamiya X21 flat base with a little isopropyl alchohol added. You brush it on, let it dry to a crusty white and rub it off to get instant fade. The base coat then makes it really easy for washes to "stick". I am really stoked to try this technique on the Reading Unit. Just bought some X21 and it should be in my mailbox this week.
I then started searching for a prototype weathering that I'd like to mimic. Found this shot in an Akron Model Railroading site. Love this look! And guess what's riding shotgun? An EL SD45, and this is August 1976...
Both are Spectrums. Got them for a song (I think they were less than $60 each) about 10 years ago. The Reading unit shouldn't have the roof louver over the window and there are probably some other issues that I haven't picked out, but they're good solid runners after replacing the DCC encoder they came with.
I have three Reading ones. First one, #7603, I bought when I got back into the hobby in July of 2000. I got it at Boscovs and actually still have the receipt. Paid $42.39 on sale. The other two, #7602 and #7604 I got off eBay back 2020. I like them and they run well. One day I would like to convert them to DCC.
I have a couple of Spectrum GP30 units (PC and Reading). Converting them to DCC was difficult enough (one of them was my first conversion) that I don't ever want to try another one of those Might be a bit more room in the longer chassis for the six-axle units. They are nice and heavy and do a great job pulling up over my 2% grades. I know Bachmann gets a lot of bad press, but the combination of performance and price is appealing. Reminds me that I want to try to find a snowplow for the Reading unit... Good luck with the X21. I was tempted to put on two layers, but ran with one. I like the final color - was really pretty close to the prototype photo.
I just acquired 2 SD45 locomotives, a Kato which was DCC ready and a Bachmann. The Bachmann was one that you have to split the frame but I did not think a decoder install was hard at all I didn't take photos but I remember I removed the contacts that rubbed the frame and soldered wires directly to the pickups. The motor was easily isolated. The whole install took a little over an hour.
Charlie
There are a couple of details on the Bachmann Spectrum Reading SD45 that are wrong. One fairly obvious one is that it looks like all of the Reading units came with a snowplow.
Details West makes some nice plows and I bought one last week. It's white metal and will probably look pretty good once I get it painted (yellow I think - have to find a picture of a factory fresh unit). HOWEVER, the front bumper of the unit needs to be flush up to about the area where the MU hoses emerge to mount the plow. The Bachmann model has the default front riding steps (fine for the EL model I have since it looks like a lot of EL's roster did not have the plow) that I will have to grind off flush in order to install the plow. I figure some delicate work with my Dremel should do the trick. Once I mount the plow I'll have to make it look as dingy and rusty as the photo above. Photos of progress coming soon I guess.
Got the Dremel out tonight and laid waste to the front bumper. Did most of the damage with a cutting wheel, removed the MU hoses, then followed up with a couple of burrs and a sanding wheel. Drilled two 1/16" holes for the plow studs and inserted the plow. Checked out the fit and made sure the coupler still had enough real estate to operate. Tomorrow we paint and glue! Pictures....
This little snowplow project led me to think about 5304 - a Stewart Hobbies C630 that's also on my roster. It currently has no plow. Did a little digging. The Reading bought two orders of C630's from ALCo in the late 60's. The second order, after looking at some pictures came complete with High AD trucks, the "Bee Line" logo and a snowplow. I started thinking about adding a plow. However, the first order (of which 5304 was one) didn't have any of these features - no plow. My C630 is safe from potential mutilation! Then I got to thinking. That unit is tailor made for a Conrail patch job and has not been weathered... something to think about for the future. Anyway, I painted up the plow - a base coat of dark gray and then a bright yellow that I'll hit hard with rust and other weathering implements. Once I get it about right, I'll mount it for good and reattach the MU hoses and coupler. On another side note, on my search for SD45 details I ran into this guy's 3D print of an SD45 cab. I've pinged him to see if he'll sell me one... https://jlandtrailroad.blogspot.com/2021...ished.html
Here's a shot of the mounted and pristine painted plow. Weathering to commence very soon!
While working on the upper section of Mud Run a few weeks ago, I decided to put some farm fields/pasture in the scenery. I then thought what else might be a good addition to the scene. Started looking for cheap N-scale tractors (N-scale to give the illusion that the fields are further away than you think when you look up at them. Found a package of 2 different 3D printed tractors (one with trailer) from Outland Models (Chinese). They also had some "haylike" filler in a baggy that came with the tractors and I thought it made pretty good freshly cut hay. Spread some of that one one of the fields in rows and loaded up the trailer with the same. Decided to paint each one today and install them on the heights.
