Recent content by Shooter

Those Southern "Tuxedos" look great against the green and granite. Nice progess, Jim! Now we need to get together to bug Trainworx to do a Southern caboose kit like their Rio Grande kit. ---jps

The Rushville Rocket, huh? Well, for better or worse, warts and all, I am a fan too. This particular engine came factory painted and numbered from Atlas. The paint I used to touch up the details and DB blister was Modelflex engine black, and Polly Scale Acrylic reefer white. I normally prefer...

Hey now... Why are these HO engines popping up on this N-scale thread? No fair! ;) Here is the modified tank with the scratchbuilt parts before painting: I started with a factory painted Atlas unit, and i used a DB blister from an "early GP38" to get the right blister: The short hood...

Here is one of my custom engines, a Southern GP38. Some of the more unique items about this prototype (which is what I assume you're talking about) that I wanted to replicate are the small fuel tank, the high-hood, the air filter box, the hood vents, and the arrangement of the horns and...

Hey Brad, To answer your question directly, NO. Unfortunately, there are no commercially available GP10s, or any other rebuilt Geeps in N-scale, for that matter. The problem is that there are numerous different ways that Geeps were rebuilt, and different rebuilders called them different...

Thanks for the compliments! For the GP16 (unpainted model), the wire on top of the nose is Detail Associates' .006" brass wire (Walthers #229-2501). The wire used for the handrails is Creative Model Associates' .008" Phosphor-Bronze wire (Walthers #363-1100), which is a little "stiffer", less...

As far as wire width, I haven't seen .005" wire readily available, the smallest I've seen is .006". Take a look at the picture below for an example: The handrails are .008" wire (I found .006 to seem just a little too thin). The drop grab irons on the front and side of nose are BLMA...

First, how long of a car is this, and does it have truck or body mounted couplers? Is there a magnet or something nearby that might cause a magnetic uncoupler to unlatch? Does it uncouple from every car, or has it uncoupled from the same car so far? What about your track, does it dip or...

The BLMA website has some how-to videos on installing their parts, it might give you an idea, anyway. www.blmamodels.com Look under Tips and Tricks, and the videos are on the bottom. ---jps

One thing I forgot to mention: For the Atlas GP7s, 9s, 30s, and 35s, I have found that with the larger coupler box of the 903, you may need to remove one coupler box whenever you want to get the body shell off of the mechanism. Not so with the GP38s/40s. I paint brush with Floquil's acrylics...

For the MT 903s and 905s (a.k.a. "Assembled 903s"), it's not very difficult. For an Atlas GP7 coupler pocket, you shim out the pocket with .020" styrene on the top and bottom, and .010" styrene on the sides. Then using the small drill bit from MT's 00-90 drill and tap set, drill a hole in the...

Trim the grab irons with a wire cutter before you install them. ---jps

I like that paint scheme. The medium green will be a better color than something like engine black for showing off the effort you are putting into the separate details. ---jps

Echoing Will's post, I myself will ballast some 3-4 feet (max) at a time, and while the glue is still wet, I will go back and not only remove ballast from the sides of rails, but also groom it a little to get the shape and effect I want. So as not to gouge the painted rails too much, I use wood...

May I suggest that you then first practice on an older, or secondary engine first? Just like you would want to get an old train-set car to practice painting, decaling, and weathering techniques, you can get practice on an older engine, or even a car. Or, just order a body assembly set from Atlas...