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I've made progress on a big project of mine. A while back I finished a master for an early GP40-2 and this week I finally got around to making a mold and started the casting process. I model Chessie System so I'll eventually need a bunch of these things. I did a calculation years ago that if I had a 100 unit roster (for easy math), I would need 20-25 GP40-2's! To make the model, I changed out the fans to the correct kind and swapped grills with a GP40.Here's what the mold looks like. I purposefully made all of those bumps and ridges so that the mold locks into place correctly.I think I first started this project maybe four years ago? And these are some of the first few pictures with my new camera, a Nikon D3400. Quite a jump from my old 5mp Nikon Coolpix 5700! I'm still on the learning curve but I'm pleased so far.
I plan on doing all Chessie GP40-2 versions eventually. Even those hybrids. I do all my mold making with a pressure pot and that makes all the difference. If I didn't, the resin would be practically a foam. You can't see it in the pics, but after the mold is done I take some brass rod and cut through the top half of the mold in a few places. In some molds I might have a spot that consistently gets bubbles anddoing that takes care of them. I pour the resin in and squish. And that's mold max 30. I don't recall the resin off the top of my head.
Progress continues on my Kinzua mill scene with plenty more detailing ahead. I had a goal of emphasizing the log deck and lumber yard areas of the mill since those are such signature features of PNW lumber mills and rarely modeled to reasonable proportions in the model railroad world. I would've loved to devote even more space but hopefully the immensity of real world lumber mills is at least hinted at here. Lotsa scratchbuilding here in the main mill building, dry kiln, and lumber drying shed and while I realize that these are pretty basic structures I'm very encouraged by the freedom that comes with not waiting for Walthers to come out with that model you've been waiting years for!
Made some progress on the Jack Gronik building (purveyor of fine nuts!) for the Snake Track branch of the Milwaukee Road Beer Line. The core is an N Scale Architect kit, but heavily modified. I didn't like their brick material so I replaced it with Monster Modelworks brick. I like the way the bricks turned out. Craft store acrylic paint for the bricks and unsanded grout with 90% isopropyl alcohol wash. It still needs to be weathered but I am happy with it as this point.Best wishes, Dave
Progress continues on my Kinzua mill scene with plenty more detailing ahead. I had a goal of emphasizing the log deck and lumber yard areas of the mill since those are such signature features of PNW lumber mills and rarely modeled to reasonable proportions in the model railroad world. I would've loved to devote even more space but hopefully the immensity of real world lumber mills is at least hinted at here. Lotsa scratchbuilding here in the main mill building, dry kiln, and lumber drying shed and while I realize that these are pretty basic structures I'm very encouraged by the freedom that comes with not waiting for Walthers to come out with that model you've been waiting years for!IMG_5616 (2) by Dean Ferris, on FlickrIMG_5614 (2) by Dean Ferris, on Flickr
Admiring my 2 NS first responder training cars that came in today.
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Topic: Weekend Update 2/26/17 (Read 9211 times)
