Nice work Glen......

I might suggest that when your friend comes over to pick up the Rapido loco, that he NOT put it back in the wrong box again. It seems he is his own worst enemy for loco damage.

John

Nice save with the two barrels. Sounds like that customer can keep you busy full time.

Glen,

Very nice job on the locos.

Tom

Thanks everyone. I place the rapido SW1200rs in a different box while we wait for the replacement parts. Apparently, they are on their way. I'm quite impressed with Rapido's customer service as the engine is 3-4 years old and they still will supply replacement parts.

Getting back to the canfor engines, I masked off the red on the first engine today.



It took some studying of the prototype pictures and measuring with a set of calipers but I'm pretty sure I got the basic dimensions right. I cheated slightly by moving the red forward just a bit to clear the grab irons, but it's not noticeable.



Looking at the prototype, what I thought was silver looks lighter gray. I made some color samples and decided with the model master light gray. I'll probably airbrush the color on the hood and cab in the next day or so.



I did get the second engine this past weekend. I've disassembled it and it's soaking in its alcohol bath to remove the paint and lettering.

I got the first engine painted today:


I painted the gray yesterday, but it was a bit light, more like an off-white so this morning I re-masked and repainted with Polly-S light undercoat gray. Then I touched up any bleed under with a bit of caboose red.
This afternoon I masked around the two grills and sprayed the flat black. Since I'm using acrylic paints, they dry so fast I can mask and paint the next color within a couple hours.

I should be able to start laying down decals in the next couple days if my other projects proceed as well as this one.

Wow, what a nice clean paint job. I just love odd, by odd I mean the dynamic brakes on an SW, engines like this.

Bernd

Glen,

You always do such good work on projects like this. Excellent paint job.

Mike

Thanks Bernd and Mike.
I finished off the first engine this weekend. I'm finding that now that the snow is falling, I have more time for the indoor hobby.
I decaled the engine over a couple days.


The black divider lines are five decal stripes per side. The 'Canfor' and the safety hashes on the pilots and the stripes all came from the original decals that were used on the yellow engines.


I was not really happy with the air tanks on the original engines. I had made them with 3/16" tubing that was filled with body filler and then I rounded the ends. This time I used 3/16 rod and rounded the ends by chucking them on my drill press and sanding the ends with sandpaper. It worked much better.


And then it was just a matter of paints the walkways and railings black. I used some leftover decals for the numbers on the hood and then re-assembly.



Almost all the handrails are originals this time. I managed to get the safety hashes around them without removing them.



If it was up to me, I'd weather it just a bit to make the trucks 'pop' a bit more. Straight black makes everything disappear into the background.

Now I'm on the second engine. It'll be fairly straight forward this time. Just another yellow one.
I did, however, write down all the dimensions for the detail parts and paint striping for these engines.



Just in case I'm asked to build another or if I build one for myself one day.

This Saturday I did get another project from another client:



My first Brass paint job, a GMD-1



The client also sent me a Rapido model of the same locomotive in the Northern Alberta Railway scheme that he wants me to paint the brass one.



At least I can get the proper dimensions of the grey, yellow and blue stripes. I already have the paint colors and Highball Graphics makes the decals. But that will be after the second SW1200.

Just a quick update and wrap-up.
I finished the fourth engine this afternoon:


The chassis was an earlier version that had a larger circuit board, so I had to grind away some of the dynamic brake box that I built to clear it. Just a bit off the inside that won't be noticed but it did cause me a bit of worry for a moment.

I did run into a small problem with the GMD-1. As it turns out the model represents an early Canadian National unit that was configured to run long hood forward. Northern Alberta Railway ran theirs short hood forward and had later-style handrails, so the owner is reconsidering what scheme to paint it. The CN paint scheme would be easier, and I'm pretty sure I have both the paint and decals for it. The other issue is I found some of the handrails have become un-soldered, so the owner wants it back to repair before I get to paint it.

In the meantime, I'll just start a project for myself.

Glen........

Your paint jobs look outstanding.
It is always a pleasure to follow along on your projects. They inspire me to move forward on some of my undec locos and get them painted.
Looking forward to the brass loco paint job.
Keep posting. I really enjoy when members post progress photos.

Thanks....John

Thanks John. I'm glad that someone is getting inspired by what I'm doing, just as I get inspired by other modelers' work.
I got the repair parts for the Rapido engine today:

I got the lower pilot and the two photo-etched foot treads. It was a pretty easy repair as everything, including the treads has mounting pins for assembly. I glued them on and later I'll add some weathering to blend them into the rest of the engine. (dime for scale)



While I have the weathering colors in the airbrush, I plan to weather the trucks, fuel tanks and pilots of my SW1200rs. You can see the difference between the factory trucks and the weathered trucks. The engines might have had gloss black trucks to begin with but they didn't stay that way for long.

I gave my CN SW1200rs a light weathering.


Just a light weathering on the trucks and pilots. I don't want to go too far, it's the most expensive engine that I own

Fantastic work within this thread Glen. You make your locomotive re-builds/designs appear to be so easy to accomplish.

Nice projects. Well done. The lt weather on the CN’s trucks was just right.

Glen,

The weathering indeed helps the truck details pop.

Mike