Br 52 WIP

Hello everyone.  Thanks for all your comments.  After reviewing the different opinions and points made about the positioning of the numbers on the front of the boiler, I now have a new solution I'm toying with in my head.  Thinking about removing the offset "52." and applying it on again using the Archer transfer set.  There are many "52." still on the set.  Just thinking but haven't gone any further then that with it.

I am now convinced it's my camera that sucks!  I;have tried so many different shots of these next set of pictures.  Tried different lighting, settings, backgrounds, and so on.  Anyway here are the pictures.

The next three pictures are shown because had to add almost a 1/4 inch of "butt" to this figure.  Did not think at the time  to take a good picture of the before and after.  His bottom was made up with Squadron putty and then sanded to shape.  Had done this to get the proper fit, with no gap, when he was sitting in his chair which worked very well.

I will say these figures look MUCH better here in person!  They may not be the best but I am very pleased with them.  I do not quit have figure painting down but have learned a lot painting these.  Hope all of you enjoy as much as I.

One last think, still have to paint the buttons.  Will then let cure completely for a few days and then maybe give them a wash with Raw Umber?

Thanks for taking a look.

WOW this just keeps getting better and better Rob. OUTSTANDING!!!!

Clay

HOLY COW!  Great update out of Rob's factory!  I think it looks far better than the real thing now!  Nice score on the figures... they will go great with the train.  

its the curvature playing tricks on you, leave it as is..my 2 cents

Personally I would leave the markings as-is...the bulge of the boiler front is going to cause some slight distortion no matter which medium you use (dry-transfer or decals) and you may find that getting the decals aligned will prove equally as difficult but ultimately it's up to you Rob! The dry transfers are definitely an improvement over the kit markings...I know Trumpeter didn't do the swastika because of international restrictions in the EU over such things and Archer filled that gap nicely.

Nice update on the weathering and details, keep it coming!

Clint - I hear ya, with that wire and the dome shape of the front of the boiler it makes it kinda hard to tell.  Sounds though you can see it slightly off to though at least it appears to be and that means I need to do something about it.  Thanks for the input.

Steve - Thanks for taking the time to do that with the picture and for pointing out the problem.  Now I know for sure it's off and that means I know what I have to fix.  Much appreciated!  Now just have to scrape off the transfer and piece together a new decal.  Will have to come up with a way to insure that the decal goes on straight?

Artwork - It's in 1/35 scale.  Thanks for taking a look.

From the photo she looks Gscale????

Rob you may be correct , re: the numbers at the front.

You are required to take the following with a 100# bag of salt, 

With small skill and no scientific proof I submit the following:

arrow 1 : shows the hight above the arbitrary green line

arrow 2: shows the numbers touching or squeezing into the arbitrary green line

arrow 3 & 4: shows the spacing below the arbitrary red line

Note about the arbitrary lines:  they were drawn in on an illustration program (Paint.Net) and the

magnification was to confirm the the line had not moved out of straight from one side to the other.

Resulting in:

• your 5 is tilted off the vertical and its lower portion should be into the horizontal green line.
• your 2 is the same
• the dot is fine
• the 1's are fine
• 9 is fine
• 8 is fine

So upshot is, the tops of 1198 are all in a line, the 52 is not.

A word about text and fonts;

Generally the numbers that are strong verticals (1).are straight up and down and stop on the horizontal lines

The numbers with curved parts (3,6,8,9,) will have the curved part sweep into or below the horizontal line.

Spacing between  curved and straight letters is a problematic area as well.

Generally curves will appear closer together and verticals will be spaced farther apart. 

Please accept this as an attempt to help answer you question, not a criticism of your skills

ALLLL  A BOARD!

the 2nd pic looks straight but I think its the curve in the wire that gives it that appearance

Hey Marc, thanks man !

OK guys, this is going to be a long one.  Hope all had a excellent thanksgiving.....next Christmas 

WILLIAM - You could be mesmerized by all the turkey you probably had   Thanks for the words and here are some seconds for you.

BILL - Is it me or do those piston housings look like big turkey drumsticks 

DAVE - I'm getting pretty excited about "greasing" this thing up.  Almost there!

ERIC - Hey buddy!  No apologies needed, glad you could stop in.  Hope things are going good with you 

SHAWN M - Thanks man !  Thought I too was hearing the locomotive but come to find out, it was just the steam releasing from my head 

And now the update

Work on the right side has been done.  Added the remaining parts, added some more dirty / dust weathering on the front section.

Then the remaining running gear

Here is another shot of it.  Can also see here a little more weathering on the compressor.

Had then went to work and the remaining plumbing underneath the cab.  Was added to both sides.

Next up was the markings.  The kit supplied decals I did not care for, especially the eagle.  Here is the kit supplied eagle

To improve these had went with dry transfers from Archer.  Theres look like this

Here is the cab with it's markings.

Moving along had went to the front.  Here I have a question for you guys.  Do the numbers look crooked ?  Had put the first set on and thought they were so had to scrape it off and use the transfer that should have went on the back.  It still looks crooked to me though but measuring things and using a square, things are straight???  What do you think?

Here is another view.

OK, had said I used the transfer that was suppose to go on the back of the tender car....so back there had to cut and piece the kit supplied decals to create the correct number. I can do the same for the front if everyone thinks it needs to be done.

And now here are the overviews of how the engine looks now.

One last surprise update.  Arriving home today, this was dropped off by the FedEx man.

It's my locomotive figures by Warriors.  This will be my next step in the project, get them together  painted , and in their seats.  Will post progress of them for the next update.

Hope this was not to long but hope all enjoy.  Thanks for looking 

HOLY CRAP!   That's just to nice for words.

running gear looks amazing!

Im already hearing that great steam loco in my head

Rob, its always a treat to follow your builds. I do apologize for missing so much of this one, but it truly is  something special to witness.

Rob- I'm very glad I could provide some useful info for your build. To my eyes, this build is right up there with any award winner and the weathering you've got so far is an excellent base for what's to come. If you were to consider taking this to a contest I've no doubt you would have the attention of the judges and spectators alike. Looking forward to your next update!

A nice Turkey Day treat with this update Rob, drivetrain details and finish are top notch.

Hi Rob 

I find your build and especially the running gear paint work to be absolutely mesmerizing   

The more I look, the more I have to look. It's just simply beautiful to me. Happy Thanksgiving man 

Beautiful, accurate and artistic

tread 

Hope all had a Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!

BILL - Thanks for the tip with the wheel alignment   I had a bit of trouble getting them on correctly myself and luckily had thought they may not sit right.  To ensure that they did, had pulled out the section of track I had previously built for my Gondola car to make sure all was right.  With that section of track was able to align all wheels properly.  I too would suggest to anyone building this, have the track ready for fit before attaching the wheels.  Here is how they look.

SHAWN M - Had missed your first post, sorry   Believe we had posted at the same time.  Thanks for taking a look and for the nice words.  Good to have you along 

DAVE - That's some GREAT info !!  Have saved your post and will be using it as a reference, really appreciate you taking the time.  Have added a bit more weathering (not complete yet) to the frame and wheels but much was covered by all the other parts.  One thing it did do was to lighten things some so will be adding more weathering a little further on.  Right now concentrating on getting the base on and all parts on.  Will then really get into the weathering and into your info which I believe will be very beneficial at that point   Will pick up a bottle of the MM US Army Helo Grey, it sounds like good stuff.  Thanks again.

CLAY - Those are some big names that I too hold in high regard, maybe to much to throw me in that group but will defiantly say thank you !!  Really glad you like whats going on.  Have never been to a contest but would sure like too.....one day.  If for no other reason, to meet and see everyone's work.

STEVE - As always, thanks man   The weathering is on the way, just a few more parts to put on first.  Slow but sure 

In this update; added some earth tomes to the wheels and frame.  much is hidden put will provide a good base for more to come.  Have also, for the most part, completed the assembly on the left side drive.  It too will receive more weathering later on. 

Next same work to be done on the other side.  See ya then.............................

Just another note to congratulate you on such a fine build.

with what's gone before, I can hardly wait to see how the weathering will come out.

Rob i must say that is some of the finest workmanship that i have ever seen.i'd put your build up there with Bill, Redleg, Mutt, and some others, i've seen on other sites. and i would hope you could take that to a contest and show it off. and get your GOLD! that's why i like this site very awesome work i get to see. keep up the posts Rob.

Clay

Rob- continues to look fantastic! Some details if you wish to add more weathering:

Underneath would be black from dirt/grease/coal dust; a very popular paint for this with model RR's is Floquil Grimy Black. I've come to be quite fond of MM U.S. Army Helo Grey, which is not completely black but sort of an asphalt color.

Any fittings that move on the valve gear (connecting/drive rods for ex.) would be greased constantly, so some sort of gloss black would work. This also goes for the area behind the wheels on the frame.

The area immediately in front of the lower half of the cab is the firebox (right above the last driver wheel). This area gets intensely hot, obviously, and at night can be seen glowing a dull cherry red.

The boiler: this thing is full of water and steam under tremendous pressure. That means any of the vertical ribs on your boiler will have evidence of oxidation, or at the least calcium staining (grey/light grey streaks). This includes the riveted area toward the front of the boiler. That marks the separation of the boiler from the smokebox- lots of hot air and, well, you guessed it, but no water.

Steam drives the valve gear via the cylinders, hanging from the lower front end of the frame. Again, oxidation and calcium stains. Same for the steam dome on top of the boiler, and any joints on exterior pipes. There are two domes as you noticed; the other is the sand dome where the sanding pipes eminate from.

Your loco wouldn't have much soot on the top due to the smoke deflectors (your wind guides) that were designed to guide smoke up and away from the cab and the rest of the train. These devices were prominent on Santa Fe and New York Central RR passenger steam locos in the '40s and '50s.

Sorry if this is a bit long-winded but I hope there's something useful to you in here.

Dave

magnificent!

Each update just keeps getting better and better Rob! If you haven't already, you might check the wheel alignment with a section of track to make sure it will sit properly when the time comes. I recall having a small issue with that when I built mine.

That makes sense Bill   Agree that the upper lighter portion will be much easier to weather and should not pose much of a problem.  Originally was going to weather it before attaching to the frame but as you can see did not.  Will be trying the Future / dot weathering technique, same as you do, for the upper section.    Had decided to go ahead and attach the wheels and will go back to hit highlights on the lower portions.  May be a bit more difficult to get to but it will make it easier for me to see what and how I want to highlight with all the pieces in place.

So here are a few pictures:

The parts

close up, can see that some pre-detail work has been done.

The brakes

And now the wheels attached both left and right

Will leave the wheels to dry for some time so will be back at it then.  Thanks for looking 

this is one of my favorite builds on the web

Rob,

I can see where the dark undercarriage would present problems in terms of color contrasts but not so much on the areas that are painted gray and have the zig-zag pattern. I would use those areas to convey the sense of grime/dirt/grease, etc. as opposed to only showing it on the darker lower areas, if that makes any sense? The darker areas are already going to look, well, dark, so for those areas it would be more about highlighting the bare metal wear and other contrasts in a reverse sort of way since they already have a dirty/rusty finish as a base to work from. At least in terms of creating contrast/visual interest if that makes sense?

WILLIAM - Thanks man  The front truck is very easy to achieve   First paint and finish the face of the wheel (in my case black and grays) weather it and then take a #2 pencil and "color in" the steel portion.  When all of that is done, spray a coat of Dullcote sealing in the graphite.  Once dry, go back and "color in" the steel with the pencil again.

Using MM Burnt Metal and then buffing it to a high shine will give you the same result.  I use that method from time to time also, usually on more exposed areas.

ANDY - Should not be too much longer now before all the wheels and push-arms are on.  Have most of all those parts painted and just putting on the finishing touches.  After that....assembly 

BILL - Good to hear you dont think the wind guides are over done. 

STAGE_LEFT - Great to have you stop in, nice to have a model RR'ers take a look and very happy too hear your enjoying !  Thank you much for the links.  Have spent some time looking and reading through them.

Now BILL & STAGE after reading your comments this is what my dilemma is.  I agree that oil, dirt, grim, and grease would be everywhere so the problem is not sure how to achieve this look?  All of the things I normally use, from medium to dark browns, black, and grays to achieve those effects will not work on this build.  It will not turn out properly being that the color of the frame is already so dark.  

I have applied some artist oil washes and even clumped some areas with the oils but I have to be careful because of the darkening effect.  Am now experimenting with mixing different things with future to see what I can make, on scrape of course.

Thanks for stopping in and let me know if you have any ideas.

Panzerwaffe- fantastic job on this beast so far. I'm a fan of the trains, and dabble in model RR myself so I'm really enjoying your build. It looks like you've done some serious research on this with all the detail you've added, but since you were wondering about some of the weathering maybe you would find a couple links helpful.

Due to the tremendous forces that act on these machines steam and water come from many different places so evidence of leaks is everywhere, and eventually rust appears. Likewise the running gear is constantly oiled and dirt/dust/soot accumulates everywhere.

http://www.trainsahead.com/weathering_steam_locomotives.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=steam+locomotive+weathering&hl=en&tbo=u&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yGWpUKSEDqWH0QHCloCQDQ&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=747

http://www.vallejo.nl/gb/assets/s2dmain.html?http://www.vallejo.nl/gb/vallejo/trainweathering/index.html

Hope this helps....

I think you made a good decision on the wind guides, looking good! As for the dust weathering on the underside, I'm no railroad expert but I would guess that whatever dirt accumulation there would be would be dark (coal dust and soot) and mixed with oil/grease for the most part. These locomotives were massive and dirty!

Holy cow!  Amazing work on the wood chipping!   Wheels look great too!  Can't wait to see them on the train...