P&LE U28B Project - 3

Well the locomotive has been completed. I spray painted the whole locomotive with "Testers" dulcote. Next I spray painted areas that would be most prevalent for paint to become faded using "Floquil" Weathered Black, and in other areas I painted small locations to simulate aged rusting using "Floquil" Roof Brown. The spring's in the trucks I detail painted using "Floquil" Red Oxide, this was to simulate fresh rust from the loco setting for a long period of time in the elements. I finished the model by dry brushing using "Floquil" Foundation. On the roof I used black chalk to simulate fresh soot. Over-all I would say the model turned out pretty well. I captured the look of a well used locomotive close to its retirement.

P&LE U28B Project - 2

Well the loco has been painted and decaled. So far so good.

Step(1): I painted the whole locomotive using "Testors" gloss black thinned down to be sprayed in an airbrush (right out of the bottle is too thick), a gloss surface is the best for applying decals.

Step(2): Was to hand paint the window frames, many of the P&LE units had aluminum sashes around the windows this unit was no exception. First using a bambu skewer with the point sharpened I painted the outside of each window frame with "Testors" silver paint. I know, how do you paint with a stick? Well you really don't, what your doing is dipping the end of the skewer in the paint and drawing it on. (Just think of a true fountain pin.), next I used a fine paint brush to paint the insides of each window casing. Once the paint has dried, I then placed the windows in.

Step(3): Keep in mind that the cab is not connected to the locomotive yet. Next I began placing the decals on he cab, I used the following decal sheets for this project; Accu-cal multipak 5813H and Microscale P&LE Hood diesels #87-1227. The Accu-cal decals were used for the numbers on the cab and number boards. The Microscale decals were used for the yellow doors, the P&LE on the nose and the rest of the detail decals on the rest of the unit. The yellow door decals are the challenge, when you put them on the model only worry about lining up the hinge side of the door. Also the decal is a little longer than needed don't worry about it. (When you look at the decal at this point it doesn't look right, don't worry.) Once the decals have dried for approx. 24 hrs I used "Walthers" Solvaset - Decal setting solution. This takes out the silvering behind the decals and allows the decals to wrap around details on the surface of the model (i.e. rivets, door knobs, seams, etc.). When you put this on the door decal it will shrink enough to fit into the door molding (or at least in most cases). You will have to come back and touch up a little around the top of the door, the decal has squared ends where as the door is rounded.

Step (4): Once the decaling was completed, I spray painted "Testors" gloss coat over the whole mold to insure the decals were protected. Once the model was dry I began putting it together. The only painting that was left was the top rail on the rails, which I hand painted using "Floquil" CSX yellow. It's a pretty close match to the door decals. Once everything has set for approx. 24 hours I will begin applying the weathering.

P&LE U28B Project - 1

Well, ...I have no excuse other than I'm a dead beat. I realize it's been a while since I made any new postings, well it's been a busy year and half with little to no time for modeling. However it looks like things are beginning to slow down for me.

No, I still haven't painted the huletts yet. That will be coming in the next few weeks or so hopefully. I liked the effect that I used in my last posting with the airbrushing, what you didn't see was that I used a "red oxide wash" after air brushing that really pulled the detail out. I regret that I don't have the pictures to show you. That was a friend of mines model that has since been returned.

I recently purchased a Stewart U25B w/Kato drive in the P&LE colors (2808). However I am going to repaint it for P&LE #2819. This was a unique unit because of the various oddities in it paint scheme. It appears to be the only U25b that had P&LE lettered on the nose, and the lettering on the cab is of "New Yor Central" font flavoring. Not to mention but this unit was still around in the time period I am modeling in (1987ish).

One of the first things i did was to remove the large steps on the pilots, in the pictures that I'm using there was none.



Next, I began adding the detailing to both ends, coupler lift bars and MU hoses. Then I began adding the grab irons around the nose of the unit and on top by the sand filler. Next was came adding the "A-line" sun shades, yes this unit did have sun shades.






At this point the loco is ready for paint, I will paint it with light grey for a primer, then repaint it black.

Update

Hi Folks, sorry for the rather lengthy delay on updates. The charging "Larry" and quench car were completed for a train show that I attended in early March down in the Atlanta area. The show was great, but as usual not long enough. Once I got home I began tackling the "honey-do-list" my wife craft before I left that I promised would be taken care of when I got back. By the time I finished the list a few weeks had past and the good weather here in North Carolina set in. Long story short, I spent yet another few weeks getting the yard cleaned up for the summer. Well enough with the excuses.

I plan on starting the painting process on the huletts in the next few days. I've been practicing the painting technique that I want to try that will resemble a pair of huletts in their final years. The side panels of this coal tipples storage bin and vertical supports are close to what I'm looking for.

Charging Larry - part 2

I was able to paint the charging Larry the other night. I completely painted the model using Floquil "Reefer Gray". Once dry I over sprayed the model using Floquil "Rust" in various places, some areas heavier than others. Once that was dry I then used "Dark Brown" acrylic craft paint to simulate older rust spots. To finish the model I lightly dry brushed areas of the model using Floquil "Lettering Gray" to help blend everything together. I used Microscale "Micro Kristal Klear" for the windows. I oversprayed the the complete model with Testors Dulcot to blend the windows. Finishing touches include a decal and lamp shade. Oh, I nearly forgot I used black chalk to simulate coal dust around the hopper openings

Quench Car and Charging Larry - Part 1

Well I finally made it to my favorite hobby shop yesterday to pick-up the paint that I needed for the Hulett’s. Soon the painting will begin. While I was there I noticed that they had one of the Walthers Quench Car and Larry kits for sale. I've seen them before but had always thought it was rather over priced. For whatever reason they had this kit marked down rather nicely, nice enough that I bought it. I spent last night assembling both the Larry and quench car. Much to my surprise both kits are very well done, they each have great detailing. The “Larry” car has hatch detailing underneath and electrical conduit runs going from structure to structure. To this point the only addition that I have made to this kit was a lamp above the stairs. The quench car also has great detailing. The kit comes with Proto 2K metal wheels and metal couplers. Once the kit was assembled I added the various included wire grabs and brake wheel. There is no under frame detailing, I’m not too worried about it because in most cases you’ll never notice it. As you can tell by the photos, both kits are nicely done. There was also an additional section of over head conveyor included in the box. For those of you who bought the original Walther coke works kit which didn’t include these items, this kit is worth the purchase.

Hulett Unloader - Part 6

Here’s a small update on the initial Hulett project. The “larry” car for the most part is pretty basic. It looks fine from the front and side, but it’s the rear of the car that’s missing substance (there’s nothing there). I know in most cases you won’t even notice it under the gantry. However if you were going to take any close-up pictures of it at any angle you might see it. Maybe I’m just being too anal. Any way I started detailing the area. As you can see from the attached photo there's a lot of stuff back there.

In the pictures you will notice that I began building the other Hulett. As I mentioned before I was out of paint so I couldn’t start painting the first one. Then I realized maybe I should build the other one so they can be painted at the same time. If they were built at the same time in history then the weathering on them would be very similar. I have built models in the past that were duplicates, but could not match the weathering techniques. In most cases there was a fair amount of time between construction when I tried doing this, hence the difference. These are going to resemble Hulett’s that are close to being retired. You know faded paint, grimmy and a fair amount of rust showing through. This is the part of the project that I’m really looking forward to. As you can see by the photos once their both done and installed it should make an impressive scene. Hmmm, now all I need is ship.