PRR - Northern Central

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Projects - F7's

Just a few views of the completed F7 set. I changed the lettering and striping to make them more correct

I used 2 inch striping and rub on lettering. These are Key units from the late 1990's.

They run very well and can really pull.

I have been painting cars and trying to get them on the layout. I will send some photos along soon.

I have a Sunset GP 7 that I have been doodling with for some time. I want to wrap it up so I installed DesPlaines photo etched grilles and louvers in the hood, assembled a 3 chime horn from PSC, and decided to model a non-dynamic model as the Northern Central in my area had received four such units in 1953.

I also added lifting loops and a hand brake to the end of the hood. I had to drill out the headlights so I can install lighting.

So, now it goes into the painting booth.

The Hill Moves Forward

I next covered the webbing with my red rosin paper and then a layer of plaster cloth.

I worked around building onto the existing hill and raising its peak to cover the end of the photo. The plaster cloth then drops down to meet the foam hill.

Alan sold me some of his excess Sculptamold which is like paper mache and showed me how to mix it. He suggested I add my earth color, which is a tan latex paint, to the mix. The resultant mix came out like tan mayonnaise and I troweled it onto the plaster base. It has a sort of a rough finish which will be covered in ground foam.

I carried the paper mache down to the foam hill where I stopped for the night. It stuck to the foam very nicely.

So, the hill looks very nice and I need to now set up the foam base along the wall to the bridge at the end of Herndon. I also have to think about how to vary the surface to look more naturally. I may try some red rosin paper to smooth the layers into a single slope.

Continuing the hill saga

I had the help of Ed and Rich in putting up a plastic covering of the photo backdrop. I need to develop an approach to covering the lower level of the photo, up to the top of the white border.

I started the photo in a place where it can appear from behind the plaster hill which is coming around from the left.

Paul brought me some scrap 2 inch think green foam to use to build a low hill. Mat helped me rip it on my table saw into pieces that stack up into a 6 inch slope up to the base of the photo.

There is some flexibility to the foam so it curves with the backdrop. I found that it glues with carpenter's glue and really sets up quickly.

So, we mocked up how it would appear before covering it with some plaster.

Now, I have glued the foam down and held it in place with screws until the glue dried. Now I have to integrate it into the cardboard frame.

Low and behold, the foam can be glued with hot glue so the strips just glued to the hill base.

Now I have completed the webbing for the hill base.

So, the corner's base is now in place.

Sunday, July 7, 2024

More scenery work - additional backdrop

Well, as we work to complete Herdon, it is time to add the backdrop so we can press on to the foreground. You can see the end of the plaster work around the tunnel. We started the photo at a height of about 18 inches such that the 3D hill can come down in front of the joint.

Here is an overview showing the full three panels of the picture. It is a wooded hill behind a field. I have to build a hillock that runs along the base over to the right where I will install a false bridge.

Closer down to the end where the bridge will disguise the track disappearing to the hidden storage area.

The green foam will be the base of the hillock. It has to be cut and blended into it.

This is the end where the bridge will go. You can see a placement of a pier between the tracks.

The hillock will just cover the lower white border of the photo.

There will be some trees on the hillock that aid in merging the 3D with the 2D of the picture.

This shows the curve that the scenery will have to follow.

This is an overview of the whole area. The town of Herdon will be on the left of the main line which is under the newsprint.

Our next job is to cover the picture with saran wrap so we can plaster up around it without damaging the photo.

Some new Steam coming

I am taking a break in the shop as I have a couple of Key H10's to restore. They are heavily tarnished and missing parts. Fortunately, I have a lot of parts and a sandblaster. My wife also found an old Mobil shirt and wanted to see me in it.

As I begin the project, I had to make some custom screws as You have seen before - the bolster screw for a Flying F7. Here is the set up to slot the new screw I need for the drawbar connection between the engine and the tender.

It is somewhat hard to make out, but the saw will cut a slot in the head of that screw blank that is sticking out of that smaller vertical vise. It cam e our well and now, after sandblasting , I have been able to prime and paint one color on the engine. Next, I have to mask and paint a red deck on the tender.

Finishing the F7 Saga

Well, this project has been going on for quite a while as you look back on the postings. So, since I have been homebound for a couple of weeks, I decided to push on through it and finish it up. So, here we have one B unit and two A units that I have painted and lettered using the Keystone articles from several years back. Two of the units I only partially painted and one ,which had been damaged, I fully painted.

I used Clover House dry transfers for the road name and a combination of Champ and Microscale decals for the balance. The stripes come from Champ with a home made curved portion on the noses. The colors of the Dulux yellow vary but I do not think it detracts from the whole. I looked up what were the unit numbers of the F7's that were delivered to the Northern Division to come up with the unit numbers to use so I now have correct engines on the property. Cutting all those numbers on the units was a pain but worth it.

Here is the completed B unit. The other B unit is one of the flying F's but I had finished repairs on that earlier. It has a slightly more faded appearance as I used Dullcoat on it. The other three all have a clearer flat finish from Floquil.

You can see the difference in the one on the right.

The rear of the B unit.

This A unit was in perfect condition when I sanded off the lettering so the engine was repainted in the areas where I had sanded. You can see how I protected the grills and the glass on the body from the repaint.

After I stripped off the masking, the paint matched perfectly as Key used Scalecoat to paint the engines. This body is now done.

The other side of the unit. It took me about 2 hours per unit.

This is how I taped down the wiring as the original scotch tape had dried out.

Another interior view.

Close up for my records,

Here we have matched up the chassis. The red wire and a black wire have been added as I converted the units to 8 wheel pick up from the 4 wheel pick up they came with.

A couple of views of the perfect F7 - Number 9659

The PRR used 5 inch lettering in the number board. It took me a while to find some surplus freight car numbers that matched what I needed. I also added red markers on the nose.

She looks good.

Now we beging to finish the heavily damaged unit that was one of the Flying F's. It had a crushed nose and rear. I have reinstalled the electronics after putting glass in the whole engine.

I also had to replace the grilles as they had popped out from the bending of the body. A small wrinkle remains in the rear of both sides but it looks prototypical. Otherwise, we are good to go. I opened the front side windows on this one. I also added a crew.