Wordless Wednesday #271

 

Wordless Wednesday #186

Photo by George Corey

Wordless Wednesday #97

Southern New England RS-3

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been working on three different projects over the last few weeks as time, interest, and available materials dictate. 
One of these is to at long last get some of the "orphan" locomotives (I have engines on the layout painted for everything from Reading to B&O to Erie, to Western Pacific…) into more appropriate colors. 
I apply the same rule to the diesel fleet that I do to the steam locomotive roster. 
Locomotives that match a CV prototype get painted and lettered for their prototype (brass steamers, for example, like the 450 in the blog header art). 
But if it's a Bachmann 2-8-0 fleet engine it will get some minor detail enhancements and get painted and lettered Southern New England. 
That's the case with a quartet of Atlas RS-3s that I'm working on. 
Yes, the CV had RS-3s, but they were Phase 3 RS-3s. The Atlas model isn't. 
At this point the engines have had some "CV family" details added - primarily a new horn and bracket, a steam generator stack, lift rings, and a winterization hatch. 
(Unfortunately I ran out of winterization hatches, so I need to find some more or scratch build the things for two of the engines.) 
My hope is I can get these into the paint booth and onto the rails in time for the next scheduled op session. 

Wordless Wednesday(??) #37 (better late than never)

Central Vermont RS-3 - 1

With the Sea Trial behind me it's time to turn my attention to some actual modeling projects. First up is something I'd been wanting to model for a long time, a Central Vermont Phase III RS-3. In fact, I plan to build two of them. 
I'm using an Atlas RS-3 drive. For the unique Phase III shells I'm using a Stewart Hobbies undecorated shell. 
As you can see from the photo above the Stewart shell is not a "drop in" replacement for the Atlas one. You have to remove some plastic from the shell, and some metal from the Atlas frame to get the Stewart Hobbies shell to fit. I also wanted sound installed in both of these. 
I contracted the milling of the metal frames and the decoder installation out to Mike Rose (of Scotty Mason Show podcast fame). I have those back in hand now, and they run, and sound, great. 
Next time to is to complete modifications to the plastic shell and then detail and paint them both. 
Weathering will be extremely light on both of these engines since my October 1954 era means both of them are less than two weeks old.
Should be fun.