Well... I didn't feel much like it, but I decided that I needed to go ahead and finish the four freight cars off that I have been working on forever. I added graphics and weathering to complete them. The first Deer Creek cars that I made years ago had markings that were created with Dry Transfers. I have been using computer generated art, printed on paper and glued to the model in a lot of my 1:6th vehicle modeling and have been pretty pleased with the result...so... I thought I would try it in 1/48th scale. I am going to go ahead and make the observation for you that it doesn't work as well in this smaller scale. The paper is too thick and no matter how much you try, you can still see the edges when it is all said and done. I tied to hide it as much as possible, but you can really see it...especially on that boxcar. All that said, when you look at them as you normally would look at rolling stock on a train layout, it is not nearly as noticeable.
I may eventually peel the graphics off of the boxcar and repaint and re-letter, for now however, I am going to let it stand. And actually, of the two sides, this is probably the most obvious on both this car and the reefer above.
I need to secure the load on the flatcar, but other than that, it is basically done.
My favorite of the four is the stock car. It is the first one I have ever built from scratch and I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
Now on to ramblings... This little van was in an order that came in the mail today. I use to have a van like this a few years ago and somewhere along the line, I lost it. The paint job wasn't nearly as good on that car as the one on this vehicle; I'm pretty pleased with the way it looks. I may even leave those LIONEL graphics on it.
Another item in that order was this shorty caboose. This was the only version available (I couldn't find one without markings) and I figured I would just repaint it, but looking at it, I may just be able to cover up the Durango and Silverton graphic with one of my own and weather it up a bit.
The little roofless bus was also part of the order and I am going to repaint it as a tourist bus. The interior is roomy enough for 1/48th scale passengers as well.
I guess the two pictures below kind of illustrate what I am talking about with the graphics on my completed freight cars. This is backed off a bit and the obvious flaws of the paper graphics are not so obvious, which is why I think I will just let them be for the time being.
So... now I am ready to start on this baby as my next structure project. You will recall if you have been reading this blog, that this is the structure that I made all those little stone foundation castings for. Well... it is not the only structure that I intend to build with stone foundation, but it will be the first. Going to start on that tomorrow.
These are two other kits that I got in that order that I received today. I actually intend to build them a little differently than is shown here and fortunately the way the kits are constructed with allow for some pretty easy kit bashing. For right now, I'll leave it at that, but I will return to these eventually and show you what I do with them.
Below is an order I am still waiting on. This actually shipped yesterday, so hopefully I will have it next week sometime. I ordered two of these "thirty" foot fishing boats from Frenchmanriver.com. I plan to make each of the ones that I am getting just a little bit different than each other. I will vary the paint scheme and some of the details to accomplish that. I also have one slightly larger and differently shaped fishing boat that I will add two these two. With my two steam powered passenger boats, I am going to have a pretty full harbor.
Finally... This is a "just thinking about it"...possible future project. I have three Colorado and Southern passenger cars by Bachmann that I bought in a set years ago. I have thought for a long time about cutting them down and creating some short coaches. However, yesterday I discovered a website that actually sells some 18' short coaches as kits and I am thinking that would be so much easier than cutting up my nice Bachmann cars. Anyway... these are the three that I am thinking about. I may pull the trigger on them before too long.
And that is all of my ramblings for today. Thanks for looking. - PM