Locomotive Breath - Part 2
The second post of this 4 post blog series. The name of this Blog Post is 'stolen' from the title of a Jethro Tull song! The title also deals with me making the first locomotive for the Mascoutin Valley Railroad!Paint
I envisioned the Paint Scheme for the Mascoutin Valley locomotive fleet to be Green, White, and Gray. I chose Badger Flex C&NW Green for the main paint for this locomotive. I used a Binks Wren A airbrush to apply the paint to the model. This airbrush is about as old as I am. I did not dilute the paint and ran it through the Airbrush @ 25 PSI. The airbrush gummed up a little bit because the Badger Flex paint is an acrylic paint that was getting blown through the gun with out being thinned. I "de-gummed" the airbrush with a microbrush and kept painting.
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| Pictured: Binks airbrush, and Green painted Locomotive Parts |
Decals
Once the paint dried it was time to to put on some decals. I made the custom decals for the Mascoutin Valley using Adobe Illustrator. It took me about a week to settle on a decal design. I ended up making a newer or more modern decal and I also made a classic or "Old School" Mascoutin Valley Logo. Once I settled on a design I needed to find someone to make the decals for me. I used Precision Design Company http://pdc.ca/rr/custom_decals/
Just a quick note about Precision Desgin Company. They had incredible customer service. Top notch quality. And quick turnaround. I highly recommend them.
I also used some striping and basic lettering from Microscale sheets. I applied the decals using MicroSet (Blue Bottle) soulution to keep the decal wet when I was attaching it. Once the decal dried. I used many coats of MicroSol (Red Bottle) to get the decals to soften and adhere to irregular surfaces. Patience is the trick here, multiple coats will get the decal to do what you need.
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| Adding Decals, MicroSet still wet on the model. |
Detail Parts
Exhaust Stacks
The original exhaust stacks were replaced with Spark Arrestors from Details west.| Details West | SA-124 | Spark Arrestor "Super" Non-Lifting Non Turbo C&NW |
I removed the existing stacks with an Xacto #17 blade. Not removing too much material I went slowly and sanded the remaining material down with fine sand paper. I removed the Spark Arrestor from the sprue and left a little "nub" on it for mounting it to the roof. I drilled a hole in the middle where the spark arrestors need to go and used the "nub" as a guide to attach the spark arrestor to the roof. I put a little CA in the hole and plopped it in there making sure it sat flush and perpendicular on the roof. The next series of pics shows the method of attaching.
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| Existing Stacks removed and guide hole drilled. |
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| Spark Arrestor with a "nub" left as a guide. |
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| Spark Arrestors installed! |
Snow Plow
The Snow Plow was pretty easy. I did, however, have to make a bit of a modification to the front of the sill/frame. I used an Xacto #17 blade and chiseled off the front details of the sill so the Snow Plow would seat correctly.| Details West | PL-155 | Snow Plow C&NW |
I drilled a couple of holes in the face so the pegs on the back of the plow would align and seat properly. I have a youtube video that better illustrates how I attach the snow plow to the frame. I talk more about my YouTube Video below.
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| The Sill now ready to accept the Snow Plow. |
New Media
YouTube
We're through step two and the model is starting to come together. To be more descriptive and to add content to the blog I've created a two videos and stuck them on YouTube. I've got two videos out there and a review of a boxcar I recently purchased. Now remember I'm just starting out on YouTube and I am learning. You can find my YouTube Videos here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HJGpVqCS9pnSsLyz2jecA
You can find my Facebook Page here. Make Sure to give it a 'like' to keep up with my progress
The next post we'll look at Doing Digital Command Control (DCC) Decoder Install. The installation will focus on hard wiring in a microchip and adding cool lighting affects.
Thank you for reading! We've hit over 300 reads!
Till next time, keep 'er in notch 8!
