Kit Bashing a Fictional F38

Today I'll be building a fictional F38 locomotive. This particular engine is based off of Norfolk Southern's former F38s, which themselves were rebuilt from former MARC and Chicago Northwestern F units. They feature separate head end power (HEP) generators and operate with a non turbocharged EMD 645 engine.

The Locomotive's Backstory

The Blue Mountain & Southern runs commuter service out of Chicago towards Michigan. As such, the railroad needed reliable push-pull passenger units. Following my own lore, used engines were acquired and rebuilt for this service along the NS specs.

Starting the Bash

The first two of these units started life as a power dummy pair of Stewart F7's. I started by actually building both engines in a video game called Gmod. This is good motivation, as it shows roughly what the finished locomotives will look like.

I started with detailing the shells. The old horns were removed, and replaced with an M5 from Cal Scale. All the railings were then bend to shape out of Tichy 0.020 Phosphor Bronze wire.

Lift rings followed, along with more Sinclair antenna's. The lift rings were made by wrapping wire around the point of a mechanical pencil, then cutting the excess. In hindsight, the effect works but yields an item that's overscale. The Sinclair antennas are in theory for Positive Train Control (PTC), but I also know these are not accurate, and mainly just follow the NS prototype.

Ladders were then added to the right side of each nose. I used a piece of masking tape to mark my holes, then drilled through the masking tape to make sure the hole locations were correct. Once the grab irons themselves were installed, I drilled a second set of holes for Details West rivet detail. I think this really helps sell the grab iron's look.

Hand rails were then added to the cab roof. You can see the holes for the old horns.

HEP Box and Mufflers

The head end power generator runs completely separate from the engines prime mover. This requires a separate fan system and exhaust. To this end I built a small styrene box, then cut a hole in it for a Cannon dynamic brake fan. I'm guessing this is what Norfolk Southern used in their rebuild, as even the amount of bolts is correct.

A buddy of mine offered to 3d model the mufflers for me. These were then printed on my 3d printer. They require a lot of cleanup this way, as I use a filament printer. Once sanded they were mounted up to the old steam generator location.

Painting

First things first, the locomotive was primed using Tamiya AS-28 "Medium Gray". I like using this as a primer because it covers well and smooths out nicely once dry.

I started started with the white for Blue Mountain & Southern's "Twin Peak" scheme. Painting from light to dark allows for fewer coats to cover for each color. I used Testor's Semi-Gloss White Acrylic. This paint is no longer available, so I will be coming up with a substitute in future.

Ford Engine Blue or as I've dubbed it, BM&S blue followed soon after. Notice the engine has been masked along the twin peaks and around the base stripe. BM&S is known for their blue nose locomotives, so I figured I needed to do something with the nose on this engine.

After a coat of black and a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss clear coat, the engine is done being sprayed! I ended up touching in the white for the railings with a brush. This Semi-gloss clear coat is from a rattle can, and serves as a more aggressive coat to lock in the acrylic colors below it.

Detailing & Decaling

Next step was to give the locomotive it's identity. These numbers are done in reverse on the back of a piece of clear plastic. The outsides are then touched up with black paint. A white decal is then put over the numbers. Once flipped, these numbers will be correct, and still allow for light to pass through them.

A KV models dual headlight piece was also added to the front headlight. This was done by simply gluing the part to the old light trace, then gluing a piece of plastic in front of it. this was then sanded to the same profile as the light trace.

This was then tested, and the locomotive was ready for the road. I am still waiting to order the main road name decals, as these will be done as one decal in volume for my whole fleet. I don't really feel like decaling each letter by hand at the moment.

Conclusion

This engine has become one of the mainstays of my fleet. It runs well, pulls well, and sounds good with it's Tsunami 2 decoder. When I do my next units, I will not be making my own lift rings. The noses of later engines have also been changed to make them easier to paint. While not every detail is absolutely perfect, I am quite happy with the result.

Kitbashing a SP 70-C-9 Tender Part 1

 

Hello, and welcome to the first blog kitbash. Today I am making a tender for a set of Southern Pacific C class 2-8-0's I'm working on. The engines will be built using OwlMtModels C class conversion kits. I started this kit-bash with a Roundhouse Vanderbilt tender kit and ended up with what you see below.

Engine and Tender Choices

I happen to be an operator for Bruce Chubb's layout, the Sunset Valley Operating System (SVOS for short). Whenever I run there, there seems to be a distinct lack of steam locomotives. The layout is set in pacific northwest circa 1954. To correct this lack of steam, my goal is to build 3 locomotives that could have been or were in the area. Photos from Eugene Oregon indicate that C8 class 2745 and C9 class 2527 were active in the right time frame. These locomotives have good modelling references available, and should be fairly easy to kit-bash. The third engine, C9 class 2547 was chosen at random based on what modelling info was available and other nearby assignments. A glance at the NightOwlModeler's Overview of C-8/9/10 with OMM Conversion Parts revealed:

C9 2547 would use 4010* cylinders and a 70-C-9 tender (Roundhouse Conversion)
C9 2527 would use 4010* cylinders and a 100-C-1/2 tender (Bachmann)
C8 2745 would use 4013* cylinders and a 100-C-1/2 tender (Bachmann)

*Owl Mountain Models 4010 and 4013 replacement cylinders do not have cylinder covers, and part number 4013 includes Sheedy By-Pass valve cylinder details*

Creating the 70-C-9 Tender

My first stop in my hunt for an appropriate tender for 2547 was www.brasstrains.com. This was quickly followed by sticker shock for the appropriate Sunset Models tender. Per advice from Jason Hill of Owl Mt Models, I decided to narrow an MDC / Roundhouse Vanderbilt tender. In stock form, these tenders model the Southern Pacific 70-C-1/2 tank.

Step 1: The Saw.....

I have a habit of jumping headfirst into various builds. This lead to the gentle removal of the tender sides from the old tank. The tank will also need trimmed to width. The tender mold lines on both the front and back provide good guides for this.

Step 2: Careful Sanding

The following 20 or so minutes involved carefully filing the edges of the coal bunker flat to the water tank cylinder. This step is really worth taking your time, as rivets can quickly disappear with rough sanding.

Step 3: Side Fitment

The front of the tank sides must be shortened to fit the tender. A small fillet also needs filled on the top of the tank (seen in the white triangle). The rivet detail was removed on the sides of the tank along with a small lip. I'll re-decal these with resin rivet sheets later.

Step 4: Installing the sides

At this point the tender sides can be re-installed, checking fit to the sides of the tank. Once fitted I recommend removing the interior of the old coal bin. This will allow more room to fit electronics, and allow for easier installation of the tank top.

Step 5: Installing the Tank Top

Firstly, the top of the oil tank (former coal bunker) needs flattened. I used a piece of sandpaper on glass, and flattened the top once assembled. I then measured and cut 0.020in styrene sheet to fit in the top of the tank. I used 0.020in x 0.020in styrene (not pictured) to brace the underside edges.

Step 6: Beginning to detail

At this point, I began to test fit the tender frame. I wanted to see what details will be added and what I need to make.

These tenders have a walkway from the old bunker to the current walkway mounted to the water tank. There are also grab irons for this walkway that will need to be added on the oil tank. I'll use cal-scale part 190-604 for these. I'll probably have to order more parts, but that will be seen to in part 2. For now, I've added styrene to the bottom of the tank to represent angle iron holding the tank to the frame. I'll continue detailing from here.

Possible Errors?

My one regret is I was never able to measure the width of the new tank from the real engine. After making the tank I realised Precision Scale part 31708 (oil tank front) would have probably told me this, and I have one on order now.

Conclusion:

So far I'm happy with this little kit-bash. It will be fun to see how this moves forward, and I have more parts on order. I'll post part 2 once these parts show up and are mounted to the tender. This has turned out to be quite a nice alternative to buying the Sunset Models brass tenders though. It's also not been as difficult as first anticipated.