Best Of SP&S 4-6-2 #626 Project

[mmagliaro]

John (and all), just got back from my anniversary weekend trip with my wife (had a wonderful time, by the way!)
The engine is painted - got all the undercarriage and white pinstriping done on the wheels (this was all brush),
and the boiler and tender shells are airbrushed with a 50/50 mix of Floquil Engine Black and Floquil Weathered Black.

I need to do decals, Dullcote, some light weathering to bring out the details, and then do the
cab windows, curtains, and bell rope.   So it will be a few days, but I hope to post pics when it's done
sometime this week.

[pwnj]

This is just amazing! 

[SkipGear]

The best compliment I have heard so far......

Our NTrak club Christmas party was tonight, I was showing progess of Max's loco to them, one of which is an SPS fan. His comment....

 "Who is into the live steam?"

[mmagliaro]

The best compliment I have heard so far......

Our NTrak club Christmas party was tonight, I was showing progess of Max's loco to them, one of which is an SPS fan. His comment....

 "Who is into the live steam?"

Tony,
With my most sincere feeling, thank you for this post.   One of the biggest things I am trying to accomplish is to make N Scale steam good enough such that people cannot tell it is N Scale.  I don't think it's there yet, but it is getting close.
And thanks for showing my work around!  Gee.  You guys are better promoters than I ever will be!

[mmagliaro]

Everyone, this is the last installment in the project.  You know what that means.
It means that after 6 long months, it is finally done.

First, here are some photos of the last few pieces.  Next, I will make another post with very large-format photos of the finished work.  I want to separate them so that the big-format photos can be clicked-on and scrolled without clumsiness caused by having smaller-format photos in the same post.

So first,
I painted the pinstriping on the drivers.  This is quite prototypical.  Even at the end of its life, although a little dirty, the classy white stripes were maintained on this engine.








I airbrushed the shells with Floquil Engine Black and Weathered Black in a 50/50 mix.  The undercarriage parts and pilot areas were all brush-painted with the same paint.   Later (not shown in this photo), I used NeoLube to get the graphite look on the smokebox and to make the appliances and piping stand out better.  Weathering was done with gray and white Doc O'Brien's weathering powders, which dig in and stick really well to Floquil paints.

The decals were from my custom-run of SP&S steam that I contracted to Micro-Scale (I got them back about a month ago, you may recall, and offered them for sale).





Real window glass for the cab:




The cab curtain:






That's all, folks!  The next post will have the finished engine.  (The suspense is killing me).

[Chris333]

Boy I sure hope this isn't your last steamer project.

[mmagliaro]

Here it is everyone.  I just placed a series of photos of the finished work here.

REMEMBER, you can click on these to see them in a larger size.  It's kind of clumsy inside the forum, with the scrollbar, but it's the only way to get them large.

To all of you on Railwire, I deeply thank you for being so inspiring and encouraging.   It may sound like just words, but believe me, it is not.  It means a lot to me that you take the time to follow what I'm doing, to criticize and suggest as I go, and to make my models better.   

It is not perfect, and there are little things here and there that are "off", but I am extremely happy with it.
One final note:  Tony has offered to make some tiny lettering decals for the rear of my tender (there are
two lines back there that are supposed to read, "WATER 13000 GAL'S" and "OIL 4850 GAL'S" )
I will add those when they are ready.

But otherwise, it is done.  Hooray!






















Here is a photo of the prototype I started out to build at the very beginning of this whole project, together with the final model.



Lastly, here's a 9-minute YouTube movie with a series of still shots of the construction, plus several minutes of the finished project running on the layout in the second half.

[robert3985]

Max, SUPERB!  Absolutely inspirational.   Now to get down to my workshop and finish up my superdetailed Athearn Big Boy....   

[Mark.S+10]

Thanks Max,

I've enjoyed following this thread and learned a lot.  Posting the pictures so all could follow a long took a lot of time and I really appreciate it.  Simply amazing work.

Have fun, Mark

[peteski]

Max, this entire thread and the model itself are both absolutely outstanding!  Thanks for taking the time to document this project on TRW.

The realistic detail that really caught my attention is the sag on the bell rope. I know that there are lots of other incredible details on that model, but that detail for some reason just makes my jaw drop to the floor.

Also, since nobody gets chastised for giving their honest opinion on this forum, I think it will be ok to mention that the only detail I find slightly off is the thickness of the white-painted rim on the pilot wheels. The pilot wheel rims on the 1:1 scale loco are also slightly thicker than on the drivers, but on the model they are a lot thicker. I also realize that depicting that on the model would be hard to accomplish without actually reshaping the pilot wheel faces.  I hope that you don't mind this small criticism, as I do find everything else about that model extremely well done.

[PGE_Modeller]

Max,

At the risk of having to repeat someone else's comments - because virtually all the superlatives have already been used - the finished model is absolutely wonderful.  You have truly captured the essence of S.P. & S. #626!!!  The in-service photos and video on the layout are excellent and, as has been said here before, the chronicling of the locomotive's construction will serve as an inspiration to many on TRW for years to come.

This thread, with its detailed illustration and commentary on locomotive construction, belongs in "Best of Railwire".

Congratulations on a job exceptionally well done!!

Greg

[peteski]

This thread, with its detailed illustration and commentary on locomotive construction, belongs in "Best of Railwire".

Without a doubt!

[mark dance]

Thank you and congratulations Max. A truly inspirational piece of work!

The last two photos - the builder's photo and then the b&w shot of the model replicating it - are an elegant way to complete your photo journey. Nicely done!

md

[spookshow]

That's not a model Max, that's a work of art! Congratulations and well done!!

Cheers,
-Mark

[sizemore]

Juicy!

The S.