Notes on CP 9516

[GaryHinshaw]

Having finally finished my first diesel detailing project (I'm such a slow worker...) I thought I would write down a few notes on what I did so I could refer back to them later.  There's nothing revolutionary, but there might be a nugget or two of interest to others, so I thought I would post them.  The original (larger) photos are here.

Here's an overview shot, as posted in Weekend Update:



Standard details include: BLMA 18" drop grabs (all others were hand formed), lift rings, cut levers, MU hoses (on the rear pilot), rear-view mirrors, Sinclair antennae. 

A few close-ups of the snout:




A few notes: for the windshield wipers, since the Kato windows have them cast-in, I opted to forego the BLMA wipers and to cover the wiper blades with decal stripes: first a black one (I think it was a Microscale N-scale 3" stripe), then a silver one (an HO scale 2" stripe).  For the wiper arms I formed a piece of wire, painted black that just rests over the cast-on piece and grazes the blade.  It looks pretty decent in person and avoids the wiper-over-a-wiper look that BLMA-over-Kato gives. 

The black gasket around some of the windows was done with black decal stripes (HO scale 1" width, 4 per window).  These have a nice "body" to them and provide a sharp edge.  I was surprised how easy it was to "work" the stripes around the corners after the Micro Sol started to work.  Not sure if this is really any better than painting them, but I'm happy with the result.

The window in the nose door was "painted" with a piece of gloss black decal trim film cut to shape (I love detailing with decals...)  The gloss gives it a slightly glass-like appearance.

Anti-skid paint on the roof behind the cab was made by mixing some Microscale flat finish and a small amount of engine black into the body color (Caboose Red in my case).

I painted the front portion of the black "light box" (inside the cab) a tan color to crudely resemble the dashboard/control stand.  It really helps to make it look like something actually happens in there.

A fun thing I tried was to replace the bottom step on the corner ladders with a piece of etched stock from a GMM intermodal detail kit.  I just carved the existing step almost back to the strike plate, but left enough to support the replacement step.  I only did the bottom step because doing all of them would take too long and the see-through effect would be hard to notice anyway.  I'm not sure it was even worth doing the bottom step, but it's pretty cool if you look at it from the right angle. 

A going away shot of the cab:



Nothing much to say about this, I just liked the angle.    I did add gaskets and wipers to the rear windows.  Also applied several little warning labels and fire extinguisher decals, which give it that little pop.   If you look closely, you can see where I snipped the handrail when I was trimming some masking tape...  :-\

Finally a few rear views:





The main thing of note: the vents were blackened first with a medium thick wash of black (and a little bit of raw umber) then "flattened" with some black Bragdon Powder.  The effect is a little heavy, but it will do.  For the roof-top radiator screens, I dry-brushed on some Polly Scale stainless steel between the wash and powder steps.  That did a lot to give the illusion of depth, and was inspired by this prototype shot.

The weathering was pretty standard: a light fade and a thin dark wash on the body.  The undercarriage and walkways were first sprayed with a thin coat of ~2 parts raw sienna and 1 part raw umber (maybe it was closer to 1:1, but kept very thin), then I went back with wash coats of the same color on the undercarriage and finished with a blend of light & dark brown Bragdon Powders around the lower sections.

Thanks for looking,
Gary

P.S. I'm really delighted to report that Ed Nadolski has volunteered to make me custom handrails for all my future loco projects.... right Ed?   :

[James Costello]

I'm speechless Gary - I love it. The wipers are nicely done and I noticed the step replacements (which I like, but I equally notice the other steps are plain now). The molded detail removal and the grabs are great (let alone that it is your first project). And to top it off, the colors of your weathering is awesome - love the grime on the roof. Can't wait to see the next project - you'll need something to run with it

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I really can't stress how gorgeous this thing is!

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks guys - I'm truly humbled.  James, next up is an EMD unit, an SD70MAC;  I need to try out the BLMA cooling fans, and possibly replacement handrails.   I'm practicing with my "oddball" models before hitting the core fleet.

Ed, aren't you the guy who refers to the AC4400's cousins as Douche-9's?   ;D

[tom mann]

That looks really nice!  The silver on the radiators looks great (and subtle).

Would there have been spilled fuel on the tank?

[ednadolski]

Looks great Gary!  Your approach for the cast-on wipers really works well.  The see-thru steps are awesome too, I don't know if I've ever seen that done in N scale before.  The grime weathering is nicely done too - very effective without being overwhelming.  You also did a top-notch job of shaving off the cast-on grabirons and touching up the paint, it's almost impossible to see where the grabs were.

I gotta ask, since I am struggling with my picture-taking -- what do you use for lighting?  Any tips you can share?

Also, re: raw sienna & raw umber, did you use artists paints, or some brand of model RR paint like Model Master?

Ed

[ednadolski]

P.S. I'm really delighted to report that Ed Nadolski has volunteered to make me custom handrails for all my future loco projects.... right Ed?   :

Absolutely!   Just ship me all your locos at your earliest convenience  ;D

[GaryHinshaw]

Would there have been spilled fuel on the tank?

I was thinking about that, but I was getting tired and decided to punt on it... The proto 9516 did have a spill, but when I perused the first page of Locophotos CP/AC's most of them did not, so that's my alibi.    I was thinking of using Oily Black when I do attempt it; what do you use?

Ed - in this case the paint and wash for the under-frame were acrylic artist colors, but there are certainly pretty close equivalents in model paints.  The pics were shot in natural sunlight  in my south-facing sunny den.     It really makes a difference for my old point & shoot!  Alas the sun kept playing hide & seek all afternoon, so some shots are in filtered sun.

[jsoflo]

Phenomenal work gary. How nasty a job was filing off the molded on grabs?
my best,
Jan

[ednadolski]

How nasty a job was filing off the molded on grabs?

Good question - Gary, what's your technique for removing the grabs?  I've tried a few, but always seem to generate more scratches than I want.

Ed

[MrKLUKE]

.

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks very much Jeff.  I hope you'll show us what you come up with!

RE shaving grabs, sorry to say, but it's really nothing high tech.  As it turns out, I have my next loco in a stage of maximal deconstruction, so I snapped a quick pic to illustrate the carnage:



To shave off the grabs I start with a chisel blade at a very shallow angle and work it down about 80% of the way, which takes maybe 3-4 passes working "right-to-left" and another 3-4 "left-to-right".  I finish it off by drawing the tip of a sharp #11 blade along the remainder of the ridge at a ~90 degree angle, just until I reach the painted surface.  The result is a very slight ridge, but almost no damage to the surrounding paint.  In the picture above, you can see a slight shadow underneath each grab ghost - I will probably take one more set of scraping passes with the #11 blade before calling it done.  When I retouch the paint, I try to only hit the unpainted portion with a small brush.  [Note that there are plenty of nicks & dings that need to be retouched too.  Those will tend to blend in pretty well after the fade coat is applied though.]  All of this work is done under my cheapo magnifying desk lamp - my most valuable modeling tool! 

Cheers,
Gary

P.S. I test fit the BLMA cooling fans last night and they look awesome! 

[ednadolski]

Thanks Gary!  Would that be a #17 chisel blade?  IIRC that can be kinda wide, but I've heard some folks grind 'em down to make 'em more narrow, and to round the corners a bit to help reduce scratching.  Do you do anything like that?  Then there is also the Micro-Mark tool, the small end is better suited to N scale.

IIRC there was a recent thread about re-sharpened blades to get them sharper than new.  I wonder if that would help me get better results, since for this I think it's best for the blade to be as sharp as possible.

Sometimes matching the paint can be a real chore.  I've had some Kato and Atlas UP units, and they just refused to match any kind of yellow or gray model RR paint.  You're right, fading and giming can help disguise a lot, but overall I still like FVM for leaving off the cast-on grabirons entirely.

BTW, my magnifiers are a pair of 3.25 cheapo drug store reading  glasses.  They work well enouhg, as long as you don't look at anything more than about a foot or so away

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Ed, just a std. #17 blade... sorry.  I wish I could find a narrower version; I'll have to search the tool dealer tables at the next show here.

Here is the post from Daniel about the knife sharpener:

http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/topic,20497.0.html

I need to try this thing myself!

Last time I was at the LHS, I picked up 5 shades of orange paint for the current BNSF project. I'm hoping one of them will do...


Gary

[tom mann]

There is a micro mark tool that has rounded edges.