Modeling: O-Scale - Lionel (2R) - Southern Dome 1613

Southern only had two dome cars on the system.  One of them was 1613, originally Wabash 203/Norfolk and Western 1613, found its way to the Southern via Central of Georgia in 1970-1971.  It found itself on the rear of both the Crescent as well as the train #3 - the Salisbury-Asheville (formerly the Asheville Special).

Lionel released a relatively accurate rendition of Southern Railway's 1613 dome, SKU 2027310 "Southern Vistavision Dome #1613". Suggested catalog retail price was $329.99, despite the website currently showing $399.99. I don't remember the specific release date, but I ended up ordering my model from a dealer in May 2022.

Lionel had and continues to have a hard time handling colors despite using the Pantone Library for consistency.  When I saw the original catalog artwork (which is still in the link above), I reached out to Lionel with a number of corrections.  They originally wanted to match some other previously released cars and had an incorrect color and font.

Lionel ended up taking my recommendations below into account:

1. Corrected carbody color (I had recommended Pantone 5535c)
   
2. Corrected roof color to black.
3. Corrected yellow of lettering/striping (either Pantone 141c or 142c)
   
4. Corrected letter/number font
5. Corrected placement of numbers
6. Corrected stripe width and placement

I remember spending an hour or two trying to figure out the best Pantone color for the lettering from photos. Metallic gold was on the table, but in all photos, it always looked a shade of yellow. Lighting and photo exposure then affects that yellow.

Beyond that, two things I asked for didn't make it in:

1. Black underbody. The underframe came with the green used on the carbody. Simple fix.
   
2. Accurate 41-CUDO trucks. I did try to ask that they provide these trucks, as I thought they had made them based on other catalog artwork, but turns out Lionel didn't have tooling for them, only the 41-ND trucks they use on every streamlined car.

I didn't pre-order as I was scared what might actually show up from the factory (which mistakes can still happen despite what you provide a factory). I was pleasantly surprised and made an order once I saw from others what was delivered.  I can't speak to the interior layout, but the car was built well and the paint/lettering came out as I had recommended.  Below are the additional updates I made to my model:

1. Add a PSC-40823 brass vestibule end gate to the vestibule on the 5-window side of the dome.
2. Paint the underframe black.
   
3. Paint the interior from tan to a set of "accurate" colors.
4. Add Antimacassars decals with SOU emblem to every seat.
5. Add MTH figures to the interior.
   
6. Add window film to all windows except for the camera window
7. Convert to #746 long-shank Kadee couplers using the provided adapter.
8. Add working magnetic air hoses. (Did not add steam line or anything else.)
   
9. Convert to Wasatch brass 41-CUDO 2R trucks
10. Add power pickups to the 41-CUDO trucks.

Notes:

• I didn't note exactly what colors I used, but I painted the seats some shade of red, the floors/walls maroon, and the dome seats green.  The prototype photos show that the seats were more of a mix of a pattern of colors, so I just went with the general color.
  
• The Antimacassars decals are my own design, and made custom to the measurements of the this car's interior, so I could place each pair of seats at one time.
• There were etched mirrors on various walls inside the car. I used a reflective product I found at Michael's that I could cut to size and glue to the walls.
• Tinting the windows could have been multiple ways. I decided to use a window film I found on Amazon.  It did take a bit of effort to cut to shape and get it to stick to the sharp curvature of the window.
• I had to modify the bolster and retap the holes to mount the 41-CUDO trucks.
  
• I run DCC, so the lighting and camera work just fine as the electronic components convert the square-wave AC similar to the 3-rail AC.
  
• The Lionel Wireless Camera app that is required to connect to the camera is interesting.  Definitely not the most robust Chinese piece of software, but essentially the camera board has a WiFi chip that advertises its own unique SSID.  You connect your iOS/Android device to it and then open the Lionel Wireless Camera app and then it should detect the camera and you go from there. You can watch in real time, take screenshots, and also take video recordings.  Relatively easy, but quality is only decent, not even 1080p. 
• Somewhere between 20-40 hours went into these modifications including testing/prep.

Below is the photo essay:

 

Finished car

View of the dome w/ tinted windows

Camera window left untinted

View of interior with tint

Another view of interior with tint

Provided Kadee Coupler mounts

Where mounts mount to underframe

Visualizing how the car will mount with a PSC bolster

Mounted PSC bolster

topside view

View of modified truck

Tension partially keeps board in place

Side view of painted Wasatch 41-CUDO truck

Another view of finished truck

Back of Antimacassars decals

View of completed dome section. The dome comes off separately.

Interior view

Interior view 2

Completed interior

In progress airbrushing

Bottom of dome seating. Hole is for camera to slip through.

Comparison of window film vs Tamiya clear blue. This film was redone as it tore in the corners.

Used Gila film solution and styrene to press film into corners. Then came back and trimmed with an Xacto knife.

Mix of paint used to match PSC gate to body color

How it was mounted into the plastic diaphragm piece

You can see the leftover green before I painted the underframe. On/Off switches for Camera/Lighting.

View from Camera on the Lionel Wireless Camera app

 

 

Here's a short video taken from the app. Sorry for the mess, that OMI RS-11 box will be written about on this blog at some point.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Review: O-Scale - EMD 645E3 3D-printed Models

I received these really nice O-Scale EMD 20-645E3 and 16-645E3 3D-printed models from Railroad LC3DP back in May 2021.  A little late in posting this, but better late than never. Came packed better than most everything I've purchased in the last decade. I highly recommend if you're in the market.

 

Shipping took a little over a month to finally reach my doorstep from Czech Republic, but these are really nice. As I expect with most 3D prints, they will need a little bit of cleanup, but will work just fine in the Pegram Shops. For the late 60's Southern Railway, the 16 cylinder's were used on SD40-2's and the 20 cylinder units were used on SD45's.

 

I just need to figure out what colors I need to paint these with. The more I think about it, these are too new for my era to be rusted up and sitting outside, and I doubt they had complete engine blocks sitting around waiting to be put into locomotives (vs. just replacing part in and around them the engine block), but it should still look really cool and add interest anyway.

 

He has done some other prime movers, such as the Alco 539 and 251, but not yet a 567. I really hope he finds the time and motivation to do the 567 as well as he did the 645. He says he hopes to finish the 567 in 2024.

 

Here are some photos from when they first arrived, with nothing done to them:

 

 

 

20-645E3 and 16-645E3

 

 

Lube Oil and Water Pumps

 

 3/4 View with Turbo on the left

 

Turbocharger and Flywheel

 

I attempted to sand flat surfaces where it made sense and then paint these as new for use with an eventual engine shop.  I will warn you though that you need to read labels.  I ended up painting these with Model Master High Gloss and low and behold, that particular paint leaves a yellow tint.  The directions even warn of it.  Lesson learned.  Luckily these will be used as scenery and not in locomotive model.

 

You can see the difference where the glossed primer mover is on the right. 

This gloss will turn your models yellow.

Prepped prime movers - yellowish on right

Prepped prime movers - yellowish on right

Modeling: New O Scale 2R SD9 Fuel Breathers are in!

Got the revised breathers and added them to my models after some paint and weathering.  They are fantastic.  These will get roster shots once I get some sort of layout put together.

Modeling: Quick and Easy 3rd Rail FP7 Side-Step Upgrade

Been busy with weddings, life, and starting to build a layout. I've spent quite a few hours upgrading AtlasO switches and repairing some used ones I bought years ago. Have done a couple of quick side projects like the one below in the time I wait for epoxy to dry...


Ordered some steps from 3rd Rail to upgrade my FP7's from years ago and took an hour or two over a few days to get these put on my unit.

Pretty simple to do. Used my fingers to twist off the truck-mounted steps.  I could have bondo'd over the brass plugs that broke off in the hole, but figured it won't be seen that much, so I just sanded down that area and touched up with paint.

I took the new steps and used one as a guide and glued it onto the frame where I wanted it.  Then used the hole on the backside of it as a guide and drilled/tapped an 0-80 hole.  Did that for each of the 4 steps.

Then primed and painted the the steps black.  Then dull-coted them so I could pan-pastel them to match the existing weathering after installation.

Then installed them with 0-80 screws.  The trucks still have basically their entire range of rotation.  Looks much better.

Here's a before and after...

Review: O-scale - 3rd Rail/Sunset Models - Southern Crescent E8A's

Sunset Models/3rd Rail just released their E8 project to the masses.  Southern made the final production list and I was asked to and volunteered in the neighborhood of about 20 hours of review time for this project between the body CAD, rooftop airtank CAD, and decal artwork.  I have come to realization that no matter how many suggestions, fixes, etc. that I make, the factory is bound to not fix everything I suggested.  Oh well.  I have learned this is something even HO guys have to deal with and unless I shell out $3k/model, its how it is.

Considering the process that these go through, I have to say that these turned out pretty well. They will be acceptable to most.  They are acceptable to me, but I always take everything I own to the next level.  Rivet counter? No. Spotting features? Yes. I can fix a lot of the flaws, but having studied these closer and looked at some of the lettering discrepancies from the prototype, I need to figure out what I want to do.  If I decide to reletter some of these to more closely match the prototype, I may go further and repaint these into black tuxedo to match other units I have. I am undecided at this time, as I won't have real time to touch these for awhile. Remember my SD9 review?  Well those are still sitting apart waiting for me to finish the corrections list.

This is an aesthetics review, I have yet to have time to run these, but I am extremely curious to hear what the QSI Q3 decoder sounds like with TWO speakers in each unit, since E8's had dual prime movers in them, and QSI has a patent on stereo sound, allowing for a nice one-decoder solution for the sound.

I bought 3 units,which were numbered 1-3 on the box, 6901, 6909, 6911.  The fourth number is 6915.

Below is the photo review. Click on photos for larger versions if you so desire.

What 3 sunset shipping boxes look like next to each other.

 2R version of instruction manual in box.

Yellow inner box hiding under the protective styrofoam.

Glad to see Green under the wrapping.  Looks like a SAL unit or two made it into SOU boxes and vice versa.

 The parts baggy that comes with the units.  Note that the spark arrestors are in this bag.  They are not very detailed...so I will replace these with my own brass ones once I get some more made up.

Protective foam around the engine.

All 3 units; Front View. (styrofoam bit on 6911's NB)

Noses look good to me.  Note the missing firecracker antennas to the right of the horns.  Scott left these off to reduce shipping damage, since he had a lot break on the SD7/SD9 project.  I thought they were also supposed to be in the parts baggy, but never made it...

 Roof view.

 The spark arrestor by the exhaust port.  Note that I guess the Factory was thinking you needed to glue these in, as they are not snug or snap in place...

Yes 6911's door came stuck open.  I was able to close it with a screwdriver.

Some more various angles.  

 Engineer View.  

Two paint mistakes:

1. The top grab iron should have matched the imitation aluminum.

2. The grab iron by the pilots are silver when they should also be imitation aluminum.

One could also surmise the curvature around the lower portion of the green area is also wrong and doesn't start curving up soon enough.  Something I will just live with.  It also makes the crescent logo look too small, when I believe it is actually rather close in size. with the way the artwork drawings are done (Side/Front View only...no angled nose view), this is hard to tell them how to do correctly.

For comparison:

This was to show that the grills already have some buckling in them.  The grill style may not match every unit's style, I noticed SOU units had both styles.  A factory process limitation...

Some rooftop pipe and spark arrestor close ups.

 View of the etched grills and roof from the side.

 Evidence I saw showed they had dual steam generators.

 Close up of the roof/nose.

 Rear of the units.

 Rooves of the units.

 I had 2 units that had bent-in MU hoses.  Scott needs to figure out how to prevent that in the future.

View of the bottom.

 Artistic View 1

 Artistic View 2

 

 This is as big as the gap gets when Kadees are taught.

 

 AA consist

 AAA consist

 AAA consist overhead view

 Two engineer views. 

Note: The spacing of the numbers is quite off.  Something that kind of irks me, but I could also live with.  If I can't live with it, these units are getting the tuxedo treatment.

For Number Spacing Comparison:

 There be rivets on the angle step.  Nice!

Note: From the photos I had, it looked like the kickplates had been painted over with both Green and the Im. Aluminum.  Factory missed this one too and only the green was done.

 Close up of the SOUTHERN.

Its hard to photograph the cab interior, but it looks pretty good.  Just needs to be painted light gray instead of the seafoam green.

One last nose shot.

Note the correct dual-beam lighting.

Note the buffer above the coupler was supposed to be black, but factory didn't do it.

Note the MU box on the right side of the nose.  Southern had round ones on both sides.  I think it would have been better to do that detail using decals, so every road could get what was custom to them.

So there's enough photos to digest.  Here is what I plan on doing to these:

1. Paint buffer black
2. Paint Pilot grab irons Im Aluminum
3. Paint cab interiors light gray.
4. Replace horn with prototypical Cal Scale Nathan M5 horn.
5. Add Firecracker Antenna
6. Add ACI plates
7. Add MU/air hoses to front pilot. 
8. Add any speed recorders to trucks per unit per prototype.
9. Add my own custom photo-etched cab shades over the cab windows.
10. Add my own custom photo-etched spark arrestors.
11. Get rid of the fuel tank skirting and add correct fuel tank equipment.
12. Add the correct SOU-style water tanks on either side of the fuel tanks.
13. Replace numberboards. Numberboard font is too thin (looked good in artwork, but came out wrong); replace with microscale decals. Also numbers should be on outsides of numberboards, not centered.
14. Replace Kadee 805's with newer Kadees as I do with all of my locomotives.
15. Units are too dull, Spray them with gloss or semigloss  

If I decide that the number spacing bothers me too much (causing me to to remove the numbering)...additional items:

1. Add the cab vent on engineer side 
2. Look at changing out sand hatches to Southern-Style sand hatches.
3. Look at improving the rooftop tank mounts by grinding off unprototypical parts.
4. Look at adding any rear lighting if these units had it.
5. Maybe flag brackets for every unit.
6. Repaint as Black tuxedo
7. Possibly renumber some to the 2900 series

Anyone know someone who makes the correct mirrors (scale-sized) in O-scale to add by the windows?