Any pics of heavy weathered alco rs1 or rs3?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Just picked up a alco rs1 (Minneapolis st Louis) and not sure how to go about weathering it. It’s been transplanted to the pacific northwest part of the country to be a yard/industry switcher so I’m figuring it needs to be extremely dirty/rough looking

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This is an RSC-3, a variant with 6 axles to spread the weight for use on less robust rail lines.

This is a GP-9, but the weathering could be similar:

Neither of these is heavily weathered. You can see rust and dirt, but they don’t look like they’re falling apart, and, in general, they shouldn’t.

For both of these, I removed the shells and sideframes from the wheelsets, and taped over windows and headlights with blue painters’ tape. I gave the shells and sideframes a layer of Dull-Coat from a spray can, and then weathered them with AIM powders. I used a second layer of Dull-Coat to seal the powder in.

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Here’s one on the Maryland Midland at Union Bridge, MD from 1986. Sun-faded on the top and greasy at the base of the entire engine compartment:

Hope this helps.

Bill

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Here’s a photo of my heavily kitbashed, 1/24th scale narrow gauge RS3:

When I decided to do this project I didn’t know anything about RS3s, so I did a lot of research online prior to building and painting it. Google Image search was extremely helpful. I found a ton of photos showing RS3s with various degrees of weathering. Some of the most heavily weathered locos I saw were on the Lake Superior & Ishpeming RR (LS&I). Here are a couple good ones:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1607486

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1607485

Another excellent reference resource is www.railpictures.net. You can select the type of loco or rolling stock you are looking for, select the railroad, etc. Here’s another LS&I loco:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=422807&nseq=14

BTW, my RS-3 started out as a 1/29th scale loco from Aristocraft. I model narrow gauge in 1/24th, so I needed to rebuild it to a larger scale. I built an entirely new cab (with interior details), made the hoods taller, made the stack larger, added a bell, widened the deck, built new handrails, new pilot, etc. I also replaced many of the molded details with homemade details, and extensively reworked the truck side frames. In the photo above, I had not yet installed the front coupler.

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Thanks guys! I’m really new tO the hobby and these forums have been extremely helpful

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Any reason you picked up a Minny Lou for that purpose?

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Was the only scheme I found on a RS1 (and got a great deal on it)

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Well and it’s a pretty unique (IMHO of course) paint scheme.

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Yes the Minnie Lou was famous for having a paint scheme of the month (sort of like the Rock Island). Which one do you have? I believe Atlas has produced a yellow & grey version and ared & white one.

If I was starting over again today and choosing a prototype I would seriously consider doing the Peoria Gateway.

Have sent PM.

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Mine is the gray/green version

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How about pics of real M&StL RS-1’s?

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=MSTL&mid=237

This one here is pretty grimy: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=275227

Paul A. Cutler III

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