Model Railroading > Put on a happy face!

I have posted this picture before on the Nostalgia forum, but it now has a placehere. Years ago, I worked for the I&M Raillink, working between Kansas City and
Ottumwa, IA. The IMRL had a large number of hand me down engines that still wore
their previous colors. The IMRL 359 was former Susquehanna. At some point in
time in its life, it also received a creative smiley face. When I decided to
start modeling the IMRL, I knew I had to model this unique locomotive. I started
with a Kato SD45 that I had had for quite a few years and added a few details to
make it look convincing. I'm not a rivet counter but I do at least want the
locomotive to look the part. I painted the yellow, masked and then painted
black. I shot the whole thing with a gloss coat for decaling. The Susquehanna
decal set did include a decal to do the yellow stripes on the plow, but I
decided that was a bit too much trouble and decided to carefully apply yellow
stripes with paint on the end of a tooth pick. That's also what I used to create
the "face". The whole thing got a quick weathering job with the airbrush and a
final flat coat before being okay'd for service. Over the years that I've had
this model, I have managed to misplace all the light tubes. So, this will be a
candidate for LED lighting when I decide to tackle that. But, for now it's ok
for me. Finishing this model, the IMRL 370 and the MRL 265 now brings my roster
of IMRL models to 14. I still have one more SD40, 3 SD9's, an F45 and 2 GP35's
turned GP38-2's to go!

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I'd say Susie the SD45 is as appealing as Thomas the Tank Engine in her own way.

Saw this unit a few times on the UP paying back HP hours, very unique unit.  Are you planning to model any of the ex CGW SD40s IMRL got?
JC

While not a very good picture of the unit in question, IMRL 225 (partially visible in front of the refer) was built as the CGW 409. Currently, I have completed IMRL's 109, 123, 124, 201, 202, 207, 210, 212, 225, 359, 367, 370, 8924 and the MRL 265. I have the IMRL 393 decaled and ready for weathering and final assembly, the CEFX 3029 and 3048 painted ready for decals (which I'll need to have made), and IMRL's 604, 606 and 610 in the process of nose chopping and detailing. The completed models to date have all been done in the past month, too!

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Ah yes, a very familiar face. Below, my Susie-Q modeled back in 2006 off a Proto 2000 SD45. (first two shots prior to painting and weathering the yellow handrails...)

Mr. MRL

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From late 2006, now with proper yellow(ish) handrails.

Mr. MRL

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Looks great!

- Jeff

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