As I've promised to help put the
Model in
A Forum for Modelers, here's what I'm up to...
Now that the layout is fairly far along, I've turned my attention toward my backlog of car kits.
First up, I had two old and incomplete versions of the same kit (one by Wheel Works and one by Clear Creek Models) for a D&RGW high side gondola. It's a very, very detailed kit with amazing wood grain. Hard to believe it's from the 70s! Anyway, between the two kits I had enough parts to complete one gon, which I finished to match a photo taken in Sapinero, CO (on the Black Canyon line) in 1939:
Then I busted out a pair of Grandt Line steel-underframe C&S stock cars. 10 of them went to the Rio Grande Southern in 1938. These kits are also very well detailed. They're slow going...
lots of holes to drill for gab irons you have to bend yourself (at one point I broke down and bought about 300 Tichy pre-bent grabs, LOL)...but they create exceptionally accurate models that roll like a dream:
Then I decided to go old school...
I acquired a few LaBelle wood kits. New stock but the old design. Thankfully the newer kits come with some injection-molded details...but the majority of the kits are wood sticks, blocks, wood sheets, wire, stamped brass, and soft metal. They're fun to build, actually...but I think I do prefer working in styrene.
Anyway, the reason I got the LaBelle kits is that I've been working on a consist representing the narrow gauge railroads that served Silverton at the turn of the last century.
At Windy Point on the RGS:
On Bridge 45A at Ophir on the RGS:
At Lizard Head Pass on the RGS:
Blackstone class 70 as Silverton RR #100, the "Ouray:"
D&RG 3000-series from the Rail Line kit. Yes, it's the post-rebuild body, but I think it looks good in the as-built paint scheme:
Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly gondola #2007 from a LaBelle kit:
Silverton Northern boxcar #2006 (formerly Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly 1006) from a Labelle kit:
Silverton Northern caboose #1005 (formerly Silverton RR #17). Brass caboose, manufacturer lost to history...repainted and hand-lettered by yours truly:
Lastly, I started work on a Narrow Gauge Colorado kit for RGS (0)1789:
Craig at NGC makes laser kits made up of layers of cardboard and the thinnest microply I've ever seen. This is essentially the same construction as the Placerville depot kit except that it will eventually have trucks and couplers. It's a very well designed kit. My only pet peeve is that if you don't get the parts lined up exactly the first time, realignment is a bear because the cardboard (which is kind of fluffy) immediately soaks up the glue and bonds almost instantly. I use Aleene's Tacky Glue or canopy glue for this rather than ACC.
He has a whole line of kits for specific work cars of the RGS and D&RGW based on the old D&RG 4000-series boxcar. Of note, RGS (0)1789 still exists at the Colorado Railroad Museum. This car was used in "water service" which is to say that it was used by the B&B (Bridge & Building) gangs to service the water tanks that the railroad spaced out roughly every 8-12 miles.
So that's what I've been up to.
