CB&Q Twin Cities Zephyr

[Sokramiketes]

I found someone who is selling some Kato Amtrak cars and the CB&Q diner for the TCZ is among them. Now I'm waiting for it to arrive.
Hopefully the Amtrak colors can be quite easily removed, but I'm afraid the car must be painted.

Thomas

I believe the Amtrak set is done with the direct-to-substrate printing with UV cured inks.  Which has deemed impenetrable to paint strippers we usually use.

However, a friend just found out the hard way that it sometimes peels off in sheets.  He used blue painters tape on a C&NW bi-level.  Masked the sides to expose the roof for weathering, and when he peeled the tape almost all the yellow peeled off the car side.  So maybe try that method!

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[Angus Shops]

The diner is an interesting topic.
As long as I don't have the CZ diner what else is out there which could be used as a substitute?
Bill mentioned the pre-war diner as a possibility.

What about a heavyweight? I saw one or two heavyweight diners which were painted silver.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5137812

I'm not sure if the MTL diner would be correct for that car but it is available. Would that be an option?

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It would be very interesting to see the other versions of that train, @Sokramiketes - @skytop35 - and who else? 

Are you still looking for the Kato Budd diner? Central Hobbies in Vancouver has a shell (Kato parts, in an official Kato baggie) on a pegboard in the store as of today. Maybe give them a call…

Geoff

[Ike the BN Freak]

I found someone who is selling some Kato Amtrak cars and the CB&Q diner for the TCZ is among them. Now I'm waiting for it to arrive.
Hopefully the Amtrak colors can be quite easily removed, but I'm afraid the car must be painted.

Thomas

I had a Amtrak phase I set that I had removed the amtrak colors off using 91% alcohol and a qtip. The base silver stayed on just fine.

[keeper]

Are you still looking for the Kato Budd diner? Central Hobbies in Vancouver has a shell (Kato parts, in an official Kato baggie) on a pegboard in the store as of today. Maybe give them a call…

Geoff

No, meanwhile I got the Amtrak version of that car, but thanks for the heads up.

Thomas

[keeper]

I had a Amtrak phase I set that I had removed the amtrak colors off using 91% alcohol and a qtip. The base silver stayed on just fine.

That's good to know. I once tried that with a loco shell, nothing happened.

Thomas

[peteski]

That's good to know. I once tried that with a loco shell, nothing happened.

Thomas

It is entirely possible that Kato uses different paint formulas or even different methods of applying the Amtrak stripes on various models.  In the past they used pad (Tampo) printing, but even that, they might have used different ink formulation in the past than what they use now.  I also have Amtrak car where they printed the stripes using ink jet printing process. That likely uses UV cured inks, similar to what MTL uses on their cars.



On the left are the conventionally pad-printed stripes, and on the right are the ink jet printed stripes.

The bottom line is that there might not be a single universal method to remove the stripes.

[Sokramiketes]

Is that example on the left really pad printing? It looks dithered.

[peteski]

Is that example on the left really pad printing? It looks dithered.

Yes, unless there is another printing method other than pad printing and  ink jet.  The photo is greatly magnified.  I assume you are talking about the white areas.  The white ink probably wasn't at the optimal consistency. The red and blue areas are smoother.

[keeper]

Pre-war Budd baggage car from Kato original corrugated release.  Prototype CB&Q car.
(Attachment Link)

As side note, who makes that Great Northern baggage car with the six axle trucks or is it a kitbash?

Thomas

[nkalanaga]

I believe that's one of the simplest kitbashes in N scale, as I have two that look very much like it.

Take a ConCor smoothside baggage, GN prototype, and add MT 3-axle passenger trucks!

It should also be renumbered, as GN 279 was a lightweight car, bought used for CGW, and looks shorter than the CC model.  But I doubt that most people other than GN modelers would know that!

[Sokramiketes]

I believe that's one of the simplest kitbashes in N scale, as I have two that look very much like it.

Take a ConCor smoothside baggage, GN prototype, and add MT 3-axle passenger trucks!

It should also be renumbered, as GN 279 was a lightweight car, bought used for CGW, and looks shorter than the CC model.  But I doubt that most people other than GN modelers would know that!

I think he's talking about GN273 on the shelf above, and yes, that is a ConCor car with 6-wheel trucks added.  I think the number is correct for that series, though some may have had four wheel trucks too.  Sometimes I think about adding a belt rail to dress it up, but that's yet a different series?

GN279 is a Kato baggage, and yes, closest to the Ex-CGW baggage cars.  It needs different doors.

The RailSmith baggage car is the CGW prototype, but with as-built doors which were changed out before they arrived on the GN.  So it also has a door issue.  I've modeled the doors in 3D (for a later CGW car) but haven't painted all the GN stripes on one to make the proper car. 

[keeper]

I think he's talking about GN273 on the shelf above, and yes, that is a ConCor car with 6-wheel trucks added.  I think the number is correct for that series, though some may have had four wheel trucks too.  Sometimes I think about adding a belt rail to dress it up, but that's yet a different series?

GN279 is a Kato baggage, and yes, closest to the Ex-CGW baggage cars.  It needs different doors.

The RailSmith baggage car is the CGW prototype, but with as-built doors which were changed out before they arrived on the GN.  So it also has a door issue.  I've modeled the doors in 3D (for a later CGW car) but haven't painted all the GN stripes on one to make the proper car.

Yes, I was refering to GN 273 in your photo. Maybe I need to hunt one down.

Thomas

[nkalanaga]

Mike:  Yes, the 279 is a Kato.  On my small screen, it looked like it also had 6-wheel trucks, which confused me.  With a full-size picture, it clearly has the regular Kato trucks.

273 is part of series 262-276, according to John Strauss, Jr. in "Great Northern Pictorial - Volume 4", by Four Ways West.  Oddly, the series is a mix of semi-streamlined heavyweight and GN-built lightweight cars, and had both 4- and 6-wheel trucks!

[wcfn100]

There's a slide on E-Bay for a 6 GN wheel baggage right now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394380794068

Jason

[Sokramiketes]

So of course I click through, then eBay knows me and suggests this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134355148292

A CGW Bag-RPO in Shreveport LA, on a slide mount processed in Toronto.  Whodathunk.