Updated 5/4/14: Detailing & Weathering Diesels--Powered Unit Completed!

Excellent work. You did a great job for being your first project. Thanks for posting the pictures and please post when you get done the second engine.

David

 

That is some very nice work! Great looking locomotive. Malcolm

Beginner????   I think you need to re-evaluate your skills 

 

I hate RSD's from an aesthetic perspective, but I'd run yours all day long!

Thanks so much for the compliments!  David & Stumper, although this is not my very first detailing project, I just started this past September.  Up until then, all my trains were shiny, new and out-of-the-box "stock".  Hanging out on this Forum prompted me to give customizing, painting & weathering a try.  I'm hooked!

Malcolm, your kind words mean a lot to me as I've been admiring your incredible work for a long time!

Joe,

 

For your first engine detail upgrade, the end result is an excellent looking engine it must have felt very rewarding when you compared the end result of the upgrade and the production Railking unit. The rewarding aspect of this hobby includes many topics: buildings the benchwork, laying out the track, wiring the track and switches, detail upgrades to engine and cars, building O Scale car kits(Intermountain,Red Caboose), painting and decaling engines and cars, scratch building functional bridges and trestles from basswood, building and painting/stainind plastic and wood kits, this list includes many more topics, I enjoy this hobby because there are many challenging aspects to the hobby.

 

Keep the projects going, the end results are worth the effort in personal satisfaction.. 

You have a lot of great talent and patience, with very intricate work and detailing.

Beautiful results.

Enjoy and Good Luck,

Ralph

Joey:

 

Were you able to use 'stock' (No color mixing) paint for color matching?  If so, what brand(s) were the best match for the MTH colors?

 

By the way, great job!

 

Thanks.

Really nice job!  Looks like the CNJ did just before Conrail.

 

Fred

Very nice work, may I ask where you got your brake/MU hoses? Part #?

Joe

Thanks for your comments John, Ralph, Cliff, Fred and Joe!

 

Cliff, yes I did use "stock" color right out of the bottle.  It was "CNJ Deep Sea Green", a custom-run made by Tru-Color for Tom's Model Trains in Scotch Plains, NJ.  It dried to a glossy finish, vs. the satin-like finish from MTH and it wasn't an absolutely perfect color match: however, it was close enough that once covered with a coat of clear flat finish and then weathered, it blended in quite nicely.

 

Joe, the M.U./brake hoses are from AtlasO.  The are actually replacement parts for their ALCo C-628/C-630's that I ordered from the Atlas website.  Again, not an exact match to the RSD-4 prototype, but close enough for me!  The Atlas Parts #'s are: 133049 (Left-side) and 133050 (Right-side).

Great work Joe!  Where did you get the fan screen from and how hard was that to install?

Thanks, Eric.  The brass fan screen and fan blade are from P&D Hobby Shop.  They sell a fairly extensive line of brass detail parts.  They were designed to fit the Weaver ALCo RS3's, so I took a bit of a chance ordering them for an MTH unit.  As it turns out they fit perfectly!

 

As for installation, it was actually easier than I thought it would be.  I simply drilled a hole down through the solid MTH fan screen so I could get started with an Exacto knife with a fine-toothed saw blade.  I cut all the way around the opening leaving just a bit of "meat".  A quick sanding to smooth out the edges and then CA glue to put the new screen in place.

Very nice job. I'm on the fence as far as weathering.

Joe,

 

Great job

 

I have an old Railking RS3 I want to upgrade to what you have done, I'm glad to know the P&D fan grille works.

 

About the only thing I have done to the RS3 so far is to fix the pilots and add Kadee couplers.  I also added the ERR Cruise Commander and Railsounds Commander.  It was a tight fit, but works fine.  The separate handgrabs make a lot of difference.

Nice work Joey.  These will look good with you NJ M.O.W. cars that you did last year.  What did you use for the MU hoses.  I like what you did with yours and the added grab bars really give it that pop.  Nice work.  Nick

Thanks Spence, Bob & Nick!  Nick, scroll up a bit and you will see the details on the M.U./brake hoses in one of my replies.  They are from AtlasO.  You're right about matching these locomotives up with the CNJ wreck/service train that I'm working on...that's my intention!

Very Nice Joe!!!

 

Hi JoeyA,

 

Very nicely done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Alex

Great work!!! What decals did you use,Joe?
Mike

Thanks Steve, Alex and Mike!  Mike, believe it or not, no decals were needed on this project.  I was able to add all the details with only some minor touch-up painting required.

I have three MTH 2-8-0 pennsy railking steamers that are gonna get an evaluation because of this post...

 

Very nice work sir. 

 

Regards,

GNNPNUT

Wow. I didn't know it was factory painted. The detail work and touch up is incredible. Btw,I'm the guy that bought the CNJ hoppers from you. I follow this road, as well as the other anthracite roads. My uncle worked for the Reading Co. also.
Mike

Awesome job Joe. Love the class lights.

Project update 5/4/14.  Powered unit #1601 is now complete.  Thanks for looking!

Nice job. Where did the handrail come from. Thanks Don

Thanks, Don.  That means a lot coming from you...I have admired your work for quite some time!  The full-width handrail on each end of the frame is from Weaver (from their RS-3's).  The coupler cut lever on the top of each pilot is from AtlasO (from their RS-1's).

Nice.  Very subtle.  It's easy to get too carried away. I like the look you got.  Very realistic.

Thank you very much for the feedback, Lee!

Very nice job Joey. I agree with Lee. It looks very realistic.