GGD Milwaukee Road Super Dome
All in all a spectacular rendition of a fan favorite and historic car. Golden Gate Depot delivered the Olympian Hiawatha a few months ago, and it's been enthusiastically well received. The following pictures capture the 1952 Super Dome in all its glory. Note that some small upgrades have been done to the car. Namely, removing the figures (yes, that's an upgrade!), added brass clasp discs, painted end grabs silver, added center beam to combat truck to body spacing, painted wheel faces black and added shades to the lower windows.
Perhaps the strongest criticism I have of the car is the missing brake gear on the trucks, by this I mean the clasp discs and gears as well as the cylinders. I may add the latter at a certain point.
What would make the car perfect besides the above complain? Blue tinted windows! It is my understanding, however, that there is a void in the industry when it comes to finding a suitable material for this application. HO brass importers have also been vocal about not being able to find one. I've looked into several possible products to do it myself, but so far I'm not sold on anything that would satisfy me.
Anyways, enjoy the pictures!
The running Indian logo is a separately applied etched metal piece. And expertly done.
Note how the added inserts give the illusion of a center beam. There shouldn't be any light coming through the top of the trucks.
The vapor solar discs are correct despite being oversized.
I find the adjacent grab irons to be chunky as well.
The interior layouts are correct for all the cars, and very well finished with separate colors and pieces.
Some stripping issues were found
The car needs coupler cut levers, I may add them later.