The E9 SP version before the

The E9 SP version before the start of the project.

Cleaned up shell, Details West numberboards installed, roof piping waiting mods, removal / mod to the dynamic brake area completed.

Shell primed, black primer polished up, alclad paint to simulate "silver lacquer" on roof, doors, sills and porthole frames.

Roof details

Work in progress, making the roof top antenna (styrene & milled styrene rod, non final shape shown)

Decalling complete, gloss coated shell.

In order to represent a "tired" and weathered look that was seen on E8m's late in their service lives, the warbonnet was coated with Matt varnish which was then buffed to a scale-effect worn-out gloss / semi gloss finish. The next two photos show this along side with modified horns and scratchbuilt antenna and mirrors installed.

Rooftop weathering with salt

Finished locomotive side view, idling on the layout

About to depart

Onto the photo booth for some further photos

Almost head-on angle

Top view showing details of the weathering

Weathering further on the roof top

Top/Side view

Side View

Final walkaround 3/4 front/side view

Thanks for stopping by!

Yannis

great pics

Wonderful job!

Weathering

Great weathering job.

I am curious about you use of salt on the roof and nose. Would you elaborate more on the process.

Chuck and Don many thanks for

Chuck and Don many thanks for the kind comments.

Don, the salt weathering technique involves using salt as a mask for spraying various weathering shades over the basic color. It is best done in various layers. When you are done spraying the shades, you remove the salt as you would with masking fluid/tape. Let me know if you want any more details / examples / .... I am currently midway weathering some boxcar rooftops with it.

That is one superb model,

That is one superb model, Yannis. Nice work.

Excellent Work.

Excellent build, especially the modifications and weathering.  

For those who are interested in or unfamiliar with salt weathering, the technique has been used for years, especially with scale aircraft and armor modelers.  Just do a web search for "scale model salt weathering" and you'll find many good tutorials. Here's a link to one forum I'm a member of that outlines the process in detail: 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/57027-salt-weathering-techniques/

Lou

Great build and paint job

Well done. Thank you for sharing this in photo fashion.

Along with the salt technique, could you explain your buffing process to achieve that great looking faded color. 

Thomas, Lou and Deemiorgos

Thomas, Lou and Deemiorgos thank you very much for the kind comments!

Lou, thanks for the link much appreciated! Chuck's work is always great. Do you build planes as well? Indeed the technique is well known to the military modeling side of things, i ve been using it for years on my 1/48 planes, yet on a limited basis due to my subjects (will use it heavily though when the time comes for US Navy TPS cammo subjects). It is very useful though for vehicles and of course trains (imho).

Thomas, i prefer to polish a matt finish to a semi-gloss / eggshell finish using either a buffing wheel or finishing compounds and cotton swabs or cotton cloth. It looks to my eyes more realistic than a gloss finish. On the stainless parts though i went for full gloss, and then i treated it with enamels/oils in order to produce a tired stainless steel look.

For fading i create filters by mixing various colors with matt clear coat and i airbrush the areas needed. So the idea is to apply a flat coat and then buff the flat coat to a semi-matt / semi-gloss level. I use a low-rpm dremel-like tool with a buffing/polishing wheel. After this, i "fade" areas using the filter with the airbrush and relatively tight spraying patterns, gradually covering areas. Then salt comes into play, more fading, then grime, fading etc in various layers.

If interested i could produce a proper step by step at some point including the salt-technique applied to rolling stock.

Thanks again,

Yannis

Scale Model Hobby in General

​Yannis,

Yes, I enjoy all aspects of the scale modeling hobby, including buidling vehicles in1/24-25 scale, 1/35th scale WW-2 soft-skin vehicles, aircraft in 1/72nd and 1/32nd scales, and, of course, HO scale railroading.  (I sort of see my layouts are large dioramas, with operations being secondary to the buildings and scenery.)  I feel there is a lot to be gained by keeping up with what is going on in other areas of the hobby (as a whole) for many ideas and techniques can be directly applied or adapted from one to another.

Lou

Excellent job!

You got Microscale's attention - they've put this post up on their Facebook page. 

Beautiful model. 

I am in awe

You did a superb job!  Really beautiful model!

I would certainly be interested in a step by step.  Perhaps you could make an article of it.  That way, you'd have as much space as you need, we could see every little detail, and you could receive some benefit financially.

Bart Hollis

Wow! I never heard of salt

Wow! I never heard of salt weathering. Thanks, Yiannis for introducing me to it and thank you, Lou, for the link.

Jeff, it's great to have

Jeff, it's great to have gotten their attention! They do make great decals which i have been using for decades. Thanks for the heads up and for the very kind comments! It motivates me to get a pair of Alco PA's (Trix, UP versions) into the same process.

Bart, thank you very much for the positive feedback and compliments! I would be honored to write up an article if MRH is interested (i don't know how this works though being new here).

Deemiorgos, i ll sort something out for salt weathering on rolling stock with respect to a step by step.

Lou: True, you learn various useful techniques and develop new skills when engaging in different aspects of the hobby (trains, cars, planes, figures etc...). I am building 1/48 aircraft (USN, USMC, USAAF, from WW2 to Nam period).

Thanks again for the very motivating feedback, much appreciated.

Yannis

ATSF E8m

Exceptional!  Can you tell us a bit more about the use of salt?  Thank you!  Ted Shasta

Ted, thank you very much for

Ted, thank you very much for the feedback! I am preparing something for the salt weathering. Stay tuned.

Yannis