The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

To add to my CSX fleet for the 1988-92 era (my college years when I first began any real railfanning), I purchased an old Atlas CW40-8.  These were some of the latest power on CSX, and I remember watching these locomotives being hostled at Bryan Park Terminal on the RF&P in Richmond, Virginia.

Since this model is seventeen years old, I gutted the obsolete and mediocre QSI decoder and sound system.  There goes another warranty!  (If this NOS even had one.):



I replaced the QSI decoder with a piece of 0.060” black styrene to create a flat spot for the new Decoder Buddy and ESU V5.0 Loksound decoder.  In this second picture, the new decoder has been installed, a sound file installed and remapped, and the locomotive tested before reconnecting the headlights:



I connected the front and rear LED headlights, which I may replace with warmer white LEDs.  These are a little too blue for my liking:



On the road again!  Couplers are installed, and the locomotive has been broken in.  I still need to speed match it and connect the ditch lights.  Since I’ve never had a locomotive with working ditch lights, I want to ponder the best method to do this.  Here’s CSXT #7839.



DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If you're doing the ditch lights, make sure you do em so they flash appropriately. It'd be a shame for em not to!

[davefoxx]

If you're doing the ditch lights, make sure you do em so they flash appropriately. It'd be a shame for em not to!

Agreed.  That’s why I’m going to take the time to do it right.

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

Happy 245^th birthday, USA!



DFF

[davefoxx]

It has literally been months since I have worked on these road sections, but I scrounged up some paint and went at it last night.



You'll notice the mismatch in paint in both the "asphalt" street and the "concrete" sidewalks.  My concrete is off, because my go-to concrete color (Testor's Light Aircraft Gray) is discontinued.  This is Dark Aircraft Gray- not my preference, but I can work with it.  Sidewalks and streets are all sorts of colors due to weathering.  I plan to cut go to the far side of the tracks (about where the school bus is) and paint the lighter gray "asphalt" back to there, as if the Town of Aberdeen has repaved at some point, but they stopped short of the tracks.  I'll do the same with the concrete color that also needs to be painted across the tracks, like this:



DFF

[Point353]

My concrete is off, because my go-to concrete color (Testor's Light Aircraft Gray) is discontinued. 

Menards still has the Testors Light Aircraft Gray spray paint available for ordering on their website.
Wonder if they actually have it in stock?

Lance Mindheim has recommended Light Aircraft Gray for concrete patches on roads.
Perhaps contact him and inquire what he's now using as a substitute.
https://lancemindheim.com/about-us/roads/

[davefoxx]

I’m going to try Tamiya Deck Tan.  I ordered a spray can and some new Tamiya tape this morning.  I think I could have done a fade coat of weathering to the Dark Aircraft Gray, but I went in and added more control joints to the pieces of road between the tracks.  It needed some more detail.  While I had the scriber out, I also added some cracks.  Since it’ll need to be repainted, I just decided to get a better color.



DFF

[davefoxx]

I like this low angle.  It’s not apparent, but adding to the complexity of crossing three tracks on a curve, the far track is the transition to a four percent grade.  So, that track is not in the same plane as the two closer tracks.



DFF

[davefoxx]

Some road markings and weathering:



DFF

[Steveruger45]

Looks great Dave.  Some variation in road color is good IMHO and the  ‘recent resurfacing’ to older road surface is a great way to do it.

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Steve!  I have it so it looks like downtown was repaved more recently than the roads coming into town.  I’m okay with it.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I received the can of Tamiya “Wooden Deck Tan” today and resprayed the sidewalk.  Still darker than I would prefer (I miss Testor’s Light Aircraft Gray), but it is what it is.  I’ll work on it with some weathering and, hopefully, I can fade it a little.



DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I received the can of Tamiya “Wooden Deck Tan” today and resprayed the sidewalk.  Still darker than I would prefer (I miss Testor’s Light Aircraft Gray), but it is what it is.  I’ll work on it with some weathering and, hopefully, I can fade it a little.

Have you looked at the Vallejo stuff like this?
https://www.micromark.com/Acrylicos-Vallejo-USAF-Gray-Schemes-From-70s-to-Present-Model-Air-Paint-Set-8

[davefoxx]

I have gotten really close to pulling the trigger on a Vallejo set of paints more than once, but I still don’t have an airbrush.  That’s the investment I really need to make first.  I was hoping one of those cordless airbrushes would fit the bill, but, alas, I have seen too many negative reviews.

DFF

[dem34]

I have gotten really close to pulling the trigger on a Vallejo set of paints more than once, but I still don’t have an airbrush.  That’s the investment I really need to make first.  I was hoping one of those cordless airbrushes would fit the bill, but, alas, I have seen too many negative reviews.

DFF

If you just want to dip into it this is the set I've been using over the last year. Good enough if most of what you're doing is simple acrylic jobs.

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush-Multi-purpose-Dual-action-Compressor/dp/B001TO578Q/