Super Detailing - Tips and Suggestions Needed Please

[Green_Elite_Cab]

This i can help you with! There is a book at my hobby shop that deals with exclusively demonstrators, and has all the photos you need. i don't remember the name, but I'll be going down that way soon again.

In fact, before you get started, make sure you have PHOTOS and the right tools and materials. Don't get impatient, look for those roof shots to get the right antenna.

Its happened several times where i assumed a set of locomotives were the same and it turns out that they are totally different. For example, i was super detailing Conrail 6614, a GE C32-8 in Conrail's Ballast Express paint scheme. Only one unit was drastically different (6612 carried a "modern" dash-8 cab, not a dash-7 cab), but they all "looked" about the same, until it came time to place the decals. Every other C32-8 had their Conrail logos in a different spot, some of them had their logos more forward than back. This, in shore, created a terrible mess with my models and it took three decal sheets to get it right.

Another example is on one of my brass E44s, i put on conrail numbers in the wrong font. Lucky for me in both of these cases, they were just decals and they could be removed, and all I'd experience is irritation. If you go ahead and start drilling holes or gluing things down without KNOWING for SURE that your engine was set up in that way, you can end up with a Way off model. When it comes to demonstrator units, you REALLY can't afford to fudge anything, since they stand out.

I really do reccomend the detail kits, they are a great help for modeling particular engines. I bought the Details west kit for my Amtrak P42DC and NJ Transit U34CH models, the latter of which was my first super detail project. Those kits will probably come with windshield wipers and MU hoses (I'm surprised yours didn't, my old SD75M came with all those parts, and the new Genesis units all have these parts installed). when you do get the kits, check to see what parts you still need. If you don't recognize it or don't know the name, i can probably identify it for you.

On good thing to check though, is who has the better details. Sometime Details West can't hold a candle to Detail Associates, other times its the other way around. it pays to look through your Walthers Catalog. T Here are also literallly TONS of small detail part suppliers that work out of their own homes, and its always worth asking around.

one cool detail you might want to add to your list are see-thru steps. When painted right, they look REALLY good, and they are very easy to install. Cannon makes an AWESOME set that also includes the deck's safety tread. If you want just the steps, A-line's SD60M steps will probably work, since your unit only has 4 steps, not 5 like some of the others. Cannon & Company makes A LOT of the parts you will need, the company almost exclusively makes EMD parts (sucks for those of us with many GEs like myself, lol). I'd recommend looking around their stuff to.

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These steps are A-line, and the Cannon comes with additional pieces, but you can agree that it helps my C32-8 look fancier.



also, if you don't already have a pinvise, drill bits, and good glues, you're going to want to research those to. There are SO many tools out there, never do anything the hard way until you look up other ways to do it! I've found in my travels that if something seems a little ridiculously difficult, that there is probably something out there that works better than what you're doing.