Progress on my Santa Fe "Never Built" Fantasy Locos

The paint looks great, I can see that masking that logo would be a PITA, it came out great.

 

Do you have room to put a smoke unit into this creation?

 

Are you going to leave the pilot red, or paint it silver as on a Santa Fe F unit?

The "donor body" for this was a TMCC T-1 and I left the original smoke unit in it, which was okay, but not really great.  

 

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I can't decide.  I'm not going to make it silver since the trucks and drivers won't be (note I painted that front truck black here).  I think it looks good red and I may keep it, or do it in yellow?  Just not decided.

 

KD

Lee, in following your progress, I think it looks very,very good. I know it takes some considerable nerve to cut up perfectly good engines. I'm trying to get up the nerve to do a C&O K-3/K3a one with big rectangular tender, and one with the Vandy tender, using Lionel Scale 2-8-4's, and some parts from 2 Lionel Scale F-19 Pacific's, flying front pumps, single axle trailing truck, and steam dome changes, plus some other this, and that's. An old 68 year old is mustering up more nerve each day to get started. Thanks again and keep up the good work, and keep sharing the fruits of your labor with us.......................Brandy

Looking good!

 

You've mentioned in the past you use spray can paint.

 

Could you tell me what brand and color names/numbers you used for the silver and the red?

 

Thanks

I am using Rustoleum on this one.

• gray high heat auto primer 249340
• the silver is their METALLIC metallic silver, 7271830
• the red is 2X Ultra Gloss apple red 249124
• the yellow is @X Ultra Gloss yellow 249092 Gloss sun yellow
• the black with be black pinstripe tape

I have had good results from Rustoleum, also Duplicolor, also Ace Hardware. I don't think it really matters which brand you use as long as you use it well.   My rules are:

- don't mix brands of paint in a project.  I am using all Rustoleum in this project because I wanted to use the Rustoleum apple red, which is a really great red for Warbonnet.  I learned this lesson- don't mix paints of different brands - the hard way many years ago and have never pushed my luck since.

- I put a tag on every can with the date I bought it and don't use it after six months.

- I fill the sink with warm water and put the can in it for a few minutest o get it warm, not hot, to the touch.

- I shake the can, now warm or at least no cool to the touch, for a full minute before, and occasionally during.  

 

- I do a test spray before hitting the loco with it, both to make sure it is the color I think it is (never had a surprise here, but it could happen) and to make sure the thing is shooting paint smoothly/evenly

- I spray from about a foot away in quick fast passes.

- I remove any masking, stencils, etc., as soon as possible after spraying. 

- I let every coat dry-harden - whatever you call it, for at least three days before even touching it again.

 

Lee another little trick I found while I use to do model cars was to take the spray can set the bottom of the can in warm water to raise the pressure a little in the can it sprays better that way. now I haven't done this in a long time probably 10 years so maybe paint chemistries have changed since then. but It use to work to help lay a smooth even coat on the model cars. that engine looks pretty cool

 

Good info on spray cans Lee.......any one can do it with a little care.

 

I will add one caution. Crossing brands can yield disastrous results.

Spray paints contain a solvent. Different brands use different types.

Applying a brand that uses a 'hotter' or stronger solvent over a brand with milder solvent will eat into the primary color.

So if the combo of brands is new to you....test the combo out on a scrap of plastic or junker box car body etc.

 

Just passing on knowledge of past mistakes!!  

Still works well today......just use hot  tap water only....I also cover the water/can with a dish towel.  We had a story of a guy who had to repaint his kitchen due to a defective can!!

never had that problem but good tip the wife probably would be a little upset if apple red or any other color for that matter exploded in her kitchen just leave it in the water for just a few minutes.

As I said, I put them in warm water, not hot, and watch the temperature.  I'm not sure they would explode but I will not take the chance.  Still, what I would worry more about is that the material might be too hot to spray well, so that as it exited the spray nozzle evaporation occurred too fast while it was still in the air.  I try to make sure the can is around 80 degrees is all. 

the mock ups are way cool!!

Lee

somehow I missed the part where you said you put your paint can's in the sink. so I guess I should have said I do the same thing.

 

Lee, thank you very much for the detailed paint info and taking the time to describe your painting methods. The red and the silver look great. Also, thanks to the other forum members for contributing painting tips.

BTW - Rustoleum 2X Glossy is the glossiest rattle can paint I have found. It is a good paint and not hard to use, but it takes a long time to dry and harden (hence my full week of waiting ere) but it makes a mirror-smooth finish. 

Spend the $10 and get a food dehydrator Lee.....you have more patience than I.....

I go from no paint to two color to decals in a single day.  

the last time I tried to heat-cure paint I spent a month removing gooey crude from a loco and doing it over the slow way.  I have some many projects that I just don't mind setting one like that aside for a week to let nature take its course.  

You are probably better off not using one!!! But I have such a short attention span it helps me stay on a project!!!

I will add that if you have thick putty it MAY shrink in a dehydrator so you have to be careful using one. 

Thanks for the additional info.

 

This week it was one step forward and half a step back. 

 

After waiting a full week as I said I would, this morning I masked everything with 3M  blue painters tape (2+ hours) and shot the yellow on (3 minutes) and removed the masking while the yellow was still wet as I always do (10 minutes).  

 

The tender was a disaster: the yellow went on well, but the masking tape pulled big chunks of the red paint right off when I removed it, despite my taking care and using a light touch with the painters tape: Rustoleum double gloss red does not stick well to Rustoleum metallic silver.  Anyway, I will let the yellow harden for a week and then red-spray the red on the tenderusing a non-stick stencil technique for the masking - easy when it's just a straight line.  No big problem, just annoying.

 

The loco came out well.  A small amount of red over the drivers was pulled off with the masking tape but I can flow on a glossy match to color and sheen by brush.  There are several other minor touchups, but I am pleased with the look.  I will do that next weekend and then apply the single black line (between red and yellow) with pinstripe tape, then neolube drivers and rods and pilot trucks, etc.

 

Boy, the tender really did take a hit, that's a bummer!  I guess maybe next time you put the red on first?

 

Lee...

 

Ouch!!!   Been there....done that!

 

Of course, what I learned then was that you should ALWAYS pull the masking tape off along itself, parallel to the painted surface.  Pulling the tape perpendicular to the painted surface is asking for trouble....which is what I asked for!!

 

If you pulled the tape properly, I can't imagine why the paint pulled so severely.  I wouldn't have waited any longer between coats than you did.  And I certainly would've expected better from Rustoleum on Rustoleum.

 

That said, have you tried/considered the green 'Frog' tape??  It is much less tacky than the blue.  It has a crisp, well-sealing edge, too.  Our paint store put me onto it when I redid a bathroom.  I needed to put tape on some painted door, cove, chair, window moldings.  He recommended the Frog tape.  It worked very well, indeed.  I still use the blue stuff on most work.  But I guess I'd try the green stuff on my next pre-painted model.

 

FWIW....  

 

You'll recover, I'm sure.  BTW, thanks for sharing the boo-boos as well as the successes! 

 

Commiseration...it's a good thing!

 

KD

 

 

live and learn nothing ventured nothing gained. That engine is gonna look awesome!!!! anyone got a T1 for sale it would look just as good in a 5 stripe PRR Tuscan!

Do you ever scuff or do a light sanding of the paint before painting a new color on top?  When I building park trains for a living, I know our painter would shoot the base color (silver for you) and then when he went to paint the next color (the red) he would do a very fine sanding of the base that was getting covered by the 2nd color.  This allows the 2nd paint to adhere to the base paint.

Lee....

 

FWIW...  Just received the new issue (2nd Qtr 2014) of the Santa Fe Railwy Historical and Modeling Society (SFRHMS) publication, The Warbonnet.  They have a major featured article on the ATSF's excursion into articulated steam mallet's in the early 1900's.  It's an excellent article. 

 

It also has a discussion/drawings in some detail regarding the flexible boilers that were tried.  All in all, as has been well understood for some time, the whole articulated 'thing' for the Fe was a motive power era best forgotten rather than celebrated.

 

There's no mention in the article about the dream machine you're building.  But they do mention a more conventional articulated that made it as far as the preliminary drawing board...a 2-8-10-2!...and a  proposal, only, from Baldwin for it's own version of a 'Big Boy' 4-8-8-4 for the Fe.  Nothing progressed very far....articulateds were not at all lovable on the route of the Chief by then. 

 

Anyhow, thought you might like to know.....in case you're not a member....but maybe, then, you should be??

 

KD

 

 

Yeah, I sand it ad I wonder if it would have done better without.  Anyway, I'll fix it in a few days. 

 

dkdkrd - I was unaware of that, I will have to join, of course!

 

Yo, Lee!.......

 

Quo Vadis? 

 

I keep checking for the finished product on this 'monster' project.

 

 

Please don't give up on it over a paint/masking boo-boo!!

 

So, what's happenin', man??

 

KD

Lee,

 

I keep looking at that  2-8-8-8-8-8-2 monster, and the only way I can see for it to actually work would be essentially a double Mallet configuration for the locomotive portion. The boiler would be mounted rigidley to the center wheel set, with a Bissell truck with a bearing plate under the cab area on either side.

 

Considering real life track conditions at the time, I think vertical and horizontal motions would have caused that center joint to self destruct if Baldwin had actually built the thing that way.

 

 

dkdkrd - I've been feeling guilty about not posting anything on it -- nearly as guilty as I feel for not working on it.  I am trying to get my book on 'Streets out and it is eating up my entire life, taking all my spare time.

 

Here is the 6-4-4-4.  I repainted the tender and touched up the red last week and it has dried nearly a week now.  I will apply the black pinstripe this weekend, I hope.  It runs well and pulls a ton of cars: at least 30.  I ran into a problem on 72" curves and have to do some machining of the front truck attachment before I can run it, but it is getting there.  

 

Len - I'm not sure about the 2-8-8-8-8-8-2.  I'm not giving up, I know how to hinge the boilers, with, literally, a hinge, so it can swivel but is held rigid otherwise.  Frankly i had to move that project to a very back burner for now.  But I am committed to finishing it.  You have a point about they arrangement - seems like what to try next.  

Lee, maybe you'd have more enthusiasm for building an oddball loco the ATSF had a fleet of:

the Prairie Mallets with hinged boilers?  Flipping through a Sept. 1968 issue of RMC,

I found an article on the construction of an HO version.  Shown are prototype photos

of #'s 1157,1170,1171, and 3322. These are LONG 2-6-6-2 mallets designed to bend in the middle of the boiler.

This is my last update on these.  One down, one suspended.

 

The 2-8-8-8-8-8-2 is suspended indefinitely. Right now, I have too many projects: completing my two 'Streets books takes not just top, but all priority - everything else is on hold - and that is eating all my time.  Further, I realized the cost in my time of completing it was not worth what I would get. if I take this up again (possible) I will use a better quality, closer to scale, and heavier chassis for the drivers and such.  What I would have produced would have been "starter set" quality - mostly plastic and lightweight.  Next time, if there is a next time: make it from two Imperial or Premier Triplexes!  

 

The streamlined 6-4-4-4 "super-steamer" is done.  Well at least for now.  I report seprately on the vinyl custom letters I used ("SANTA FE" in the photos below).  My first experience with them.  They worked well and I've ordered some numbers to put on the loco.

 

It looks good.  Again, pure fantasy.  It would have been a cab-forward, western version of something like the T-1, about as powerful and speedy.  

 

 

The photo above shows it where it will be most of the time, because I won't be running it that alot I made this from a TMCC T-1 and like all TMCC locos I have it jackrabbits a bit in conventional, and as you can see it sticks its nose way out on curves - nearly like an articulated.   But it sounds interesting, and it made a few orbits of the big mainline loop this morning just fine.  It can probably pull a ton of cars.  It's pulling this short but very cool  MTH ATSF hospital train today just because that was on the layout when I set it up upon this morning.  

Great job on that fantasy rig, it's nice to have a one-of-a-kind like that.   I'll have to look for your post on the lettering, I'm interested in that for some of my projects.  Decals are hit or miss for me.

 

Lee,

That is a great project and you pulled it off expertly. I love to see "builders" at work. I am building a NW-5 and another Ingalls 4S right now. Mine look very tame next to this monster.

Malcolm

ATSF, athe cleburne TX shops, had a proposal to rebuild GE diesels into an od GE/EMD hybirds.  A 12":1' kitbash.  They would have looked like the kitbashed Alco that was done in Mexico.  None were ever built.

 

Now, where would have ATSF run that 2-8.....-2 locomotive anyway?