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Model Railroading > Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :)Date: 12/04/18 04:06 Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: JUTower Good morning,
I've (finally) finished my pair of Atlas-kitbashed Conrail B36-7's. I started these out in January, with parts that I'd accumulated over the prior year. Naturally, of course, Jason Shron had to announce Rapido's forthcoming B36-7's over the summer, but I took that as a good thing... I'm modeling 1994 Conrail in Eastern PA, and easily need 4 of these things to cover the multiple Mail & TV trains that ran thru the area; not to mention that the B36's also found themselves leading RoadRailer trains or as the cab-signal leader for numerous (and interesting) western road lashups that worked their way into the Keystone State. Needless to say, I've preordered two Rapido B36-7's as well! Anyway, these two units started out as Atlas B30-7A Phase II undecorated units. I replaced the cabs with 2-window cabs from Atlas. I had to swap out the trucks with GE Floating Bolster trucks, order later model handrails, and I installed Loksound decoders and LED's (including working marker lights. That was a pain.) I relied on Hi-Tech Details for new turbo stacks, anticlimbers, and the various grills necessary to make this into a B36-7. Also, (and with many thanks to RGDave here for tips & reference photos), I made the necessary modifications to the conductor's side battery box latches, hinges, and I added the early'90's Conrail touch of battery box door locks at the top of each door. I also put brass horns up top, and bits of brass wire to represent the details on the cab roof. Let me think... I added the Shapeways Conrail GE marker lights, and had to do a lot of sanding and contouring of the nose to remove the old nose headlight pad and give it the more modern look. (I hate sanding). The nose handrails were modified to accommodate the anticlimber; the safety chain is on separate stanchions on these. I used a leftover pair of stanchions from a Conrail SD60M for this. Other details include hand-bent uncoupling levers for the front (a giant pain), MU connectors, hoses, spare coupler knuckle, radiator lift tabs (these will surely break off in the first operating session), etc. Decals were from various Microscale sets, and I used Scalecoat II Conrail Blue in a spray can (love the stuff) and Scalecoat's flat overcoat. Weathering was a combination of MIG pigments for the first layer, PanPastels, some acrylics (the burn marks on the 5040 roof) and more PanPastels. The 5013 has some sort of crap on the inside of the cab windows. Could have been drillings from the pin vise, or some sort of contamination from not-quite-dry paint. Either way I'm going to have to live with that as it's too tricky to try to disassemble all that. Also, I never fully understood the "gloss coat before decals" step until these 2 units... I got some silvering on some of the older decals that I dealt with using small dabs of paint. Next time around, I'll gloss coat first especially if I'm using older decals. Other than those small items, I'm glad I took my time & I'm very happy how these came out. Looking forward to seeing Rapido's in person, too! Thanks & best wishes for a Merry Christmas! -Alex Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/18 04:06 by JUTower.    Date: 12/04/18 04:07 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: JUTower ... Three more views. Thanks, all!
   Date: 12/04/18 04:23 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: calsubd Very Nice Thanks !
Ed Stewart Jacksonville, FL Date: 12/04/18 04:29 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: King_Coal Quite a labour of love. Good to see you reached the goal and produced 2 very nice locomotives. Well done.
Date: 12/04/18 05:18 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: THAT-L-DO Very nice!
THAT-L-DO Date: 12/04/18 05:51 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: RGDave Date: 12/04/18 09:04 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: tracktime Beautiful modeling, Alex! The weathering really makes all of the hard work really "pop". Most excellent1
Cheers, Harry Date: 12/04/18 09:13 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: eddiejack102 Very well done
Date: 12/04/18 09:47 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: funnelfan Those look awesome, nice job! I always like to take a "before paint" photo to show all the detail and hard work that went into super detailing a model.
Posted from Android Ted Curphey Ontario, OR Date: 12/04/18 12:45 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: inCHI Excellent work!
Date: 12/04/18 13:12 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: JUTower Someone earlier suggested some "in-progress" photos? Here are a few that I have.
1. Front pilot, with hand-bent uncoupling lever, anticlimber, MU covers, etc. 2. Battery box detail work 3. Overview before paint Enjoy!    Date: 12/04/18 15:05 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: SOU3921 Looks great! Good work. Always a sure sign of the next commercially available model-kitbash one!
Cooper Date: 12/04/18 17:33 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: Mautner Great work !
Mike Mautner Maryland Hts., MO Date: 12/04/18 19:18 Re: Conrail B36-7's, no Rapido needed :) Author: rapidotrains WOW! Really nice work, and I LOVE the weathering!
-Jason |