Great Pics everyone!:thumb:
Last night I finally finished up one of my top projects: RRR #1116! For those of you who do not know the story of 1116, I have several pics of its evolution from its peice of :curse: start to last night's moment of truth to go along with the story.
When I first got 1116, all I knew was it was a dissasembled desiel switcher painted gold in a cheapo baggie in a junk box in a model train store in L.A. The manager of the store let me have it for free, and so Riverside had its third engine once assembled (I had not aquired my P2K's or my B23-7 yet). After learning that it was a Hustler and its infamous claims, I was ready to get it to run. The Hustler, however, wasn't. I found this out when I discovered the grounding wire had become unsodered, and so I had to seek help from a fellow NMRA member, who showed me that not only was there no circiut, but the gear shaft had only one bent holder (the other one aparently broke off), the wheels were unimaginably dirty, and the shell itself was painted gold on the inside! With his help, most of the problems were solved, but the gold shell had to be addresed when the temporary solution (duct tape to prevent the conductivity of the gold paint) failed, the engine needed a new paint job. I first painted the underside black to prevent the underside from playing a role:
Then the entire engine...
And finally 3 coats of bright orange (inspired by Ralph's KP&W switchers)
After some work on my grain elevator, I added the secondary coat of gray:
Then almost a month ago, I put on one side of the decals:
Finally, I put on the other side of the decals, and thus Riverside Railroad #1116 could at last earn her keep: