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 Posted - August 16 2014 : 1:48:51 PM
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This started out as an idea for a final GN-themed "special car" that would go alomg with the several GN diesels I have in my inventory.
I picked up an old Mantua Diamond Chemicals tank car- old enough to have metal Talgo trucks and a metal frame under the tank. 
I could not separate the tank from the frame, as it used plastic pop-in rivets in a one-time assembly method, so I had a lot of extra masking work to do. The wheels remain cookie-cutter Mantua originals, but I managed to open the coupler pocket to install self-centering kadee- clones. I used Rustoleum Dark Hunter Green (gloss) for the GN empire green; Krylon "Mandarin" for the GN Orange and for the striping-some yellow craft tape, cut to 1mm width, I found on a multi-color roll set at Office Depot.
I made my own decals, except for the GN Rocky logo, and DullCoted the whole thing after all paint dried. The tapelines are adhesive, but not seriously so, and the DullCote helps to secure them in place.
An enjoyable project- but challenging from a mask and paint perspective.
Siouxlake Ron
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Posted - August 16 2014 : 2:21:01 PM
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 That turned out awesome, Ron. Especially since I like Great Northern.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - August 16 2014 : 11:31:01 PM
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| Right on.
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Posted - August 17 2014 : 12:30:49 AM
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| Great work, Barry! I like that!
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Posted - August 20 2014 : 5:00:46 PM
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I've got the same Diamond tanker by mantua... a word of advice, if you're interested, a standard set of Athearn trucks and 2-56 screws is a dead-on exact fit to replace the old trucks. No filing/sanding required anywhere.
--CRC
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Posted - August 20 2014 : 5:05:25 PM
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idk if GN had fuel tenders BUT I knows BN did
Now do this in GN Sky Blue!
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Posted - August 20 2014 : 5:11:25 PM
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| i have never seen an gn fuel tender,but who cares i love it,ken
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Posted - August 20 2014 : 5:55:05 PM
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Fuel tenders were a symptom of high fuel prices. BN used them when the difference in fuel prices from one region to another made it cost effective to drag that tank car around between units and fill up where fuel was marginally cheaper.
I don't think fuel prices were ever enough, before the BN merger, to justify all the fuss. Still, in a "what if GN lasted longer" scenario, or in an "it's cool, and I like it, so what?" philosophy, that fuel tender just looks good.
Carpe Manana!
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 Posted - August 24 2014 : 11:35:26 PM
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| Looks as good as an MTH fantasy in HO. I like it.
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Posted - August 24 2014 : 11:48:53 PM
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quote:Fuel tenders were a symptom of high fuel prices. BN used them when the difference in fuel prices from one region to another made it cost effective to drag that tank car around between units and fill up where fuel was marginally cheaper.
I don't think fuel prices were ever enough, before the BN merger, to justify all the fuss. Still, in a "what if GN lasted longer" scenario, or in an "it's cool, and I like it, so what?" philosophy, that fuel tender just looks good.
Originally posted by scsshaggy - August 20 2014 : 5:55:05 PM
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Well, in Great Northern's later years, their main color scheme was Sky Blue but still, it looks awesome even with how unrealistic it is.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - August 25 2014 : 10:19:16 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by scsshaggy - August 20 2014 : 5:55:05 PM
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Well, in Great Northern's later years, their main color scheme was Sky Blue but still, it looks awesome even with how unrealistic it is.
Originally posted by kovacste000Â -Â August 24 2014Â :Â 11:48:53 PM
[/quote]
yeah but it was the SHORTEST GN scheme ever!
Lasting only 3 years b4 the BN merger
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Posted - August 25 2014 : 11:11:39 AM
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quote: quote:
Originally posted by scsshaggy - August 20 2014 : 5:55:05 PM
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Well, in Great Northern's later years, their main color scheme was Sky Blue but still, it looks awesome even with how unrealistic it is.
Originally posted by kovacste000Â -Â August 24 2014Â :Â 11:48:53 PM
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yeah but it was the SHORTEST GN scheme ever!
Lasting only 3 years b4 the BN merger
Originally posted by microbusss - August 25 2014 : 10:19:16 AM
[/quote]True. But still, if they were still around to make such a fuel tender as that, they would probably be in their Sky Blue livery.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - August 25 2014 : 11:48:52 AM
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Well done Ron! Looks great!
Sean
"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!" - Mario Andretti!
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Posted - August 27 2014 : 7:39:42 PM
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Many thanks for the responses- this was an "imagineering" effort, more suited to my fictional railroads parent (GN) as it continued to evolve in an alternate universe. Having done a 250 ton crane and boom car- and now, this tender tank car- in the empire color scheme, it is time to move on. I have replicated a GN red caboose, their experimental "aluminum" GN boxcar of the postwar years (WW2, not my postwar years (Vietnam era), a GN rotary snow plow- I have pretty much exhausted the potential of transition years for GN, except for rebadging and repainting newer diesels in traditional GN colors with "fictional" newer patterns of color.
I have some "corporate" box cars and hoppers in the wings- Honeywell, Lakeside Toys, etc., and have a backlog of engines that are waiting their turn (as if they were animate objects with a life of their own!) at the workbench, not to mention my finally taking the pinned-in-place track and laying/wiring it this fall so I can run a few things on the tracks, when torrid Florida becomes temperate Florida.
Siouxlake Ron
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