The Little Rock Line

[Bendtracker1]

Don't forget the vines growing up the walls, and all the bushes and weeds around the foundation

You bet! Once I get it planted, there will be a lot of shrubbery and saplings growing up around it.

[Bendtracker1]

This is such a great paint scheme; you've done it justice with you're custom work 

Thanks Lock!

[Bendtracker1]

Over the weekend I put the finishing touches on the first of two Red GP40's.
I followed the same method that I did for the red GP7.

[shark_jj]

Allen, your weathering is very impressive.  I haven't got up the nerve to start on my Grand Trunk Southern units yet, but you are inspiring me to give it a go.

[Bendtracker1]

Allen, your weathering is very impressive.  I haven't got up the nerve to start on my Grand Trunk Southern units yet, but you are inspiring me to give it a go.

Thank you sir!
Glad to hear that, just start with some old cars and give it a try.

[Bendtracker1]

I finished up the last red GP40 the other night.  #4711 is now part of the fleet and should be the last Red GP40.









Here's a group photo of the recent red units.

[Bendtracker1]

I recently picked up one of the new Atlas GP7's. This one had the "Torpedo Tubes" on top when it served in passenger service but had been repainted and put back in freight service. It's kind of an odd duck as it's painted in the maroon and yellow of the 60's but had the speed lettering from the 70's applied. There were actually several different models of locos that wore this scheme but not many of the GP7's.



There wasn't much that I had to do this loco other than remove the shield and the number, paint the ends with yellow then weather it and add the new decals.
It started out like this:



It ended up like this:

[lock4244]

I'm going to start sending you my models to paint, decal, and weather... you do such good work 

[Bendtracker1]

I'm going to start sending you my models to paint, decal, and weather... you do such good work 

Thank you for the kind words Lock!

[Bendtracker1]

Since the #1299 didn't take very long to complete, I decided to grab two more and work on a couple of easy schemes.
These are in the 400 number series and were from the first 12 GP7's that Rock Island acquired in July of 1950.

The 434 did not last until the shutdown (March 1980). It was slated to be rebuilt and renumbered to 4495 (Blue and White) but instead it was traded to PNC (Precision National Corp) during the CRP (Capital Rebuilding Program) that was initiated in 1974, a program to rebuild the large majority of Rock Island's aging GP7's, which also included GP9's and GP18's. So it will continue to run on my layout...

I've really been wanting to get some GP7's on the roster and the layout as they were the backbone of the Rock Island and their main workhorse and could be found system wide. The GP7's, GP9's and GP18's along with the GP35's were very prevalent on The Little Rock line as well.
Not to mention one of my favorite locos.

I didn't add much for details as it was pretty plain. The the spark arrestors are a new product that I found on Shapeways designed by @Wutter  , these are 3D printed and turned out very nice. I'm trying to decide if I should an All Weather Window on the engineers side? I have a brass JNJ kit, but it has 3 panes and not two. The cab shade on the fireman's side looks like an old canvas type?











I'm trying to the get the 439 finished this evening.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I see you've got the same spark arrestors I have.

I decided I can't stand them and ordered some new ones.

[Bendtracker1]

I know they are a little wider at the base than the ones I've used from Miniatures by Eric, but for me it adds to the oddities of The Rock.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I know they are a little wider at the base than the ones I've used from Miniatures by Eric, but for me it adds to the oddities of The Rock.

I think that makes complete sense.

I love The Rock's charm.

[shark_jj]

Hi Allen, for the fade on #1299 did you use Colourless Blender?

[Bendtracker1]

Hi Allen, for the fade on #1299 did you use Colourless Blender?

No I did not.
Although I have been meaning to pick some up to give that stuff a try.

What I used on the 1299 and all of the maroon units was the following for the faded look:
270.8 Yellow Ochre Tint
340.1 Permanent Red Extra Dark
380.3 Red Iron Oxide Shade

The Permanent Red Extra Dark is very close to the TCP Rock Island Maroon.
To get a faded look to the paint, I actually mixed the The Permanent Red Ex DK with the Yellow Ochre Shade.
When I say mixed, I dabbed the Yellow on in light patches around the surface, much like one does with the "Oil Dot" method, then I did the same with the Permanent Red.  Once the area was covered with those two colors, I started blending the patches together brushing in a vertical motion as I worked across the shell.
Then I went back and added one or the other color to change it a bit more in different spots for a better variation.

When I did the 434, I accidently grabbed the Red Iron Oxide instead (because it is very close) and that really gave it a faded look (because it's a touch lighter and has a tinge of orange to it), I then went back and brushed some vertical streaks with the Perm Red to add some darker shading differences as well as a very, very light dusting of black or dark gray.

I have found that you do need to apply a bit more than what you think is needed, when I shoot Dullcote on, it does have a tendency to dissipate, but you can always go back over it again with the colors you want.