The Little Rock Line

[Bendtracker1]

Dang, Allen, that's a good looking fleet! All different and yet clearly part of the same family. Loving it!
Otto

Thanks Otto!   
This is what I like about modeling the Rock, that Rag Tag appearance gives them a lot of Character.

[Bendtracker1]

Just adding a link to my thread on the recent two GP35's I finished up instead of reposting them.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=54921.msg753335#msg753335

[Bendtracker1]

I finally got the last of the 7 GP35 wrapped up.
As I was looking around for some different GP35's to model, I came across #330 on Google and felt I just had to do this one, knowing full well that this might be pushing my abilities.  While doing the U33B's I wanted to make one that had burn marks, but chickened out at the last minute. This one caught my eye and decided to put my head down and charge forward.

[amato1969]

Love your loco detailing and weathering @Bendtracker1 !  The burn action and replaced doors are very well done!

  Frank

[Bendtracker1]

Love your loco detailing and weathering @Bendtracker1 !  The burn action and replaced doors are very well done!

  Frank

Thanks for the kind props Frank!
That was a fun project.

[chuck geiger]

Bent have u seen all of the CRI&P stuff for sale on Corn Country Rails on YOU TUBE?

[Bendtracker1]

Bent have u seen all of the CRI&P stuff for sale on Corn Country Rails on YOU TUBE?

Yup.
This second round of stuff he's been working on has mostly been HO.
What little N scale he had had already been sold, and thankfully I had.

A few months ago he got an N scale collection, again most it I already had or didn't need.
However I did grab three locos, two for me and one for a buddy.
But the price was right...

[btrain]

The blending of tones on that geep is really fantastic! Do you use oils for this weathering job?

[Bendtracker1]

The blending of tones on that geep is really fantastic! Do you use oils for this weathering job?

Thank you.
I used TCP paints, Pan Pastels and Tamiya black panel liner, no oils.
I did blend a couple of different Pans to achieve the faded look on the paint. 

[Rivet Miscounter]

330 looks amazing...nice work Allen.

[Bendtracker1]

330 looks amazing...nice work Allen.

Thank you sir!

[Bendtracker1]

Plausible Foobies

Years back I picked up some Wheels Of Time insulated boxcars that were released as Data Only cars. I always planned to decal them for Rock Island versions even though Rock never had them in their roster, but thought they'd make reasonable looking cars.

I finally got around to getting them finished. I chose decals from Micro Scales and applied them to these cars following examples of how each scheme was applied to the prototype of earlier cars.








​

[eja]

Wow ! The loco fleet is spectacular ...... but, .... in that video, too many of the cars are way to clean. Bring on the dirt, grime and rust and have fun !

 

[Bendtracker1]

Wow ! The loco fleet is spectacular ...... but, .... in that video, too many of the cars are way to clean. Bring on the dirt, grime and rust and have fun !

 

Thanks!
Had to start somewhere.
I've got a lot to weather, both cars and locos.

[Bendtracker1]

I had the inkling to start on the next batch of locos, my GP7's, but I have a huge amount of them planned for my roster and I just couldn't bring myself to start down that rabbit hole yet, but I needed a bit of a break from working on JMRI Ops.

So I chose another smaller project. Some Rock Island Cupola cabooses. I've never had any of this style in my roster and decided I needed a couple after watching those old Rock Island films of the Montezuma Branch that were posted on YouTube recently.

So I started out with a couple of Micro Trains Standard cabooses.

 



I hope to to turn them into a decent replica of these.
(neither photo is mine, just using for reference)





Instead of using putty, I plan to you the stems that held the walkways in place and then jamb some styrene into the other holes.



I got them carved off pretty well, but need a bit of sanding yet, then hopefully I can cover more of my sins up with paint and weathering?



Then I started on the second one.



This should give me enough of a distraction until we get JMRI Ops running?