Both the Spreader and the truck are neat projects. Keep us all posted as you finish them!
Wow Jenny, your spreader is amazing. It must weigh a ton being made out of steel and that will certainly help with throwing junk off your track.
I used to use an Aristo wedge plow to to get tree debris off my track. I then built a blower car but the best tool on my RR I use to clear the tracks for trains is the rail broom.
Aloha a me e komo mai, Jenny! Aloha and Welcome!
One, echoing the others above, your workmanship is amazing. I look forward to learning from you as you detail those projects in their own dedicated threads!
Two, with regards to the question at hand, āto paint or not to paint?ā I offer the following from our own experiences:
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Does it have sentimental value as is? Most of our stuff is 40+ years old and came to me and my siblings via now-gone relatives. Others are gifts from friends or family and serve to remind us of their visits. A few are souvenirs. These items, unless broken and non-functional, remain āas is.ā Repairs are intended to restore. The handful that were thrashed have been repurposed, renewing their stories in a new way.
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Do you like it as it is? That is a beautiful locomotive āas is.ā I would have more fun inventing a story rather than trying my luck at the Palm of Spray Painting (running gagā¦pictured below).
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Does it promote a story or questions that advances your railroadās history by retaining its current paint scheme? We have some German steam trams, for instance, which we will never paint or sell, but, because they are unusual, they draw questions, and they become a reason to discuss the history of steam trams in the Kingdom, Republic, and Territory of Hawaii.
In short, we will apply the saw, brush, and glue if that will raise the itemās value as a conveyor of the stories we are trying to tell.
Eric
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Wow! Theses detail parts are amazing! Definitely want to keep and model one of these Alaska units now. Even plan to use them for my UP SD70M-2 project. I came across another USA trains SD70MAC, this one in BN executive scheme, of which I already have one so,ā¦this one is my victim. Thanks for all the good advice.
Final verdict, not going to paint it. It just so happens I have grown to adore it and now want to own an Alaska railroad spec SD70. I like that it provides me with a unique passenger/freight version of an SD70 that isnt like any other that I can model. Iām still going to super detail it to accurately match what ever prototype I target, and lightly weather the trucks and pilots. I guess in hindsight, Iām not keeping it original aside from the road name and factory paint, so I guess Iām combining all the advice given and running with it!
I will open a new thread for my other projects. Iām currently wrapping up my ex D&H Minnesota Commercial Alco C424, and starting my RS-27. Also working on a C30-7, and a B39-8e. All MinnCom. I m very new here and not sure what gose where on this site, but Iām gonna figure it out. Sure folks will help me out with that. 
Iāll add my welcome to LSC. This is a pretty loosely run ship as far as forum placement goes. No one will get upset over a post in the āwrong forumā. When in doubt, use the General forum.
Iām looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Thank You! I also was drawn to the unique Alaska dual purpose units by happy accident. I had obtained and Alaska SD70MAC shell/frame when I purchased some SD70MAC and SD40-2 shells from Charles Ro without specifying roads as I planned to strip and paint them. They were set aside. Then someone requested I draw up the flared radiators for the late production CSX MACās and while doing some research I found one other road had those MACās - Alaska! I remembered I had the shell so I HAD to do it.
Before you dive too far into that, take a look at this comparison between the SD70MAC and the SD70M-2. They have almost nothing in common. It would be easier to scratch build the whole thing rather than mod the USAT MAC.
Iām not exactly sure why, but UP SD70m units come in 5 different body types. three feature the dynamic brake behind the cab, one has flat (normal) style radiators, the second is almost exactly like the alaska set up with flared radiators, and the third is similar but has a notched nose almost like an SD70ACe only itās tapered in on the edges like the MAC and still has the drop edge windshield. The other two versions look almost like SD70AH units with the dynamic brakes at the rear of the long hood and have a different engine compartment. Itās my guess that UP converted these units into SD70m and m-2ās themselves similar to the SD40M and M-2ās built at random from SD40, SD40-2, SD45, AND SDP45ās . there seems to be no rime or reason to which SD70 carbody types received the M/M-2 treatment. Itās so bad that I actually had to visit the UP rouster sight to make heads or tails out of which unit number went to what body type in the 70m series. I can actually use your wonderful parts and a usa trains unit so long as I choose the right number. It appears the number series determines the locomotive type, and not the car body with UP āMā series locomotives from what I can tell. They do list them as phase 1, phase2, and further add A, AND B classificatios to the phases numbers. But with out pictures on the web site, you have to hunt down the road number elsewhere to actually see what carbody itās made from. 
it gets confusing quickly. 
All those pictures look to be as delivered SD70Mās by EMD. The Trainiax site has quite a comprehensive list of each lot UP purchased along with drawings. Trainiax Drawings
Description of the UP āphasesā and changes made
Locomotive Descriptions and Phases
I mention this because judging by the level of detail you put into the spreader, Iām assuming you wish to create a highly accurate model.
Wow, awesome spreader model!
Yes I absolutely want to build one as accurately as possible. And I m beginning to see the wisdom of completely building one from scratch the more I look at it. As you pointed out scratch building is much easier then kit bashing and in my opinion provides better results. I suppose going this route I can pick the most unique example of the UP bunch and start laying the ground work. I honestly wasnāt sure how UP acquired itās 70m units good stuff to know. I suppose I can head down to the south St Paul rail yards and see if thereās any around in the shops, or on the service tracks and if so, pester them till they escort me to take a close hard look at one in person. (Worth jumping through the hoops)
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Lessons learned from previous kitbashing experience. Most of the time I can evaluate the amount of work and determine itās not worth attempting but other times I have begun cutting and get too far into it to turn back. A perfect example would be my U25B to U33B Kitbash
A number of compromises needed to be made and today it sits on a shelf waiting for the day I feel itās worth completing.
Jenny, how do you feel about scratch building under pressure?
- limited funds
- construction limited to what you already have on hand
- one month to finish
- this year has a wheel theme
You might be interested in the annual LSC Mik challenge.
Well considering most of what I scratch build is generally cobbled together from scrap I scrounge up any how. And assembled on a college girls budget , Iām all in! I was reading about the Mik in another post what an amazing way for his friends and hobby community to remember him! I would be honored!
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wrong!
WE would be honored.
the hardest part is - you would have to sketch up a plan on a (paper)napkin.
This from experience and painting UP engines, do not paint the red stripes over the gray color, yellow is ok, but I prefer white under the red stripe. I will say here to get the correct color look I did paint the yellow up to the gray and did the red striping with decals on the yellow only, much easier to get a good sharp line with decals, paint much harder to do as you always get a paint line. The biggest reason for red over the yellow, or white is the decals are very transparent and if you want the red in the stripes to standout like the actual engines do than a light color underneath is needed. Red is a very hard color to work with as it is very transparent and does not cover well. When painting with red always try to use white as a basecoat, if your undercoat is a dark color it will take three times as much paint to cover well.
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With red/orange/yellow top coats I learned a trick from airbrush artists to use a pink primer. I hate painting yellow but once I primed in pink, it helped the yellow go down better.
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YES!!! thank you so much. I have had moments and muttered some things I am not proud of when it comes to applying UP striping. I eventually went down to auto zone and bought a roll of super thin very high quality pinstripes in the size I needed. The stuff works amazing, and conforms to the details rather weāll. Would much rather paint them though, so thanks for the tips!
wow!
amazing work
thanks for sharing
Jenny;
Donāt know whether you would want to try it, but I have seen photos of British OO locomotives being lined with a draftsmenās pen. Never tried it myself, so I canāt comment on the degree of difficulty, but my guess is that it takes a LOT of practice.
Best, David Meashey
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