Frank Leimbek
Midland, Michigan
What could be better than MPC’s 1/25 scale locomotive The General? Frank converted two of them to recall the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, when Central Pacific’s Jupiter met Union Pacific’s No. 119. Frank removed or modified many details, fitted brass bands on the boilers, built toolboxes for the tenders, and converted one engine from wood to coal. He made his own decals, referring to replicas displayed at the site in Utah, and built a display case for them to face each other as in the famous photo of the ceremony. He finished with Testors Model Master paints. Gold-plated parts were painted with Rust-Oleum antique brass metallic. “I loved the challenge of turning a cheap-looking kit into a museum piece,” he says.