sjrashid's 20th Century Limited J3 Hudson Steam Locomotive

[JoeMalinchak]

I received sjrashid's J3 Hudson in the mail from Shapeways last week, and I could hardly wait to paint her up and see how she looks on my Micro Steamtown layout! The model has lots of detail and fits nicely over the 35.5mm motorized chassis.

However, I did remove some material from the inside of the shell using a #11 blade. This allows the shell to easily be removed from the chassis. I also used my method of soaking the shell in dishwashing liquid and then rinsing under water. Soak, rinse several times to remove any gunk that remains from the printing process.

Then I coated my shell with several coats of silver paint, before airbrushing with a light gray paint. I went with a lighter gray finish as it really stands out on the layout!

Next, I plan on designing a working Pacific Locomotive for the TGauge.com wheels. We will see how it goes!

Joe.

[rvn2001]

That turned out very nice, Joe. What chassis did you use for the tender? I'll be interested to see what you do with the TGauge.com wheels.

[JoeMalinchak]

Hi Thom,

I used the adjustable chassis on the tender. I just cut it to the right size.

[sjrashid]

Looks great. I hope you like it. Sorry I haven't been very responsive over the last month. I've been a bit tied up. I still have some other locomotives started and when I get a bit less busy I'll finish them up and get them on shapeways.

Hope you enjoy. I'm enjoying mine

Sam

[JoeMalinchak]

Hi Sam,

I am really enjoying this locomotive, you did a wonderful job on its design. Now we just need some passenger cars to go with it! I am looking forward to seeing your other locomotives that you are working on.

If you, or anyone else wants a copy of my J3 Hudson decal graphics that I made, just send me an e-mail, and I will send you a pdf. joemal@echoes.net

I just installed a very small LED in the nose of the J3 Hudson. It really adds some life to the model! I made this short video of her running on my Micro Steamtown layout.



Joe.

[JoeMalinchak]

[sjrashid]

I actually have a set of passenger cars made up. The last car was giving me some trouble and wouldn't upload. I'll get it fixed up and get them online. Unfortunately the file size for those cars is too big to have them print in one file.

[sjrashid]

I'll try to get them up tonight.

[Kupzinger]

Very very impressive! Congratulations to this very elegant model!

Cheers
Kupzinger

[JoeMalinchak]

Sam, The passenger cars look great! Thanks for making them available.

Joe.

[Ozrail]

I'm highly impressed, how did you do the LED headlight?

[JoeMalinchak]

Hi Ozrail,
I found some very small pre-wired LED's that I soldered right onto the two tabs in front of the 35.5mm chassis. The LED was so bright I had to attached it to the outside of the shell. I tried it inside but you could see the white glow right though the shell.

I purchased the 3 volt pico sized cool white LED from http://www.ModelTrainSoftware.com

[mattinair]

Apologies to sjrashid.....I kit bashed the 20th Century Limited into a loco for the Cazadero station.....still needs a bit more work...definitely a bell

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The loco in the painting is somewhat abstract....so was my attempt at kit bashing

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[mattinair]

I'm really proud of the bell.... ....still needs a number....

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the engineer's got an attitude

[Kupzinger]

Great stuff. That really looks artistic. As if the loco just drove from the painting onto your T tracks And the bell - cool. What did you use for the bell?
Cheers
Kupzinger

[mattinair]

I started with an empty section of plastic tube from a ball point pen that I heated up over a candle.....

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Then apply gold paint to the area than seem to flair right.....

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Then cut the tip off and mount it on a pin or toothpick to finish it......

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This is my first attempt at a loco....I've really been inspired by what I see people(like yourself) doing on this forum....
Thanks to you all.......
After I posted the photo of the loco I, of course, saw all kinds of spots that needed touching up.....Geeeeze

[Kupzinger]

Thanks for the detailed reply! Well, making fotos is always a good approach for a critical view of a model. In T of course, it is even more critical... But in your case, you should let someone paint your model
Cheers
Kupzinger

[mattinair]

I really wish "other people" would do every thing>I'm so envious of people working in the other larger gauges....they have so many beautifully crafted trains and scenic features all ready made to chose from (even Z)...Right now with only one manufacturer and the loss of the only North American vendor Tgauge is on "The endangered Toy Train Gauge list"....A real Bummer(!!!)
Yeah, I'll put a car or in this case a loco on the tracks and think it looks really great but then I take a close up photo and oh what a piece of crap ...So I just say it's "weathering" ....In this case the weathering is justified>even though the painting was done in 1909 the locomotive pictured was an old clunker built in the 1870s (hauling San Francisco kids the 7 miles from the main line out to summer camps in Cazadero)...the tracks were left over from a lumber boom a generation before....

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still just can't get the lighting right.....geeeze....

[NoelDollimore]

Hi Mattinair.
That's a great loco you have there, especially for a first attempt.
It is quite obvious that you intended it to represent the 'OLD TIMER' in the painting, and as it is an artists impression of the scene there is very little detail available for you to include.
With regard to painting models in this size, we all do the best we can, some of us have gained more experience over time and produce results to quite a high standard, however, for a first attempt, I think you have done a very comendable job and I look forward to seeing more of your work, and don't be put off by previous comments, if you let other people paint your models you'll never have the satisfaction of being able to say 'I did that', at least you HAND PAINTED your loco, you didn't use printed decals, keep up the good work.
Best regards, Noel.

[NoelDollimore]

Dear Mr Kupzinger.
Having seen the examples of your work it is clear you are quite an experienced and accomplished modeller, and , in my view, as such, I consider your earlier comments somewhat unfortunate as you don't exactly appear to be encouraging modellers to show of their first attempts at producing items in this minute scale.
When a modeller has the courage to place photographs of their first attempt at a project on a public forum it can be very helpful to receive constructive criticism, but, as I understood your comments, totally soul destroying to to be told to 'let someone else do it', I appreciate you may not have meant this literally, but that is how I, and probably others, perceived them.
I have seen many comments on this and other forum, bemoaning the fact that too few people are discussing and showing new and updated projects and I can quite understand someone new and inexperienced not wanting to put their efforts on show for fear of being told they're not good enough, we all have to start somewhere.
I am sorry to take this attitude but as I understand it, the aim of this forum is to foster the enjoyment and proliferation of this unique model railway system, 'T' gauge.
Yours, Noel Dollimore.