Mystery CN steam generator resin kit

[Roger Holmes]

The red and silver cars are inkjet decals done by a friend.  I recall the white car decals came from a set.  I'll have to look it up.  I wrote an article for RMC which appears in the March 2003 issue.  The core is built up of layers of acrylic  strip with a half round piece on top.  I used a friend's band saw to cut to length with the proper end angles then wrapped with Evergreen .010 sheet styrene.  The hardest part was drilling the handrail stanchions into the acrylic core.  Otherwise a fairly easy project.

[CNR5529]

Been working on the steam gennie kit. I started by chiseling off many of the the rough cast on details, drilled out the windows, lowered the ride height, then started installing detailing such as separate grab irons, vents and stacks, lifting rings, end walkways, and a brake wheel. There are still some details missing, but I'll be soon ready for a first coat of primer. Once thats done I'll be able to judge where more sanding and filling may be needed.

[craigolio1]

Wow what an improvement!!

[Angus Shops]

That looks like a huge improvement. Are the scribed horizontal lines prototypical?

Geoff

[CNR5529]

That looks like a huge improvement. Are the scribed horizontal lines prototypical?

Thanks! Unfortunately no, in the original casting the scribed lines are supposed to represent weld seams. Maybe gluing a long length of styrene or brass wire along the scribe would look better? Any other ideas?

[Lemosteam]

Thanks! Unfortunately no, in the original casting the scribed lines are supposed to represent weld seams. Maybe gluing a long length of styrene or brass wire along the scribe would look better? Any other ideas?

Wire would look great as a weld seam, IMHO.  Then a quick filler putty to close any gaps or irregularities above and below the wire.  Going to keep this idea in mind for FUD/FXD projects that have weld seams or beading, like on a passenger car roof. 

[Lemosteam]

Scratchbuilt --styrene wrapper over acrylic body

@Roger Holmes , @JMaurer1 , this would be a great FUD/FXD kit.  What is the era, general locale, and are there any drawings or good side-on photos out there? 

PM me with info so as not to clog this thread.

[peteski]

A well-made butter-dish milk car would definitely be most welcome in N scale.  They were offered in brass (rare and expensive) and resin (ok, but could be better).  A well-researched 3-D printed model would be awesome!  I seem to recall that there was drawing of this car published in either Model railroader or maybe even in the N-Scale Magazine.

[Angus Shops]

I thought they were probably weld seams, and I was thinking that strips of .010 styrene rod seated in the grooves might be an improvement. Wire would also be good, especially if the .010 is too thick.
Geoff

[CNR5529]

Apparently it's been a while since I posted any progress here!

I did try simulating the weld seam by gluing in thin wire, but didn't like how it turned out. Unfortunately, because the groove was not accurate in thickness and dept, the wire did not sit level.

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B end detail.

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I ended up removing the wire, filing in the groove a bit and tried to tidy it up as best I could, before painting and decaling. once painted, the inverted weld seams weren't as perceptible. In this picture the window glazing was just applied, so it had not yet cured clear.

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There were many variations in the paint scheme over the years, including black or blue sills, blue or silver window gaskets, varying safety and other lettering, etc. This car was the main inspiration for the finishing.



Although I am a transition era CNR modeler, I ended up finishing this car in VIA Blue and Yellow rather than CNR Green and Gold in order to save another SGU from the scrappers torch. A while back, @craigolio1 kitbashed a fantastic rendition of an earlier model SGU built by CC&F, and painted it green and gold to run with the M3T. He had mentioned his intent to strip it down after that run to eventually repaint it in VIA colours. Seeing as his SGU was a slightly earlier model that would fit my era better, and mine was a slightly later model that would fit his era better, it made sense to swap. (Also it would have been criminal to ruin a perfectly good CNR green and gold car!) Here are the two together.

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Oddly enough, my current manager started his career at Spadina coach yard, and had some really interesting stories about these cars (and the various failure modes they were prone to). His only criticism with the model was that normally the lettering on these cars would be impossible to read due to grime and dirt. So make sure to weather the crap out of it Craig!

[JMaurer1]

Looks great! Thanks for the update.

[craigolio1]

Pics don’t do this car justice. It will look smashing on the head of of my Canadian, which is in the final stages of completion now.

Thanks  Fredrick! Good trade. Haha.