CNR MLW RS-18 (Atlas)
#46
Very nicely done sir.
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#47
[Image: IMG_2783b.jpg]

It's time to complete the second batch of RS-18. I spend the Christmas holidays detailing and completing these 3 locomotives. They will be painted in the CN wet noodle scheme and detailing reflect common practices of the late 1960s and early 1970s, it's why some habitually obvious details are missing since they are later additions.

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Class lights were made out of resin dots and bells had to be severely altered to be prototypical. Miniatures by Eric's RS-18 bells aren't correct for the 3600 series.

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For this one, I didn't have a brass bell, thus I made one out a sprue. Necessity is mother of invention. I certainly won't stall the project over such a petty thing! ;-)

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FInally, another Rs-18 is on the bench work - the last one - but this time, it's a severely kitbashed Mehano/Model Power/Life-Like shell.

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#48
Class lights can be made fairly easily using fibre optics, and can be made functional, if so desired.

Mine are strictly for appearances, as seen on this FPA-4 based on a Model Power FA-2...

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...or this modified older Athearn geep...

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I use a fairly small diameter fibre, and use the heat from a soldering iron to form the "lense". The distance from the heat source and the duration of exposure to it, determine the size of the finished lense. With a little practice, you can make scale-size lenses of consistent sizes. I use a piece about 1" long, holding one end with pliers while forming the lense. If the first attempt gets too big or starts to droop, slice it off and try again with the remaining length.
For working class lights, the length of fibre should be longer than needed to reach the light source, then trimmed to length after an acceptable lense has been created.

To install the lense, working or not, drill a hole sized for the fibre itself, then countersink the exterior of that hole using a drill bit sized to the diameter of the lense which has been created. On the geep, I painted the depressions a light grey, but forgot do do so on the FPA-4. 35
The circumference of the lense should just fit into the depression formed, while the raised arc of the lense's face will protrude prototypically.

Wayne
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#49
I remember you once explained that trick few years ago, but I thought the optic fiber diameter had to be similar to the lense. I should have read better because I have plenty of very small optic fiber ready to use. The result is extremely realistic and I love the idea they can work. I'll seriously consider that when kitbashing the fleet of RSC-24. BTW, I got the Kato trucks for these locomotives.

BTW Wayne, the fourth RS-18 will be painted in the classic olive & gold paint scheme. I have the decals, but it will be extremely tricky to set the decal on the hoods. I'm thinking about applying the decals before installing the numberboards, bell, grabirons and headlight, then add the prepainted details later. How have you worked around that issue when doing your CNR locomotives?

Best regards,

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#50
It's been some time since I've painted CN diesels, Matt, so it's difficult to recall particular procedures.
I have left off details to simplify painting and/or decaling, but I always used SMP's Accupaint and Accucals, the colours of which matched extremely well. This allowed the use of paint in some difficult-to-decal areas, such as around number boards or headlights, and then only a portion of the decals might be required, such as for the edges of those yellow nose patches with the very thin black borders.
You can also trace the decal images, particularly for the nose patches, onto paper, then cut out the tracing and use it transfer the shape to masking tape.
Sometimes, the decals didn't always fit when there were lots of raised details, and the decal film might need to be slit after application. Even then, portions of the decal might need to be removed, but the matching paint could cover up those gaps.

I'd guess that the best choice would be to leave off whatever details you can, and perhaps paint them at the same time you do the body shell. That should give a uniform finish to everything, requiring perhaps only minor touch-up after the details are added.

Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

Wayne
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#51
Hi Matt. If I could just add my two cents.
I've painted a couple gp-7's and an SD-7 in the green and gold CN paint scheme. I used an acrylic paint for the green and Microscale decals. The details like the bell and grab irons were added after the paint and decaling. I also used Walthers Solvaset on the decals. This was especially necessary for the upper decal on the ends to force it to conform to the angles, just don't touch the decal after you apply the solvaset until it dries. Doing it this way I found the upper decal wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be. The chevron lower down was more difficult because it's so narrow and fragile.
I hope this helps.
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#52
Thanks guys!

I think keeping the details off the shell and slitting the decal as required should help the process. I'll let you know when I'm at this stage in the project.

Best regards,

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#53
All 3 locomotives are now painted. Paint and Future finish are curing. Waiting for parts before completing the fourth one.

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Best regards,

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#54
The three first RS-18s are now completed and ready for weathering.

[Image: IMG_2824b.jpg]

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[Image: IMG_2826b.jpg]

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#55
Hallo Matt,

this is Worship Thumbsup

Cheers Lutz
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#56
Schraddel Wrote:Hallo Matt,

this is Worship Thumbsup

Cheers Lutz

Thanks Lutz!

CN 3651 just coming out from the weathering shop. The fading paint effect is accurately reproducing what CN RS-18s looked like back in the 1970s. According to some former CN shop employees, they used to wash off the oil covering the locomotive with Varsol and caustic soda, which caused the premature erosion of the paint. That's why the CN logo reverted to the red oxyde underlaying primer. I still have some work to do on the locomotive, including forming the headlight lenses and making the roof more oily as per prototype... oh... and weather the shiny coupler knuckle!

Here's the prototype picture used as reference:

http://www.cnrphotos.com/gallery2/main.p...emId=87810

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The two other locomotives will be less drastic than this one though as they will represent locomotives from the early 1970s.
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#57
Beautiful work Matt Cheers
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#58
Ed's right: you've done a really nice job of capturing the look of the prototype. Thumbsup Applause Thumbsup Applause

Wayne
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#59
Great work, Matt. The paint erosion looks spot on.
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#60
I can't see the last batch of images, not sure why?

From the previous posts though there's some nice work going on in this thread. Big Grin
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