Alco S1: B&M's 1168
DETAILING & MODIFICATIONS
Many will recognize B&M 1168 as a LifeLike Proto 2000 Alco
S1. It's pretty much stock, except:
1) The bell (See Note 1 below) was removed from the
top of the hood, the hole filled and spot-airbrushed. A Detail
Associates #1202 Underframe
Mount Bell was mounted below the walkway between the battery box and
forward truck on the engineer's side, as per B&M practice. Because
the thickness of the frame casting precludes mounting the bell up
against the bottom of the walkway, the top section of the bell is
sliced about 2/3rds of the way up from the bottom, and epoxied to the
frame. This allows the correct amount of the bell to be visible hanging
below the walkway.
2) Details West Step Lights were also added to the frame below
the cab sides, and you can see the step light on the engineer's side
just below the "8" in the cab
number. (I've since found out that Canon makes some styrene step
lights, and I've ordered a couple of packs. These will probably replace
the white metal DW step lights.)
3) CalScale Marker Lights (See Note 2 below) were mounted just in
front of the
number boards, but were removed when they were found to be too
distorted to accept the MV Products lenses. New lights have been
ordered to replace the defective castings.
4) Currently, the new "scale size" McHenry couplers are mounted, but
the
shanks are too long by about 1/32" (or three scale inches), and the
head
seems just a tad oversize to boot. Kadee recently released "new and
improved" #58 couplers that do away with a very unprototypical and
quite visible gap when viewed in profile, that is unique to the "old"
#58 couple. The #58s also have a more appropriated shank length. The
local shop is currently out of #58s, but these will replace the
McHenry's as soon as possible.
5) Details West #268 air hoses were epoxied to the sides of the
coupler pockets with a 5 minute epoxy. On some switchers--as
seems to be the case with B&M switchers-- the front air line
was mounted on the left side of the coupler (when facing the
locomotive).
6) Proto:87 wheels replace the stock RP25 wheels.
I did not add a rerail frog to 1168 (yet). I've seen frogs on B&M
S2s in photographs, but so far have not seen any mounted on an S1. But
then, I've not seen that many B&M S1 shots that show any detail
visible below the walkway. If I can find a
shot of 1168 with a frog, I'll add one.
I'll probably still add sander lines to the trucks and perhaps replace
the brake chain on each side of the rear truck with a much smaller link
size chain from A-West, as the stock chain links are about twice the
prototype's size. Finally, it needs armrests, but I'm holding out to
find
a decent shot of one on a B&M S1 before I add the LifeLike parts.
Note 1: LifeLike claims that their
Proto models have road specific details. However, this is only true in
the broadest sense, such as producing GP7 bodies for different phases,
or bodies with or without dynamic brakes. Many details LifeLike
adds are generic, and incorrect for specific roads.
In this case, all P2K S1s have a bell mounted on top of the hood. Some
roads LifeLike did should have a bell in a different position,
or as in the case of the B&M models, mounted under the walkway
instead of on the hood. The SW-8 is another example: LifeLike
modeled
handrails on the hood only, while some roads, like B&M, also had
handrails mounted on the walkway. These are very difficult to add,
especially if one
wants to match the delicacy of the rest of the handrails on the
model. Also, B&M's SW-8s have some very distinctive number
boards mounted on top of the hood; these were not provided in the P2K
model, nor are they available as a separate third party detail item.
The point is to be safe, always
check photographs of the specific locomotive you are modeling,
even for P2K or P1K models, if at all possible.
Note 2:
In this position (mounted on
the locomotive), these lights are actually classification
lights: marker lights go only on the rear of a train to indicate the
rear to following trains. Class lights are used to identify the
train as an extra, or as a section of a regularly scheduled
train. Class lights for an extra would show green or clear
depending on the road; the B&M used clear.
_____________________________________________________________________________
WEATHERING
1168
was built in 1949. For a layout modeling June of 1953,
this means 1168 would only be four years old. Weathering had to pretty
much be confined to an accumulation of dirt, with a tad bit of rust in
places where paint might wear quickly to expose bare metal to the
elements, or where water might
collect. From what I could observe from photographs, B&M diesels
were kept fairly clean in the '40s, but as the mid-50s approached,
things got pretty dirty.
It was decided that the
trucks and areas below the walkway could be weathered fairly
heavily, with the superstructure weathered much lighter, and it would
probably fall into an acceptable degree of weathering for the B&M
and the time period modeled.
TRUCKS
The
sideframes were first removed from the trucks. Weathering began with an
initial alcohol based black wash. This was
encouraged to settle deep into the crevises to bring out the detail. A
fairly heavy application was called for because the subsequent airbrush
weathering would soften some of the black wash. It
was made from black Fiebing shoe dye (available at many craft stores,
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such as Tandy Leather),
somewhat heavily diluted with isopropyl
alcohol.
Fiebing was chosen because it's a true neutral black dye, whereas some
dyes
turn blue-black when diluted.
Then,
dilute mixes of Tamiya Flat Earth (for dirt) and Buff (for dust)
were airbrushed onto the sideframes, the Flat Earth applied from the
bottom (to represent dirt and mud splashed upwards), and the Buff
applied from the top (to represent settled dust). Some semi-gloss black
was hand brushed on the side frames below the brake cylinders, and
more Earth and Buff were airbrushed over the black. Then, a
slightly "fresher" random streak or two of black was applied over this
layer of airbrushing, since it had dulled the intensity of the
initial application of black. This gave some depth to the
leaking fluid, implying the fluid had been there for a while. Finally,
another coat of Earth and Buff were applied.
With the
side frames off, it's a good time to replace the stock wheels with the
Proto:87 wheels. See the sidebar at the end of this article for
instructions.
SUPERSTRUCTURE
The area around the cab roof was masked off,
and the roof was sprayed a deep, rusty brownish orange. This has been
observed
on S1 1167 in a 1956 photogaph, and on 1168 in 1966 (after retirement).
This was toned down with a grimy black overspray, ending up with a
relatively subtle effect.
Artist's oils were mostly used to weather the body. For
a base coat, It was decided to give the model some streaking to
represent the pattern rain makes as it runs down a dirty, vertical
surface. This base coat was applied in a manner
similar to Jim Six's
Q-Tip weathering, but using Grumbacher raw umber artist oil instead of
the Polly Scale Railroad
Tie Brown favored by Jim. A brush dipped in a bit of oderless thinner
was drawn across a dab of the Raw Umber, which was in turn applied
somewhat liberally to the superstructure, along vertical rivet
patterns. Neatness is not very important here, since you'll be
reworking this application with a larger flat brush
(about 1/4" wide) and clean Q-Tips, dipped in thinner to spread
the "dirt" into the areas between rivet strips, always using vertical
strokes. This
method is the subject of an excellent article in the November
2001
Model Railroader by Bob Rivard, entitled "Don't Forget the Roof".
The stack was rusted with about three shades of powdered chalk, ranging
from a deep orange to reddish brown at the top, merging into a grimy
black toward the bottom. These colors were applied by making a
very thin paste with a brush dipped first in isopropyl alcohol, and
then into
the powdered chalk. The method of application was somewhere between
painting and dabbing. With the alcohol as a medium, the chalk adheres
much better than a dry application, and if one is reasonably careful, a
fixative spray is not
necessary. The same method was used to add a bit of rust to the corner
step
areas, the pilot steps and a spot or two of rust on the face of the
pilots
themselves.
A very thinned application of burnt sienna was painted into
the louvers.(Care should be taken to keep from getting any of this
paint outside the boundaries of the louvers.) On a relatively new
locomotive such as 1168, one should be caeful to keep the application
very subtle,
and not overdo this effect. However, even a very thin application
of the rust color slightly varies the appearance, adding to the overall
depth of the
weathering finish.
The large intake shutters on the sides of the hood should collect lots
of dirt and grime. These were given a couple of very heavy coatings of
the raw umber with a bit of black added, followed by a Q-Tip of
thinner, wiping off most of the paint, but allowing it to build up in
the crevices.
Using
a very narrow spray pattern, a very thinned mix of Tamyia Flat Earth
was
airbrushed onto the pilots and then along the sides of the model,
mostly from the sides of the walkway down, but hitting a little of the
hood and cab here and there. This was always sprayed from below the
model, as this is the direction from which it would hit the prototype.
A #2 lead pencil was used to pick out wear areas on the handrails, the
steps and the raised portions of the walkway in the heaviest traffic
areas such as the front and rear platforms.
CONCLUSIONS
How do I feel
about the final appearance of the model? While I mostly like the way
the trucks weathering ended up, it's maybe a bit
overdone for a four-year old locomotive, and perhaps for its geographic
locale. If anything, it might be more appropriate for a very dry and
dusty area where months at a time can pass between rain storms that
would wash some of the dirt and grime away.
I'm pretty happy with the look of the hood, cab and pilots. I'm not
completely pleased with the lead pencil wear on the handrails--I think
it's the transition from painted to worn paint areas that bother
me, as it's too even. There should be a more stark transition from
paint to bare metal. Also, I think the painted areas of the
handrails are too similar to the hood weathering: Even lightly worn
areas of the handrails would probably be handled enough to keep them
moderately clean, and would therefore have a little less dirt and be a
shade darker than the hood
and cab.
Ron Hildebrand
April 6, 2004
REPLACING THE STOCK RP25 WHEELS WITH
PROTO:87 WHEELS
Use a small, flat-blade screwdriver to
pry
off the gear cover plate from the bottom of each truck. Then remove the
copper
electrical contact bars from the wheel ends, and lift the axles out of
the trucks. The fit of each wheel into the axle sleeves
is tight,
but you should be able to pull each wheel out of the sleeve with a
little work and no tools. If this isn't possible, a
Northwest Short Line Puller can be used.
Next, new Proto:87 40" wheels on
1.5mm half-axles should be given a short bath in acetone, dried, and
blackened in A-West Blacken-It. I used LKT40, 40" wheels from Proto:87
Stores. These are in reality NWSL 27691-4, but sold by the
individual
axle instead of being packaged six axles (twelve wheels) per package.
After blackening the wheels, press them back into the axle sleeves,
setting a .612" (15.55mm) back-to-back distance. Assembly of the trucks
is the reverse of disassembly: drop the axles in place, replace the
gear cover, and add the contact bars to the axle ends. Finally, snap
the
sideframes back in place. |
Photographs were
made with a Nikon D1x, and a Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8 lens, and are
Copyright Ron Hildebrand, 2004.
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