Rock Island Geep - Weathering

I managed to put in another evening at the workbench and the Rock Island geep project is another step closer to being completed.

I weathered the shell and chassis, using drybrushing techniques to give it a suitably grungy style for that true Rock Island feel.

The effect turned out pretty well, although I probably went a bit heavier than I was intending to - although that is pretty much true to the protorype for a Rock unit!

Next step will be the final detailing, mu hoses etc, and then final assembly.  Should be done this week.

Rock Island Geep Decaling

The Rock Island geep project continued today as I finished applying the decals and tidied up a few loose ends on the main shell.

I always find the numberboards tricky to decal as each of them needs four individual numbers and the decals are so small it can be a real challenge to get them straight and even.

For this model I decided to try printing my own numberboard decals, I had already fitted a set of Microscale EMD blank decals so all I needed were the numbers.

I found a windows compatible truetype font on the B&O historical society website and downloaded & installed it.  The numbers themselves were typeset in Photoshop and printed on laser printer compatible waterslide paper.  

They went on really easily and were certiainly a breeze compared to lining up tiny individual numbers.

I'd forgotten the chassis and sideframes were in primer so I needed to break out the airbrush to shoot them with Revell 'Tar Black' as I don't have any grimy black in stock.

 
As I had the airbrush out, I gave the roof a quick blast of black to get the weathering started.  I will do the rest of the weathering with a regular brush.

Next stage will be the detail weathering and reassembly of the model.

Rocking it on Godinez - The first Rock Island train hits the rails

After a busy weekend sent shifting boxes, unpacking boxes, repacking boxes and taking boxes to the charity shop... I finally cleared enough space in the man cave to start sorting out the rolling stock which has been accumulating over the years.  

First order of business was to get Godinez up and running again, this time with some Rock Island rolling stock instead of the random roadnames I usually run with.

I found I had put together a pretty respectable stack of Kadee rolling stock  from various second-hand purchases and ebay auctions, these gave me enough to run a pretty decent branchline train.  

 

The short Kadee hoppers are more suited to cement duty but a full-size grain car would dwarf the short spur track on the layout.

Once I was able to find my Proto GP9's one of them spent a good few hours testing the layout this evening.  The layout runs pretty well, aside from a slight connection problem that seems to affect the GP9 on one section of track. 

A GP30 handles the same section without any trouble, so I suspect the scenery is fouling the GP9 and causing it to lose pickup.

The good news is that the various accessories and crossing signal lights and audio still work, as do all the points.  The barrier gate and searchlight signal have given up the ghost and will need to be repaired.

I will strip and repaint the backdrop this summer while the weather is still dry.  It was originally covered in paper and the surface has bubbled over the years, a few coats of paint and some fine sandpaper should get the backdrop looking good as new. 

I will also need to refresh the trees and groundcover as some of it has seen better days.  I have plenty of woodland scenics in appropriate shades so I will be able to spruce things up without spending any extra cash.

Hallmark Brass GP50

Although I'm currently building a pair of modern geeps using Railpower GP60 shells, I couldn't resist picking up a second-hand bargain on ebay.  This is my second brass locomotive and it is a Hallmark GP50 factory painted for Santa Fe.

 
A pretty decent model, slightly let down by the lack of see-through fans and the distinctly oversized truck gearboxes that prevent the trucks from looking properly see-through like an Athearn or Atlas as the gearbox is visible as a square shape behind the truck sides.

This model was released in the early 90's and compared to most of the models of the time it would have been very impressive.  The various road-specific details include antenna frame, air conditioner and (non-operational) rooftop beacon.  There are no air-hoses or lift rings, and the walkways do not feature etched treadplate.

I don't model SF, but I'm sure this model won't be difficult to repaint and convert into a Norfolk Southern locomotive in the black scheme.

I'd really like to add some more brass locomotives to my roster, especially an SD40 or a Dash-9, so I will continue to keep an eye out for more ebay bargains.

More Kits Please - We're British.

Another day and another ebay bargain drops through the letterbox.  Or in this case is delivered to the local delivery office as being too large to fit through.

I'm still on the hunt for old early 80's Heljan kits to bulk up my 'kit mingling' parts box, these three rather tattered examples went for just £15 and although the postage almost doubled the cost, they are still a great buy.

Many of these old Heljan kits are the same ones that Walthers repackage and reissue with modern price tags, it definitely makes sense to try and get hold of the older ones cheaply where possible.  In this case one of them turned out to be one of the out of production Merchants Row kits currently selling on ebay for over $30 which is more than I paid for all three.

In this lot I have:

Crooksville Bank Block

(aka Walthers Merchants Row III) 

Ice Cream and Woolworth Store

(not reissued by Walthers as far as I can tell)

 

911 Drug Store

(not reissued by Walthers as far as I can tell)

 

Turns out that the kits are complete and in very good shape, despite what the torn and ripped outer boxes would have suggested.  I expected some missing parts at least, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened them to discover everything present and correct, with the added bonus of a few extra pieces from some kind of wild west set for good measure.

I particularly like the Drug Store kit as it is designed to fit on an angled spot, just perfect for filling an awkward space next to a set of points or a spur track.

I bought these kits with intention of them being parts fodder, but seeing as they are complete they will most likely become the basis for the city block on my next module.

I also picked up an old IHC "Homes of Yesteryear" kit which is a really nice model of a Victorian wooden house like those seen in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. 

 IHC Homes of Yesteryear

Obviously it's hard to tell without having built it, but on examination this kit seems like a really nicely detailed set of parts which ought to build into a great example of an old house.  I picked this one up for only £10 including shipping which is a bit of a bargain considering how detailed it is, definitely appears to be a case where the packaging belies the quality of the contents.

So, yet more boxes of plastic added to the hoard in the loft.  Luckily we expect to be moving to a house with a garage later this year.  So I will be able to get my layout up and running and sort out all the treasure into a proper backlog of modeling work!

Rush Hour in HO Scale - a load of secondhand 1:87 vehicles for the modules

I picked up a couple of lots of HO scale vehicles on ebay over the past couple of weeks, and I now have a selection of different cars and commercial vehicles suitable for any era from the 50's to present day.

These were bulk lots and they included a few random matchbox toys and other non-scale vehicles which I have already discarded, the joys of purchasing job lots :)

 A pair of Busch GMC 'fishbowl' New York buses.  One of them is faded and missing the aircon unit.

Three Ford C trucks - Dawson Lager tractor/trailer and a couple of short wheelbase units.

 A couple of Classic Metal Works International R-190 trucks.

 An Athearn Ford F850 stock truck in New York Central livery.

 

A Busch La France articulated fire ladder truck. 

 Three squad cars, each from a different decade.

 A classic ConCor U-Haul truck and a Boley GMC Topkick wrecker.

 More Busch, including a couple of fifties classics and an airport taxi.

 

 A pair of Promotex Mack CH603 tractors

 A Boley International dump truck.

A Boley International refrigerated box truck.

These vehicles should cover most of what I need for my freemo modules, and because they were so cheap I can safely use them at exhibitions without worrying too much about them getting lost or broken.

It's incredible how much these models cost new, the Busch models are especially expensive with new ones listed at over £20 on the Walther website.  Because I bought in bulk these cars only cost me an average of £2.50 each which is a big saving (or a massive depreciation depending on your point of view!).

I'd still like a few more sedans and regular cars to bulk out the streets, and I'm particularly keen to get some of the civilian version of the Atlas 'Automotive Masterpiece' Ford Custom sedan and the Mini Metals Impalas - especially the Taxi version.

I'll be keeping an eye on ebay for more bargain lots.  You should do the same if you fancy adding some cheap traffic to your HO layout or module.

Sun-a-rise early in the morning...

I picked up a selection of Morning Sun reference books at Benson, including a duplicate copy of Color Pictorial Vol 2, as they were so keenly priced it would be a crime not to buy them.

These morning sun books are an excellent resource for modelling reference, and each volume covers a specific time period or subject.

I'm planning to use rolling stock from the late sixtes/early seventies for Godinez, and these books are a goldmine of suitable reference.

The most in-depth of the books I bought is the Rock Island Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, a comprehensive 120 page guide to the boxcars and wagons that roamed the 7000 miles of the Rock Islands many routes.

I have a couple of Eastern Car Works kits for the ACF 70 Ton covered hoppers that I will be repainting for Rock Island, the kit is an exact match for the picture on page 58.

These hoppers were used to haul cement, so it's not exactly right for the grain silo on Godinez, but the kits were cheap and at least they are correct for the railroad.

Kitbashing HO Model Railroad Structures

I've found plenty of great kitbashing articles in my old collection of Model Railroader magazines and some of the best ones were written by Art Curran, a name synonymous with the art of adapting plastic kits to create new structures.

I recently bought an old copy of Arts book 'Kitbashing HO Model Railroad Structures, an excellent collection of some of Arts kitbashing articles from Model Railroader.  The book runs to 88 pages and includes over 23 structure projects, all of them based on the old plastic kits from Revell, Con Cor, AHM, IHC, Heljan and Pola.

The book was last updated in the mid-nineties, and most of the kits are now long out of production, but thanks to ebay it is still possible to find all of them at reasonable cost.

The book also contains both the classic 'Hardly Able' manufacturing company and 'Superior Sandwich' kitbashes that I'm intending to replicate with my own upcoming project using various vintage kits.

The instructions are written in the usual 'Model Railroader' style, with clear diagrams and measurements for making the various cuts and joins in the kit parts, as well as a nicely detailed list of additional parts used to make each building.

So if you are interested in doing a spot of kitbashing, or kit-mingling as Art calls it, then grab yourself a copy of this great old book, or pick up some old Model Railroader magazines at your next swapmeet.