Canfor SW1200
#16
It's Baaack!

   

Both of the modelers that I built the Canfor engines now want me to build them a second engine. One wants a second yellow unit (these often ran in pairs) but the other wants the second painted in the repaint scheme:
304 EMD SW1200u (CANFOR) Vancouver Island | # 304 EMD SW1200… | Flickr

This was their paint job after being re-engined with caterpillar prime movers. I'm not going into the extra details that the remotering added, just the same dynamic brake and air tanks of the originals. The paint job however will be a challenge. Also, this time I won't have the decals except for the numbers so those won't be added.
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#17
I made some good progress on the red/silver engine.
   

Here it is in primer, waiting for its first coat of red.
Since I'm making two of the same engine again, I made both dynamic brake boxes and all four air tanks at the same time. 
I was supposed to get the second engine but the owner accidentally brought the wrong engine, A Rapido SW1200rs that needed some repairs so I took that home to fix and weather.

   
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#18
I painted the red on the canfor engine:
   

In a couple days I can mask off the red and airbrush the silver. The black dividing stripe between the red and silver will probably be decals

I also repaired and weathered the Rapido SW1200rs

   

   
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#19
I masked off the red on the first engine today.
   

It took some studying of the prototype pictures and measuring with a set of calipers but I'm pretty sure I got the basic dimensions right. I cheated slightly by moving the red forward just a bit to clear the grab irons, but it's not noticeable.
   

Looking at the prototype, what I thought was silver looks lighter gray. I made some color samples and decided with the model master light gray. I'll probably airbrush the color on the hood and cab in the next day or so.

   

I did get the second engine this past weekend. I've disassembled it and it's soaking in its alcohol bath to remove the paint and lettering.
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#20
Looks great!
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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#21
Awesome job!
Tom
Silence is golden but Duct tape is silver
Ridley Keystone & Mountain Railroad
My Rail Images Gallery
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#22
Thanks, I got the first engine painted today:
   

I painted the gray yesterday, but it was a bit light, more like an off-white so this morning I re-masked and repainted with Polly-S light undercoat gray. Then I touched up any bleed under with a bit of caboose red. 
This afternoon I masked around the two grills and sprayed the flat black. Since I'm using acrylic paints, they dry so fast I can mask and paint the next color within a couple hours.

I should be able to start laying down decals in the next couple days if my other projects proceed as well as this one.
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#23
I finished off the first engine this weekend. I'm finding that now that the snow is falling, I have more time for the indoor hobby.
I decaled the engine over a couple days.
   

The black divider lines are five decal stripes per side. The 'Canfor' and the safety hashes on the pilots and the stripes all came from the original decals that were used on the yellow engines.

   

I was not really happy with the air tanks on the original engines. I had made them with 3/16" tubing that was filled with body filler and then I rounded the ends. This time I used 3/16 rod and rounded the ends by chucking them on my drill press and sanding the ends with sandpaper. It worked much better.

   

And then it was just a matter of paints the walkways and railings black. I used some leftover decals for the numbers on the hood and then re-assembly.  

   

Almost all the handrails are originals this time. I managed to get the safety hashes around them without removing them. 

   
If it was up to me, I'd weather it just a bit to make the trucks 'pop' a bit more. Straight black makes everything disappear into the background. 

Now I'm on the second engine. It'll be fairly straight forward this time. Just another yellow one. 
I did, however, write down all the dimensions for the detail parts and paint striping for these engines.
   
Just in case I'm asked to build another or if I build one for myself one day.

This Saturday I did get another project from another client:
   

My first Brass paint job, a GMD-1

   
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#24
Just a quick update and wrap-up.
I finished the fourth engine this afternoon:
   

The chassis was an earlier version that had a larger circuit board, so I had to grind away some of the dynamic brake box that I built to clear it. Just a bit off the inside that won't be noticed but it did cause me a bit of worry for a moment.
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#25
Thumbs Up 
This may come across as an understatement, but you do some pretty cool work, Glen.  Thumbsup
Cheers, the Bear. Icon_e_smile
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
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#26
Thanks Bear.
I got the repair parts for the Rapido engine today:
   

I got the lower pilot and the two photo-etched foot treads. It was a pretty easy repair as everything, including the treads has mounting pins for assembly. I glued them on and later I'll add some weathering to blend them into the rest of the engine.

   

While I have the weathering colors in the airbrush, I plan to weather the trucks, fuel tanks and pilots of my SW1200rs. You can see the difference between the factory trucks and the weathered trucks. The engines might have had gloss black trucks to begin with but they didn't stay that way for long.
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