Well just shy of two years since the US itch was scratched, but time to progress this for a while
A recent purchase of a Atlas MP15 has opened more cans of worms, I've been after one for a considerable time and this one I decided I was going to have, after loosing the other three I'd bid on by being too conservative in my bidding. After three years of looking I asked myself, did I really want one, yes, was I prepared to pay over the odds, yes, am I happy now I have it, very. The upside is I didn't have to invoke preference two
So the arrival of a new model opens a new chapter in the dark side, the primary aim was to use it to scale off for CAD etch work, which I will later on, but for the immediate future the current BNSF paint scheme had to go, it's a nice paint job from the factory, but not my cup of tea, not for MP15's anyway, GEVO's and Dash 9's yes but MP15's nope.
Not many MP15's were built and most have ended up with the usual suspects after mergers and the such like, additionally not all MP15s are alike, each Railroad specifying different fits and extras which still show through in later life. Essentially you have four Class 1 choices (Excluding BNSF), these being CSX, KCS, NS and UP. I like all three but choosing one is a bit more complex than just picking the one you like, the largest hurdle is decals, there's not as much choice in 1:48 as there is in 1:87 and what choices there are can be further limited to the small runs of decals that are about. I also did some research into colours, I have no aversion to spray cans until I can get back into airbrushing so the obvious choice is Halfords and some research finds that most colours required can be got in cans, though you may have to get them mixed to order.
Norfolk Southern,
Is an easy choice, gloss black but there are no decal sets available anywhere for the types carried on the MP15
KCS,
Again easy, mid grey, but again no ready decal sets available.
CSX,
I've opted for the modern yn3 style introduced in 2002, there are decal sets for this but currently out of print, browsing the web you end up with a couple of RGB values for the colours
Blue 24-7-104
Yellow 252-215-39
The yellow for UP could be used here but a lighter shade would be better
The blue is harder to find
UP,
The final choice and is yellow and grey and there are decal sets out there but you'll end up buying at least three sets to get everything you need.
Yellow 255-204-0
Grey 102-102-102, this varies over time and can be as dark as 134-134-134 (Floquil quote 118-124-124)
The grey is easy as it's almost the same as Halfords Plastic primer but you can get other shades, BS381 677 (104-109-116) and BS381 632 (104-110-113) will also do for the darker shade.
The yellow is listed as Fiat Golden Yellow BS381 677 (242-166-0) but you could use BS381 363 (248-187-0) these are both slightly darker than the official UP RGB but an undercoat of white might bring them down a shade or two.
Anyway, I popped into Halfords and just grabbed some cans that I though might look like they were close
all of these colours vary dramatically through fading and ambient lighting levels so close enough is good enough, though I am going to paint up some more cans with each colour next to each other to see how they stand next to each other as that's probably the only real way you'll get a good match.
At the rear are the two colours I think will suit the UP choice, in the front the CSX with the slightly lighter yellow and I think the blue on the left might be the right shade, mind the flash is tending to lighten all the colours shown here.
The next step is to work out what to do with the existing paint on the model
Cellulose thinners takes the numbers off easily as they are screen painted and not decals, it also removes a bit of the base colour as well, the original plastic is light grey and ideally I'd love to take all the paint off back to bare plastic so as to retain as much detail as possible, but, I'm not sure of the best way to do this. If it were brass I'd just drop it in a bucket of thinners and let it soak, but being plastic I've half a niggle that immersion in thinners may attack the plastic?
So having established a basic colour range it's onto the choice of locos and some notes.
First off Norfolk Southern
Easy paint scheme but no decals, stock kit will need some modifications, chopping back the roof brow over the cab front, new generator box cover (note later style with bevelled rear edge) and new roof fittings, in fact all choice will involve roof changes in one form or another. The rest is pretty much as per the donor engine.
KCS
Some changes required here, again the raised box generator housing but cab roof retains the front brow and a little roof work required, but up front there are enlarged sand boxs on the bonnet front. Quite a simple conversion as it's only the body that needs repainting, the already black frame being retained.
CSX
Like Norfolk Southern really, cab roof brow cut back, twin roof AC units, raised generator housing but standard front sand boxes and in addition side window quarter lights blanked off. Side window blanking is hit and miss, some locos have them and many still retain the full set up. Like KCS an easier paint job with body only required.
UP
Finally UP original roof brows but AC unit on top, original generator housing and larger front sand boxes, side window quarter lights blanked and all weather cupolas fitted. The only downside is a full loco repaint.
UP also do come with enlarged generator housings
There are a few additional extras I'd like to add, the bonnet top radiators are at best facsimiles so they will be chopped out and new ones from plasticard and 'stuff' added in under the etched screen, I may open the front up to show the fan as well, 50/50 on that one, the rest of the body is pretty good, nothing too obvious to get hung up on.
On the chassis there's a noticeable gap behind the pilots so some dummy generic shaped drag boxes will go in there to block the light, as well as the two large tubular braces. Some extra pipework will be required and depending on choice of prototype I may have to add the (I think) engine oil retention tank ahead of the main fuel tank and I may also have to add the circular fuel gauge on the tank seen on some locos, a browse through the relevant parts catalogues should give any other extras I want to add.
Decals are going to be an issue which ever variant is chosen and I may have to 'roll my own' or get some especially printed from my art work
It's a shame I didn't see one of these last time I was in Florida as it's be a no brainer to model CSX, maybe this year I'll get more luck
I certainly have a more focused plan of what to photograph for modelling details, not just locos but stock, RoW and structures etc, I've now got a better idea of what I want in my layout, just need to tune/prune it a little, less is more....
Right, back to the bench for some paint colour swatch and paint stripping testing
.
All above images copyright to original authors.