# Creating a military diesel (CAMO?)



## Festus (Jun 28, 2010)

I will finally have a mainline to put my largest locos and pieces of rolling stock on and can finally watch them roll by. I will have 4 sidings and plan to have all 4 filled with different trains I have collected and hoped and planned to run. The sidings are as much about being a display case as they are about anything else, and although I may go with RR Concepts to automate things, for now, things will remain manually controlled. The mainline is simply a long rectangle with 15' curves on all 4 corners. HOWEVER, my daughter, who loves my railroad, and has a seizure disorder that destroys her brain one seizure at a time, to the point where now, she can't remember how to write her own name at age 32, saw me laying down a wye with a reversing loop on one end of my mainline and said: "Oh Daddy, I love the way that loop goes around that big rock and the tree. Is it going to stay that way?" Now how can I say no to that? Therefore, I've added a wye and reversing loop, but they are optional and can easily be bypassed. 
One of the trains I will have on display, and plan to run around the mainline, is a military train. Five of the cars are made by USA, flat cars with military loads: helicopter, Cobra Helicopter, M3A2 Half-track, #1761 w/cannon, a pair of M1A1 tanks aboard, and I have accumulated many more military vehicles myself that will require flat cars so I can, if my sidings allow, have 17 or more pieces of rolling stock behind my military diesel. Plus, I plan to convert at least two box cars with pain jobs, to military use only, which will bring my total up near 20. One of those will be a 50 footer. Which brings me to the reason for writing. 
I would love to be the proud owner of an Aristo-Craft US Army U25B diesel, painted that ugly olive drab green, but I don't have one and can't afford to buy one. I have trade bait (including NIB) but have been unable to find a suitable tradee or trader with which to make a trade. Therefore, I'll go with PLAN B. 
This consists of me choosing one or more diesels to paint either plain old olive drab military green that we are all so familiar with, or even better, that new desert storm CAMO. The choices for my military diesel include: a U25B (road names don't matter, yeah?) or an FA-1/FB-1 both New Havens. I mention THEIR road names because I also have another FA-1 New Haven (I think) and a U25B New Haven so even if I sacrifice one or two New Havens I will still have one or two on my mainline pulling their fair share. 
The thought of painting a diesel of any make/model and size doesn't excite me, but the end result will be worth it. And if I had to choose, rather than simply painting a U25B either olive drab or CAMO, I'd really like to paint an AB and do them both in CAMO because I've never seen a pair painted for military use before; at least not in G scale. As for O scale, which is the only other I am familiar with and/or care about, I'm not sure, but I have the same problem with THAT scale: no military loco but lots of military rolling stock, including a box full that was a project made by a father and son, then sold by the father when his son lost interest so those are very precious to me.
Has anyone had any experience painting locos/diesels camo colors? Are there decals available once the painting is done from Aristo-Craft maybe that will make them look even more official? I've seen the diesel from Aristo-Craft marked US Army and it's nice, but also very plain. 
I think I'd settle for an article or two on how to paint the body of a diesel. I think it's hard to screw up a camo paint job, but I may be wrong. Locally, I haven't been able to find a volunteer to do the painting but I have lots of people willing to allow me to photograph their camo uniforms. 
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Just having this military train on a siding for all to see will be a marvelous sight. Several of the tanks I built myself are fully operational so I may have fun that way too.
I also have a Buddy L Military starter set but the 2-6-2 loco is so small and so goofy looking compared to the loads it will be required to pull, I'd rather simply park it on a siding somewhere, trade the loco and tender, or try to put the loco on a flat car and add it to the military train I'm creating. The two flat cars will come in handy though.
The 2nd line, running along the wye and the mainline by the sidings is a glorified triple dead-end line for a hand car or trolley or any number of other things I have. It will cross the mainline just below the switch at the bottom of the wye. I put it there just to create a little excitement as people try to get their trolley or hand car across the mainline safely. Mr Adams would be proud. /SIZE]


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## josephunh (Mar 27, 2013)

Hi Festus, Glad to see someone else wanting to do more military train modeling. As for painting the engines there are not a lot of people who do that as it can be hard to do and get a good finish on them. You may consider looking at Shawmutt car shops as they supposedly do a good job. Sadly if you are not aware Aristocraft is our of business so getting that loco will be very hard to come by. Have you considered the GP-9's that USA makes? These are prototypical real engines the military has had. 

Else the other engine I think you are referring to is the Union Pacific SD40 during the first gulf war that ran for a time.










It is a sharp engine but sadly no one in G Scale has done a paint scheme like this and you are right would need to be a custom job.

I am working on some kits currently for military train as well.


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## Festus (Jun 28, 2010)

Your photos are great. Thanks. The camo diesel especially, but the UP pulling a military flat car too. I'm just anxious to get my military train on the track, and I don't care if it fits on the siding or not. It will be at least 15 cars long, and more to come. I want to make that old HUGE WWII German cannon car. I have a photo of it somewhere but can't locate it. I believe it was on at least 4 flat cars that were connected by two flat cars on top of those, then finally the cannon, about 75' long, or so it appeared. 

I also have many from USA: tanks, helicopters and such, plus I bought and out together a few tanks that actually work so that will be fun, and they too will need flat cars. 

The Buddy L set will come in handy as the 2 flat car, which didn't come with a load, now have one. 

As for my CAMO military diesel: It will be a New Haven diesel, either a U25B or an FA-1. If It's an FA-1, then I may include the New Haven FB-1 also as I've never seen an FA-1 in camo on a military train, but for its age, it makes sense. It could very well still be in service. And I like the "WOW" factor from those in the know who visit and see such things that they know never existed in the real world. To me, it will just look fantastic; especially an AB going down the track in CAMO, pulling 15+ military cars. 

Tell me which I should choose. My inventory shows I should still have 2 New Haven U25B's. One of them I found today, but it's still NIB, never been used. I'm sure I remember a used one, either with or without a box, but used none the less, and if I find it, then it'll get a CAMO paint job immediately as I don't need 2 New Haven U25B's running around my mainline. I also show I have a New Haven ABA so even if I CAMO an AB, i'll still have an A unit in New Haven colors. It's the B unit I'll be wrestling with. Should it remain New Haven or should it get a Camo paint job? It ought to get which ever it will be seen the most with. The only other AB units I have are UP, and II have an ABBA. I sold my SP AB units. So, tell me what you think I ought to do. I'll check with the recommended paint people and see if I can afford them. Thanks for your reply.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

1/32nd scale models are good to look for. Being closer to 1/29 scale, I used them on my military train. Cobra chopper is available as is a 5 ton wrecker truck.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Festus;

Not exactly what you are striving for, but I thought you would enjoy the strange mechanical beasties on this site. http://wio.ru/rr/ww2bdr.htm These vehicles actually saw combat in WWII.

Enjoy,
David Meashey


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## josephunh (Mar 27, 2013)

Festus, While it is your railroad and you can do what you want, I myself like to try to get more things period and to scale. While USA does make some military cars I have been annoyed that they are not the proper cars for any of that hence why I am working on building the proper cars from the GAL Line Kit. While I am not quite a rivet counter I like things to be as close as I can possibly make them. So to me I would paint up the U25B's in my opinion as F units where never really used in the military area, but that is me and you are free to do what ever you like. As for painting goes if it is not something you do I recommend saving up and giving to a professional as they can really make it look great using the proper paints and air brushes. You don't get quite the same quality out of can of spray paint.


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## Festus (Jun 28, 2010)

I agree with the professionals vs my feeble attempt with a can of spray paint, especially after seeing the graffiti they did for me. It is fantastic and looks like the real thing. I tried some on a water tank I made and it just looks like I drew it on there, not like a couple of scale graffiti clowns did it. As for which ones I'll end up using, I'm leaning toward the U25B now. I have a Canadian Pacific AND the New Haven, which is still NIB, but it'll be the one to get CAMO'ed anyway because I only have that one Canadian Pacific and want to keep it. I have a daughter up there with 3 grandsons and I like to keep them in mind as much as possible. My graffiti guy will put their names on the side of a box car and that too will help. HOWEVER, others have said how easy camo is to paint so I'm torn. I am trying to find a pro who will do the work in exchange for G scale rolling stock, which I have in excess right now. I found one to paint the skull that will be skewered on a chopper sword facing backwards behind my sissy bar on my 1975 Ironhead AMF Sportster, with red LED lights in the eye sockets that light up whenever I hit the brakes. She's gonna paint flames around the mouth and eyes, so I'll ask her about CAMO on a model train. SUCH A TOUGH HOBBY!!!!


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## Beddhist (Dec 17, 2013)

There was a discussion with pictures of the big guns over on https://www.gscalecentral.net/rolling-stock-freight/leopold-a-challenge/


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

If you use the Alco FA and FB (which I think would look awesome) you can use the old Lionel 221 as inspiration:


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