GEC's EOY 2010 Challenge

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, i'm certainly not procrastinating right now. Unfortuneately, i needed some parts that weren't available at my hobby shop, so I'm waiting for them to arrive. I also have another project i have to do alongside this one (painting a "Metro North" GP40 for a friend as part of a trade for the Arrow III MUs i have now), so i also needed new airbrush parts as my needles got damaged.

Right now, i'm waiting on a new exhaust and air filter hatch. the ones on the model are "OK", but i figure i better replace them, just to be sure my model is a little more clean. As good as the casting came out, i still don't think they are as smooth as they ought be (the original was already painted, and i think that causes some of the problems).

I could add steps and air reservoirs now, but I'm still trying to figure out how I'd like to make a new rear pilot/steps. No one seems to make the parts for the rear steps for this locomotive. Once i do this, though, i should be good to go on painting, and from there its a short hop for me to rehab the athearn drive components and get it rolling. I hope to put a Tsunami decoder in it, if i can afford some after christmas, since i know there will be space in there.

Right now, the biggest fear i have is lighting, since i have not successfully lit anything since the nose light in my U34CH i did a couple years ago. For some reason, i can't settle on a method to mount LEDs, resistors, or Fiber optics, even though i have all i need to install those things.

I think the only thing I'm going to do different is actually buy some Surface Mount LEDs for the ditch lights, since they could fit pretty good behind the Cannon & Co castings i have. In any event, until i get these parts done, i don't have much more in the way of photos.

I DO have one photo of me pouring the cast, one thing missing from the progress thread. Packing the clay in there to make a dam was such a huge pain, and i'm still cleaning it out of the original. it did keep the casting rubber out though. I eventually had the fill the shell with pennies so that it didn't float in the still liquid rubber, but it all panned out in the end. By molding it this way, the "mold lines" follow the bottom edge of the shell, and there for you don't get any weird seams like you would have if you molded it the other way around (by pressing it into the clay). It also prevents the original from disasterously "floating up" out of the silicone rubber. Unfortuneately, the cab end did not come out well, and there were LOTS of bubbles that i had to remove off the casted piece, but i suppose it got the main gist of the model there so that i have something to work with.