The Little Rock Line

[shark_jj]

Thanks for the insights.  Very impressive results.  I did find the same results with dullcoat reducing the effect of the panpastels when weathering cars so i have stopped doing it since the cars are rarely handled once weathering is complete.   Locomotives shells on the other hand can get handled quite often.  I have finally been able to get some of the Colourless Blender, it was out of stock for an extended period in my area and I was going to try fading some brighter cars to see the effect.    I'll post them when done.  Unfortunately, my wife has encountered some health issues so model railroading is definitely on the backburner at the moment. 

[Bendtracker1]

You're welcome and thanks.
I'll be looking forward to seeing the results of the blender and picking up a tub myself.

I hope it's nothing serious and that she gets to feeling better.

[Bendtracker1]

This evening I got the finishing touches on the #439, but after seeing it through the lens, I noticed a couple more minor things to touch up.

Unlike the 434, the 439 was one of the unlucky GP7's that never got rebuilt during the CRP and soldiered on until the shutdown wearing this early maroon scheme.
I weathered it pretty much the same way I did the 434 and the others.  Pan Pastels and Panel liner.

I'm thinking about adding the all weather windows?  I have some JNJ Brass frets, but I'm also considering seeing if anyone could print me a couple.
I think I really need to add them?

Just for the record I used all Tru-Color paints for the last six builds.











This is about half of the GP7's that will make up my roster, There's at least four or five more schemes I want to paint up yet.
But for now, I've about reached my limit of building locos and I really want/need to get back to the layout and work on a couple of my scenes.

[Lemosteam]

Allen,

All of these last few weathering jobs are amazing.  Just wow.

[shark_jj]

Did you use the Panel Liner on the grills and the radiator or is that Panpastels?

[Bendtracker1]

Allen,

All of these last few weathering jobs are amazing.  Just wow.

Thank you @Lemosteam

[Bendtracker1]

Did you use the Panel Liner on the grills and the radiator or is that Panpastels?

Both actually.
Before I start the weathering the first thing I do is to apply the panel liner to the upper grills and fans.
While applying the fading colors, some will inevitably get in the fans and grills.
The last thing I apply is the black Pan to the roof and I'll also apply some to the grills and fans to bring back the darkness.

Panel liner by itself is too stark, but apply it first which adds depth, then the Pans last keeps the starkness down.

[shark_jj]

Great tips, thanks Allen

[Bendtracker1]

Great tips, thanks Allen

You bet!

[Bendtracker1]

I've always liked the KCS white locos.
I used to see them come through town on the BN hauling coal trains to and from the Powder River Basin.
Several years ago I scored a SD40-2 off of eBay and SD40 from a friend.
But I've wanted a third SD40-2 to add to them as they always seemed to come through with at least three units on a train.

Here's a shot that I got back in 1988



About a month ago after finishing up the last Rock Island GP7 I was working on, I decided it was time.
While gathering up everything I needed for the build, it occured to me that a certain member on TRW has always been wishing that someone would make an SD40-2 in the white KCS scheme, but to no avail.

So I contacted him asking if he'd still like to have one, of course the answer was yes!  He accepted my offer and I sat to work.
I wanted a straight deuce and I found a Snoot deuce for him.

KCS SD40-2's were numbered in the 600 series, one of which was numbered 666.  Somewhere along the line I either seen someone else do it or I read about someone doing it, that was to put a Pentagram on the end of the long hood with the words "The Beast" which fit the loco number.

I got them painted and decaled and then decided to try using a wash rather than my go to Pan Pastels for weathering.  I picked up some MIG AMMO Rail Center washes by a suggestion from a friend who enjoyed using them.

 















After getting done and before sending the 683 off to it's owner, I made a quick video of the four units pulling a coal train over the layout.

Hopefully he should have it by this weekend...

[Bendtracker1]

With the White KCS locos behind me,  this long holiday weekend gave me the time to start working on carving the foam.

I still have a lot of things to do here yet like filling in the cracks and joint with spackling. Then painting the foam with an earth latex. But before I start applying the base ground foam, I do want to repaint the backdrop and with another coat of sky blue and redo the clouds while I'm at it.

It's amazing what a little carving has done for the area.

Before








After

The foam at the left end will be shaped to accept a road which will disappear behind the hill.



That open space in the middle will be a railroad supply dump.



The small section of foam behind the track needs to be carved still.



Hopefully there will be a pond when I'm done here. The large monolith to the right is a mirror, which I hope will give the impression that the tracks continue through the trees.





The small bumps on the right is there to give the landscape some unevenness. Trees there and on top of the foam will hopefully help hide the pass through hole.



Looks so much better than a lot of flat blocks of foam.

[Philip H]

To me, one of the appeals of your green foam technique is it greens up the space quickly. So it looks like you are running through scenery. I may have to rethink my foam selection.

[Bendtracker1]

To me, one of the appeals of your green foam technique is it greens up the space quickly. So it looks like you are running through scenery. I may have to rethink my foam selection.

That it does Philip.
But be prepared for the price.  The biggest drawback to this stuff is the price.
A 18"x12"x2" is around $8-$10.
That whole area that I covered in the foam cost me around $50.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Jesus, how much of a mess did all that carving leave behind? My kid made a diorama with that green foam a month ago and I'm still cleaning it off my workbench... 

[Bendtracker1]

Jesus, how much of a mess did all that carving leave behind?

LOL, more than enough!
My cheapy upright vacuum has a cylinder tank that holds about a gallon.
I think I filled it up three times?

The vacuum was sort of covered with the dust due to static, and some got splattered on the skirting, but I got the biggest share of it sucked before it
got to far.