Athearn RTR Conrail SD50 #6736
Unit started as an out of the box Athearn. Paint colors I used to completed the model were: Floquil Conrail Blue, CreateFX Silver, Apple Barrel Black, Model Master Classic White.
- I protected the window and sight glass with liquid mask
- drilled out class lights and added the Cannon & Co “bug eye” class lights -- which were painted silver first then glued in place. I used Tamiya Clear Red for the red lens effect as the very last step of completion.
- drilled the eye bolt dimples out and added KV Models eye bolts, which I then hand painted CR blue
- continuing on the roof I used a black Sharpie to paint the Q-Fan grills and hubs black, then painted the exhaust hatch and two antennas silver
- the unit was delivered with white numbers on black background for the numberboards, but by time it reached my modeling era that was reversed so I painted the numberboards white and added numbers from Microscale 87-740 and numberboard gasket decals from 87-527. After they dried I airbrushed Testors Glosscoat to seal them.
- on the nose I removed the grab irons on the top right and right (engineer’s) side and installed them in the opposite positions on the left (conductor’s side). Then painted the center sections white.
- under the front pilot I added three MU receptacles – two from the DA Modern MU Receptacles building them on their plate then adding a small piece of Evergreen U-channel to give them a little more surface to mount with. Then I added a DW MU Receptacle as the primary one, since the two outer ones are Dummy receptacles. I added one DW MU receptacles on the rear pilot. These were all painted black
- two grab irons were added to the top of the snowplow which were then painted black
- an air hose was added on both pilots which was painted black
- a large air filter from the DW -139 Air Filter Set was added in front of the fuel tank on the engineer’s side
- all sideframes were removed and the sides of the wheels painted Folk Art Real Brown. After drying I brushed the brown with dullcoat and remounted the sideframes
- a speed recorder was added to the rearmost axle on the front sideframe, right side and it was painted black
- couplers were replaced with Kadee #58 that I had already painted with a custom rust/dark earth tone and the trip pin is painted black
- #74 holes were drilled above each cab window in the front and rear and A-Line the appropriate windshield wipers were added from their #29200 set after the matt finish sealing
- for the dynamic brake fan/grid on top of the long hood … I first added AIM rust to it, then put an overcoat of Tamiya Dark Brown panel line was
- black wash in radiator grills and inertial intakes, followed by Tamiya Black panel line wash over the dynamic brake intake grills and then on the three doors above them
- to weather the walkways and steps I first applied AIM medium gray weathering powder, then applied dark gray by blotting it on as “footprints”
- take AIM dark brown and liberally apply it to the underframe beneath the sill with a soft brush
- I have a custom exhaust mix with about 12:1 flat black/dark brown that I use primarily on the roof, but also misted at the radius from the roof to the sides and also did a 8” away very light spray over the whole unit from various angles.
- I also have a custom dark earth mix of various browns that looks right to me. This was sprayed everywhere below the side sill, including fuel tank ends and pilots. I also did bow waves above each truck. Then moved the airbrush back to 8” away and did two passes per side with the model at a 45 degree angle (nose away/rear away), then one pass on each end. This covered the hood sides, nose and rear end with slight filth.
- open up AIM dark yellow, medium brown and dark brown. I used the stiff brush to very gently go in and pick up a few bristles at a time then stabbed the plow and rear pilot to get a spray affect. I worked from medium brown to dark yellow to dark brown. Repeat the effect on the ends of the fuel tank.
- I took a Q-tip with Windex on it and cleaned the white portions of the handrails off and made a couple light crew “brush by” areas on the hood where they might take dust and dirt off when passing by.
- I then applied a matte finish by airbrush to seal everything.
- After that I removed the tape from the lights and the liquid mask from the windows and sight glass. Then added windshield wipers and painted class lights red (see above).