Sierra West Scale Models - Work Train - HO

[nextceo]

Just finished up with the Sand Car. Not much variation from the instructions. The only thing I did differently was to dry brush the metal on the sand car with old silver and I glued the railings directly onto the car...without drilling any holes.

Next up is the Oil Car...
Alan

[NEMMRRC]

Very nice.

Jaime

[nextceo]

Hey Gang,

   To follow up on some of the emails I received from folks, they had asked for side pictures of the cars. Therefore, I went back and updated my previous posts and going forward, I will also show a side shot of each car. The reason for all the photos is that Brett only has 2 color photos on his website of each car and the instructions are only in black and white. In addition, most of the photos in the instructions are close up shots showing only portions of the cars. Hopefully this thread will serve as a picture guide to those that chose to build this Work Train in the future.

With that said, I knocked out the Oil Car today. I followed the instructions to the "T" except I drilled the holes for the trucks in the very beginning and I glued (without drilling holes) all the grab irons and stirrups. Half way thru the build, Brett has you create oily rags by painting some Kleenex with Oily Black. They looked really neat and were fun to put all around the car. The build is pretty straight forward with excellent instructions until the last step. After you have built the car without any oil weathering, the instructions tell you to drop Oil Black Paint on top / middle of the car and then use Alcohol to dilute it by letting the paint and Alcohol run down the side. After that I think you are suppose to use that same technique all over the car. Once you've finished doing this, you're going to find the car (especially the wood deck) to be really black. To lighten those boards up, I used different shades of gray chalk. I also at the very end used some fine dirt (got it from Scenic Express) and wiped it all over the car to give it that dusty look and dilute some of the blackness created by all the Oil Black Paint.

Here is how it turned out...as a note, the car is actually blacker in real life than in the pictures. I had to over expose the pictures so you could see the fine details.

Thanks for looking and any comments or criticism would be appreciated. I promise you wont hurt my feelings...

Next up is the Pipe and Scrap Car.

Alan

[martin.ojaste]

I'm regretting not getting this kit when I could. These are really cool.


Marty

[nextceo]

Thanks Marty. I think if you check with Brett, he might be able to get you a kit. That's just a rumor at this point...had a few people tell me this. They said he re-did the castings for the work train.

Alan

[jerryrbeach]

Alan,
Outstanding build!  I especially like the weathering on the tank, to me, it is amazingly realistic. The coloring of the wood portions of both cars is beautiful, too. 
I noted that you had some issues trying to drill #77 holes.  I have found that sometimes brand new drill bits were not sharpened properly when manufactured.  If I find a drill that does not seem to be making a hole easily, I check the point under my optivisor loop. Sometimes I can dres the point with an Arkansas stone, but usually, I simply get out another new bit.  I have also found that using a little beeswax as a lubricant helps when drilling metal. 

[nextceo]

Hey Jerry,

   Thanks for the compliment. I also appreciate the tip on the drill bit. Yeah, I went thru 3 of them trying to get thru the metal frames with no luck. They do work well into the resin castings but I found I like having the flexibility to be able to move the grip handles around after I've glued them in place as sometimes I don't like where I initially placed them.

Thanks again!
Alan

[nextceo]

Hey Gang,

   I knocked out the Pipe and Scrap Car over the past few days. I followed the instructions except for the following modifications:

1 - The Scrap Box at the front of the car - I added a tire, a box and a tank on top of the junk to help give it a more 3D appearance.

2 - The crane on the front of the car. The post on the crane I received in my kit was quite short. It did not match the picture in the instructions. At its current height, it didn't seem like the crane could reach the other side of the scrap box. The instructions shows a larger portion to the post at the bottom that mine did not have on it. I then pulled up a build thread (Mike Chambers) on this kit and noticed that those posts were also short. To correct this situation and make it look more realistic, I cut a little piece of wood off of a dowel rod to the height I wanted and weathered it. I then installed the crane on top of the dowel rod. Once that was complete I added some black gloss paint to some super glue and applied it around the joint to represent old grease.

3 - To add some interest to the back side of the car I added a rope and chain that hangs off the back of the parts shelf.

Next up is the tool and repair car.

Thanks for looking!
Alan

[martin.ojaste]

Alan, its gor everything in it. Is the scrap box one casting or many?


Marty

[Mark Dalrymple]

Beautiful work and photography, Alan.

Thanks also for the extra information on the changes you are making as you go along.  Most useful.

Cheers, Mark.

[nextceo]

Thanks Mark.

To answer your question Marty, the scrap box at the front of the car is one whole casting.

Alan

[Mike Engler]

Alan- great work on all these cars. Weathering is fabulous.

[nextceo]

Thanks Mike!

Alan

[ollevon]

Hey Alan,
  tremendous work on those cars. The weathering looks perfect. Every detail looks to be where it should be. I can't think of anyone who could have done a better job.   " FANTASTIC JOB"
Sam

[Zephyrus52246]

Each new car you post is better than the one before it.  Great work.


Jeff