RE- Varney makeover
And the work goes on !!! Answers first. Yes it is heavy, and I'll try not to drop it on my foot. I will be making a skirt for each side. I think they will be identical. Varney's add photo shows it painted for the New York Centrals, " Empire State Express ", Streamline Hudson. This NYC streamliner was the last they made. It had the corrugated lower sides who's corrugated style also continued onto the lower tender sides. i It then continued on, matching the lower corrugation on all the passenger cars. NYC also had the Henry Dreyfuss- styled Streamlined Hudson, 'The Century', that had the same boiler lines but a Mohawk fin applied to the curved smoke box front. It was smoth sided and and no corrugation applied to it. These were used to pull the 20th Century Limited. There is a third NYC streamlined Hudson, the" Mercury ". The Commodore Vanderbilt" was the forth. The skirting Varney uses almost matches the New York Centrals Commodore Vanderbilt. The rest of the streamlining does not.
The body also is a very good match for the Santa Fe Blue Goose, another Hudson. It is much more alike to this Hudson then any of the New York Centrals streamlined Hudson's. The side skirt Varney show, is of the type used on the Blue goose. The New York Centrals Century and Empire is different. All three have the same bulging, round, bullet shape boiler front, with the same streamlined front pilot. The fire box is also of the Blue Goose style. NYC used their Hudson which had its own very unique styled firebox. The forward line of the firebox was not as long forward from the cab as Varney's and had a arcing curved line starting at the top curving forward.
Now I am not a modler of either line, either the NYC, or the ATSF. My lines are the CNJ which had no streamliners, on the Pennsylvania Rail road which streamlined its K4 Pacific's. (It isn't hard to change a drive from a Hudson to a Pacific.) Will this happen? I don't Know. The model will be a streamlined something. I will continue the work started. I'll try to match what Varney had done. And then make it a Pennsy loco.
frank
