Several projects have been posted recently, related to building various models. Several of those are done now, and let’s look at them.

I liked the lighting in the “paint booth” (on top of the recycle can), and took photos of most of these there, when they got the clear flat coat over the decals.

Super-Scale switchers

First up are the Super-Scale Diesel switchers. They look pretty good. There is a series on building these that starts here. Here’s the SW-1

And here’s the NW-2

I’d be more enthused about them if they ran.

I worked on these pretty hard. Set up universals between the trucks, the drives can work, and would work, if I had correct belts for them. The problem is that every other drive of this type I’ve been able to use O rings from the hardware store. But these require a smaller diameter belt. The SW-1 had spring belts on it originally that are either not tight enough, or the amount of tension I have on them is too much to allow the drive to spin. It’s not going anywhere. I need to let both of them sit for a while.

I don’t like building shelf models. Eventually I may rebuild these with drives like I used on the Fleischmann.

A Fleischmann Baldwin

Meanwhile, I also finished this Baldwin, decorated, as are the Super-Scale switchers, in my “pre-war” Orient switcher scheme. It came out nicely.

The article on this model in progress is here.

I set it up to ride a bit higher on the trucks than my prior conversions of this model. It’s still a little under scale, but looks pretty good with scale cars. The drive is based on Athearn and AHM components.

This comparison might also be of interest. The Fleischmann is a bit smaller, but well over HO scale size.

Passenger progress

I have a few more passenger cars in progress, but these two are done. First up, this Zuhr observation, part of the project described here.

Then we have the streamlined caboose. Crazy hard to build! It’s got an interesting look for sure! Twice as large as a standard caboose, and I’ll be running it as a business car in passenger trains. It’s “number 1.” Be sure to check out the overall project that starts here.

After painting I had to shorten the piece that hangs below the car so that it would track on the layout. Davis thought you would curve it to match the style of the Zuhr cars, but there would then be no way to make the floor removable. The trucks on the car are ones I had from Bill Johann, they are converted HO MDC passenger trucks. Something smaller than standard trucks and free rolling was what this car needed.

I have more projects coming along, including a series of four Fall River passenger cars. I probably won’t post about those but the “other” observation car in the post on those is now decorated for the Fall River.

Overall, good to be finishing a few things! On to more projects.