Complete Plastic Models: Academy 1/72 AH-64 Apache

After the Vietnam War the United States Army came to a conclusion that although the Bell Huey was a success for transporting troupes from a base to the battle ground, it wasn’t the best option for loitering around the battlefield and supplying help to ground troupes and their targets. Originally produced by Hughes Helicopters, later being a McDonnell Douglas helicopter, the AH-64 Apache was the answer for this need of a helicopter that could supply support for ground troops on the battlefield as well as attack enemy targets with great precision. The first real test of action for the Apache, besides its deployment in Europe in 1987, came during the Gulf War in 1991. With its capability of flying at night with advance night vision and weapon system locking ability, the Apache proved to be a reliable friend to the allied ground troops as was the A-10 Warhog.

   

This build started like most models, with the cockpit construction first, with a decent raised detail of the instruments and panels in the cockpit area I opted to not use the supplied decals to depict the look of the interior. Sections of the panels were painted flack black and then dry brushed with a gunmetal metallic paint. The helicopter was built completely box stock as per the instructions included in the kit with the exceptions of the decals not used in the cockpit area, some aftermarket decals for the Apaches markings, and the grab irons on the helicopter were replace with custom bend ones instead of the flimsy plastic ones. The clear parts were dipped in Pledge Future Floor Polish and the Bare Metal foil was used to mask them off. The Apache was sprayed first with Tamiya white primer and the Tamiya Olive Drab. The props were masked off and sprayed with Tamiya matt black. Once the model had its glass cote applied, it was then decaled. The Hellfire missiles received special attention; the original front was carefully cut off and replaced with MVP clear lenses. The lenses were then coated with Tamiya clear yellow to simulate the UV protection on the real lenses for the front sensors. The aftermarket decals used come from Microscale and Hasegawa from my spare decal box. The last items to add to the model were the “Remove Before Flight” tags on the hard points of the helicopters wings, these are photo-etch and from Eduard. This was a great model to build surprisingly. I never really like too many of the Academy kits in this scale but the past three I have done, The OV-10 Bronco, A-36 Dragon Fly, and this one, have been a joy to build. TRWBM   

Completed Model Railroading Projects: Northern Pacific PS 4750 Covered Hopper in HO Scale

     There is a lot that can be said when it comes to the history of covered hoppers in North American railroading, I will give you a brief overview to get the ball rolling. A great book on the topic of covered hoppers and their primary use; grain hauling is in the book by Jeff Wilson The Model Railroader’s Guide to Grain from Kalmbach Publishing During the middle of the 20^th century freight car manufactures in North America began developing rail cars with increased load capacity for shipping. One of the most successful designs was one for hauling dry goods such as grain, salt, wheat, and flour. This 4750 cubic foot design from Pullman Standard became a very popular buy for most class I railroads and a few short lines when new. Now is where it gets interesting for this project for me, as I was looking through photos of the prototype for these cars it became apparent that the Northern Pacific never had the 4750 cubic foot sized cars on their roster because they were offered after the 1970 Burlington Northern merger. With that said, these cars is are “fudged” cars in the way that they have been numbered in the correct series but they have numbers that would represent the slightly smaller capacity of 4427 cubic feet. The spotting difference is the amount of vertical ribs on the side of the cars, thirteen for the smaller capacity and eighteen for the 4750 cubic foot design. I can live with this slight flaw because these are in fact some really nice looking rail cars when they are completed and weathered, now onto the work put into these two covered hoppers.

     These were assembled by following the included instructions but nearly all of the parts were weathered with Floquil “Weathered Black” before they were glued together to help with reaching some of the trickier spots like the ends of the cars. The brake rigging was drilled out to accommodate air pipes and the lines were custom bend by following prototype photos. On each of the ends of the cars air hoses from Hitech Details and Details Associates cut lever bars were installed. Once the cars were fully assembled, I switched my focus to the trucks and wheels for these cars. I wanted to do something a little different and I installed 100 ton trucks with 36” wheels from Athearn Genesis, these trucks feature rolling wheel bearings which look really cool up close. The outer sides of the wheels were painted with Tamiya paint to similar rust on the wheels. The truck side frames were then weathered using Tamiya semi-wet powders. The cars were also gloss coted once completed so that the surface could accept the small decals like consolidated lube plates, reweight stencils, and ACI tags. Once the decals were all in their proper places, the cars received a final dull cote spray to finish the models off. I really like these car kits from Accurail, they make great inexpensive filler for large unit grain trains and only take about an hour per car if you do the extra detailing. TRWBM.

Completed Model Railroading Projects: Detroit and Toledo Shore line 86 foot Boxcar in N scale

The Pullman Standard design 86 foot Auto Parts Boxcar is an important one for railroading and shipping innovation. With its great capacity and quality design, it became a staple for the auto industry until the more recent utilization of the 53 foot container. This car design being so large, often, offered railroads with a large canvas to advertise their company logo or slogan for happy rail fans to see.  The Detroit and Toledo Shore Line is no different to this trend. From the information that I was able to gather from Kalmbach Publishing’s book The Historical Guide to North American Railroads Third Edition the Detroit and Toledo Shore line offered a bridge line between the two cities for its different owners through the years; Grand Trunk and Western, Nickel Plate, and Norfolk and Western, to name a few.

This car started as a factory painted Bluford Shops car. It received a base coat wash of Floquil weathered black paint then sealed with Testors Dull cote. Then, I created rust streaks with Winsor and Newton artist oil paints and a final spray of dull cote was applied to finish the model off. TRWBM.

Completed Model Railroading Projects: Conrail X71 Class Boxcar in N scale

     The historical information that I was able gather about the X71 Class boxcars can be found on the Conrail Historical Society website, www.thecrhs.org. The X71 class boxcar that I am modeling comes from the 1000 car order that the Penn Central placed in 1971 with American Car Foundry. They were used for "clean" loading for items that needed to be ship in a disinfected environment or for paper items. These cars, being relatively new once Conrail started in 1976, had a long service life in the Conrail years and they could possibly be still in service after the Norfolk Southern/CSX split in the late 1990’s. 

   

     This boxcar started out as an Atlas Precision Design 50 foot boxcar painted in Burlington Northern. After coming across a photo of a similar boxcar in the X71 class with a Penn Central (PC) green door on it, I knew I had to model something similar to it. The project started off by removing the end mounted safety rails, food boards and brake wheel. The car was dipped in Scalecoat Paint Remover then washed with soap and water. It was set aside to dry for a day. Next, the car was painted with Floquil Tuscan Red, the sides and ends were painted but I left both doors alone at this time. Next came silver for the top of the car. Once dry, I chose to paint one door in PC green and the other in Tuscan Red to simulate a car that had damage to its original door and was replaced quickly at the nearest car shop on the Conrail system. There will always be a debate over with color matches what color in the model railroading hobby, with that said, I chose Model Master Russian Interior Green to represent the PC green. After the doors were painted and the model was dry it was sprayed with Testors Gloss cote. After some appropriate drying time for the clear cote, the car was decaled. The decals are from Microscale set number 60-1046, there is a lot of small lettering in this set. I highly recommend using a magnifier when working with N scale decals. Once the decaling was finished, the car received a layer of dull cote.

     Weathering for this car consists of enamel paint and artist oil paints. It started with a layer of Floquil weathered black being brushed on heavily and then quickly wiped away from top to bottom on all sides of the car, this technic creates a great base layer of grime for the next layer of rust. The car was again sprayed with dull cote to seal the enamel paint before the oil paint is applied. Oil paint rust is created with Winsor and Newton raw sienna and burnt umber. The darker of the two is first laid out in a horizontal line near the door tracks and then the lighter of the two is place in a line just underneath it. Then, using a wider brush, the two colors are streaked down to create a rust spot that has worn into the car from the harsh weather elements over the years. The roof got a similar treatment but a patch of silver was left new, to simulate a set of roof panels replaced. The car was then sealed for a final time with dull cote. TRWBM.