Work Train

nextceo

Hey Gang,

I'm in the middle of building the work train and both Brett and Karl had asked if I would share my build on this forum. I'm going to go ahead and post all my updates to this point to catch everyone up. Moving forward, I'll make sure to post my updates to this discussion. Any comments preferably constructive would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Alan

nextceo

Hey Gang,

My next project is the Sierra West Scale Models - Work Train in HO Scale. I believe there are 11 cars that make up this kit. For those of you that plan to build it in the future, it does NOT come with Couplers and Trucks. Those extra items are going to cost you about $100...that is on top of the price I paid for this kit which was about $250. This kit is no longer made by Brett at Sierra West.

Lets get into the Build. The first car is the Water Car. You begin by weathering and staining the wood. Its funny, here I am going to town on the wood with this little brass brush to create lines in the wood. After 20 minutes and my arm being sore, I thought man...all that work and I don't even really see a difference. The next step is to "paint" the wood with Grim Paint by dipping it into the paint and then directly into 91% alcohol before applying it to the boards. As I'm applying this watered down solution, I cant even tell if its sticking...and it looks like the exact same color as my wood. The last step is to apply a light Indian ink wash. After doing all this and waiting about 10 minutes for everything to dry I came back downstairs and it was like magic...the boards looked awesome. The grain showed up from all that scrubbing with the brass brush and the Grim Paint I applied showed up to give a fantastic peeling effect. See picture 3 for a close up of the boards.

The next step is the tank. After painting the tank with a Rust/Brown mix paint and letting it dry, the fun part comes...weathering. After putting the decals on, you spray the tank with dullcoat. This gives the surface a "tacky" texture. You then start by applying various shades of chalk...starting with the blacks and working up thru the browns, yellows and finally the reds and oranges. The end result is a fantastic looking rusty, weathered looking tank. See picture 4 and 5 for a close up. There is still a bunch of stuff left to finish up the car but this is as far as I got...

Alan

nextceo

I'll try the picture thing again. The site wont let me remove them and re-upload them from the previous post.

nextceo

Hey Gang,


Before I move on, I want to address a few of your questions.
Q: How big are these cars in HO Scale Feet?
A: The frames on the small cars are 7 ft by 10 ft and the frames on the larger cars are 7 ft by 21ft. If you consider a slight over hang from the wood platforms, add another foot to each of those measurements.

Q: What type of chalk are you using to weather the cars?
A: Rembrandt chalk from Dick Blick. They always run sales on them and you can usually pick them up for about $3.00 a stick. I like variation in colors so I have a bunch...see the 1st picture. I use a razor blade to scrap off the chalk onto a powder on a sheet of wax paper. I then dip my brush into 91% alcohol and then into the piles of powders.

I didn't like how the handle on top of the water car looked...I thought it was too rounded so I pulled it off and created a flatter one. The next part of this build doesn't show much progress but I wanted to go thru it with you because I did things differently than Brett suggested. Anytime that happens, I'll document it.

1 - I bought a tap and die set from Hobby Lobby to drill the holes for the 2-56 screw used to hold the trucks (wheels for the train car) in place. I bought the screws at Ace Hardware. The instruction don't say what size...but you want 2-56 - 1/4 long. For whatever reason, the trucks dont come with the screws. With that said, I had read another build thread that suggested drilling the hole(s) for the trucks ahead of time before you start building the car. I'm glad I did...it took some force to drill those holes. I tested the hole by putting on the truck and screwing in the screw. Everything looked good so I removed it. Brett doesn't call for this step until later. I wouldn't wait...otherwise you might break off some parts from your car as you struggle to drill those holes.

2- The instructions call for 5 min epoxy to attach the tank to the wood deck. Instead I used Weldbond Glue with a little super glue towards the middle of the tank. The only reason I did this is I'm very comfortable with Weldbond glue and it always has worked for me...plus it drys clear.

3 - Next step was to add the straps over the car. The instructions call for drilling little tiny holes using a 77-drill bit thru the wood deck and the frame. If you've used a size 77 drill bit before, you know they bend very easily. After spending 10 minutes and bending two drill bits, I decided to just drill the holes into the wood. I then used super glue at the base on each side of the tank to hold the bands in place. This process seemed to work fine. Before putting the bands on, I did soak them in Blacken-it but they still appeared shiny in certain areas. I used black paint with a fine brush to cover up those areas. I then immediately took the rest of my black wire and dropped it back into a Blacken-it solution.

That's all for now...
Alan

nextceo

Alright. One car down and 10 to go. Hope all of them are as fun as this one.

Here is what I did different from the instructions.

1 - The hose at the front of the water car - the instructions call for bending a wire. Not sure how that would have happened. I used Solder instead. Painted it a Grimy Black and added some weather chalk.

2 - The Stirrup - Called for me to use a 77 size drill bit to drill into the frame. Wasn't even going to try doing that after my last experience. Instead just used superglue for both the Stirrup at the front of the car along with the grab iron.

A couple of side notes...Used white chalk on the pipe coming out the side of the tank (with the 2 red shut off valves on it) to represent calcium buildup since that pipe probably has water sitting in it most of the time. Used gray chalks on the hoses to represent worn rubber. Everything else I followed the instructions to the "T".

Here is the finished product. Next up the Sand Car.

Alan

nextceo

Hey Gang,

After reading everyone's feed back from a couple of the forums I've posted this build on, I decided to make a couple of changes to the Water Car:

I first went back and replaced the Hose on the back of the water car. It was originally made out of wire. A few folks thought it looked "too perfect" so I replaced it with Solder to make it look more realistic - this material allowed for more "bend". Some others had commented that the weathering didn't look quite right on the one side of the car. I went back and fixed that and also changed the decal on the side of the car to read just "20". This now matches up with how Brett shows the car in the instructions. To add some additional interest to the water car, I added a wrench to the wood deck directly below the shut off values since that tool would have probably been required at times to loosen and tighten the water hose coupler. To the other side of the car, I added an oil can which would have been used to run the pump located on the front of the car. Both the Wrench and Oil Can do NOT come with this kit.

To see these improvements, I have updated the pictures on my previous post. I appreciate the constructive criticism I received on the water car as I feel it has made the finished model look more realistic.

I also started the Sand Car. So far I painted the Frame and Sand Box, drilled and threaded the hole for the truck, added the decals and applied a solvent solution to the decals to help them better adhere to the car.

Next up is the building of the Wood Deck and the weathering of the Sand Box.

Thanks for following along...

Alan

nextceo

Since my last update I weathered the sand box. This was and still is quite difficult since the wood sides and the brown rust on the metal all seem to blend together. One thing that the instructions does not call for but something I decided to do was dry brush all the metal pieces on the Sand Box with Old Silver to make the metal "pop". Since most of the metal is part of the Sand Box mold, you're going to need to use a Flat Brush (aka Brush #3) instead of the typical Dry Brush (aka Brush #4) otherwise you'll have silver all over the place. I attached a few pictures of the brushes and the paint I'm referring to in my description. I also installed the Sand Shovel and Bucket to the front of the car. Both of these pieces do come with the kit. I'm still going to have to play around with the powders to get this car to the color I want it. Here is a picture of where I stand currently.

That's all for now...
Alan

nextceo

Just finished up with the Sand Car. Not much variation from the instructions. The only thing I did differently was to dry brush the metal on the sand car with old silver and I glued the railings directly onto the car...without drilling any holes.

Next up is the Oil Car...
Alan

nextceo

Hey Gang,

To follow up on some of the emails I received from folks, they had asked for side pictures of the cars. Therefore, I went back and updated my previous posts and going forward, I will also show a side shot of each car. The reason for all the photos is that Brett only has 2 color photos on his website of each car and the instructions are only in black and white. In addition, most of the photos in the instructions are close up shots showing only portions of the cars. Hopefully this thread will serve as a picture guide to those that chose to build this Work Train in the future.

With that said, I knocked out the Oil Car today. I followed the instructions to the "T" except I drilled the holes for the trucks in the very beginning and I glued (without drilling holes) all the grab irons and stirrups. Half way thru the build, Brett has you create oily rags by painting some Kleenex with Oily Black. They looked really neat and were fun to put all around the car. The build is pretty straight forward with excellent instructions until the last step. After you have built the car without any oil weathering, the instructions tell you to drop Oil Black Paint on top / middle of the car and then use Alcohol to dilute it by letting the paint and Alcohol run down the side. After that I think you are suppose to use that same technique all over the car. Once you've finished doing this, you're going to find the car (especially the wood deck) to be really black. To lighten those boards up, I used different shades of gray chalk. I also at the very end used some fine dirt (got it from Scenic Express) and wiped it all over the car to give it that dusty look and dilute some of the blackness created by all the Oil Black Paint.

Here is how it turned out...as a note, the car is actually blacker in real life than in the pictures. I had to over expose the pictures so you could see the fine details.

Thanks for looking and any comments or criticism would be appreciated. I promise you wont hurt my feelings...

Next up is the Pipe and Scrap Car.

Alan

nextceo

Hey Gang,

I knocked out the Pipe and Scrap Car over the past few days. I followed the instructions except for the following modifications:

1 - The Scrap Box at the front of the car - I added a tire, a box and a tank on top of the junk to help give it a more 3D appearance.

2 - The crane on the front of the car. The post on the crane I received in my kit was quite short. It did not match the picture in the instructions. At its current height, it didn't seem like the crane could reach the other side of the scrap box. The instructions shows a larger portion to the post at the bottom that mine did not have on it. I then pulled up a build thread (Mike Chambers) on this kit and noticed that those posts were also short. To correct this situation and make it look more realistic, I cut a little piece of wood off of a dowel rod to the height I wanted and weathered it. I then installed the crane on top of the dowel rod. Once that was complete I added some black gloss paint to some super glue and applied it around the joint to represent old grease.

3 - To add some interest to the back side of the car I added a rope and chain that hangs off the back of the parts shelf.

Next up is the tool and repair car.

Note: I'll be updating these pictures to reflect the use of Metal Tube in place of the plastic material included in this kit for the pipes.

Thanks for looking!
Alan

nextceo

Hey Gang,

Just finished up the repair car. The issue I ran into is my kit didn't come with the dry transfers required for this car. When I contacted Brett, he no longer has any decals for this kit. Therefore, I clipped out a few of the numbers on the Wet Decal sheet for the back of the car. After applying the number 19 to the three boards, I used a new razor blade to cut out the space between each board. It turned out fine...I just wish I had the dry decals as there were also suppose to be words on the back of the car. The only modification I made is the front railing with the 2 rags on it. The instructions called for it to be higher. For aesthetic purposes, I made it shorter (not as high). One tip, try to push the work bench up as far as possible to the front of the car. I left a half a board space from the front and wish I hadn't. If you look at the back of the car, there is a hand rail. On my car, the person climbing on only has one board to step on...if I would have pushed the bench up farther, the person boarding would have had more space...making it look more realistic.

Next up are the Flat Cars...

Alan

nextceo

Just finished up the 2 flat cars for the work train. The only modifications I made is that I added ropes to tie down the barrels to the small flat car and 2 chains to tie down the sled to the large flat car. I used Old Silver to highlight some of the metal seen on the sled to make it "pop". I only included a few pictures of the small flat car as its not very interesting...

Next Up...the 2 slab cars.

Thanks for looking!
Alan

admin

Welcome Alan and thanks for posting. As you know, I am very impressed with your build. These cars have a ton of character and you have captured and exploited the best of what they have to offer. Wonderful work so far, the best car is yet to come.... the blacksmith!

Karl.A

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post your terrific work here with us Alan.
Although these cars are out of production I know there are lots of modellers with
these boxes sitting on the shelf. Your work is a great inspiration for those boxes
to be opened up and for others to start those kits.
Your aging, weathering and finishing of these cars is superb and many aspects can
be applied to other areas of our modelling.
I look forward to following along with the next car you work on in this series.

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your work with us here.

Karl.A

nextceo

Thanks Brett and Karl for the kind words...

Alan

Ojaste

Alan, I still want to build that train some day!

Marty

Wes

Holy cow Alan. Beautiful stuff.

How about a family portrait so far?

Coors2u

First class work Alan.

admin

I would love to see that family portrait too!

nextceo

Thanks for the nice comments. Yeah, I'll throw up a "family portrait" once I finish the slab cars. They are all done except I'm waiting for some of this snow to melt so I can find sticks to make some logs from...unless anyone has a recommendation for using something else besides sticks. I thought I had read once that good logs can be purchased at a pet store...ones that are used for birds or something...but I can't seem to find that posting.

Alan

MitchN

Alan,

Your modeling is excellent and the multiple views show off the workmanship. I have this kit myself and I have been looking for good pictures of the finished cars and here they are. Once I start building the cars I will check back to this documentation for a comparison. It gives me something to shoot for, so to speak.

Best regards,

Mitch

nextceo

Thanks Mitch. Yeah if you happen to find any good pictures of these cars, please let me know. On this website, Brett only has 1 picture of each the Caboose and Box Car. I would really like to see some ideas on how they are "suppose" to be modeled on those other sides.

Alan

nextceo

Finished up with the Slab Cars. The only things I did differently are as follows:

- Instructions call for the cut ends of the wood on the castings to be colored with Buff Depot and Grime. I found this color to be too gray and not enough yellow...and didn't match my cut wood I made myself from sticks. Instead I mixed White with a little Yellow and a little Buff Depot. I guess you tell me from the pictures if it looks like a close match.

- After I cut up some sticks for the large pieces of wood you see on the deck of the large slab car, I cut little tiny pieces of wood and glued them among the wood castings on both Slab Cars to help blend in the colored castings and the real wood.

That is it...next up the Gravel Car.

Alan

nextceo

Just Finished the Gravel Car. Not much to this car. The only thing I did differently is I added a Barrel and Crow Bar to one end of the car and a pile of sacks to the other to add some additional interest. The load in the gravel car came from Arizona Rock and Mineral Company...the gravel actually looks much neater in person than it does in the pictures.

NOTE: After posting these pictures, I decided to add more gravel to the middle of the car to create more definition in the load. The newly added gravel is currently drying...I will post new pictures tomorrow...

That is all...next up is the Caboose.
Alan

nextceo

As many of you know, I'm posting this build thread on a few of the forums. This picture I'm attaching can only been seen on this forum...its a "Family Photo" of where I currently stand with building the work train. Only 3 more cars to go....

Alan

Wes

Now thats what Im talking about Alan. They look beautiful together.

Coors2u

Beautiful work Alan.

admin

No matter how great they look on their own, they are simply fantastic together, it is a set and was designed as such - The sum of the parts thing... I think that's pretty obvious with this pic!! Great work Alan.

nextceo

Thanks for the nice comments. Yep...I agree. The group shot definitely looks impressive. Fantastic Job Brett on designing these cars...they all compliment each other perfectly.

Alan

brownbr

Great set of rolling stock. You really hit the nail on the head with this project.

Will you be using magnetic uncoupling on your layout? If not, might I suggest cutting the pins off the couplers? It's the only thing that sticks out.

James

fantastic set. They look bigger than HO- very inspirational. The colouring/ weathering is spot on.