MPC steam locomotive "The General" 1:25 scale by Popeye the Sailor - finished

[popeye the sailor]

I hope so too Ken.......so far,  it's been a couple of rough days at work.   thanks for the good word Ken and Mark......and thanks for all the likes.   most of the basic assemblies are done now.......by basic,  I mean all the parts that will be painted in a single color.   now I can start to add the smaller bits,  and put these assemblies together.  I'll have to do some dry brushing to the trucks......I think I still have that bottle of soot I mixed up for the Titanic.  I should be back at it when I get done with the work week....by then the cold will be nothing more than a nuisance  

[jct]

Looking good Denis...

[popeye the sailor]

thanks J........a bit under the weather at the moment,  but things are turning around.   saw the doctor and got some meds for it.....really hit me hard in the chest congestion area.  back at work now...... I'll try and do something update-able   thanks for the good word    thanks also for the likes!

[popeye the sailor]

I made a little more progress on the General.......the more I tinker with it,  the more I'm beginning to disagree with the Museum quality aspect of this model.  the parts are terrible........if it not injection mold marks,  it's minute flash along the edges of every nook and cranny.  for anyone who has the original kit,  I'd say you probably have a better shot of building a museum showpiece.   they really need to retool the molds     don't get me wrong, it will come out a nice looking model.......we'll see when we get there  

the main part of the loco has been painted.  the flat black I used has just enough sheen......I like the way it looks.  the smoke stack has been painted and cemented in place.

the frame and reverse gear assemblies has also been painted.

I went over practically every edge,  to sharpen the edges and remove all the flash junk.   reading ahead,  there are these two parts that need to be de chromed.......the nose emblem and sand dome.

the sand dome is to be painted yellow.........the nose emblem is to be painted multiple colors...makes no sense that they be chrome.  so now they are in the process........makes me want to kick myself,  because I should have done the stream dome as well.  this dome is made up of three parts,  the two halves and the top.  it's bad enough that it suffers a poor fit issue,  but I forgot that it needs to be painted around it's waist.  painting on chrome is never good  

I'd toss it in the jar with the other parts too,  but I wonder what would happen to it because of assembly....would it fall apart?   I may have to take my chances and do it........this part is in real need of some sanding    the center floor of the tender is another issue.......it's warped.

I was going to paint it a rust color,  but I think I'll cement it in place and paint the tender in it's entirety.  this is one of those parts that will show very little on the finished model.  to straighten it out,  I cut a strip of 1/8 basswood and cemented it on the underside,  like a spine.

it will never be seen,  and it does a great job of straightening the part out    once this is in place,  I'll paint the tender and move on from there.

[CDW]

Despite the ancient tooling, you are turning this into a very nice model, Denis. I commend you for the effort.

I am wondering about the history of this model. Did it start out as MPC, or was it AMT. or something else before this issue? Seems I remember it maybe being an Entex kit at one time way back, but I could be wrong.

[lmagna]

Looking really nice Denis.

Have you started looking for a 1/25th scale Delorean for it to push yet?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aoshima-Back-to-the-Future-Delorean-with-Marty-Figure-1-24-Model-kit/132983834258?hash=item1ef6744692:g:DygAAOSwAdhca1Tn

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Model-kits-Aoshima-Back-to-the-Future-Part-3-Delorean-with-Railraod-1-24-SB/273311694136?epid=1637572011&hash=item3fa2a57d38:g:ZoEAAOSwqm1bKxx7

 

 

[jct]

Hey Denis...what are you stripping the chrome with?  I've had fair luck with liquid drain cleaner taking chrome but leaving the paint

[Richmond]

Apologies if this was mentioned before but didn't Buster Keaton make a movie about the General? 

[popeye the sailor]

hello gents!   yepper....I think I'm over the hurdle.......if it wasn't being down with the flu (or whatever it was},  it's the nasty cut I did to my pinkie.   but I'm doing better......the finger is healing well and looks real good     gotta get back to the table.....I feel I'm wicked behind!

 

it is an MPC kit......when they went out,  Round 2 bought up the molds and began producing the kit.  the instructions are dated 2015.  I believe that most of the model companies at that time,  got on board with their own train kits,  since kits were only produced by a few companies.  the train model market was the last big nut to crack,  seeming isolated within these companies.  one must remember that trains were the last model subject to be offered,  since most enthusiasts were still scratch building their models,  and actually seemed to shun the 'pre fab' kit.  they were also the last to adopt model scale classification,  but they adopted their own.......instead of the fractional scale,  they use a lettered scale.   some of the layouts I've seen.......when you get into building model train,  you enter a whole new world    you won't find too many kits out there........model companies soon saw they they could never replicate what these folks do,  and moved away from producing them.

 

I knew that the Delorean had been produced as a model kit,  but I have never seen these kits......cool beans!     I do like to model movie cars ans such.......I'll keep it on the back burner  

 

I use brake fluid J........used that as long as I can remember.  I had written something about it a while ago..........it does depend on how old the chroming is,  as to how quickly it works.   older kit are usually the quickest,  while newer one take a bit longer.  those two parts have been in there over night,  and after thinking about it,  I saw the heck with it and threw that dome in there too.  the bad part in this case,  is the paint is on chrome.......it will come off right along with it.   I'm good with it     I can start over........the paint got under the tape anyway,  which didn't stick to the chrome too good.  I had a masking tape for past projects that worked really good....then I tried that 3M blue......that was junk!  the green frog tape I've been using has been good,  but had let me down a few times {then again,  I'm not in the habit of washing parts}.

 

I took the bull by the horns last night and cemented the frame onto the boiler part of the loco.  the diagram was not too good in showing how the rear part lined up with the four brackets on the body........under or over the tabs that stuck out.  in fitting it,  I adjusted it until the two sets of braces forward lined up to their mounting pads,  and cemented it afterwards.   I did the braces separate,  since I had to clamp the rear section until it had set.  another problem I saw,  was that before this step,  they want you to add the front truck assembly on the boiler body.  I found that with the front cross member in place,  there is no way to slide the truck through the frame.  I'm setting up to add that today { I hope}.   I'm doing more painting as well.......added the inner floor to the tender and gave that a shot of paint.  I'll have an update soon   

[popeye the sailor]

hello Richmond,........I'm not sure.   there were a few silent movies made surrounding trains.  that would be something to look up  

[popeye the sailor]

I do have to apologize to you all.......I have been lax with my last update.   I found it sitting here in my computer     I was feeling better.....I did tinker with the General for a bit.......this was on the 15th.......

 

I had done a little more sanding on the assembly joints on the tender......I used rough sandpaper to bring the joints flush.  now I needed to use a finer sandpaper to remove all the scratches.

working with other sub assemblies,  I began to paint the headlight and box.   with all the black surrounding this part,  I thought I'd make it a bit more visible,  and paint it gold.  would have been nice if they had chromed these parts instead.   the bucket for the light was painted aluminum.

all of the trucks are dry now.......after checking them over,  they were set aside.   now I need to paint the wheels.

the light is assembled now.......only a few more parts to add.   when dry,  I can paint it the rest of the way.

moving ahead now to the present,  I've done a bit more.  the tender is now painted......looks like night and day   

so the pony truck can swivel,  it has to be passed through the bottom plate and capped.   that is done now,  waiting to be cemented to the bottom of the smoke box.

I plan to paint the wheels next and put the finish to the headlight assembly.  the boiler walkways have been painted.......more assembly lies in store for the loco.  

[Canute]

Denis, make sure all 4 wheels in each truck touch the workbench/track evenly. These multipart trucks can be finicky to make square. Good for display models, but tough to operate if one wheel is up in the air.

 

The tender body and headlight look very good. The reflector in the headlight turned out well. Are you lighting it? If so, remember these were kerosene lamps, so they should have an old time yellow orange glow.

 

Just a thought. Do you know anybody with a garden railroad? These garden layouts can be a multitude of scales, from 1/32 to 1/16,  but all use the same gauge track. Try and get some pictures of the General on a garden railroad. Hopefully the kit gauge will work with the garden railway gauge.  The distance between their rails should be 1.772 inches or 45 mm. That's also the distance from inside one wheel flange to the inside of the opposite flange.

[CDW]

This model is really coming along!

 

I just watched a history show about the Yanks stealing the General and the ensuing chase. Very interesting history about that train.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for the kind comments and to those who checked out the progress     these trucks were terrible Ken........for the tender,  I'm hoping to use the axles to level them out.  the wheels are slid on and them the axle is cemented into the holes made for them.  the pony truck wasn't as bad though...just some very minor warpage.  I wish I did know someone with a garden layout.......that would have been something cool to do.  I did something similar with a Fokker D VIII,  a Guillow's plane that I had built when I first moved to Florida.  the place I was staying at had a cement slab around the back of the home......I suppose it was for a shed or something.   grass had grown up along the edges,  so I laid down and looking through the grass,  I had snap some pretty neat pictures.  I have no idea where they went.......I only have a few memories    it was my best flyer too.......funny story......

    I had built the plane.........when it was ready,  took it down to Lake Mac,  since there was a huge round area with picnic tables.  Lake Mac was a circular man made lake......a dirt road ran by it and then circled around the picnic area.  .......pretty cool place to bring a lunch and relax,  but don't try and party out there at night!  Michael told me there was a guy on the other side that will shoot first......then ask question later    at the end,  where the road takes it's turn,  there was a barbed wire fence, with a marshy field laced with saw grass and scrug brush beyond.  to the right of that was another field,  barbed wired off and just as unkept.   I launched it from the circle........climbed nicely and very straight........gained speed well for a rubber powered model.   after it ran out of rubber,  it glided,  banking right slight enough to send it over the first field.   then a gust of wind banked it again to the right,  and it veered over the second field!.  seeing it go down,  I started the trek to retrieve it.   what a mucky place it was !   I was almost up to my waist!  it had gotten skewered by a couple of shoots of saw grass,  but it couldn't have picked a better landing spot....no damage at all really     coming out of there was just as nasty.......especially when it came to getting through the fences.  as I came out to the opening,  I saw an old truck clanking up the road.......thing really should have been scrap....but at the time,  all one really needed was a dune buggy tag,  and you can drive anything around the entire state {here with agricultural plates,  it's only 20 miles from the residence}.   this old fellow got out and hollered over to me,  "hey!  did you just go in those fields?"  I told him I did.....going after my plane.  he was pretty stern when he told me that I shouldn't go back in there........snakes and gators are in there!  then he asked me where I was from..........when I told him New Hampshire........he just looked at me       I never went back in there again. 

     I forget what happen to the plane........I suppose it crashed at one point and was too far gone.  R.I.P.     I have another story about a De Havland mail plane........I still wish I had a video camera for that one........it was so cool!     I thought about lighting it.......but with my past track record with lighting,  I opted not to.  thanks for the good word Ken   

 

  thanks for the good word as well CDW........I've yet to look up videos on this train.   I was pretty sure there is something out there....I just haven't had the time.  I'll have to look now   

 

not too much done at the moment.......just some painting and assembling the headlight.   should have something soon though.   you know.......one thing I never gave thought about.......was the grab handles.  I could have added them before paint........pretty sure that they'd be the same color as the body,  rather than chromed or any color that would stand out.   I also need to get those part out of the brake fluid.......I think they've been in there long enough  

[CDW]

Just go on Youtube dot com and search "the great train chase". You'll find similar videos on the history of the General.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks!  we'll do  

[Reg]

I admire your patience to work with this old kit.  The build looks beautiful!

 

Greg

[thibaultron]

Yes, the grab irons were generally the same color as the engine/cars.

[popeye the sailor]

hello Greg........thanks for the kind word     don't get me wrong.........in spite of having to clean up the parts,  it's not a bad kit.   I think if you have the original kit,  you might not have such a trying time.   the molds are old and probably need some retooling.   then again,  I'm not a big fan of mold lines and injection pin marks....don't think anyone is     

 

I thought as much Ron........really don't think there was that much 'glitz' with these older trains    I have to add them later anyways........decals will cover some of the holes and they need to be opened up afterwards.  thanks for confirming that   ........and look'in in  

[CDW]

From Japan, there are a whole line of 1:50 scale steam locomotive kits. Beautiful models, I have been so tempted at times to start collecting and building these kits. So far, I have resisted the temptation, but your build here might tempt me again. Locomotives, particularly the steam powered ones, are so fascinating and cool looking.

[jct]

8 hours ago, CDW said:

Locomotives, particularly the steam powered ones, are so fascinating and cool looking.

 

I think it's all the exposed plumbing

[popeye the sailor]

looks like an interesting kit.......post the link so others can see it    it may peak their interest too!

 

I finally took the parts out of the brake fluid.........it looked like where I had painted wasn't affected...

the badge that goes on the front of the smoke box was entirely stripped.......a little scrubbing on the back was all it needed.

this part will get painted in three different colors....the sand dome behind it will be painted yellow.  I use Dawn dish washing liquid to do this....after all.........Dawn takes grease....out of the way!      I did find out differently about the paint on the stream dome......once in the water and I messed around with it,  it came right off.

now,  outside of the tub of soapy water and the faucet,  these are all the tools I use.........a stiff wire brush and a pair of long tweezers

the end result after they have been washed and dried....be sure to let them air dry as well,  before painting them.  again.......if your rinsing them in the sink....remember to put some sort of fine mesh strainer in the drain.........or you'll stand a chance to loose small parts  

now I can clean up the stream dome and get rid of those nasty lines!

[jct]

Hey Denis, Not that you need any help but I found this and thought you might find it interesting

https://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plasitc-model-kits-how-tos/construction-of-the-jupiter-no-119-locomotives-from-mpcs-the-general/

[CDW]

Very sharp markings on those two locomotives.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks J.....Alan has quite a few interesting blogs and articles on his site.   odd that I didn't see this one     these kits are quite versatile really....even the wood kits can be modified to create other known ships,  as long as their construction and type are similar.   the article is very true.......there are a number of minor problems with it........mainly due to the age of the molds.   I forgot to mention that the part numbers are hard to read.......I kinda laughed when I read that     I haven't been sloughing off on the General though........between cleaning the flared and flashy mating surfaces,  I have been able to assemble some of the parts I have done and painted.  I should have more on him soon    thanks for waking me up     

[popeye the sailor]

the long black train..........used in old songs of the south and some country songs,  as a mode of travel when they die.     there are also songs about ghost trains,  as well as one truck driver hit 'Phantom 309'..    wrong?!?!?!   no........noth'in wrong......the log's not dead.  in fact,  I've done a few things to her....I'll have an update by this eve'nin....hopefully, I'll have a bit more progress to report as well.

[popeye the sailor]

not having done any more to her,  I guess this would be a good time to post an update.   the pony truck is in place,  after a serious game of tug 'o war,  as I tried to spread the frame away from the boiler to fit the bottom smoke box floor.  I ultimately had to break free the front cross member,  so I could get it on top of the frame rails.   the plate was cemented in place in two sessions.......first to the frame,  and then to the smoke box.  her it is being cemented to the frame rails.

you can see the front cross member broken free on the right side.   the reverse gear actuator rod was next to add......it was painted and set aside until now.  I wanted to wait till I could do a good amount of assembly.  the walkways that run along both sides of the boiler as painted and ready as well.

...hard to see,  I know......it runs along the boiler,  back to the engineer's booth.  the head light is finished,  waiting to be added.

by this time,  I could cement the smoke box floor to the box,  and finish the assembly there.  after it was done,  the cross member was cemented back in place.

once cleaned up,  the cylinder / valve chests can be installed.   they are in the paint booth at the moment.   the wheels for the pony truck and the tender trucks have also been given the first step of their paint job.  the reverse actuator lever was added to the rod,  and connected to the gear assembly.  it was hard to see where exactly it went,  but once I saw how it fit,  it was added fairly easily.

the iron work on the walkways need to be done still........they are on the underside of each side.  once done and dry,  they were added as well.

I wanted to add the engineer's booth floor,  but I still need to paint the floor part.   seeing that it had wood grain,  it was a safe bet to paint it a wood color.  the boiler door was also added to the boiler face.  here is a good question..........on the shut offs and valve knobs.........do they have any specific color denotation?  red for emergency.........green or blue for other purposes?  if not...should they be silver or brass.......or just plain black?

 

I started to paint the sand dome and stream dome too........more on her soon     

[Canute]

Brass knobs, Denis. Oh and it's the engine cab, not a booth. Engine is looking good.

 

Good thing this is a wood burner. Some early coal burners from railroads in northeastern PA had very wide fire boxes, to help burn anthracite. They had a shelter of sorts  at the back of the locomotive. This was where the fireman kept the water level up and the fire going. The engineer rode in a cab in the mid section of the boiler, right over the drive rods and wheels.

[Old Collingwood]

Some fine methodical work going into this denis  - very nicely done,   I once  built a  card version of a steam train - many many years ago  as a Kid  (well he did I just watched mainly)

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for look'in Ken    yes,  there are several knobs {valve shut offs}  that are on the face of the boiler.  wondering if there is any sort of color designation as to what function they serve.  I think it would be a neat bit of detail if they did.  I was look'in for a word for the cab....helm and pilot house are already taken     booth seemed like just as good a term as any      there is a tarp that when unrolled,  covers the doorway.  it's plastic........I was going to roll up some cloth and replace it....might make it look better perhaps  {my luck...maybe not}.  thanks also for the bits of information.......I don't know much about trains,  and any info on them is good....big help!

 

thanks OC........there's a museum quality train in this box somewhere....still look'in for it     I'll settle for a half decent one!    thanks for the good word!