Hammerheads Need Love Too (#1 Painting NS C40-8s )

Paint refreshed locos with painted visibility stripes and handrails, a bit rough but better than the original

I guess like most of us beginners I try to find as much advice as possible before making a decision - and a big shout out to FB members of N scale groups that offer this freely and for the members of MRRM forums that I stalk that do the same.

So, using my 27 year old Bachmann Spectrum 'C40-8' locos on the intended DCC evolution that's occurring, raised quite a few questions as they are far from 'DCC Ready'. 

This included could they even be upgraded to DCC and, as their livery 'out-of-the-box' was state of the art in 1996, should I update their paint scheme?

After hours of research the answer to the first question was yes and I'll step through the upgrades in another post.

Updating the Paint Scheme

But having gotten the DCC upgrade question answered positively, with renewed enthusiasm I decided if I was spending the effort upgrading the locos to DCC, I might as well refresh the paint work to a more recent paint scheme. After 20 years of painting wargaming figures (my 'other' hobby) this was something I was much more confident in tackling.

Original paint work - looked 'plastic' to me and had bright silver highlights, with none of the cool visibility stripes and yellow handrails.

The visibility stripes are a bit thick but I'm happy overall with the end result.

So I went researching the prototype primarily using Railroad Picture Archives which is an excellent source of photos and the nsdash9.com roster for more guidance.

The first surprise was that, as numbered (8665, 8667, and 8671), the locos weren't C40-8s they were C39-8Es... wowser, I mean I can't tell the difference between the models at this scale, but I would have thought Bachmann would have at least got the designation right?

Anyhoo, I found the right locos and saw several paint schemes. I liked the last one, circa 2008, shortly before they were retired, with the solid white visibility stripe down each side and safety-yellow handrails.

I used what I had at hand which was some Vallejo (Cold White) and Citadel paints (Yriel yellow), masked the locos up, and got painting, touching up with a Vallejo matt Black.

Just painting black over the 'random' gloss silver surrounds of the windows and louvres, and horn and exhaust, vastly improved the look of the locos .

The masking was harder than expected as the tape had to sit in between the stanchions of the handrails, so needed some persuasion with an Xacto knife to mask around the stanchions properly.

This is when I realised that the model isn't quite the same as the prototype and that the stanchions actually come down the body further than the prototype - so my first major call was where to actually put the edge of the white stripe (I think I've made my stripes too thick).

Getting the hard edge lines for the white stripes (7 nation army echoes) took many goes touching up with both white and black, and are still a bit rough close up, but look good enough at 'track distance'.

I sprayed the petrol tank first with matt varnish so the paint would have something to adhere to, as this was slightly different plastic to the body with a satin finish. In the prototype pics they look like they're painted dark grey (even with weathering), but I decided to stay with black and then gave them another spray of varnish.

At present, I can't bring myself to dismantle or paint the trucks for fear of clogging up the drive system or stuffing up the reassembly, but I guess I'll get confident in that soon too. As for weathering, if I do one loco or piece of rolling stock, I'll want to do all of them... so, that's a project in itself, for another time.

To finish, I masked the windows so the plastic glass wouldn't craze and the locos got several light sprays of Army Painter's matt varnish.

Finished locos pictured with the new kaolin cars from Atlas which I'll cover in another post.

Will also update couplers at some point during the DCC upgrades.

Tip for painting 'soft plastic' handrails

Unlike the body, the handrails are, what we call in the wargmes scene, 'soft plastic'. This means any paint you put on will flake off at some stage. For wargames figures, especially 1/72 scale figures, the plastic seems to produce an oil across the surface which gives the plastic a slightly glossy finish. This film also means the paint won't adhere properly to the plastic, hence it flakes off. 

So, here's a wargaming tip I was taught years ago when using acrylic paints. Paint a carefully applied layer of PVA glue completely over the plastic first, then paint over this rather than onto the plastic. Then apply another layer of PVA glue over the top of the paint.

This sandwiches the paint between two skins of PVA and it is unlikely to flake for many years (I've had Carthaginian 'bendy, soft plastic' spears that have only just been redone after 20 years). 

The PVA glue dries clear but gloss, and do take care not to leave 'globs' of glue around angles. Too many coats of PVA and the 'clearness' will turn opaque, so its good to get a complete top layer on in the first round.

Also, I've found it takes better if the top coat of PVA goes past the edges of the painting, I think because the glue adheres again to the plastic, making a complete seal.

Next up, I've just received a shipment from Atlas of their 'new' Master kaolin tank cars, so better have a look at them.

Googling the Prototype to Mock Up Sandersville/Tennille

 

Mock up of industries I want to model on SAN MRR.

I live 14,000 kilometers away from the prototype I've chosen to model. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to see it in person and I don't know a lot about North American rail. Sure, I could have chosen to model something closer to home but I love the NA locos, rolling stock and industries. 

But Google Maps can provide an eye-watering overview of the prototype and a virtual drive through the countryside (in my case of Georgia) via Road Side View - providing detail of industries and rolling stock on both SAN and NS RRs.

So, for those who haven't done this sort of thing, I thought I'd share how I mocked up the Sandersville/Tennille MRR using Microsoft Snip & Sketch, PowerPoint, and the free version of SCARM - without spending a dollar.

Photos © Google Maps.

Mocking Up Before Touching Any Track

Things progressed rapidly with planning once I lost the double loops and relaxed the main out into the temporary wings of the layout (as per previous post).

In my mind, there were always 'must have' things that I wanted on the railroad, but I've realised I can't have everything and had to make some sacrifices along the way. When it came to the crunch, I was surprised at what 'I couldn't live without'. For instance the switcher track and NS office at Tennille made it on the list.

Track where switcher rests between cutting cars and servicing Railcar Industries and old station/NS freight yard building.

But as the baseboard stands at the moment, I can only really model the South Side of SAN and not the North Side, which runs miles past SAN HQ. This includes the model railroad iconic Tybee Street, with SAN running down the middle of it.

I also knew I wanted pipeline-fed and powder kaolin plants and settled on a Thiele plant and mix of a Kentucky-Tennessee and IMERYS plant. Both Beasley (wood products) and Fulghum Fibers (woodchips) will make for interesting rolling stock and great models, so they were added. The same could be said for Bulk Chemical Services, the granary, and the bulk transfer. So they were also added, along with the Sandersville main office and sheds.

Out on the main, with a bit of space to spare, I realised that adding a scaled down American Railcar Industries would make for some more interesting rolling stock for mainline trains, for some added switching operations, and a pseudo-staging/rest area for tank cars and hoppers (which Railcar services). So that was added in the design - whether or not it gets done before I have to move again is another thing entirely.

Not really knowing too much about these industries, especially how big they'd be on an N scale layout, I've used Google Maps to start the planning process.

First, I set SCARM up with a 10 centimeter grid and got building. Then used the MS Snip & Sketch tool to place various components of the SCARM layout into PowerPoint. As I'm using the free version of SCARM, there's a limited number track objects you can use per layout, so I ended up with several partial versions in SCARM which I patched together in PowerPoint.

Several versions of various areas of the layout in SCARM due to track object number limitations in the awesome free version.

Then I went on Google Maps to get pictures of the industries themselves and using something I know the measurement of (a 50' hopper), I produced a scale (having converted to meters being in a metric country).

I used a string of 50' hoppers to build a rough scale - not completely accurate but close enough for mocking up.

For each industry, I then applied the true scale and converted to N scale by dividing by 160, to get the sizes of various buildings and landmarks in meters, and then adjusted for centimeters.

Using the scale to see how big Fulghum's wood piles are. At  approx. 90 meters diameter in real life, that's 56.25cms in N scale.

Once the scaling was set, the industries only took a few hours to mock up into the design, going backwards and forwards between SCARM and PowerPoint. Then I added an approximation of roads to service the industries and a scene break (some foliage) to the design to separate SAN from NS, using rectangles and making the objects transparent.

Using the Transparency tool for PP objects helps to better visualise areas of the mock up.

I'd also made the decision that any switches within reach of the operating hole in the center would be manual; hands on switching is the name of the game for me - as is switching 3 - 4 cars of consists at a time, so track length on the industries is also important. 

So I measured the reach of my right arm and made 'reach templates' in PowerPoint to ensure turnouts would be in reach. I also allowed for the length of four 50' cars on sidings that needed them.

I needed to be sure any manual switches would be in reach. The yellow shaded areas are how far I can reasonably reach across the layout to manually activate a switch (I could reach further but this reach is about a hand-length back so isn't a 'stretch').  

Its a pretty rough mock up but enough to get going and although there is a track design here per se, this will not be the final track design for the industry areas. 

The Sandersville and Tennille yards are finalised, as is the slim staging area at the back. I've spent hours reading about yard design and watching yard design videos, and these track setups have all been through about 5 iterations themselves, so I'm happy with them.

But after the initial track laying experience (which I'm not great at) and now a couple of hours of replacing sidings and turnouts in SCARM, based on the position of minimum radius curves (14" - 15" minimums) and set tracks, this is, at best, a close approximation of where the industry tracks will lie - I know things will change again when I take to laying track and building structures.

Mocking Up - Thumbs Up

Virtually mocking up has been fun and informative exercise.

I've spent no money but now know:

- how big industries can/need to be on the layout

- where industries can go following the prototype and available space,

- that I can reach the manual turnouts needed,

- that there is enough track length for the car consists that will be switched,

- the possible number and mix of turnouts.

Mocking up this way has helped me better visualise the layout and start the planning of the kit-bashing/scratch-building industry builds needed for this  - something I've been wanting to do for almost 30 years and now I can finally look forward to the challenges this layout will bring.

As an aside, stalking.... I mean researching the prototype using Google especially with road view, yields many unexpected bonuses in terms of research.

For instance, a few years a go, I found these to the East of Tennille, off of NS track No. 1, which could make for some interesting traffic in the future.

Found some snaps of Georgia Midland Railway locos by following the NS track East of Tennille using the road view in Google Maps.

During this round of research I also found most of the Sandersville motive fleet resting in the mid-day sun at the Sandersville RR complex. A scene that would be found on many model railroads, represented in the prototype.

But then I spotted what looks like a small NS switcher resting there as well.

Awesome to see the loco fleet at SAN HQ, but what is this NS switcher doing there and what model is it?

It Lives... Again - From DC to DCC

A mock up of the new layout using SCARM and PowerPoint.

Its been two years since I did anything on the Sandersville/Tennille layout. Life it seems had other plans, with 3 moves in this time caused by legislative changes to home owning and banks reacting, resulting in a totally messed up rental market and moving target for mortgage deposits. But with this latest move came a garage which will be used for storage and (now) for the MRR.

So, realising it'll be another temporary set up, it got me thinking and some large changes are in store.

More confusing than algebra. My DC and blocks are going. 

I looked at my carefully crafted blocks of DC awesomeness and the Atlas controllers that controlled just a couple of simple loops and couldn't remember what switch did what. If I'm having this problem now, I can't imagine what it will be like with the full layout. 

Cab control seemed like the way to go when I started, but it all seems too complicated and 'clever' and its being ditched for DCC (I did make a printed template letting me know what switch does what, but still...). I've made this decision while most track is temporary or easily 're-blocked' and after hours of research, will be going with a Digitrax system.

The double loops were fun... for about five minutes. 

Next, while it seemed like the most awesome thing to do, the double loops are also going. I'm liking the idea of remotely realistic operations and the inner loop is meant to be the AD track for Tennille. Also, a train could make it around the loop in less than a minute.

So, the loop ends are going and some temporary wings will be added to stretch out the main line. Once we move to a house we own, the temporary wings can be replaced/modified as space allows to extend the main loop as long as it needs. If I get my head around DCC, the loop will probably turn into a point-to-point representing Macon and Savannah.

But with some new locos, custom decals, and rolling stock ordered (subjects for a different post), its a matter of waiting till we move and starting the new and improved Sandersville/Tennille.