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Introduction
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The Smokey Bottom Lumber Co., critter? was one of the first RR and
On30 models I built when I came back to the hobby of
RR/model-building. While recently purging my 1/48 models/kits, I
ran across a second kit of the loco. I was going to get rid of it,
but just couldn't....it just called out to me to build.
I thought it would be a simple and quick build, and I could use
it for a "painting challenge" on the MIG Forum....but
alas...is anything ever as simple as it seems? The SBLC kit is
truly miserable (at least by my standards)....the concept of
square really escapes the mfr.
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Model Construction
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The individual frame pieces in the kit are cast as "parallelograms"....so
prior to assembly they were first made "square", and the
same height, on the disk sander. For assembly the corners are
glued held against a square jig on the exterior, when set they are
filleted, with ACC, and the styrene tube is pressed in place for
bracing. Additional ACC is then filleted along each frame piece at
the "V" created by the intersection with the styrene
tube. [The use of the styrene tubes as corner bracing allows for
squaring if the exterior faces of the frame when the interior
faces are not (in this case due to irregular casting), and square
interior bracing would not fit correctly in the corners.]
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The bonnet and radiator castings also suffered greatly in quality:
1. Off center radiator filler cap
2. Mis-shapen "bulbous" radiator sides
3. Concave bonnet sides
4. Rear of bonnet, wider than front
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1. Concave radiator front
2. Misaliging radiator and bonnet pieces
3. Sway-back bonnet top
...and of course, butt-ugly hinges (that would never be found for
such an application), and very poorly cast, and irregular,
parting and panel lines.
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In order to create a consistent parting/panel line between the
radiator grille and the bonnet, a spacer was cut from .005 styrene
sheet....also you can see that the ugly hinges have been removed,
and the top panel line on the bonnet has been filled with putty.
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After approximately 6 hours of squaring/repair/rework/prep on the
frame and bonnet section I did a quick test fit for the deck, and
wanted to get an idea of scale, so I stuck a 1/48 figure next to
it.....it just didn't look right, so I pulled out a 1/35 railway
figure I had started a while back....and TA-DAAA....there it
was....this was going to work much better in 1/35-32, though it is
going to require a good bit of additional detailing....I think it
will be a fun entrée into some occasional 1/35 RR modeling.
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12 more hours of work gave me a more detailed frame.
If compared to the photo of the original frame, one can see
where I went through and removed all the funky "riveted
straps" on the side-frames, the huge bulbous rivets on the
end sills and coupler pockets, and some stray (and really sadly
cast) bolt details.
- The tops of the sanding boxes were milled down, and caps
added
- The frame under the journal boxes was milled out to more
properly represent the slot in which the journals travel
- The weird blocky original journals were milled down, and
newly detailed including small oiler port covers
- Bracing was added to the sides of the "spring
mounts"
- New bolt rivet detailing was added at the end sills. As well
as matching nuts on the interior side
- Cast on serial numbers and builders emblem were added to the
side-frames, using the Archer "cast" decals
- An access panel detail was added at each sideframe
- Angle mounting/gluing strips were added to the inside of the
frame for later attachment of the deck
...far from perfect work...and it would probably have been
easier/cleaner to build the whole thing from scratch......but it
will be fine foe the purpose of the project.
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Since when done, I may decide to sell this thing on ebay, or give
it to someone, I figured I had better make it DCC or RC
adaptable/ready, so I roughly milled out the inside of the solid
resin bonnet so that it can house a DCC or RC receiver and wiring.
The small extra notches at the sides are to clear the wire
connection tabs on the "Black Beetle" mechanism that
will be used for motorization.
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The Inside of the frame/journal boxes was also milled out to allow
for the slight remaining axle extensions and and possible
wheel-play of the 'B-B' mechanism. Styrene front braces and
shim/spacers for the B-B mechanism mave also been installed on the
underside of the deck.
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Lastly, I was finally able to decide on the "cab" style.
These photos show the proposed shape/design mock-up made using
some cut up strathmore business cards. (the cab deck is missing.)
This design will require me to shorten the bonnet by approx.
2mm....which will be my next step.
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Detailing was done using .005, .010 and .015 sheet styrene. The
white .018 & .023 dia. rivets were made from .005 & .010
styrene using a Waldron punch & die set. The handles are .015
brass rod, with the weld fillets being made using Model Color
(Vallejo) #400 Plastic Putty. Latch bolts are from Bronco Models.
Metal & brass parts are leftovers from AFV detailing sets.
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The headlight is from the scrap box (I think its Delrin, possibly
from Grandt)..it was recessed into the resin front (as you can see
I was a bit off with the first hole I drilled, and thus required
some putty work). The interior of the headlight was also drilled
out in the back to represent the socket location. A two step hole
was drilled at the bottom of the front, to later accept the crank
handle receiver stub.
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On the top, two holes were drilled on center into the resin where
the gas and water filler caps will go (a third two-step hole was
drilled off to the side for the future stack location). The bonnet
center was then added using .005 sheet styrene, into which were
punched two holes using a micro-Mark punch & die set. The
punched holes were .030 smaller than the drilled holes, this gave
a lip to give the impression/illusion of a thin sheet metal bonnet
with hollow space below.
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Some quick cab wall variant studies.
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This is about 16 hours of fussing. The transmission housing is
made of styrene (hollow underneath to fit the drive. The outer
edges were radiused by sanding, then 2 compound sculpting putty
was applied into all the interior corners to mimic casting
radiuses. Once the putty was dry and sanded even, Mr. Surfacer 500
(from a bottle) was stippled on using a stif brush, to represent a
sand/casting texture. this was then smoothed to various degrees (EI.
more at edges where wear from boots would occur) to soften &
vary the texture. Bolts heads consist of modified Grandt
nbw's, and etched brass pieces from an Eduard PE set. All the
rivets (.018 & .023 dia) were made using a Waldron punch &
die set. The arced "rain/drip gutter) is made of .005
styrene, and will eventually shield the gauges.
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For the next step I set to work trying to Vacuum-form the rear cab
bulkhead....so here is the long & drawn-out process.
First step was to make the perforated .010 styrene sheets that
would fit the VF's frame. To do this I used an original sheet of
.020 that had come with it when I purchased it.
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Next I made the "positive", over which the styrene would
be formed, and attached it to the VF's surface using some double
stick tape. This was made/milled on the X/Y table, to make sure
all sides were parallel and square to each other. (I made the
positive out of 1/4" Poplar sanded to a 600 finish; I would
have preferred a wood like Jelutong but used what I had handy.)
Extra "suction holes" were drilled along the base of the
"positive" to ensure tight and proper forming.
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The positive and the styrene were placed into the VF, and the the
styrene was heated by the heating element......
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....it pretty quickly became evident that the heating element was
not going to generate enough heat to do what I needed (IE. soften
the plastic enough)....but after a while I went ahead and swung
the sheet down over the "positive" anyway.
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....The styrene was not having any of it....it refused to pull
down more than the slightest bit before it cooled....so I decided
to give it a little help using a heat gun......which helped a
bit.... but not enough as you can see.
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The piece above clearly pointed out some problems with what I was
trying to do.
A. The heating element did not get hot enough.
B. The "positive" was too deep and long for the size of
the plastic sheet and forming surface.
C. The heat gun needed to be used with care, or it would cause the
styrene to curl/deform incorrectly.
This is evidenced by the stress tenting at the corners, and even
after help with the heat gun....which caused holes at the corners,
and unwelcome "thinning" of the styrene at the
bend/edge/
Since my time was running out with this, I devised a very quick
and improvised solution. I merely duct taped the entire VF
surface insert with the positive, directly onto the shop-vac
nozzle.....
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....I then simply laid a piece of styrene over it, and blasted it
with the heat gun....ooooops.....
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.....the next sheet was angle cut at the corners (to alleviate an
"stress tenting").....and loosly held in place over the
VF bed, with some photographic tape.
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....this resulted in the three remaining pieces giving me usable
formed blanks (shown here after most of the excess has been
trimmed).
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These blanks were then cut to size and shape, using the
"positive" as a backing to hold them true and ridged
during cutting and drilling.
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And here is the final rear bulkhead with some of the additional
detailing.
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In the end, aside from the bulkhead....which I feel was a success....out
of this also came some good ideas/info, on how I can quickly and
easily make future basic vacuum form shapes, and my own forming
surface. I hope to try this some more on future projects.
Below are images of the completed model/sub-assemblies ready
for paint.
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The next step will be to wash the sub assemblies with warm water
& dish soap, and then apply the primer coats.
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Primer
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I was chomping at the bit to make some progress on this build, but
in doing so I almost screwed it up. The air here was so dry, that
the primer was starting to dry even before it hit the
surface.....The only thing that saved my butt was the way Mr.
Surfacer "sucks" down to the surface and almost seems to
level itself out when dry.
Here is the model after two coats of "Mr Surfacer 1200"
primer (with some light filling and sanding after the first coat).
Unfortunately the primer has brought out many of the small air
bubble holes in the poor quality resin castings...some I filled,
others are just to much of a pain to deal with cleanly (and new
ones keep coming up when sanding in areas).....so I will hopefully
be able to integrate and conceal these during the painting and
especially the weathering stages.
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Painting
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Since the "Color Modulation approach/concept is something new
to me (Read: I haven't a clue of what I am doing), I decided
to focus on the frame, and some detail work first so I went
through my paints, and pull the colors I thought would work for
the process, and for what I envisioned the end result to be. I
then began to make a swatch chart of the colors straight from the
bottles, and then some mixed colors using different ratios and
combinations to get some of the desired/needed colors.
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#1, is Vallejo #814 "Cadmium Umber Red", this I decided
was going to be the dark starting point for the process, and would
in part also double as the "Pre-Shading" step I usually
do at this point.
#2, will be the eventual intended "main/primary" color
of the frame. (This is a mix of 3 parts #908 "Carmine
Red", 1 part #946 "Dark Red", and 1 part #829
"Purpleheart Red")
#3, is sort of an "Old Rust" color I needed for areas
where parts had been removed from the loco and the exposed
unpainted metal had oxidized over time (This is a mix of 5 parts
#814 "Burnt. Cadmium Red", 2 parts #822 German Camo
Black-Brown, 2 parts #829 Purpleheart Red)
...and here is the result:
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I was only so-so satisfied with the paint finish...it feels a bit
"heavier" than I would probably have preferred. It was
my first use of the new Iwata airbrush, and combined with the
Vallejo's proved an interesting learning curve.
In the end, I just couldn't stomach the paint finish.....especially
on the frame....so at this point I soaked the thing in Isopropyl
Alcohol. & stripped it....... started all over with a new
light coat of Mr Surfacer resin primer.
The second paint go around.....
Before applying color this time, I decided to use brush apply
Tamiya "Nato Black" into the radiator grille slits, into
the recesses for the radiator and fuel filler cap locations, into
the stack hole, and into the top of the open sanding box. I used
Nato black for this, as it is more of a dark grey, than a complete
black...this makes the end appearance less jarring, and more in
"scale".
This was followed by a brush application of Vallejo #862
"Black Grey", into the openings at the link-and-pin
couplers.
Lastly came an airbrush application of #862 around the outside of
the couplers, on the bak and sides of the transmission housing, on
the floor of the cab, and on the top of the driver seat area.
.....then back to the color chart...
This shows the three color combination I was thinking of for the
upper portion of the loco. [The yellow splatter is what happens
when the Vallejo bottle tip clogs up...you squeeze too hard...and
the entire tip explodes off! ...I am still finding splatter
in my work area.)
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The next three views show the application of the first colors.
This time on the red, I decided to just use straight Vallejo #814
"Cadmium Umber Red", rather than the previous mixed
color, as it will make for darker shading.
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..The next step for the frame was to apply a mix of 3-parts #908
"Carmine Red", 1-part #829 "Purpleheart Red",
and 1-part #946 "Dark Red" , applying it so
that it hit primarily the top and faces of the projecting parts,
leaving the deeper areas, and areas that would be in shadow, in
the base color.
Once dry, 1-part #918 "Ivory" was added to the above
mix, and applied/shaded onto some of the furthest projecting
faces, as well as to surfaces.
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Lastly some of the projecting top edges, surfaces, and details
were picked out using a 10/0 brush applying a mix of 1-part #829
"Purpleheart", with 1-part #944 "Old Rose"
Note also that the areas previously masked with Gum Arabic have
been exposed.
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On the bonnet and cab sections, I felt some of the underside
and lower areas needed a deeper color, or have a more
"shadowed" appearance. For this a mix of 2-parts #904
"Dark Blue Grey", 1-part #862 "Black Grey",
and 1-part #979 "German Camo Dark Green", was used.
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This was followed by an application of Tamiya XF-12.
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Next came masking off the areas on the rear bulkhead that were to
remain rust, and the 'L' Angle parts that will receive the upper
color.
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Once the 'L angles were masked, they received a quick brush
application of #904 "Dark Blue Grey" (once dry this was
then lightly sprayed from directly above with XF-12).
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The Bonnet section and the rear bulkhead were then sprayed from
above at a slight angle, with a mix of 4-parts XF-12, and 1-part
XF-1 "White" to accentuate the light modulation.
Once dry a 50/50 mix of Vallejo #971 "Green Grey", and
#918 "Ivory" was brush applied to the top edges of the
bulkheads, tops of handles & wing-nuts, bolts on transmission,
levers, gauge drip guard.....and various other detail
surfaces/edges.
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....and this is now where the project is at. I think I will
call this phase done, and move on. I will try to add and accentuate
the modulation on the upper portions a bit more, during the
application of the "filters".
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After the application of Red, yellow and blue filters, using
Windsor Newton artists oils, as well as some panel fading using
white artists oils.
I was also able to accentuate the modulation a slight bit, by the
manner/direction in which the filters were applied and layered. I
did not "weep" the linseed oil from the Artists oils
before applying the filters, as I wanted them to provide/leave a
satin finish when dry....thus giving me a more realistic painted
metal appearance, as well as providing contrast for the coming
weathering steps.
In between waiting for the filters to dry I also started doing the
chipping inside the cab area, as well as the handles on the
bonnet.
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Washes
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Rust
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Paint Chips
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Materials
List:
Tamiya:
Putty
( Basic Type)
XF-63
X-20A
Thinner
Mr.
Hobby:
"Mr.
Surfacer 2000" Spray Can
"Mr.
Surfacer 500" Jar
Vallejo/Model
Color
#822
German Camo Black Brown
#862
Black Grey
Humbrol:
Enamel
Thinner
Grumbacher:
Turpentine
Pre-Tested
Odorless Thinner
Windsor-Newton:
#2
Burnt Sienna
#24
Ivory Black
MIG
Productions:
Bragdon's
Enterprises:
"Rust"
Weathering Powders Set
Water
90%
Denatured Alcohol
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Marc
Reusser
Nov.
2008
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