Conrail U30C 6538

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Many years ago I got a custom painted Conrail U30C from @trainforfun . He did a great job using the research material at the time, but not being a Conrail guy, there were a few things I needed to button up before I was ready to call it "done".

The first thing I did was add the standard Conrail Sinclair antenna. I have a stash of them so it was a quick and easy job. Paint was touched up with my go-to D&H Avon Blue.

Speaking of painting, I also painted two of the battery box doors black as per a prototype photo. I was on the fence about this, but I think it lends it a good bit of "Early Conrail" character so I went with it.

I also painted the exhaust stack with Tamiya "flat silver" to represent the bare metal of the prototype.

Next up were a few decals that were missing. I'm used to later GEs where there were warning stickers everywhere, but these early repaints were pretty minimal: a locomotive designation decal on the cab and a "fuel fill" one above the fuel fill. I had never seen this on other Conrail units but luckily one of my CMR Products decal sheets (https://www.cmrproducts.com/Locomotive-Labels-Decal-Set-p126446076) that I've stockpiled had something that looked about right.

The next thing I've done so far was darkening the grills. Yet again I must exult the wonders of Tamiya panel liner. It's simply amazing for adding depth to grills. It flows in beautifully and yields great results. My only issue with it is that it's glossy, but the standard blast of Dullcote takes care of that.

So, here she is before it gets weathered up.





Still to do: weathering and number boards.

Thanks again to @trainforfun for a great starting point for this late 70s beauty.

[Philip H]

I thought we weren't posting actual porn on this forum.   

Really nice.

[randgust]

I see you must have found this picture, as it has features like so many other units, that are 'unique'.... the mismatched access doors (brake system, battery)   You got that right.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/phillytrains/7997470243

But the 'WTF?' I see on that is by the radiator grille left side.   What is that?  It almost looks like freshly peeled paint.

And what's going on with that fuel tank?   That's not weathering....  And the big gap in the CR stripes....

That's just wierd.  Freshly painted for sure, or maybe the washer did some nasty things to the paint.

I've got oddballs like that all over ATSF too, like the single F-unit with the reversed warbonnet curve panel, the wrong color number board sheet on a GP35, etc.   

During the CR patch era stuff like that wasn't unusual, but by the time blue paint came around, that's not typical.   My favorite is a GP40 that had 'NEW YORK CENTRAL', PENN CENTRAL', and the CR patch all clearly visible on the same unit.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I see you must have found this picture, as it has features like so many other units, that are 'unique'.... the mismatched access doors (brake system, battery)   You got that right.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/phillytrains/7997470243

But the 'WTF?' I see on that is by the radiator grille left side.   What is that?  It almost looks like freshly peeled paint.

And what's going on with that fuel tank?   That's not weathering....  And the big gap in the CR stripes....

That's just wierd.  Freshly painted for sure, or maybe the washer did some nasty things to the paint.

I've got oddballs like that all over ATSF too, like the single F-unit with the reversed warbonnet curve panel, the wrong color number board sheet on a GP35, etc.   

During the CR patch era stuff like that wasn't unusual, but by the time blue paint came around, that's not typical.   My favorite is a GP40 that had 'NEW YORK CENTRAL', PENN CENTRAL', and the CR patch all clearly visible on the same unit.

Right?

Many of the later photos of it all show them fixed, but I figured it "drives the theme". I've seen plenty of other photos of U Boats with replacement doors so I decided to roll with it.

My weathering plan is to drive this home by keeping the general weathering to a minimum, but having plenty of oil leaks on evidence and streaking down the fuel tank.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I thought we weren't posting actual porn on this forum.   

Really nice.

That was never part of the deal.

[Bendtracker1]

That's a nice start Ed.
I agree, the Tamiya panel liner works great on the grills, don't be afraid to use some black powders: Pans or weathering powders on those grills afterwards to get them a bit darker and add some some soot residue around them.
The different door panels adds a nice touch as well.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The other side.

I forgot about another mod I made: I removed the center support from the handbrake chain guard to better match proto photos.

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[Ed Kapuscinski]

What the heck. One more.

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[bman]

There's several of these photographed at Buckeye in Columbus in the early CR days. I have an undec shell waiting to be airbrushed in blue. Looks like I will be doing 6535 instead of 6538 when I get around to it. Looks good.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

There's several of these photographed at Buckeye in Columbus in the early CR days. I have an undec shell waiting to be airbrushed in blue. Looks like I will be doing 6535 instead of 6538 when I get around to it. Looks good.

Pay close attention to the radiator section and road number alignment. The ex-PC units (like this one) actually had an earlier U28C style radiator area. I chose to say "screw it", but if you're starting from scratch it's something to pay attention to.

[bman]

Pay close attention to the radiator section and road number alignment. The ex-PC units (like this one) actually had an earlier U28C style radiator area. I chose to say "screw it", but if you're starting from scratch it's something to pay attention to.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks for the heads up.

Also, pay attention to the info Bob's posted here about renumbering: http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/ge/u30c/u30cproto.html

[trainforfun]

Very nice Ed , that was many moons ago !!! Glad she is still alive , these old KATOs can pull stump in the backyard .
Great job so far , thanks for posting these pictures !

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Very nice Ed , that was many moons ago !!! Glad she is still alive , these old KATOs can pull stump in the backyard .
Great job so far , thanks for posting these pictures !

Was it really? I try not to think about it... lol.

And yep. They are absolute BEASTS.

[peteski]

Very nice Ed , that was many moons ago !!! Glad she is still alive , these old KATOs can pull stump in the backyard .
Great job so far , thanks for posting these pictures !

Those were the first Kato models using the (then new) low-friction truck design.  They are really good pullers.