# Something new, something old



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Lately I've been trying to get some projects done that have kind of languished for a while...

First off, I finally finished my the first passenger car for my railroad. It's an old Bachmann combine that I repainted in my RR's colors and lettering. The decals were provided by Stan Cedarleaf. 

I had started this several years ago. I added aluminum tape to the roof to give it a more realistic appearance, prior to painting it. I also removed the couplers from the trucks and added body mounted couplers, as well as metal wheels. I had planned to replace most of the plastic details with more accurate parts and addition details, but decided it wasn't worth it. I'd rather wait until I can build something from scratch, and then go nuts with the details. Anyway, here's how it looks. The paint is actually burgundy but for some reason it looks very red in the photos:












At the moment, it has no interior lighting because I lost those parts. At some point I'll put in LEDs. I also have a couple coaches that I plan to repaint to match, for a complete passenger train.

Next up was to refurbish some of my oldest structures. The hoist house of the Cliffside Mine needed a little work -- the paint on the door and windows had badly faded, and the door had fallen off. They look much better now:












The ruins of the blacksmith shop, at the abandoned Monolith Mine, was also faded. Here's how it looks after touching up the paint. Someday I want to build a replacement for it using my current modeling techniques:












The biggest job was refurbishing the water tower near the town of Dos Manos. The supports were made from real wood (western red cedar), and most of the paint had peeled off. The wood on top of the platform was heavily weathered and worn. The tank also needed repainting. Most of all, the original spout needed to be replaced -- not only was it beginning to fall apart, I was never happy with it to begin with. Now I have the skills to make a better one.

In this photo you can see the old spout, with the new spout below it. The old spout was made from cardboard tubes coated with fiberglass resin, and spray painted silver. The mounting brackets were crudely made from brass rod. The new spout is entirely made of brass:












The prototype for my model is an old San Diego & Arizona RR water tower located at Dos Cabesas, in the Anza-Borrego desert. The prototype has an unusual, hinge-like hardware. Without any good photos of the tower when its spout was still intact, it's difficult to determine exactly how the spout was attached, and how it operated. My original spout worked but did not seem very practical or realistic. When I built the new brass spout, I tried the configuration shown in the next photo:












That didn't really look right, and didn't work very well either. So here's the configuration I settled on:












Here's how the finished tower looks, with new paint and new spout:










































The foundation has small brass pins sticking up, which fit into holes in the ends of the support timbers, to hold it in place.


----------



## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

..in the back ground of the 3rd pic is a steel deck bridge set on a cement pier, can you share your methods for making it..?? THX!! 

And the Burgundy looks great - one of my choices also!!! 

You just keep doing incredible work Ray... 

Dirk -DMS Ry.


----------



## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

simply amazing.


----------



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By SD90WLMT on 22 Jun 2013 02:50 PM 
..in the back ground of the 3rd pic is a steel deck bridge set on a cement pier, can you share your methods for making it..?? THX!! 

And the Burgundy looks great - one of my choices also!!! 

You just keep doing incredible work Ray... 

Dirk -DMS Ry. 
Thanks! Here's a link to my page that tells how I made my plate girder bridges:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Plate_Girder_Bridges.html


----------



## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Awesome, Ray.... Just awesome...


----------



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Thanks Stan! Your decals sure turned out great!


----------



## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Thanks Ray, and sorry - I was interested in the cement piers the bridge sits on.... 

Dirk


----------



## Rod Fearnley (Jan 2, 2008)

Amazing modeling. 
Ray I have the internals from a Bachman Coach spare if you would like them?


----------



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By SD90WLMT on 23 Jun 2013 12:04 AM 
Thanks Ray, and sorry - I was interested in the cement piers the bridge sits on.... 

Dirk 
The upper part of the piers were cast in wooden forms. Then I cast the bases on site, using forms made of foam core art board cut to fit the rocks, and hot-glued in place. I filled these partway with concrete, let it set, then filled it to the brim and added the upper part of the pier.


----------



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Here are some pics of my latest progress...

First up, I recently finished converting my 2-6-0 4-6-0 to battery power, and also installed an Aristocraft "Revolution" receiver in it. While I was at it, I also made a few small cosmetic changes -- I painted the cab roof silver, to better match the rest of my rolling stock. I also painted the cylinder ends black, and I added some subtle weathering. The heaviest weathering is on the stack and smokebox:
































I also finished a coach, the second car of my passenger train. I have a third coach in the works, and a fourth planned:
































Enjoy!


----------



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Oops, typo! That should read "4-6-0", not 2-6-0.


----------



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Ray, As always your work is outstanding and beautiful!


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

I've so enjoyed seeing your work in GRR, and it's great that you're "here" as well -- ! 
Awesome stuff!!


----------



## Lake Valley #1 (Dec 31, 2012)

Magnificent, Ray! If you haven't 'scored' your coach interior, I've got stuff out of one I converted to 20.3 and can't use it. If you want it, let me know, and I'll ship it off to ya. Contact at: [email protected] I've got the lighting stuff too, if you're needing it. I'm going with LEDs and batteries, and some seats from Accucraft. I can't however recommend converting these coaches to 1:20.3! It's a MAJOR 'facelift'! I've enjoyed it, but you've really gotta want to do it. LOL Thanks for sharing your modeling skills with us 'wannabes'! Jeff


----------

