SP 6000 project & Golden State

[dem34]

Here's the RPO all tied up while the glue set...

Railwire after dark. 

[nickelplate759]

RPO-Express 5068 (ish) is finally done.  RPO hooks from Kato, steps from Gold Medal Models

[nickelplate759]

Here's another one - SP Golden Poppy.   A Kato 12-BR (from the 20th Century set) repainted.  The underframe isn't quite correct, but the windows are.   I still need to either paint the trucks silver or get silver snap-on trucks from Kato.

[williek]

Hello George. Willie here. You all have helped me out with info from time to time and I don’t believe I properly introduced myself. So, pleased to meet you.

Beautiful work, and I have a question about it.  Did you paint silver first, then mask the letterboard area, and then spray the red over top? Or did you use silver letterboard decals (like those that come with the Microscale Golden State sheets) and then place the letter decals over them? Or some other method?

[nickelplate759]

Thank you for the kind words @williek .    You are correct - the silver letterboards are decals.  For the SP cars I use the silver letterboard stripes in the same Microscale set as the lettering - 60-122.
For the Rock Island cars it's a little more complicated.  For the train name (Golden State or Golden Rocket) I use the silver letterboard stripes from the HO SP Golden State set - 87-122.   Lettering comes from the 60-1186 set.  The small panels with the Rock Island name at the ends of the cars, and the underlay of the car name itself are also Microscale silver stripes, from various other silver stripe sets.

Other than that, I first paint the entire car silver, then mask off the ends and lower sides to paint the upper sides and roof red.  On my first few cars I didn't realize the ends should be silver, so those cars have red ends 

[nickelplate759]

Golden Star (SP 10-6) has joined the fleet.   That's enough new cars for while.  Gotta finish the engines.
It started as a RailSmith (formerly Walthers) undec 10-6.

[williek]

@nickelplate759  Very nice. Did you have trouble removing the windows/glazing from the Railsmith 10-6?  In the one I opened they were heavily glued in, not just a couple of spots of CA. Also, SP Golden State decals are long gone on the Microscale site. Are you using an old supply or did you have them custom made?
Regards,
Willie

[nickelplate759]

@williek

I bought the undecorated 10-6 from Railsmith and it was entirely unassembled when I got it.  The windows were wrapped separately in tissue paper.
I've been working through my stock of Microscale 60-122 decals that I bought when I started this project some time ago.  I didn't realize they were out of stock now!  Bummer!

[peteski]

@williek

I bought the undecorated 10-6 from Railsmith and it was entirely unassembled when I got it.  The windows were wrapped separately in tissue paper.
I've been working through my stock of Microscale 60-122 decals that I bought when I started this project some time ago.  I didn't realize they were out of stock now!  Bummer!

If he sells undercoated cars, that's a great news!  Or was that on special request?

[nickelplate759]

Stock item.

https://lowellsmith.net/product-category/assorted/

[peteski]

Stock item.

https://lowellsmith.net/product-category/assorted/

Thanks George!  The prices seem a bit steep (especially for undecorated cars), but it is the only game in town, and I'm glad Lowell is willing to provide undecorated/unassembled cars.

[williek]

@nickelplate759 You have inspired me to work on Golden State. Thanks. I started with some non-Kato cars. La Mirada using a Bman corrugated observation with the roof sanded down (still not accurate but interesting experiment), Golden Vista using an ancient Rivarossi observation car, and RI 820 using the Rivarossi baggage dorm. I ordered some custom SP decals with every SP Golden State car name I could find. Will report on how that goes.

Willie

[nickelplate759]

@williek those look great!   I'd like to learn more about your modification of the roof of the Bachmann car.  Did you have to fill the corrugations before sanding?  What kind of sanding tools did you use?   The result is far better than I would have thought possible.

[Cajonpassfan]

Stock item.

https://lowellsmith.net/product-category/assorted/

Yes, thanks, I didn’t know either.
What prototype baggage cars are those?
Thanks, Otto

[nickelplate759]

The Lowell Smith baggage cars are ex-Walthers. I think that the fluted side car has no real prototype, but the smooth side car does - something like GGW?