Conrail 4022 E8 project in G scale

[rswinnerton]

Getting close to the deadline now... Got until Friday to finish this one.. My ditch lights came today! All the way from New Zealand in less than a week. Today I added those and also the grab irons on the nose. Read on.....

First, I took some styrene and dipped it in silver paint to make a line to follow with the grabs. I also removed and filled in the old Aristo vertical grab on the left side of the door.


Next I used my drill to drill out the grabiron holes. Some of my other locos donated grabs as I didn't have time to order them.  I'm not really happy with how these turned out, but perhaps a coat of primer will make a difference.


Here's a "before" pic of the ditch lights and the pilot. The ditch lights are by "Miniatures by Eric", but I was told he doesn't make G scale stuff anymore.


After a lot of trimming and cutting and hacking, I got them to fit pretty well! I really like how they're coming along. I also had to drill out the lights to be able to put bulbs in them also.



Here's the finished result! It kinda looks like they point outwards, but that's an optical illusion. Once the glue dries, I'll paint the inside silver and install the bulbs.

More to come..
Russ

[nscalesteve]

Here's the finished result! It kinda looks like they point outwards, but that's an optical illusion. Once the glue dries, I'll paint the inside silver and install the bulbs.

hey, they're looking good...   
...why bulbs and not LEDs ? I don't know how hot bulbs can get (plastic, resine, heat !?) but I know LEDs wont get hot at all

[rswinnerton]

I thought about LEDs, but I like the gradual on/off effect of bulbs. More like real ditch lights. I did consider heat, and have wrapped the bulbs partially in shrink wrap so that there's some insulation. Ran them for about 1 hour last night and they were still cool to the touch. I'm only running the bulbs at 70% voltage, so I think it'll be ok.
Thanks again!
Russ

[rswinnerton]

Well, the E8 is in Brunswick, and by the end of this evening, will have it's handrails painted dulux gold. The decals aren't orderd yet, but that's all we'll need! I'm not going to post pictures until after the weekend as I promised some folks in the Conrail Historical Society that I'd unveil it at this Saturday's Rail-B-Q. Talk to you next week!
Russ

[nscalesteve]

I'm not going to post pictures until after the weekend as I promised some folks in the Conrail Historical Society that I'd unveil it at this Saturday's Rail-B-Q...

we're waiting... !

[nscalesteve]

I'm not going to post pictures until after the weekend as I promised some folks in the Conrail Historical Society that I'd unveil it at this Saturday's Rail-B-Q...

we're waiting... !

where are those effing pictures... ?   ???

[rswinnerton]

Sorry, been busy getting ready to recieve new wheels for the CRHS's New Caboose as well as setting up the announcement for the Convention. I'll try to get 'em posted tomorrow. My bad.....

[rswinnerton]

Sorry I've been kinda tardy with this, but everytime it was nice out to take a picture, I was busy, and everytime I wasn't busy, it was raining! Here we are though, pics of the E8 in Brunswick. All she needs now are decals!






Also suffered some slight damage to one of the ditch lights somewhere along the line. No big deal though, It just needs to be corrected! You can see the left one points up and out.



Thanks for keeping up with this! Once I get her decalled up, I'll post more.
Russ

[tom mann]

Looks nice!  The last pic looks crazy real.

I would maybe take some 2400 grit sand paper and wet sand some of the orange peel out to get a nice shine.