Always one to act on a crazy and impulsive idea when it comes to Nscale train kitbashing...I decided three days ago to take a dummy Lifelike F40PH engine and change it from Amtrak to CSX colors hoping to mimic their executive train scheme. I stripped the engine, repainted it, then carefully re-touched areas that needed it. (And I know...getting that bottom yellow stripe on this shell was a bear, and didn't exactly come out looking stellar in some spots.) I painted the handrail grab irons and steps, and gave the lower components a coat of flat black. And this is where the project is now...



Realizing I have only one older scheme C&O passenger car to pull with this engine, I decided to keep painting and grabbed three coaches I had boxed up and not using. They're now CSX blue (or as close as I could get a match) with a light grey roof to mimic the coaches normally pulled by these F40PH engines. All I need are the decals to apply and add some detailing pieces like MU hoses and such to dress up the LifeLike engine, then cover everything with a good coat of dull coat to reduce the gloss of the paints.

Please...feel free to critique, criticize, comment...as I'm still learning-as-I-go.

Quote:Please...feel free to critique, criticize, comment...as I'm still learning-as-I-go.

Ok, you asked for it.As soon as I can find something to critcize I will.Being a diehard CSX fan yeah I can find some flaws,nothing worth working up a sweat over though. :mrgreen:

Be sure to post pics when you get her finished.

Thanks for that Catt. I finished painting three passenger cars that mimic the ones used for their executive train, and am waiting for the B&O gold colored pin stripe decals to arrive for them. Along with those decals, the CSX decals should be in that same package. So hopefully, in less than a week I should have all the decals on the three cars and engine. I haven't found any dark gold colored CSX decals for the passenger cars yet though. Those might be trickier to replicate or find. Microscale doesn't make any...but I'm not giving up that easily. I might try making my own if that's even possible.

The most glaring error with that LifeLike engine is the fuel tank. The F40PH's that CSX uses have the larger tanks. Also the horn location, the ditch lights that aren't there on this LifeLike, and A/C unit over the cab. I might try to add the ditch lighting (or at least drill the holes and add clear plastic to mimic them), and add the a/c unit over the cab. I'm also considering using an Atlas fuel tank from a GP unit and modify the frame/fuel tank that this LifeLike has. So I still have some things I'm thinking of improving on with this build. But, getting it painted the right color is always the biggest thing for me to accomplish. Now that that's done, I can turn to the smaller details to add on.

More pic's when I get more done!

Looks good so far Mark!

Got a little more done...and here's where this project is so far. The engine needs a few more decals yet, so it's still painted with a glossy finish. Once completed, I'll use a dull coat to tone it down a bit. Notice the running mate in the background of some of these shots. That other F40PH sporting Amtrak Phase 1 colors will get a new coat of paint and decals to create an Amtrak Phase 4 scheme. The grey on blue coaches are awaiting decals to be the CSX executive passenger cars that will run with the F40PH.

Mark, you need another one.Those beasties always travel in pairs pulling the office trains.Definately got this one looking good though. This is a project I need to do too, part of the fun of being a free lancer/prototype modeler.

I agree with Catt on having a pair.

You guys are right...they run in pairs and I've been seriously thinking about doing this same "mod" to the other LifeLike currently wearing Amtrak colors. Our grand plan was to make one into the CSX and the other into a cabbage Amtrak Phase 4 and drag it at the end of a northeastern Amtrak consist. But I'm leaning more and more to coloring it in CSX blue. (Maybe I'll be able to get that darn yellow stripe along he bottom of the shell looking better.) There's even a chance that I might repaint the Kato F40PH I have into the CSX blue/yellow for this CSX train. That would give me a dcc engine to pull the train, as both of these LifeLike engines are without motors. I could use the Kato to pull the LifeLike dummy, and still have the other LifeLike as the Phase 4 cabbage engine. Until I decide which way to go...I'll at least try to get this one finished.

Hello Mark---very impressive,even more so when you realize it's N-scale---you obviously have a steady hand and good eye-sight.The scenery also looks great,especially the scene at the fuelling facility.Sounds like you've got some nasty weather on the way---batten down the hatches and keep safe

This is about it for this build. I still need to add two ditch lights on the front of the engine, the a/c unit over the cab, and the front number boards that rest on white backgrounds. But the dull coat was applied...and I'm calling the major painting and bashing - completed. Additionally, I started adding the tiny B&O gold stripes above the windows on the matching passenger cars. They'll all get this treatment, one gold line above the windows (which isn't perfectly prototypical as the real coaches have four stripes - two above and two below the windows), as well as gold CSX emblem beside the door or each car. The passenger car roofs will get some weathering on the roofs, but remain pretty clean overall, then a dull coat to finish them off. We've decided to use the other Amtrak F40PH as the running mate to this CSX unit. So that one will get stripped of its Amtrak paint and painted blue/yellow really soon. But this time, I'm going to use the blue painters tape I usually use instead of the Tamiya paint masking tape that I used for the first engine and see if I can get a crisp and definite yellow stripe. If the second engine turns out better - it will be the leader and I'll let this first attempt run behind it. Of course the only problem is...neither of these two engines are powered...so for the time being, another CSX engine will do the honors of pulling them and their passenger cars around the layout. I've seen pictures of this in past years when a larger engine led the F40's around, so that's not straying too far from being prototypical.

(Oh...and the high railer got a coat of paint...and the MoW car some decals. It will soon get some additional pieces added as well to finish it off.)







My critique:
I'm not happy with the yellow/gold stripe at the front of the engine...just don't like the paint bleed through and the fact that I was unable to fix it satisfactorily. But the overall color blue and yellow look very good compared to other CSX equipment I have. The roof of the passenger cars are a bit too light grey, as the more recent pictures I've seen of them make it look like there's a pearly grey paint applied that is glossy. Mine are flat grey for now, but I might try to spray a coat of glossy grey to simulate the prototype color better, but spray a dull coat over the blue car bodies to highlight the difference. I need to figure out a better fuel tank for the F40, as the one on this LifeLike engine isn't even close to the CSX rebuild. I'm thinking of grabbing one off an Atlas GP or SD unit. The decals seemed to turn out well, even under the magnifying glass...but you'll have to take my word for that as the pictures here don't really show them too well. There's no silvering or glossiness though. This engine is in desperate need of a better snow plow as well...but that means coming up with a new mount for the Microtrains couplers that I installed when I cut off the hook-style coupler off the trucks.

Looking real good Mark!

The second unit has its paint...just waiting for decals to arrive.





What looks to be yellow bleed over at the rear of the engine is actually the handrail by the steps. They're not really modeled well and barely stick up from the shell. This is the "bad" side of the newly painted engine as my yellow extra fine tip paint pen placed a dash of paint below the handrail I was painting. It's never done that before, so I cleaned it up a bit to make sure it won't happen again. Once I get the correct size CSX emblem, the decals will go on as will a spray of dull coat, which should darken it up a bit like the first engine.

Hi Mark;

Superb work. I can see what you mean by needing to dullcote the second engine as I believe I can see a background reflection on it in your last photo. Thats some gloss finish, amazing.

N Scale no less, you must have eyes like a hawk. No make that eyes like a Herc pilot.

Mark

Yep - we were blasting the area with a 5-light directional floor lamp and tried to go for a longer exposure time to get the details of the engine in better focus. The paint I used was a Tamiya Blue and Yellow. The first engine has Tamiya Blue but Model Masters Yellow, which is an enamel. I got lucky that the enamel didn't run and bleed thru more than it did. I had much better results with the Tamiya yellow and a different masking technique. As I understand it, the Tamiya paints are a synthetic lacquer, and work well together.

The dull coat (Testors Dull Coat) really takes the shine down quite a bit and even darkened the overall model I think. So I'm anxious to get the decals on this second unit and getting that dull coat sprayed to see how closely they match. The yellow's won't look exactly matched, but then again, not too many CSX engines do.

A few better pictures...and a family portrait of the four engines I've bashed together...the two GP30 high hood builds with the two repainted F40PH. (I'm the first to admit that my "bashing" skills probably deserve more bashing (i.e. critique leading to improvement) than the fine work others do. The shot of the blue CSX passenger car is one of three I'm working on as well. They need the final decals and dull coat sprayed on the cars - glossy on the roof (at least that's what the actual pictures of these cars look to me and if someone else knows the real colors please feel free to chime in!).