Kitbashing a KCR G12 in HO scale

As every local rail fan knows, there are totally five G-12s in Hong Kong. Interestingly, they all have an extended walkway on their long hood ends whereas those from the US don’t. Peculiar to the Clyde-built units, which economized by using a frame standard with something it was building for Queensland at the same time. The batch it sold to New Zealand was also so fitted, in contrast to those bought directly from the EMD in US. That also explains why the G-12 models (in HO) available in the S. America or Europe are different from those from Australia.

Talking about models, in one of my previous kitbashing projects, I built a KCR G-16. I knew she was pretty lonely and badly needed a working partner. Thus I built a G-12 so that her dream came true. So did mine.

With the assistance of a friend, Gary, I sourced a nice plastic G-12 from Black Diamond Models of Australia. Actually it offers different G-12 versions to meet its clients’ requirements. Its G-12s are also available in two KCR versions, with upper number boards (diesel locomotive nos. 51-52) or lower number boards (nos. 53-55). I decided to go for the latter this time.

My model came unpainted with all the basic body details. Mechanically, it is equipped with a centrally mounted “Mashima” can motor and a good drive system. It runs very smoothly and can easily pull 10 free-rolling freight cars on level track.

I painted it in the old KCR’s livery. Some additional commercial detail parts were attached to improve its appearance. I also scratch built some detail parts for the truck sideframes e.g. brake-pipes, drainage pipes, etc. Decals and barricade stripes on the pilots were custom made. Gary favored me with lettering and installation of sand-pipes again. No doubt, the result of which was very good and satisfactory.

阿Lam

Super detailing a pair of low cost plastic locomotives in HO - a kitbashing project for beginners

Some time ago, I bought a pair of locomotives in HO scale from a hobby shop in Shumshuipo. They cost me some HKD300 only. For many serious modelers, that was just sufficient to order some parts for their valuable models.

The models I purchased were a pair of GP50 high hood diesel locomotives ready-to-run and factory painted. Their road names were the Norfolk Southern and the Southern Railway respectively. I decided to keep the original factory paint without repainting them entirely to save my time and painting cost. The reason I bought them was to give myself a try to see if I could turn some toy-like models into convincing ones. Hopefully some of the beginners to this hobby e.g. students would consider starting their first kitbashing projects with similar affordable models.

The stock models were indeed pretty simple in appearance without a lot of body details but they were featured with headlights, fly-wheels as well as reasonable drive so they were potential for kitbashing, I personally think. Here I am not going to talk too much about their running performance because I did not intend to do anything with their existing mechanism.

To improve their appearance, I used as many commercial detail parts as possible. First of all, I started with their pilots that I think they were the most unrealistic areas of all. There was actually just a big opening on each end. I measured the openings carefully and cut pilot filler plates with styrene sheets to fill up the openings. Then I painted them same color as their original pilots. Since the colors of both locomotives were black so it was not difficult for me to match them up. I let the paint dry for overnight and then I added details parts on their pilots including uncoupling bars with brackets, snow plows, m.u. cables and air-hoses. I replaced the stock horn-hook couplers with knuckle couplers. With these pilot details added on, the models seemed to be given a new life. They looked completely different from that moment.

However, I decided to go further with more additional detail parts. For the trucks, I formed the brake pipes with wires and attached them between each pair of brake cylinders. I also added sand pipes which were made from fine styrene rods. Next I installed speed recorders as well. Additional pipes e.g. over-flow pipes, air-tank pipes, etc. were also added around the fuel tanks.
I installed firecracker type antennas and lift rings on their roofs. Attaching wind deflectors and sunshades to the windows was also an improvement to their look so I did it. Then grab irons were added on hood ends (note I did not remove those molding grab irons for convenience, you may want to file them away before adding separate ones). Thereafter I applied decals of diesel locomotive data, builder’s plate and number board with the help of a few prototype photos because most of the NS and Southern’s diesel units did carry these safety labels on their long hoods. Next I attached some walkway lights along the hoods too.

Finally I brush painted all the add-ons black and the handrails on each side of the steps yellow according to the real locomotives. As usual, I applied a clear overcoat to protect all the decals added. I decided to weather the Southern unit because I wanted to compare the result between them. There is no rule for how much you should weather your models. Weathering is actually subjective to meet your personal favorite.

I did enjoy myself during the process of kitbashing. With the new dress, that two GP50s, inexpensive but convincing, were ready to go to work then.

I hope you find the materials interesting. Happy model railroading !

阿 Lam

EMD GP9 to 1:32 scale in Chessie System

Here you can see one of my collected models in 1:32 gauge one. This is a brass EMD GP9 diesel model exported to the U.S. from Korea. It weighs about 12 pounds and is 21" long. It was custom painted in Chessie System Railroad which is one of my favorite American railroads. Those knuckle couplers are factory made and can be operating like the real things. All the grilles, screens and louvers are open too. I painted the section of track with ballast for display with a weathering color kit. All those figures are from Preiser.

Talking about colorful Chessie System road paint, painting the prototypes was pretty different from the way we paint our models today. We generally start with the lightest colors then follow by darker ones. However, interestingly, the paint shops of Chessie System started painting the entire locomotive blue first and then affixed adhesive lettering masks over areas that were to have blue lettering. Next orange and finally yellow were applied. When all masking was removed, the first blue coat of paint also formed the blue lettering.

I hope you find the materials interesting.

Happy model railroading !

阿 Lam

Kitbashing an EMD G16 model in HO scale

This is my first article for the modeling column. I just want to share with you and other railroad enthusiasts my recent work on a local EMD G16 in HO scale.
Some years ago, I planned to work out an one-off G16 in HO because no commercial models were available on the market at that time. I collected some useful drawings and information via different channels. Someone suggested to me use two G12 body shells to convert to a G16. I was told where to source the trucks with the correct wheel-base, etc. I really appreciated the assistance and materials provided by those helpers. However, I did not start anything in the end because the project was too difficult for me and, more importantly, I was not skilful at scratch-building.

Until now, I discovered that some small suppliers e.g. Balkan Models of UK and Jovanovic Slavko (JS) of Yugoslavia do supply G16 in HO. Although their G16s are in European versions, I decided to give it a try. I kitbashed it a little to represent a local G16 in the previous Kowloon-Canton-Railway's livery (KCR).
I selected the one from JS finally because none was available from Balkan at the time when I wanted it. The stock model from JS was actually a replica of the class 661 ex-Yugo Railways. Those class 661s had some details that the local G16s did not or vice versa. Therefore, modifications to the stock model were supposed necessary for serious modelers. However, I did not go for any major modifications for convenience. In fact, the original appearance of the model looked very much like the local G16, I personally think.
In the first place, when I received the model via mail, I disassembled it. It could be divided into a few sections i.e. the hood (with cab), the walkway, truck side-frames, fuel tanks, pilots and handrails. So it was pretty convenient for painting. I separated the parts and washed them in warm soap water. I first painted the top of the hood and all the handrails aluminum. Then the lower hood and walkway were painted British green with appropriate masking. Finally all the truck side-frames and the fuel tanks were painted in black. I used spray cans because I did not have the air-brush set. I set them aside for about 24 hours to let the paint dry before I reassembled them together.

Then I proceeded to the pilots. All the G16s in Hong Kong had barricade stripes on their pilots. That was also the most challenging job for me. I tried to paint them myself but failed after several attempts. I gave up and sought help from a custom decal supplier in the USA. I mail ordered the stripe decals for the pilots and the logo decals for both sides of the long hood. Those decals were custom made according to my specifications and samples given. I was very happy with the result. It took me less than one hour to complete the job with the ready-made decals. As for lettering, another fellow member did it for me voluntarily. After that I also applied the builder's plate decals on both sides of the cab.
However, I still had to scratch build some tiny detail parts from styrene sheets and bars for the pilots by myself including coupler pockets, lift rings, uncoupling bars, brackets as well as the lower parts of the pilot. Then I also added some commercial detail parts to complete the model such as horn, window wipers, headlight lens, air-hoses, door handles and MU cable receptacles. I used scale working couplers from Sergent Engineering for two reasons i.e. its realistic look and operation. For details, see parts list as below.

I sprayed a clear overcoat to protect all the lettering and decals. At last, I applied a little weathering to the radiators, couplers and wheels to achieve a more realistic appearance. Now the G16 that I have been dreaming about for many years is finally on my service roster.

阿 Lam

我會怎樣去欣賞火車?

「火車」，它象徵甚麼？力量？前進？會走的一堆金屬？力大無邊的鐵馬？還是由機械工程師所研製出來的藝術品？簡單地講，它也只不過是交通公具而矣。對一般人來說，它沒甚麼吸引之處，但對我們火車迷來說，它絕不是「車」那般簡單，它有它的歷史，有它的演變，也有它的文化。

在一八零四年，英國人發覺牛、馬小車之類等交通公具已不可以滿足到當時運輸的需求，因而不斷從試驗失敗中製造出第一台蒸氣機車。當然，該機車沒有甚麼了不起，它的馬力也只不過相等於頭牛而矣。但它卻展開了火車歷史的序幕，也為陸上交通工具來了個大突破。繼而它漸漸發展成為力大無窮之巨大蒸氣機車。並一直雄霸著鐵路史至五十年代。再由內燃機車取而代之。直至三十多年前被電力火車奪去其領導地位。當然，柴電火車至今仍普遍被貨運業廣泛採用著，但它再已不是鐵路發展的焦點了。

我們欲欣賞火車，就先得從它的特性入手。它的第一個特性就是能發出巨大推動力。一般火車頭不論是蒸氣、柴電或電力推動都可輸出千匹至數千匹馬力不等。比起其他陸上交通工具，它的動力表現是無可置疑的，堪稱皇稱霸。因此我們都覺得火車是動力的象徵。從抽象概念來看，我們在有意無意間把火車與力量聯繫一起，也就基於這個原因，一些人就對它產生份莫名其妙的好感。

其次，火車有另一個特性就是它們往往由數卡車至數十或甚至過百卡車組成。其行駛之氣勢，非筆墨以三言兩語所能形容。諸君若真的是火車迷，必然試過站在鐵路旁目睹它們以萬馬奔騰般衝過來，並發出震耳欲聾的聲響在你面前經過，亦會閃眼即逝地消失。除非你對它們一早就存有徧見，否則你怎能不被那氣勢磅薄的過客所吸引著呢！

再者, 火車是在路軌上行駛的東西。它對於筆者來說，它的動力雖然巨大，甚至奔馳起來予人一種脫韁野馬之感。但又很矛盾地，不管它是那麼不羈，那麼力蠻，它總被一道又一道之路軌所規限著。也不論鐵路如何縱橫交錯，亦不論距離多遠，這野馬始終有條不紊地在應走的路線上乖乖地朝著既定之終點站飛奔而去。這種互相制衡的矛盾，也夠我苦索思量了多年地探討。

此外，鐵路交通網絡亦有它自己一套獨特之信號系統。與其他陸上運輸系統截然不同。恍忽它要刻意顯露自己是那麼技術性及獨特性。要不是你花上大量時間去研究該信號系統的運作。你是不會明白那些貌似交通燈但又附設連杆上下指示著的東西是如何運作的。更有趣的是世界各地之鐵路網上的信號系統都不完全一樣，而操控的模式又有所不同。總之當你去研究它時，你自會發覺其樂無窮。

最後一個特性是鐵路乃是象徵集體運輸。不管運載的是人或货，它都是在影響著整個社會、生活及經濟的。不論閣下是否火車迷，你都在某程度上需要它，依賴它。沒有它的存在。今天的世界不會是現在的世界。你我未必可以每天吃到新鮮的肉菜，更妄想可逍遙地住在郊區卻工作在市區。

所以若再來問我「火車」可象徵甚麼？我覺得它除了象徵『動力』、『前進』等等之外，它其實也象徵著『我們生活中的一個環節』，與我們共創明天。

阿Lam