Big Truck Pete: What is the "shoo fly" for? Are they replacing the toll road bridges? I will have to take a drive over there to see the action!
Which brings to mind, in 1957 (I grew up in Hinsdale), when the Burlington constructed the toll road bridges originally and built a "shoo fly" for the displaced trains. They employed a steam pile driver and I enjoyed laying in bed listening for it's steam locomotive whistle, as it signaled for re-positioning.
JerryMouse,
Thanks for posting about Switch Line Decals and your Metra projects! I never even knew those decals existed and now I’m ready to try transforming some old F40s. I had been lobbying MTH to make the new Metra paint scheme but it appears time has run out on that plan so it’s on to your method.
keep the Metra projects coming!!
Hi! Haven’t been doing too much with my o scale stuff after getting back into n-scale and DCC.
Just the offerings of MP36 units and just the offerings of shells on shapeways got me hooked into N. I’ve managed to do a METX 614 F40C, a fleet of MP36 units in various heritage schemes, F59phi, **** even a F59ph and a Gp23ECO METX 11 for less than what I would pay for a couple of premier F40ph or F59phi (only units I could model for O)
Also with the departure of MTH, I’m think I’m done. Lionel is too costly for me.
What I have still worked on in O? I have been finishing up a set of fluted BiLevels for a friend. A Pullman bicycle car is in the works for our O collection, as well as a Premier F59phi METX 90 CNW heritage
@Thom Trains posted:https://ogrforum.com/...0#120666844118871210 Hey Jerry, Great work! I'm new to the hobby. Would you be up for painting an Amtrak F40PH to Metra scheme? Thanks! Tom
Hi Tom, just email me and we can discuss what you have in mind.
@bigtruckpete posted:
Nice job on the tinted windows!
@mark s posted:Big Truck Pete: What is the "shoo fly" for? Are they replacing the toll road bridges? I will have to take a drive over there to see the action!
Which brings to mind, in 1957 (I grew up in Hinsdale), when the Burlington constructed the toll road bridges originally and built a "shoo fly" for the displaced trains. They employed a steam pile driver and I enjoyed laying in bed listening for it's steam locomotive whistle, as it signaled for re-positioning.
Mark,
They are widening the toll road by at least two lanes and due to the expansion the railroad bridge also needs to be widened. The cat walk or pedestrian bridge is coming down permanently. They plan to add a pedestrian/bike path lane on a new bridge on 47th street. I’ve used that bridge since I was a kid to bike all around the area. We’d bike “all the way” to LaGrange and over to Graue Mill and build forts in the woods. Plus it was a good place to get trucks to blast their horns!! Gonna miss the bridge.
As for the pile driving, it has returned!! I have the pleasure of waking up to the melodious pounding! They tend to do this through the night. Unfortunately, no steam whistle to listen for!! It is one massive project and has been interesting to watch. Still about a year to go to complete it.
@jerrymouse25 posted:Hi! Haven’t been doing too much with my o scale stuff after getting back into n-scale and DCC.
Just the offerings of MP36 units and just the offerings of shells on shapeways got me hooked into N. I’ve managed to do a METX 614 F40C, a fleet of MP36 units in various heritage schemes, F59phi, **** even a F59ph and a Gp23ECO METX 11 for less than what I would pay for a couple of premier F40ph or F59phi (only units I could model for O)
Also with the departure of MTH, I’m think I’m done. Lionel is too costly for me.
What I have still worked on in O? I have been finishing up a set of fluted BiLevels for a friend. A Pullman bicycle car is in the works for our O collection, as well as a Premier F59phi METX 90 CNW heritage
Jerry,
As long as you stay friendly to us o gauge/scale guys all is good!😜.
I don’t blame you on the cost and variety available outside o scale. I’m with you on the loss of MTH. Being a fan of modern equipment MTH is the end of my purchasing new equipment for now. MTH lured me back into the hobby with their modern diesels.
Your fluting skills are amazing!! I’m going to hunt down a set of donor cars and then I’ll reach out about how to fix em up right.
Big Truck Pete - Thank you for the amplification. I took a drive over to Hinsdale yesterday and was surprised to find descriptive and quite informative signs for the bridge work, with shading for the "shoo flys".
Appreciate your description of biking the area as a kid. Had a friend who lived on the north side of Hinsdale and we would also bike over to LaGrange, to visit the old LaGrange Hobby Shop (located on Calendar, not LaGrange Rd). But we used a foot bridge over the Toll Road up around Ravine Street. My friend was a Rio Grande enthusiast, so we pretended to be double headed K36's !!! We would stop in at Gordon's Hobby Shop, across from the Stone Ave station, too. That was in the halcyon days of the later 1950's. Sweet memories.
@jerrymouse25 posted:
Latest project: a “Winnebago” Metra... F40PHM... this is a Switchline Decals Designed F40PHM. CAB designed and resin printed by Christopher Williams fused to a MTH F40ph premier model.
Still needs windows and grabs
Is the 3D shapefile available for public download? I saw a similar version on shapways, but there were some differences in details.
Also, what material, resolution did you have the 3D print done in?
I am considering doing one myself, but have a lot of questions.
Bachmann trains is making the former K-Line O scale F59PHI diesel-electric locos and can make the commuter cars.
It is time for Bachmann to put the METRA paint schemes on the O scale F59PHI locos and make the matching commuter cars.
Andrew
A few of the remaining MTH F59phi units I had kept lingering... got this repaint
Bringing back an older thread...I'm excited to finally have a set of MTH Pullman Bi-Levels.
They're Amtrak Branded, but I'm going to repaint them. Figured I'd jazz them up a bit to look more like the Burlington Northern Fluted Pullmans that I remember riding on behind the green BN hockey stick E9's back in the 80's.
Found a few photos online and I'm planning on some decals from Switch Line, and 3D Printing some custom fluting details and vent ports to more closely match the Pullmans.
Here's my stab at balancing the dimensions of the MTH model with the real life cars. Each different colored part is a separate 3D printed panel or detail:
I HATED the MTH Metras because they lacked the fluting. I thought I could 3D laser engrave the sides, but the set up was too hard to remain duplicative.
3D resin printing the flutes as an attachment is doable.
@Jeff_the_Coaster_Guy posted:Bringing back an older thread...I'm excited to finally have a set of MTH Pullman Bi-Levels.
They're Amtrak Branded, but I'm going to repaint them. Figured I'd jazz them up a bit to look more like the Burlington Northern Fluted Pullmans that I remember riding on behind the green BN hockey stick E9's back in the 80's.
Found a few photos online and I'm planning on some decals from Switch Line, and 3D Printing some custom fluting details and vent ports to more closely match the Pullmans.
Here's my stab at balancing the dimensions of the MTH model with the real life cars. Each different colored part is a separate 3D printed panel or detail:
Jeff, Wow!! Keep us posted as you work through the process. The pics you shared look perfect. This has me very excited that we may be able to get these cars looking like the BN versions yet!!
Ok, so those of you in the know about METRA stuff, I've got 4 questions:
1) Was the base panel material on the BN gallery cars STAINLESS or ALUMINUM? I'm talking about the actual flat panels, not the fluting.
2) Was the fluting aluminum or stainless? I'm trying to figure out if I should airbrush everything together or if there should be a small difference in the appearance of the fluting versus the panels. Trying to determine how shiny everything should be.
3) are there any versions of the BN cars that have black painted trucks? Or are they a silver / gray truck? Galvanized or painted? It's hard to tell from photos online
4) I can find a couple different versions of the fluting in photos. There's a coarse fluting typically accompanied by the "Burlington" lettering above the door, and a finer fluting that seems to never have the lettering over the door. I've seen these together in the same consists, but which would be more prevalent in the 80's on the BN line?
Thanks! I just got a used Paasche airbrush set and bought myself a compressor. Waiting for the decals to show up so I can pull final dimensions for my 3D printed fluting.
Any recommendations for removing the plastic window material without damage? The adhesive around those is REALLY strong!
Thanks Alan. Unfortunately, that's the Nippon version of the car with much larger windows. The MTH cars are much closer to the Budd or Pullman cars with narrow (vertically) windows.
Also of note on the Nippon cars is the high mounted Metra logo instead of below the lower windows.
I might do one like this.
Great thread. I would love to find a set of Bi-Levels to paint in a Metra scheme. I've got a collection of Metras myself and would love to add more. I wonder if MTH will do any more of these. Nice work here, all.
Perhaps a telling story fits here. As much as a decade ago, I was in Chicagoland Hobby to pick up something I ordered. In a glass case, I saw a set of Metra Bi-Levels. After one of those "freeze in your tracks" moments, I asked about the Metra engines, and the late (great) "Bernie" explained that only a used one was available. On testing, the engine's Protosound 2 passenger sounds named the UP Northwest line, the very one I take out of Harvard to and from the store. (The sounds included the stock "can I help you with your bags?"--quite a hoot for Metra.) Piling up first the order I'd come to pick up, then the Metra cars and the Metra engine, I gave Bernie my debit card. It wouldn't go. I knew well that my checking account could cover the costs. (Those were the good ol' days.) Bernie suggested that I call my bank. One of the tellers answered. I identified myself and the problem. The teller's response: "Ah, I bet you're in a train store again!"
My understanding is that the gallery commuter cars on the CB&Q & BN were all Budd stainless steel cars. The solid panels & fluting would all be stainless steel.
My junior year in high school, 1971-72), I rode the Burlington/BN because the school didn't provide bus service to us in Brookfield Illinois. First there were E8's and E9's in silver with red stripes then the Cascade Green and black with the "hockey sticks " striping. The first car behind the engine was a silver painted heavyweight coach used as a smoker then 8-10 gallery cars. Eventually the HW's were phased out. Forward 2 years to college and I'm back on the BN this time heading eastbound to Chicago, going to then UICC->UIMC for pharmacy school. The RTA at that time used only stainless steel Budd cars on the BN. CNW had painted smooth side cars, and when I went to a Sox game, you could see the Rock Island trains going in to LaSalle Street Station. Their cars were also smooth sided and painted either blue or red.
Having rode Metra for many years, I can tell you that the trucks are painted silver (very bright when refinished) and then "weather' to a gray color.
Chuck
Revisiting this, I've been on pause for a while but I've been able to print out a first article and test how it fits up on the car.
To my surprise, all the parts fit perfectly, even the tiny little slits to clear the grab rails at the lower ends of each car!
However, the detail is probably too fine for the SLS printing used, and the appearance is just not very smooth. The powder sintered together is still fairly granular up close, and the porosity is noticeable on close inspection.
But...I didn't want to waste 30 dollars of printed parts, so I went ahead and installed these, masked the black window trim before painting a base coat of gloss black Tamiya primer. (I don't think the BN gallery cars had black trim, but I think it looks good on these cars and helps the window detail pop. And come to think of it, I think two of the windows on the lower level on each side of the prototype cars have a different bezel as part of an emergency window frame. Maybe I'll do something like that.)
I also added eight vent holes above the doors and the ends of the car. I think the smooth roof looks too plain, but I don't want to mess with fluting the whole roof. So the vents add just a bit of detail, and are similar to prototype.
I tested the Tamiya stainless paint on the gloss primer on an old Lionel concrete container, and it looks fantastic if not a little dark, so I took the plunge on these cars.
What looks like damp smears are just the result of sanding off the Amtrak logos and texts from the original cars. I washed everything with warm soap and water and prepped it all really well for airbrushing.
Here some photos of my progress. I've only gotten as far as the black primer. I'll get to the stainless this weekend.
Update after painting and decals...
I experimented with the AlcladII stainless color to see if I could lighten it up a bit. The stainless over the gloss black base coat looks amazing on small smooth parts, but it's very dark. Too dark for a whole car I thought.
So I re-primed the steel with a gloss gray base coat
As expected, the porous fluting looks kind of meh, not great. From 6 feet it looks OK, but it's way too rough up close for a good shine and it really affects the car's look.
But I've got 4 more cars to do, so I'm OK with this one being the guinea pig.
Also, I primed this car in my old paint "Booth" which was nothing more than a cardboard box. After shooting a whole car with laquer, it became obvious that wasn't going to work. So I rigged up a redneck paint Booth with a ceiling vent that goes outside. The plastic tub makes way less dust, too. You can really see the dust in my car from the cardboard shedding.
The decals went on easy enough, and I sealed with two coats of Alclad Clear Light Sheen.
Also painted the trucks a flat gray... They look way better this way. The details really pop (and it's closer to prototype anyway).
Still have to finish painting the doors and waiting for my green light gels for my windows (I wanted the green tint like the prototype cars had). For now, I just smeared a green Sharpie over the existing plastic and it looks passable.
I'm not winning any contests with this one, but I'm stoked to have a much more prototypical BNSF silver Metra car in my fleet, and can't wait to finish the next 4!
I also included a couple photos of the original Amtrak paint scheme to see a before and after. 
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