RGS Rotary Snowplow by yvesvidal - DURANGO PRESS - On3 - 1/48

[yvesvidal]

The front wall is now finished: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The covers to protect the coal from the snow, are difficult to install. I tried to make them movable and got some moderate success: 

 

 

 

I may work some more on them, as I am not completely happy with the results.

 

Overall, the snowplow is starting to look like the real thing: 

 

 

 

 

More pictures to come....

 

Yves

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by yvesvidal

[Javlin]

On 9/25/2023 at 1:25 PM, yvesvidal said:

I am not going to show you the underside of the tender....I intend to keep my reputation of modeler, intact....

Well it sure came out purtty on the other side.

[yvesvidal]

I think we are due for an update. I have been working on the roof of the rotary plow which is actually much more complicated than it seems:

 

 

Above is the final result before painting. It starts with two strips of wood and a few plastic frames:

 

 

The cuts at the rear, are designed to accommodate the rear bulkhead. The original kit calls for a large scribbed sheet of wood that you have to cut. I decided instead, to go with a regular planking, treating it like a hull. Nobody on this forum will complain about that....

 

 

 

Planking is complete:

 

 

 

 

 

It fits very rather well. The roof will be permanently glued, since I have no intent to detail the interior. The next step is to glue some kind of fabric. That piece of fabric was missing from my kit and so I decided to use some kind of fabric used for delicate packaging: it is glued with PVA glue, diluted with water.

 

 

This is supposed to mimic the tar covered roof, used on this kind of Maintenance of the Way cars. Little by little, more details are added to the roof:

 

 

 

And it is now ready for paint:

 

 

Yves

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by yvesvidal

[realworkingsailor]

The prototype would have been tar paper. I’ve seen many modellers replicate the effect using tissue paper (kleenex) using just black paint to adhere the tissue to the surface.

 

Great job on your build!

 

Andy

[wefalck]

Others used wet&dry sanding paper. In ship-modelling it is frowned upon, because it is not acid-free.

[yvesvidal]

1 hour ago, realworkingsailor said:

The prototype would have been tar paper. I’ve seen many modellers replicate the effect using tissue paper (kleenex) using just black paint to adhere the tissue to the surface.

 

Great job on your build!

 

Andy

That is exactly how the kit instructions describe the gluing of the paper. I decided to go with something which has a little bit more grain....

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

The roof is painted with the "stinking" Floquil Grime Black:

 

 

I am then fabricating the roof extension, used to protect the crew in charge of the furnace and boiler. This is done with a piece of plasticard of very small thickness, provided in the kit. A few rivets are used to attach it to the main roof:

 

 

And the cover is also painted with the same "stinking" Floquil grime black:

 

 

The roof is now ready to be permanently glued to the snowplow. I still have a few things to do on the rear of the snowplow, before the final gluing.

 

Yves

 

 

[CDW]

Wow, that looks perfect!

 

[Canute]

Nicely done! The roof and extension look great.

 

Not a good assignment to be shoveling coal into the firebox while the train is chugging along plowing thru a snowdrift. No wonder these roads had multiple bunk cars for both the engine men and the section(track) men.

[yvesvidal]

Doing the last finishing touches on the rear of the Snowplow:

 

 

Railings have been added, a steam pressure gauge and the inevitable broom to clean up the floor:

 

 

I can now glue (permanently) the roof.

 

Yves

[Roger Pellett]

How about a sight glass for checking boiler water level?

[realworkingsailor]

Furthering Roger’s reply, you may want to source a boiler backhead detail kit. Aside from a sight glass, there should be valves and plumbing associated with the injectors (water), as well as blow down valves etc.

 

Grandt Line made a detail set for a small Porter switcher:

 https://www.grandtline.com/for-the-model-railroading/14-scale-148-or-o-scale-model-railroading/cab-detail-kits-for-grandt-porter-locos/

Should fit your rotary, and fill in a few missing parts if you can find it.

 

Andy

[wefalck]

... and stoking tools.

[Canute]

Another site for O Scale detailing parts, although the site is down right now. https://www.precisionscaleco.com/

And here's another site for detail parts: http://wisemanmodelservices.com/

Have fun.

[yvesvidal]

Thank you Folks for all these recommendations and web sites. Yes, I know all of them and have ordered a lot of parts in the past.

 

Unfortunately, for this rotary, once you couple the tender, there is not much that can be seen in between. But I do appreciate your ideas and suggestions and my do it at a later time.

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

9 hours ago, wefalck said:

... and stoking tools.

That is planned. There will be a shovel and there is the .....broom 🙂

 

Yves

[Kevin]

looking fantastic

[amateur]

13 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Thank you Folks for all these recommendations and web sites. Yes, I know all of them and have ordered a lot of parts in the past.

 

Unfortunately, for this rotary, once you couple the tender, there is not much that can be seen in between. But I do appreciate your ideas and suggestions and my do it at a later time.

 

Yves

Unless, of course, you don’t glue the roof permanently in place

 

In any case: looking great.

 

Jan

[yvesvidal]

The snowplow is almost finished. I have to finalize the various lines (water, air) between the two units and build a piece of track to call it completely finished. The roof has been permanently glued to the chassis.

 

The headlight is made with the metal cast part, a piece of plexiglass cut and filed until it fits perfectly and a toothpick, rounded and painted to mimic a light bulb.

 

 

The tender is getting some extra details, as well: 

 

 

Headlight installed: 

 

 

 

 

Yves

Edited November 11, 2023 by yvesvidal

[king derelict]

The details are beautiful

Alan

[yvesvidal]

A few views of the beast: 

 

 

 

 

 

The metal pieces above the rear truck, are used to re-rail the units. It is not uncommon for these snowplow and tender to derail when the ice is very hard, and that despite their mass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the two units coupled together: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, this is a temporary pause in the project, as a piece of track must be built.

 

Yves

 

[wefalck]

And now you are waiting for some snow ...  🥶

[CDW]

With the right space, the right layout, and a nice size scale like this, I can see where a guy could get hooked for life on model railroading. At my age, will not get into it but it’s very tempting.

[John Ruy]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

With the right space, the right layout, and a nice size scale like this, I can see where a guy could get hooked for life on model railroading. At my age, will not get into it but it’s very tempting.

Been there, space was always the problem and $$$. 😆 Ship modeling is much more reasonable, when you work out the cost over a per annual basis.  
 

Beautiful model railroading work, Yves. 👍
 

John

Edited November 11, 2023 by John Ruy

[Canute]

Very well done, Yves. 👍

 

Model RR clubs are a way to have  and operate on a model RR. Most are built in HO and N scales. Very occasionally in O scale. And yes it is money intensive, especially for the current era modeler, with the numbers of very detailed locos. These are built for optional digital command and control. Many choose this option because it gives you sounds and lighting effects in engines and cars. Those of us who had Lionel or American Flyer sets were wowed with a headlight and horn, maybe w smoking steam engine. Now these effects come in HO and N scale. The control boards can drive 2 watt speakers, so care is taken not to overpower the "sugar cube" and cell phone speakers installed in locos. Check out for clubs in your area(s) that run holiday trains. Ours does a Polar Express train for the "kids".

[wefalck]

In order calm down my ambitions as teenager, my father used to say that 1 sqm of model railway would cost 1000 Deutsche Mark. Considering inflation since the 1960s and translating this into imperial measures this amount to 100 $/£/€ per square foot today ... I have been repeatedly tempted, particularly around this time of the year, but space is a serious limitation, more than money.

[thibaultron]

The price depends on what you are looking for. A large  layout can drain funds rapidly, or you could build a smaller shelf switching layout. The big expenses are building kits, cars and locomotives. Track and turnouts too, but a small one helps limiting this cost. Limit yourself to a small layout, and one or two locos, and it becomes more reasonable.

 

For those building US prototypes there is a company that offers reasonably priced downloads for US style cardboard kits, that you print out yourself. Almost all of them are models of real buildings. They are highly detailed and can be built with just one photo quality layer, or from several layers for built up doors, windows, etc. , as well as layers for roofs or walls with torn shingles or other weather related damage. One of our well known Scenery and building modelers was surprised that some models he saw at a convention were cardboard models from this company. I have no affiliation with them as other than a customer.

 

http://clevermodels.squarespace.com/

 

Several years ago I designed two Yard office buildings for a friend's Baltimore and Ohio (huge) layout from the only two existing photos of it, and another smaller one from one photo. I then made cardboard models of them as mockups for the layout, while he had a professional modeler make wood models of them. He still uses the mock ups as back ground buildings. We asked the B&O community for comments on the designs, and they told him that he was one of the world experts on the railroad, so if he was happy, they could not add anything to the designs.

 

Here is a simple version, recolored to Santa Fe colors, that will go somewhere on my layout. I drew the multi-layer version, but can't find it right now. The two photos of this one were a distant one of the side with the single regular and tall thin window, that basically gave me the side dimension, and one with just the thin window and a very oblique front view of the dual window front. The rest I got using B&O system building standards That listed the standard single double hung window size, and standard wood siding width., and assuming a desk at the front I placed the door on the unseen side in place of the window. Not a complex design, but it took a couple months of research of other existing B&O buildings to come to the final criteria to base the building on.

 

 

[wefalck]

I would rather build everything myself, rolling stock as well as buildings etc. ... as I would perhaps go for a 1860s to 1880s subject, there is not much on the market anyway, a real niche subject.

 

I have been looking over this site from time to time: https://www.carendt.com/micro-layout-design-gallery/. There are some harbour ideas as well, combining the best of our two worlds ... 

Edited November 12, 2023 by wefalck

[thibaultron]

P.S. Clever Models has a handful of free downloads, if you wish to see examples.

[yvesvidal]

The next step of this project is to build a piece of track to display the snowplow. As I have mentioned, there is no commercial On3 tracks available. Everything has to be hand built, with ties, rail extrusions and spikes. 

 

I usually build 3 feet long display tracks for my O scale models. The same will be done for this small On3 project. I have "spiked" quite a few length of O scale tracks, using Code 148 extrusions, plates, pre-stained ties and O scale spikes. This On3 Code 100 rails are a new challenge, as their dimension are close to an HO scale track, which means real small. I know that there are people who lays their N-scale tracks, but I am not masochistic enough. The plates help tremendously when putting together the track, but on metric gauge tracks, plates are skipped most of the times.

 

I usually start with a piece of flat and straight pine plank: 

 

 

On each side, I will glue 1/4 inch square strips to delineate and retain the ballast and dirt. Ties and spikes are coming from a company called Old Pullman which used to be located in Vero Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, Old Pullman closed a few years ago and all their fantastic supplies disappeared from the market place. They had, rail extrusions in various codes, flexible and finished tracks in O scale, pre-stained ties, spikes, turnouts, gauges and many other things to satisfy the O scale enthusiasts. All of these are gone, causing a void which is really hurting the O scale community. Recently, Micro-Engineering stopped producing O scale rails, adding to the despair of O scale enthusiasts. Today, only Atlas offers commercial 2 rails O scale tracks and another company offers the extrusions and other parts to lay your track by hand.

 

 

I then build a bed to raise the track and create that typical crowning seen on most railroad tracks.

 

 

The ties (originally for O scale) are cut shorter at about 40 mm long. They will be glued with Titebond Quick and Thick.

 

The whole piece is varnished with Golden Oak.

 

 

We can now lay the ties: 

 

 

 

Then comes the tedious and delicate work of spiking the rails. If you have never done this job before, I would recommend very strongly the use of a special XURON tool: the Spiker, available at Micro Mark. Trying to spike a track without that tool is almost impossible, in my humble opinion.

 

 

Each On3 sized spike is inserted into the tool like this: 

 

 

 

And then the tedious task starts.... after painting the rail extrusion with Floquil Rail Brown. With tie plates, the painting can take place later on by masking the ties and the wood around them. With the absence of plates, rails must be painted before hand. Their top surface is then cleaned with a rag soaked with solvent and some low abrasion sand paper.

 

 

Because of the absence of the tie plates, it is difficult to avoid marring the wooden ties. This will be corrected with a little dab of wood paste and some stain.

 

 

Finally, it is over. I have only spiked every other tie. Most O scale modelers spike one tie out of four for long straight track stretch. Once the ballast is in place, it will look a lot more realistic. I have spiked O scale tracks with plates, requiring 8 spikes per tie !!! That is a recipe for self inflicted pain.

 

 

 

Et voila. I tried the tender and snowplow and everybody is rolling very smoothly on that little stretch: 

 

 

Yves