Happy Switcher Saturday everyone.
I am "pinch-hitting" this week's topic for our friend, Rich Murnane.
If this is your first time stumbling upon our topic, I would suggest that this be the creed of all switcher lovers:
We are a bunch of humble, switcher-loving, do-gooders who love all things switcher-related. So, if you have a switcher, have a picture of a switcher or smell like a switcher, post your switcher pictures, here! 
Did I mention how humble we are?
If you missed last week's post, here it is:
https://ogrforum.com/...18#79987520876006118 hosted by Bob/RSJB18 . Bob, thanks for doing a great job last week in hosting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My contribution this week will be my MTH B&O Dockside and how I made some changes over the last 2 weeks.
PILOT- I didn't care for the gaping hole over the front coupler on the MTH model. I first tried putting a Gargraves wooden tie there to see how that would look. While I thought it was an improvement, it was a little short. The next attempt was using a piece of Evergreen "#257 Rectang. Tube," which I cut to the length of the pilot. I thought that seemed to fit pretty well. I crazy glued it to the front-most area above the steps to create a "full pilot" where there wasn't one before. Next step may be to include a handrail over the new pilot.
B&O Builder's Plate- The MTH model of the B&O Dockside had 2 "blank" ovals almost begging for a builder's plate. I found an image of a C-16 class, the class of B&O's famous Docksides/aka "Little Joes." I used a copier to reduce the image until it was the right size, cut it and glued it in.
WEATHERING (and searching for Grimy Black)- I was hoping to find Floquil's Grimy Black somewhere/anywhere, but could not scrounge any up...I thought I heard Floquil was no longer made and then confirmed it was discontinued way back in 2013. A call to two local hobby shops near me found one shop did not carry paint at all and the other did. So, a visit to the local hobby shop with paint found a paint rack, let's call it paint rack #1, covered by other clutter (including another rack/shelf unit), rack #2 maybe 10-12 feet away and rack #3 further in the store. While I've been in the store many times, I never noticed rack #3. As luck would have it, after spending 20 minutes or so trying to twist/squirm like a contortionist to look at paint on rack #1 (rack #2 didn't seem too good either), I then stumbled on rack #3 which had Testors PollyScale paint...lo and behold, 4 bottles of Grimy Black! I bought 3 and the following week went back for the last bottle.
Later, I found online that it seems PollyScale has also been discontinued! I also picked up a bottle of Model-Master (I think also made by Testors) enamel Rust paint. I guess that Model-Master is the successor of Floquil and PollyScale.
If this helps...I found a nice conversion chart for Model-Master paints to find the equivalent today of Floquil's paints from the past (see page 13):
https://www.testors.com/~/medi...loquil-Portrait.ashx
Back to the weathering...I read online that Windex can be used to dilute Acrylic paints and I tried it and it seemed to work so as I proceeded, I poured my paint into recycled orange juice lids, added drops of Windex and stirred with a wooden coffee stirrer.
I also added a slight amount of Testors silver to the molded handrail on the front smokebox to enhance it.
The silver on the front smokebox area and the rust on all of the rivets were applied using a toothpick, carefully loading up the tip of the toothpick and brushing it/dabbing it on.
Weathering with a Story- Try as I might, I decided I really did not want to obliterate the B&O lettering and cab number. So, I thought how could I justify that? Well, what if some cranky stockholder or B&O board member was so offended by a locomotive with the B&O name so obscured that it would not be legible and complained to B&O management?
Here could be the outcome:
Before pictures:
Testing Pictures:
After weathering, enhancing the pilot and adding the Baldwin builder's plate and in accordance with B&O Supplement "TP":
Let's see those switchers!
Tom
Your work is inspiring me to make some improvements on my own C16.
