HOn3 cars for TrainNut

[nachoman]

We'll take some of that heat out in the Pacific Northwest, thank you. Still feels like early spring/late winter around here.

Nice compromise on the functionality/detail balance. Good looking brake piping, etc. Can't wait to see them all painted & purty.

Galen

Thanks for the compliments. I hopefully will be painting this afternoon.

[nachoman]

The cars are assembled...next comes paint. I always airbrush outside - but it is perhaps too hot out there right now. I will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

[doctorwayne]

Those cars looks great, Kevin. I always like the look of a bunch of cars just prior to painting - it's the last chance to really notice easily all of the work that's been done on them. Of course, all the detail is still there after painting, but with lettering and weathering added, it all just blends together to make the whole model look believeable.
I've got 49 cars sitting in my shop right now, washed and ready for painting. Perhaps I'll take a few "before" shots later, as I hope to start painting sometime tonight.

Wayne

[nachoman]

Sorry to disappoint you, Wayne, but these cars finally* are getting some paint. Today is decal day! I decided to make each one a little different. First, my prototypes:

I made one with the old herald, to look like #3254:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=3254">http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=3254</a><!-- m -->

I also made two with the new "flying rio grande" herald, one to look like #3090
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=3090">http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=3090</a><!-- m -->
and one to look like #3348
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.narrowgaugememories.com/v/Rio+Grande+in+the+60s/farmingtonsilverton/DRGWfarmturnxinglatepm950.jpg.html">http://www.narrowgaugememories.com/v/Ri ... 0.jpg.html</a><!-- m -->

I chose the numbers based upon not wanting to duplicate many digits and having to buy a second decal sheet! It is also nice to have photographs of the specific cars. I will try to weather them accordingly.

Here the decals are drying on one side of the cars.

   

*I say "finally" because I have had a lot of weird distractions the past few weeks, including helping my dad with 3 unusual car problems, helping my dad move appliances and taking my neighbor to the hospital.

[doctorwayne]

No disappointment here, Kevin, as they're looking great. Oddly enough, I picked up a set of C-D-S dry transfers for those cars just last week. While I like Rio Grande's "speed" lettering, it's too modern for my era, so I opted for set 204, which includes heralds for both the "Royal Gorge Route" and the "Moffat Tunnel Route". Since the set is meant for the narrow gauge 30'-ers, I'll use only the herald on an Accurail 40' single sheathed standard gauge car, along with reporting marks and capacities for a slightly more modern car.

Wayne

[nachoman]

No disappointment here, Kevin, as they're looking great. Oddly enough, I picked up a set of C-D-S dry transfers for those cars just last week. While I like Rio Grande's "speed" lettering, it's too modern for my era, so I opted for set 204, which includes heralds for both the "Royal Gorge Route" and the "Moffat Tunnel Route". Since the set is meant for the narrow gauge 30'-ers, I'll use only the herald on an Accurail 40' single sheathed standard gauge car, along with reporting marks and capacities for a slightly more modern car.

Wayne

The newer herald came out about 1940 (from what I have been told). I assume locomotives got repainted much quicker than boxcars. If you were doing the newer herald, here are two prototypes that may help:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=66306">http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=66306</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=66977">http://www.cumbrestoltec.org/rs.php?num=66977</a><!-- m -->

[doctorwayne]

Thanks for those pictures, Kevin. Those cars look to be closer to the old Train Miniature seven-panel single sheathed cars than to the taller Accurail version. I was planning on using the nine-panel Accurail car, as the small herald would probably look more appropriate in the narrower available space. Looks like, perhaps, the 66977 is riding on Vulcan trucks, too.

Wayne

[nachoman]

Dang these decals are tiny and annoying!

[Drew]

Wow Kevin!
You've done some SUPER modeling here!

Great work!

[nkp_174]

Nice work, Kevin!

Did you have to bore out the axle holes in the caboose's trucks? That was one of my least favorite aspects of PSC's On3 trucks. I definitely see the merits of JB Weld assembly over soldering.

Early on, there were a few questions I can answer:
In narrow gauge modeling, some manufacturers offer styrene kits. PSC has a few, Grandt Line's are all styrene, and there are a few others. Many kits are wood. Whether a model includes trucks or not depends on whether the company producing it also produces the correct trucks. Grandt Line and PSC offer trucks, and so they are included. Rail Line offers two styrene kits as their full product line, so they don't offer trucks. Rio Grande Models is a fine source for non-D&RGW trucks...offering Carter Bros, DSP&P, F&CC, etc. prototypes (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.riograndemodels.com/HO.htm">http://www.riograndemodels.com/HO.htm</a><!-- m -->)

The caboose trucks are the D&RGW's standard 3'7" WB arch bar trucks with leaf springs. The D&RGW 30' freight cars (3000 series box, 1000 series gons, 5500 series stock) were equipped with a coil version of the same truck. Most other operations, as well as the newer D&RGW cars, used trucks with 4'-5'wb...some were arch bar (fabricated), others were cast (Betterndorf, Vulcan, Andrews).

[nachoman]

Nice work, Kevin!

Did you have to bore out the axle holes in the caboose's trucks?

I didn't, but it may have helped. I just glued them with the sideframes not completely flush with the bolsters. There is a little square "peg" that fits in the slot in the bolster. As they are now, the trucks are a little "wide" and would hang up on the caboose steps on anything tighter than 18" radius curves. Boring the axle holes and getting the sideframes flush with the bolsters would have helped with that. I suspect that the wheelsets now supplied with the trucks are slightly longer than the wheelsets that were used when the trucks were originally designed.

[nachoman]

I have one of those old-fashioned dads that used to tell me to "buckle down and get it done". That is where I am with these cars. Just a few things left to do, and they will be off my workbench.

I am targeting a late 1940s look for these cars. TrainNut likes the "flying Rio Grande herald", and that did not get painted on narrow gauge cars until about 1940. But, by the early 1950, the Rio Grande was abandoning much narrow gauge trackage and scrapping locomotives. TrainNut has a K-27 2-8-2 model, and those locos were gone by the mid-1950s. I figure a few cars still had the old herald in the late 1940s, and I decided to paint 3254 using the old herald. (The reality is, if I wanted to do all three cars using the new herald, I would have had to buy another decal set just for a few data boxes ) Having a few cars with the old herald provides nice variety, though .

By he late 1940s, these cars were already 45 years old, and 25 years since their last major rebuilding. The wood was showing wear and the paint was peeling and fading. Having a completely unweathered Rio Grande narrow gauge boxcar just doesn't look right. I weathered the car to try and give that "streaked" look that comes about when the individual boards take paint slightly differently. If you look at the prototypes, it seems paint sticks better to some boards than others (same goes with my dad's deck ) The other two cars aren't far behind.

[P5se Camelback]

BEE YOU TEE PHULL!!!!! :mrgreen:

[nachoman]

For your enjoyment, here is D&RGW boxcar #3090.

[P5se Camelback]

AAH MAIZE ZING!!

My socks blew right off my feet!

You've got some skills goin' on there, m' Boy!