This may sound like a silly question, but do many of you detail your locos? I am considering detailing some of mine. I was looking through the Walthers catalog and came across the Details West page.
Will
I’m just starting to. It’s not only Details West. Walthers has a whole super detailing section.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Part&scale=H&manu=&item=&keywords=&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search
I have detailed a few of my engines, and other peoples. I use this website for my detail stuff.
I meant to add another question to my original post[oops] The question is what tools are needed? Most of my locos are Athearn RTR.
Will
Some basic tools you’ll need would be, a good set of jewelers files and some fine sand paper, tweezers, a set of small drill bits (#61-80) and a pin vice to drill with, an Xacto knife with # 11 blades, ACC and liquid plastic cement. You will also need matching paint and a small paint brush to paint the added details.
These are just the basics, you can litteraly spend thousands on modeling tools, but those should get the job done.
John.
I’m planning to detail mine at some point in time.
A lot of engines now come either with a lot of detail attached, or ready to install (like say Kato engines). I’ve done a few Stewart F’s where I’ve used the Walthers “dress up” kit to add handrails and such, and added a few “signature” parts, like M-St.L RS-1’s using retired steam engines bells instead of factory applied ones, or MN&S engines having Hancock air whistles instead of air horns on their diesels.
Two books we use are:
Tuning & Upgrading ATHEARN Locomotives by Robert Schleicher published by Golden Bell Press. It shows Athearn BB locos from 1990’s and all the various detail parts needed and how to’s. It is sometimes found for sale on eB**y. Thats where We got ours about 5 years ago.
Detailing Diesel Locomotives by Jeff Wilson published by Kalmbach Books current 2007. The first chapter is on tools needed and safety tips. Book has chapers on Painting Decaling and applying aftermarket parts &instalation tips.
both good books , hope this helps.
Depends upon the locomotive. I’ve done superdetail projects on Mantua steamers and Athearn GP’s. These are/were relatively low cost, low detail models. Had a good time doing them. Now when you talk about better detailed, and more expensive things like even the Bachmann Consolidation, the urge to superdetail sorta fades out. Lots of modern locomotives are beautifully detailed right out of the box, and very costly. Starting a superdetail project on something that is well detailed and very expensive is less attractive, I would fear that I’d botch the job and convert a high priced model into junk.
Yes Will, I detail my locomotives. I’m new at it, so I don’t get into specific details for specific protoypes, but I do detail locos in a general way. I think details add to the realism of the locomotive considerably. I only seem to buy locos that have separate grab irons anymore. That seems to be the determining factor for me. Older Atlas, Bachmann’s, and Athearn blue box (unless cheap enough to add details) don’t seem to cut it for me anymore. The new P1K GP15 is laughable, $100 and no grab irons.
Details Associates also makes details as well as Details West. Some details are made of plastic and come of cast metal, always seem to get the two companies names mixed up as to which company makes which product. Air conditioners, radio antennas, and flasher beacons are pretty easy to add and add alot of realism. You can add wire grab irons to locos that have none but that is a bit more time consuming and tedious.
If somebody knows how to install LED ditchlights they could have a fair amount of business from me.
Doug
An old friend of mine equated Athearn blue box diesels with dating a homely woman that smokes and wears too much make up… “Get the body first, then worry about the details” he always advised…
Lee
Good One!
Or alternitivly and to paraphrase an old saying, you not looking at the gauges while your stoking the fire.
Or, a 5th of gin turns the worst disaster into a thing of beauty[:o)]
Bruce[:)]
So, you’ve met my X wife.[X-)]
I’m preparing to superdetail a Proto 2000 E6 to match modifications made to the original by Atlantic Coast Line and, later in its life, Seaboard Coast Line. This will bring the locomotive up to date for late 1970.
The best advice I can give you if you want to superdetail your models is to search for prototype photos of the railroad you’re modeling and the type of locomotive you’re planning to detail. My favorite source is railpictures.net, which is searchable both by road and locomotive type, and has some good, high-quality photos. But there are other good photo sites as well.
Looking at prototype photos will give you an idea of the detail parts you need. How far you go in detailing is entirely up to you.
Bill Hirschi
Hi Will,
By no means a silly question. I understand your question as being more to whether to detail your loco’s as to how to. Personally I would be inclined to detail my loco’s to the maximum extent. But there is a snag. If your run your loco’s on a layout with little detail in the scenery, what’s the point of detailing your loco? Message is: it is a matter of balance.
Another conderation is loco handling. Details tend to boldly go where no man has gone before, keeping you on your knees in desperate search parties, but also tieing you in maintenance jobs. So if you need to handle your loco’s a lot, or often store them in their boxes, take care to add only those details that do not have a too free spirited tendency to recon the land of endless opportunities.
Garrattfan
“Garratt fans are more flexible” http://www.modelrailroading.nl
Here’s one of mine I detailed - an Athearn BB pair. The B-unit is powered, the A-unit is a dummy. It’s not as complete as I would like, but I had such a hard time matching that Athearn paint that I really didn’t want to wreck the stock paint to replace the number boards. Note: grab irons all around (including by the nose door and over the windshields), air brake hose, MU hoses, windshield wipers, and though you can’t see it, there’s an interior. Also, you can do a lot with paint - kickplates, fuel gauge, and rust on the buffer above the coupler… It’s all pretty easy - just a bit fiddlin’…
I only add the obvious parts like bells, horns, exhaust stacks, number boards, winter hatches, and radio antennae.
I don’t bother with tiny parts such as grab irons, lift rings, and brake hoses.
Detailing locomotives is fun and rewarding to see the improvements.
These are three out of seven first run Kato’s that I detailed. All of the first run Kato Dash 9’s had the early truck side frame so all had to be numbered 600 to 649 to be correct with the Prototype SF units when they were delivered new.
CAZEPHYR -Nice job on all that piping and cables!