Passenger Truck Question

[Bill Gill]

More excellent fabrication. The decals look convincing, I think the traces of gold pin striping effect you want will work well when you get to that stage.

[Ray Dunakin]

I agree with Bill, it looks good.

[Chuck Doan]

I am really enjoying these trucks Eric. I think the stripes are going to be fine.

[finescalerr]

Let me get this straight: You actually have a problem with how the pin striping turned out? Gimme a break! It will be perfect after weathering. And the latest metal fabrication is beyond reproach. As I see it you face only one issue: Finding enough time to build a second pair of trucks by the end of this century. -- Russ

[Peter_T1958]

As I see it you face only one issue: Finding enough time to build a second pair of trucks by the end of this century. -- Russ

I second that, it's a problem that affects us all, all those, who deal with a matter in an intensive way

And yes, this truck alone is an unique piece of art. I love your approach in fabricating those small brass fittings - very educational!

Cheers, Peter

[EZnKY]

Thanks for the feedback guys. 

Point taken Russ.  Speed is not a skill I possess.

[Dave Fischer]

Eric-- Sure has been fun watching the truck(s) come together, and the pinstripes add an air of elegance... I had to do some worn and weathered pinstripes on my Farmall and am including a picture to show how they came out (only one in the shot-- look on the lower edge of the hood-- easy to NOT see!). The stripe is a thin strip of gold decal film with the curved ends added with gold paint. It was then washed over with thinned gray paint, as it would have been eroded by sun, wind and rain and gold paint is especially fragile to the elements. Finally the gray base paint was dry-brushed in several places and a few random full-strength dabs added where it had completely chipped off. The Pur-O-Lator decal on the oil filter was chipped with dabs of paint as well. Your trucks may be more protected from such heavy damage, but some weathering will certainly make a difference!   DF 

[Ray Dunakin]

Dave, I thought that was a prototype pic until I read the text!

[EZnKY]

Holy cow Dave!  That's beautiful work, and like Ray, I thought it was the real thing at first! 

My original plan was to "pre-chip" the artwork for the decals to approximate the wear and tear you've described, but I found it was too small to make a difference on the decals.  The pinstripes are only 0.012 inches wide, and even at the highest resolution print setting, the Xerox at my office couldn't reproduce the subtleties that were in the Photoshop file.

Thanks for the suggestions - we'll see how this turns out.  Just not very quickly.

[EZnKY]

It's been quite a while since I've posted an update on my passenger car project.  As Russ observed, I'm not very fast.  I've been thinking a lot of what he said, so I decided the best thing I could do to keep things moving is to build a second set of trucks at the same time as the first!

I know this sounds nuts, but several things converged at the same time.  A friend's wedding put me in Denver and I was able to stop by the Colorado Railroad Museum. They have an old passenger wheelset in the yard with paper wheels, and I've always been fascinated by them.  I knew I had to make some.

I was also able to pick up a new old stock Bob Hartford coach kit on eBay for a remarkably low price.  This gave me everything I needed to kit build a second coach while I scratchbuild the first.  My long term plan was to have a second coach anyway, so I decided just to do everything assembly-line style at the same time.  (It'll still take me a long time...)

And most recently I was able to stop by the roundhouse in Durango and they also have some paper-wheel axles, along with several pairs of old trucks.  This game me some more prototype photos to reference.

[EZnKY]

Here's the set from Durango - they're in much better shape.

[EZnKY]

So I started with some drawings from one of the standard references - I'm not sure which one.  I etched sheet brass overlays for the wheelsets just like I did for the Louisville Car Wheel Company sets.

[EZnKY]

This is how they look installed.  I decided not to do a matching overlay on the back of each wheel since the wheels do not have a recess like the prototype. 

[EZnKY]

And here's how both wheel types look with some primer and pre-shading applied. 

[EZnKY]

Not as nice as the cast ones you can buy online, but I'm pleased with how simple the process has been.