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Fresh out of the box is the MTH Santa Fe Alco PA. The stainless plated finish looks amazing on these. I have the Non Powered A and B as well. I will try, and get a quick video posted sometime in the next week. Thank you @MrMuffin'sTrains for the quick delivery on these.

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bob2 posted:

Stunning!  See that strip of stainless above the radiator grille?  I wonder if a little heat followed by an ice cube would shrink that?  I have a metal B unit with a slight buckle there - always thought it was due to slight body shrinkage as the bronze cooled.

Good catch Bob, only the right side radiator seems to have that, and it's almost like the notches in the middle of that frame don't want to stay in because they are little larger (If I push it there is a slight spring to it). I will have to check my other A and B and see if they have the same thing. 

Until I saw this thread, these were the only warbonnets I had.  Actually, the warbonnet brick was second prize in a backdrop photo contest and I gave it to the GATSME HO club since it was a photo of their backdrop.

I have been thinking about getting a nice warbonnet and after seeing this thread, I ordered a powered A and a non-powered A.

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Lehigh74 posted:

Until I saw this thread, these were the only warbonnets I had.  Actually, the warbonnet brick was second prize in a backdrop photo contest and I gave it to the GATSME HO club since it was a photo of their backdrop.

I have been thinking about getting a nice warbonnet and after seeing this thread, I ordered a powered A and a non-powered A.

IMG_7769

Looks just like the new MTH units, above. More or less.

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My old Weaver E-8's have nice stainless FARR grilles on the side - but they will bow out like the small strip on the PA's above. (I'll bet you can fix this - beats returning them.)

Thanks Matt - These are simply stunning!  I have the earlier Lionel ABA set that have some nice performance modifications but that dull silver is a let down. MTH did an amazing job with the plating on these and several other Santa Fe models in recent years. 

Please post some more photos and that video you mentioned...

While my model is far from complete, I claim "firsties" for nickel sides on an MTH PA. This one was done a decade ago in nickel silver.  Two downsides - one, we had to do it in two pieces, since the flask was not big enough for the entire plastic shell, and two - nickel silver tarnishes rather rapidly, and requires polish every six months.  Used to be fairly easy with "Brasso" but they changed their 100 year old formula, and it doesn't polish nearly as well.  That, and polishing near those decals is problematic.

It does run with all six axles powered, and as you can see, the stainless grille fits rather well, considering the slots had to be ground out after the castings were recovered.  Its B unit is in silicon bronze, and has been painted silver to sort of match.  I am about to try Alclad II on it to get a better match.DSC02672

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Bob, have you tried MOLOTOW liquid chrome?  Lots of youtube videos on the product.  Some say it's better than Alclad.

https://www.youtube.com/result...+to+airbrush+molotow

I just bought the 30 ml tube on Amazon and sprayed it on a test sheet of Evergreen styrene faux metal siding, and a black, unpainted LIONEL vestibule from a PW 15" car.

The finish straight out of the tube is like chrome. I have more experimenting to do on how to spray it for best results.

I'm going to spray fluting from Union Station Products to replicate the fluted stainless steel used on the Texas Special locomotives and Molotow should work well for that application. based on my initial samples.

EDIT:  Props to Hancock52 who suggested MOLOTOW to me and tried the product first before doing so.

 

Last edited by Pingman

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