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.

Rock Island Geep Update

With only a couple of weeks before the NMRA convention in Derby I have finally got back to the workbench to continue work on the Rock Island GP project.  This has been on the shelf for almost two years but I finally got around to digging out all the bits and bobs for it.

The shell was already airbrushed in Polly Scale Rock Island maroon and the next step was the yellow warning panel for each end.  I opted to brush paint the ends rather than set up the airbrush for such a small job.

I masked off the ends with Tamiya masking tape and used light coats (almost drybrushing) to add several thin coats of custom mixed yellow to the model.  I used Revell yellow with a few drops of red to create a suitably orange tint to the paint.

 
The Microscale decals went on fairly easily, the stripes are a bit of a job to straighten and I realised too late that the nose heralds needed to be cut to fit around the grab irons.

I also realised too late that the nose shouldn't have upper grab-irons on the right side.   Not sure how I missed that one!  I must have been having one of those days when I applied them.

Still plenty of work to do on the model, but I feel pretty confident about getting it done before the deadline.  Next step will be the rest of the decals and then comes the weathering.

Rocking it with Athearn

I picked up this neat little 1950's Ford F100 truck on ebay fairly cheap.  Manufactured by Athearn, it comes factory decorated for Rock Island and fits in nicely on Godinez as part of the rural station detailing.

These vehicles are very nicely detailed and feature crisp panel lines and fine printing, the moulded plastic parts aren't as fine as the etched details on my Neo resin models but for the price you cant complain!

Here it is parked on the layout, a little on the fresh side for a Rock Island truck, I think I will need to give it a heavy weathering to make it more authentic.

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.

Geep Wreck - Proto Packaging Claims Another Victim

I picked up a nice looking mint condition Proto GP9 in the early maroon paint scheme, but unfortunately the curse of the Proto 2000 packaging struck while it was en-route to me in the post.

These older Proto models are designed to be shipped with the body shell and the chassis in separate parts of the box.  The seller didn't realise this and shipped the model in one piece.  There is too much room in the box and the model was free to slide back and forth in transit. So much so that the front pilot ended up completely mashed and most of the rooftop details were shorn off.

It was certainly a sorry sight when I opened the box.  Turned out that the seller was a top bloke and he sorted everything out for me, but I now have yet another unexpected basket case for the 'to do' box.

I was hoping to put this unit straight to work on Godinez, but with the damage it's sustained it will take a while before it sees the rails again.

If you are buying a boxed Proto on eBay then be sure to e-mail the seller and ask them to dismantle the model before shipping.  It's unlikely to make the journey in one piece otherwise!

Rock Island Geep - Update

The final detail parts for my Rock Island Geep project arrived in the post this week so I was able to finish the body shell and begin the painting process.

As per the prototype this GP7 is fitted with tall MU cable stands and spark arrestors, as well as the usual handrails and other details.

I had to trim the exhaust stacks from the shell in order to fit the spark arrestors.

The Atlas cab has slightly different positions for the handrails so I drilled new holes and filled the old ones with squadron putty.

I hit a few snags with the painting, it took me three attempts to get the primer onto the shell, the paint kept clogging the airbrush and I was getting really uneven coverage.  I use Vallejo acrylic primer which I have always got good results with in the past but this was a new bottle and I'm not convinced it has not been affected by something in storage.  I will need to order a new one.

For the maroon I'm using Scalecoat acrylic Rock Island Maroon, but I'm not entirely happy with the colour, it's probably a closer match to the earlier units, I think I needed more of a scarlet shade for the unit I'm modelling.

I also ran into a lot of problems getting even coverage on the shell, especially in the corners of the hood and cab, where I just couldn't seem to get a decent even coat.   I do plan to heavily distress and weather this engine so the maroon colour and patchy coverage probably won't matter too much but I definitely need to work on my airbrush technique for next time!

First Geep for Godinez

I finally started work on the first Rock Island locomotive for my Godinez roster.  The model is a vintage 1990's Front Range GP7 kit which I will be superdetailing and painting in the late sixties Rock Island maroon and yellow paint scheme.

I started with a non-dynamic front range shell which was partially painted for Burlington Northern by the previous owner but never finished. 

The Front Range kit is the same tooling that formed the basis for the new Athearn Genesis geeps, so I knew that the cab roof was the wrong angle.  I decided to try and address that by replacing the original kit cab with an Atlas one.

The Atlas cab is slightly longer than the front range one so I had the do some trimming and filing to get it to fit, I also needed to shim the cab with styrene to raise it slightly as there is clearly a difference between the hood heights on the front range and Atlas bodies.

I also separated the nose from the long hood to make it easier to add the longer cab in between, otherwise I would have needed to file away the rivet detail on the roof.

I've added grab irons and prepared the shell for further detailing.  I've got several bags of Details West parts ready to add to the locomotive and will be giving it MU stands, air hoses and drop steps as well as adding brass horns.

Next step will be filling the gaps with milliput and sanding to give a smooth surface ready for priming.

Top Of The (front) Range Geep

 
I already have two of these on the bench, or rather in the queue to be worked on, but I took the opportunity to pick up a big box of front range GP9 parts and chassis on ebay recently.

These kits were originally issued in 1986 and were ahead of their time for detail, including separate walkways, interchangeable battery boxes and see-through fans.   

You can see from this original advert that they retailed for the rather high price of $45 back in 1986, a lot more expensive than they sell for these days!

The only real problem with these kits is the contour of the cab roof which sits too high compared to the real locomotives.

The image above shows the incorrect roofline on the cab, it should sit much lower down, with a shallower angle.

 

The lot also came with a set of instructions for the kits, although they are very simple to put together and probably could be assembled without instructions.

This box of parts will help to finish off the two engines I have on the backlog, and will also yield enough parts to put together a third locomotive, all three will become motive power for Godinez, with the plan being one in maroon, one in red and the third in ex-Rio Grande black with the Rock Island heralds.