Brad - Is that wonderful looking Frisco stock car built from the Sunshine kit? Love the high freeboard. That series of cars would keep the livestock dry going through a flood! K
Get stuff everyone! Hard for me to keep track of all the great posts and modeling. I have another SL-SF SD40-2 project going, would like to model the entire Frisco SD40-2 class, only need 2 more . New Athearn RTR SD40-2's are getting hard to find. If you know where a couple are available to purchase, let me know. Thanks everyone.
Fun stuff to see, gang, and thanks to all for contributing. Looking forward to more in a couple of days. John, I can't remember the exact details - I think I gave away some remnants. I probably recycled the unwanted ones. It was a miracle that I got rid of them at all, but needed to lighten the load before moving. I still have plenty of completely intact magazines. Best Regards,
The latest installment: one of the Frisco's USRA Double-Sheathed boxcars from an old Sunshine Models kit. Had to graft on a Tichy running board when I lost the original resin casting. I still haven't the foggiest idea where it went. Need to finish up the AB brake detail set, paint, decal, add trucks.
I too am working on a USRA double sheathed boxer kit, but it is one of the wood "originals," a wood kit made by Marker Light Models in the 1970's. It's a "craftsman" kit, but its primary purpose is to show that I am not much of a craftsman. I will model it as a second-hand boxcar owned by the Boren Explosives Co. And having the reporting marks BEX. Ken McElreath
My workshop Wednesday project is putting Soundtraxx Sound and a Current Keeper in a Bachmann Spectrum 3 Truck HO Shay for Steve Hurt's dad. It kinda falls into the category, "What were you committing yourself to, Keith?"
Keith! -- is there anything that you cannot do? That's amazing! Best that I can come up with at the moment is trying to repair a crack in our 4' x 8' granite counter top!
A few projects for this week, both awaiting weathering. Both are Accurail cars, the first is a SLRX car is from a special run the Mid Continent Region NMRA ran a year or so ago. I removed the ice hatches as the cars were not reefers in the typical sense in that they were not cooled with ice. I replaced the stock fishbelly underframe with a straight sill, removed all the cast on detail and added wire in there place. The second car is a MOW car modeled from a photo I got at last years RPM meet in St Louis. Same process as the SLRX car expected that I added windows and door steps. Brad
Awesome again this week guys! Keith I bet my dad will crap when he sees shay guts all over the bench. HAHAHA I thought you said they slide right in. LOL Here is mine this week. Shells I am FRISCOIZING for Keith and painting. The SDs are in white now but I didn't take a pic yet. Next weeks update? The GPs are mine.
Chris- Looks great to me I always enjoy see others progress images. Ken Mc- As always looking FWD to your layout images. Keith- that thing looks packed pretty tight with electronics. Amazing work. Sherrel- I didn't know you could even repair a crack in rock slate. Brad to are just outstanding models, I want to build a couple MW boxcars too. Great work! Steve- What did you used to strip the shells? Great progress. I bet they will look good when you are done! Here is an old Athearn BB flat bottom gondola that I got from a very dear friend some years ago. One of very few eastern roads on the MRR it seems. This one came weathered a bit, I just did a little more and added the load and cut bars. I like to use soft metal for the weight that can be bent along with the car. maybe I do one of those one day. I still got a few old kits to build, that might be fun to do. get the old hair dryer out and go to work Thanks for looking.
Riveting valve gear: Also bought another Bowser kit on eBay, this one the Old Lady 2-8-0: Even though it was advertised as NIB, it was missing several subassemblies, including front truck, side rods, miscellaneous parts (screws, hardware, bell, whistle, pop valves), including the back of cab. The seller refunded some money, but I've been trying to find the missing parts, and they're not all available . I have a spare MDC Vanderbilt Tender someone gave me-wasn't one of the Frisco Connies paired with a Vandy tender? Filing off flash:
This is a great post, I have not seen a craftsman steam kit like this built before, so I will be watching this for sure. This is a great thread!!
Thanks Tom. Keiths SD 45s were RTR Athearns. I stripped them with 91% Isopropyl alcohol. Took about two days to totally soak off but removed almost everything easily. The GPs are protos as you guessed. One was factory ATSF zebra and came right off the other was ebay buy and must be old Testors spray bomb enamel or something. It does not want to come off. I like the gondola btw.
Really great work, EVERYONE! Someday I hope to get started on a few modeling projects. Even though I have not done any train modeling in many years - I love being a part of the FRISCO family of modelers; The Last three years worth of health problems, among other things, has taken away from me the "drive" and "stamina" to do a lot of things that need done. Slowly getting some of that back and catching up on things that need to be done around the homestead. TOM, that darn counter top took me most all of yesterday to complete and part of the day before. I have no idea why it started cracking where it did, and I have no idea if it will stay together as I mostly used a cheap fix - not at all like the pros who have U-tubes on the subject. I just did not have the tools that they used, so I skimped on the whole thing which will probably come back to bite me later on - it looks passable, but you can see that the shine/sheen is somewhat lacking if you catch the light just right and look very close. Most of the time was waiting for things to dry, but I did spend almost 4 hours just sanding on it (maybe 1 hour with the correct tools). The crack ran almost the length of the sink. I first put a lot of Super Glue - I wanted to prevent any more water from getting into the break. After giving it about 6 hours to cure, I filled the break with JB Weld (elcheapo work) and let it cure overnight. Most of the sanding was done with my variable speed drill using various grits of sanding disks and quite a bit of hand sandpaper up to 1000 grit. Like I said - It's not great looking, but passable. Now to see if it will stay together or split again?
Sherrel, We have granite in our kitchen as well. I am no geologist, you counter top had a fissure in it and progressed over time. If it is recently new, you might want to see if they would replace it? John
Darn! I finished repairing the "moving damage" to my VO-1000, SLSF 213, and meant to post a pic or two of it. I'll do it next Weds. The VO just suffered from some details being knocked off. I had to replace some, just remounted others. Several models, mainly locomotives, were damaged, but most are cosmetic like the VO. The two serious patients are my Frisco E8 2006 in the austerity "yellow cigar band" scheme, and my Rock Island E6. The E6 is in bad shape. It not only got thrown around, but the box opened, and several items are missing. For example, four of the six axle bearing caps are nowhere to be found. The same for handrails and one horn. Well, it all gives me some railroading work to do. I found I need to get my eyeglass prescription updated, as close-up work is more difficult than it was. K
John, sure wish that were an option -- it is 9 YO and has had the crack little over a 1.5 year. The builder of this group went belly up during the 2008 housing debacle. Granite folks who did some excellent work for me on another project estimated $300 plus to attempt repair and not guaranteed. Replacement is $1500 up. Steve, I sure wish I could do that again. A 74 is nothing more than an over grown J-3 Cub - just more dials, lol. Ken, Real Bummer on the damage - especially the E-6. Hope you can locate, repair, buy, or manufacture the pieces you need. That's crushing! (no pun intended)
Yeah, I actually need to get a pair. Figured I'd get a pair of Kadee Andrews trucks unless others have better suggestions. I thought of putting Bettendorf placeholders on this one, but knew they'd jump out at Ken Wulfert from a mile away. Excellent examples, folks. Very inspiring to see what others are doing/finishing up on their workbenches.