Post by VBR on Jul 10, 2024 22:50:31 GMT
Since I'm new here, I'll introduce myself a bit. I'm interested in steam-era railroads here in central VA, but especially shortlines, including the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway (hence my user name). I like to scratchbuild and bash locomotives, cars, and structures, and have made models of several of VBR's locomotives. My latest project is 0-6-0 #9, one of several ex-Army 0-6-0s the VBR purchased, which were based on the USRA 0-6-0. You can find photos of it here:whippanyrailwaymuseum.net/virginia-blue-ridge-railway/6/ (Incidentally, #9 was recently brought back to service on the SMS Shortline.) I got my hands on a Legacy USRA 0-6-0 lettered for Frisco, but not for long - sorry, Frisco fans. Here’s the before:
I decided to start work with the tender. Every modeling project involves compromise, and this one will have more than its share. For starters, the tender is quite a bit too long. While Lionel used former MTH tooling for the locomotive, they appear to have used the tender from their own 0-8-0, probably to make room for Legacy electronics. I’ll have to live with the long tender, but not with the too-high coal bunker. There was room inside to lower it, so with a rotary cut-off wheel I took a scale 18” slice out of the middle and put it back together with JB Weld. I also added rear grab irons that were missing on the model. After that, the work was mostly cosmetic. Nothing I tried would remove the factory lettering, so I used steel wool to get the surface nice and smooth and oversprayed it with black.
VBR used what looks like a stencil font for the lettering, and I haven’t found anything close to correct in O scale. My solution was to use Gothic letter decals, and then add the gaps through them with a fine-tip black marker. I hand-painted on VBR’s somewhat gaudy yellow accents, and gave it all a satin clearcoat. Here’s the completed tender:
I like to post my progress on projects like this to encourage and help others to do the same, so fire away with questions. Meanwhile, it's on to the locomotive!
I decided to start work with the tender. Every modeling project involves compromise, and this one will have more than its share. For starters, the tender is quite a bit too long. While Lionel used former MTH tooling for the locomotive, they appear to have used the tender from their own 0-8-0, probably to make room for Legacy electronics. I’ll have to live with the long tender, but not with the too-high coal bunker. There was room inside to lower it, so with a rotary cut-off wheel I took a scale 18” slice out of the middle and put it back together with JB Weld. I also added rear grab irons that were missing on the model. After that, the work was mostly cosmetic. Nothing I tried would remove the factory lettering, so I used steel wool to get the surface nice and smooth and oversprayed it with black.
VBR used what looks like a stencil font for the lettering, and I haven’t found anything close to correct in O scale. My solution was to use Gothic letter decals, and then add the gaps through them with a fine-tip black marker. I hand-painted on VBR’s somewhat gaudy yellow accents, and gave it all a satin clearcoat. Here’s the completed tender:
I like to post my progress on projects like this to encourage and help others to do the same, so fire away with questions. Meanwhile, it's on to the locomotive!
