When Aristo released their 2-8-0 I thought it looked like a good potential to be a model of NH&I #40. Sure, the domes and bell aren’t in the right place and maybe the boiler is a little too beefy, but I follow an 80/20 rule and if it was a 2-8-0 and I could get it into the form of #40, I’d be pretty darn happy with that level of precision. So, I bought an Aristo 2-8-0 in NYC as I got a good deal on that it was all black, with minimal writing on the tender. Nearly an undercoated, IMHO. I got the engine down to a base black, but it got put aside as other projects needed more attention and I finally sat down to start decaling and paint work a few days ago and I thought I’d share with you what I have done so far. I was worried about my abilities to do decals, specifically the long lines on the tender, but I was happy with my first try on the first side of the tender:
so I pressed on. In no time I had the cab numbered and even the number boards on the lights.
I then put a base coat of white onto the number plate area so that I could build up more colors onto it. I have a replica casting of #40’s number plate to work from.
You may have noticed that I also painted the drivers a flat black. I find that this really adds to the appearance of a model loco. #40 then got some clear coat for the decals and I put a coat of red paint over the base white on the number plate.
Finally, the tender shell could rejoin the wheels and base and I could test that the lighting still worked at the work bench.
Next came a good shake-down run before I continued with more work. The weather was nice and it was a good excuse to run some trains.
Next, I added a black circle inside of the red circle on the number plate and let all of that paint dry.
Now I could add a yellow 40 to the number plate. I also replaced the front kadee couple with one of the newer styled ones. I also shaved a little plastic off of the mounting post to keep it from drooping. I trimmed some pieces off of the cow catcher and I screwed it back on around the coupler. Thus leading to this appearance:
The next step was converting the truck-mounted coupler on the tender to a body mount. I did an odd creation for this setup. I setup the tender and a center-set coupler in my vices such that the coupler was at the proper distance from the underside of the tender. I didn’t have any of the proper shims to fit, so I took the piece that I had just trimmed off of the tender truck and and attached that to the coupler. Still not enough space was taken up. I then put some gorilla glue into the area to fill the void. I didn’t plan to use the glue to really keep the coupler box on the tender, just to make an exact-thickness shim. Once the glue dried I drilled a hole through the glue and the bottom of the tender base. I ran a screw up through the hold and I put lock nut on the end. The screw is the mechanical fastener and the glue is merely the shim. Time will tell if this method is good enough, but so far is has been good. This resulted in this look for the tender:
Next, I painted the smoke box CSX Grey and the cab roof Tuscan Red. Well, I had a little help.
After that paint dried I wanted to add a really sooty look to the smoke box and cab roof so I used a few washes of the stuff from Dr. Ben. I used his “instant age” mix. Here’s the look soon after application:
I slathered it heavily onto the areas I mentioned, but I gave the boiler itself a quick once over. To me #40 is a well-kept passenger loco these days, but it isn’t without its soot and grime. The next day I could clear coat the boiler with a flat paint to seal in the weathering:
And of course, with a break in the rain, I had to make some test runs.
And this afternoon I got to fulfill a dream of running NH&I #40 in a double-head with BM&R #425
I also test ran the loco solo with 12 loaded hoppers. This is to the point where wheel slip on my grade is just bearable for the loco and the coupler on the tender showed no sign of coming loose so I remain happy with my glue-shim.
Sorry for the poor photos. All of these were just grab-shots that I made with my cell phone. No professional cameras were harmed in making these photos. Tomorrow, if the weather is nice, I hope to be running the loco at a friend’s house where I also hope to get a lot of better photos and videos. Thanks for your time.
