Have been working on this the last few evenings, a Norscot D9T HO scale Dozer on an MTH HTTX 60' flatcar. MTH seems to be the only brand that makes this particular type car, and with an extremely high degree of detail. The only pity is that they opted for plastic decks, rather than like Intermountain did with their real wooden decks on the OTTX ones they make.
The D9T, I have had dismantled for some time, an "interesting" project in itself. Here is a prototype picture of what I'm aiming at
The Flatcar being used is TTX, I weathered the wooden decking by brush painting with Polyscale Reefer Grey, thinned a bit with 70% isopropyl Alcohol
The D9T, I have had dismantled for some time, an "interesting" project in itself. Here is a prototype picture of what I'm aiming at
The Flatcar being used is TTX, I weathered the wooden decking by brush painting with Polyscale Reefer Grey, thinned a bit with 70% isopropyl Alcohol
(sound just like MR mag, eh). Once dry, I rubbed some lamp black pastel, using a medium stiff, short bristle brush, along the "boards" to enhance the gaps and bolt heads. Went a little heavy on this, but was able to restore the greyness to the timber with a similar light grey pastel and soft brush. The metal groves in the decks where the tiedown chains lock into, I painted with a rust coloured acrylic I mixed up from various artists paints I have, to a color I liked, using a thin edged soft flat brush, which kept the paint in the groove much better than a small round tipped brush.
The Trucks were removed and washed. They have working springs and rotating caps on the axle ends. Unfortunately the axle extensions pass through the sideframes, and the caps press on. Because the sideframes can move up and down on the springs, they are not fixed to the bolster. I did take the caps off one axle and attempted to remove the axle/wheels from the sideframe, but changed my mind in case everything came apart. Glad I did, getting those tiny, tiny, tiny caps back on was heart in mouth stuff. So wheels and sideframes got painted assembled. Was fairly easy in the end. After adding a bit of "Vallejo" dark rust wash to various parts, I gave the sides and bottom a dusting with the Frosted Glass paint I used on my Gravel hoppers and remounted the trucks. Another interesting difference to the majority (or all) other brands, the spigots the trucks pivot on are metal and separately applied to the car base. They appear to be those split spring dowels you would find being used in engineering for aligning two sections of a casting together.
Some photos of progress so far
The chains are yet to be secured to the grooves using the ratchets supplied with the flatcar, going to be tricky. More chains to be used to secure the other parts as well. A couple more pics to follow.[SUB][SUP]
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The Trucks were removed and washed. They have working springs and rotating caps on the axle ends. Unfortunately the axle extensions pass through the sideframes, and the caps press on. Because the sideframes can move up and down on the springs, they are not fixed to the bolster. I did take the caps off one axle and attempted to remove the axle/wheels from the sideframe, but changed my mind in case everything came apart. Glad I did, getting those tiny, tiny, tiny caps back on was heart in mouth stuff. So wheels and sideframes got painted assembled. Was fairly easy in the end. After adding a bit of "Vallejo" dark rust wash to various parts, I gave the sides and bottom a dusting with the Frosted Glass paint I used on my Gravel hoppers and remounted the trucks. Another interesting difference to the majority (or all) other brands, the spigots the trucks pivot on are metal and separately applied to the car base. They appear to be those split spring dowels you would find being used in engineering for aligning two sections of a casting together.
Some photos of progress so far
The chains are yet to be secured to the grooves using the ratchets supplied with the flatcar, going to be tricky. More chains to be used to secure the other parts as well. A couple more pics to follow.[SUB][SUP]
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