Tom - Nice job! I love the low dome on the QA&P t/c! Capacity of 8000 gal of water would be over 66,000 lbs of load. Depending on the trucks they used, perhaps these cars couldn't carry that much weight - thus the car could not be loaded totally full. A small dome would then be OK as it was not needed for expansion space - only access hatch and valve mounts. Just a theory. One of the great things about tank cars is that very few of them look alike! Ken
With all the great models coming out, I haven't done a lot of modeling in the last few years. However, I am working on two AMB cabooses for a friend and they are coming together nicely. These are going to be the late version so they need the additional handrails on the ends and I need to figure out how to do that and then give it a final coat of paint and letter them.
Just put a Soundtraxx Tsunami in my scratchbuilt 1336 (finished it less than a month before Hallmark announced their 1306 class 2-8-0s. Timing is everything) and just before that I weighted and put a Digitrax decoder in the 184.
I just got to the point on these steam engines to where I can run them and see what they will pull. The 2-10-0, QA&P 1613 had thin White lines around the QA&P on the cab. I tried to get as close as I could building the oil bunker and the details on top of the tender. Getting the curve on the back of that bunker and then bending the plastic around it was a real challenge, not sure I will ever do that again. Re-located the water hatch and doghouse along with bending the lines up on the top too. Built the tool box out of Styrene. And that miserable oil hatch was scratch built. There is more work on the engine and some weathering to be done, but gonna run it some first. The 2-8-0, SLSF 1216 is a bit different with the square bunker on it, I found pictures of them with curve ended bunkers and square. I chose to do the square. I do not think this tender is the right one for the engine. I still think it is too long, someday I will run across a USRA short haul tender, from what I can tell from my very limited knowledge it would be a little better fit. Same as above for the water hatch and dog house relocation along with the piping and tool box. And that miserable oil hatch was scratch built too. Keith Robinson installed Tsunami Sound in the tender and did a clean job too, thanks Keith! I had allot of fun working on these engines, learned a bit about how much I really don't know about steam. Many thanks to Ken W, Karl, Keith, Pat Duffin and many others for their help and advise, and for sharing some of their knowledge. Now I'm gonna pack these thing over to the RR and what they will pull Regards, Tom|-|
I love the number plate on the 1613; a nice distinctive touch. For what it's worth, PFM did not get the tenders correct on its brass version.
Tom .. I am a little confused as to why you are beating yourself up over the oil hatches? Darn if I can find anything to say - except - GREAT! You never cease to amaze me with your modeling skill.
Splendid, Tom...well done; thanks for sharing! Good to see some fine steam modeling in Frisco Nation! Did you take any pictures of the work in progress? I'd be interesting in seeing the work as it progressed. Best Regards,
Here is the most recent model I have been working on. I just finished it tonight - if a model can ever be finished. Please excuse my bland photography - I'm not much good at it (except for pics of our two granddaughters!) This model started as an undec HO Proto 2000 E7. I bought in on eBay from a talented fellow who did the basic paint job including adding the side fluting, and did the basic decaling using the Microscale set. Unfortunately the decal set has the Texas Special lettering in white instead of in silver, but what the heck! The Proto 2000 E7 also has some errors in the contours of the nose and cab windows, but I can live with it (the earlier P2K E8 is actually better). The Walthers E7 supposedly has fixed the contour. I have spent the past two weeks or so tuning the chassis, correcting a few things on the model that were incorrect, and adding additional details, accents, and a smidge of weathering to the trucks and fuel tank area. As I usually do on my E's, I chose to leave all the m/u cables off the rear end - there were a bunch of them back there. You never see them anyway - I have a few hundred pics of the Frisco E's, only one of which is a rear view (E8 SLSF 2016, Mike Condren). Note also the E7's had a different light arrangement vs the later E8's, which I tried to simulate with MV lenses (note the Microscale Kristal Klear the MV's are mounted in has not quite dried clear yet). The lower housing had a big sealed beam light, the upper housing had a Mars light of a diameter about half of the opening. The Mars light moved in a sideways "figure 8" pattern which was really neat to see at night. Unfortunately, the P2K light only flashes. To my eye SLSF 2003 looks pretty good (better than the photos) and I'm real happy with it. It confirms to me once again how attractive this Texas Special paint scheme was. Next, I "gotta get me" a Meteor E7. The fellow I got this from has agreed to paint one if I can find another undec P2K E7 with the right number boards. My fall back is to send him my Model Power E7, on which I have already modified the number boards and pilot to the correct style. We'll see what happens. I'm glad he has agreed to do it as I don't think I could ever mask the yellow nose panel correctly. Ken
Took a couple progress pictures but none turned out. I need a lens that has great depth of field, macro and works with little or no light. Thats gonna cost me, I'm not sure I'm willing to sacrifice my parts inventory for it YET! Didn't think I was ever gonna get done with the Squadron putty. And all those rivets, hope the guys that built the real ones were paid by the hour... Ken, I came up with the QA&P plate on the smoke box by shrinking the heralds I've saved in the old windows 98 HP PC, and using a ALPS printer, managed to make all these decals, the numbers and all. Must have made 3-4 of each till I got it close enough. But I did get them both on the RR last night and was pleasantly surprised with their performance. They pulled 35 cars up a 1 1/2 % grade. And did it in fine fashion, was impressed and bewildered. The 2-10-0 would not pull 15 cars, which is why this project kinda got started in the first place. The 2-8-0 pulled 17 cars slipping. But double headed they pulled over twice what each pulled alone, now I need a beer to figure this out, maybe two. Thanks for the comments from all. Regards Tom
Ken That looks great!! I don't have any E units, they look so graceful, and the lines were clean. It is a good looking locomotive, no doubt it would have gotten your attention. I never got the chance to hear one run. I agree that those MARS lights were the best lighting package ever on a locomotive, nothing like seeing it coming down the track. Talk about ditch lights, a MARS light looked up down around curves and all Funk no more Tom
Very nice work, Ken. Nothing wrong with your photography except the bright, shinny door knob perched atop the two side views. If not for that - would be pretty close to perfect.
Ha! I didn't notice that. I'll retake the photos some day when I can clear out a decent place on the layout for 2003. Or - I could say - that's not a door knob, it's a special radar dome that the Texas Special E's had on their roof! Nah! Ken
More like an EPA mandated pollution device!! Working on a few buildings right now. Hope to get paint and pics in a few days. Dan
From time to time, there are some Hallmark Texas Special decals for sale on eBay by a seller called "cantonchick." I believe she's selling them on behalf of the widow of the late modeler and railfan Dean Hale of Texas who sometimes worked at Hall's Hobby House (Which was the shop that imported Hallmark models). Tom Edit: I just checked eBay. "Cantonchick" has several Hallmark Texas Special passenger car decal sheets, but I didn't see any for the locomotives. FYI.
I'll be darned, I wondered who cantonchick was selling for. I've bought several items from her and she's a good seller.
Terry - The Frisco logos on my SLSF 2003 Texas Special E7 are blue. They are a very dark blue, but they are blue. The prototype emblems were dark blue, but somewhat lighter than these HO decals. Years ago (15+ yrs?), Microscale introduced their HO set 87-455, intended for Frisco E-units, including Tex Spl and Meteor E7's. This set had a lot of problems, including the Frisco Lines w/bar logo being black and the Tex Spl lettering and star being white. Several years ago (April, 1995), they updated the 87-455 set at the request of modelers, including me. The "new" 87-455 set is better, but still not perfect. Two of the Frisco Lines logos are dark blue, but the others still look black to me. The star is now silver, but the Texas Special lettering is still white. Why they didn't fix everything is beyond me. Ken
