I have 7 Proto E8s of various vintages, including the latest release, which operate flawlessly. Three have been converted to Tsunami sound so far and they still operate very well.
When I converted the first unit, I removed the separate weight to make room for the decoder and 2 RailMasters...
That's not a GE. SD70ACe?
Either way, it looks real nice. Looking at the sequence of posts, is the fuel tank been shaved to clear the trucks? Or the trucks to clear the tank? Looks like lots of room is there.
Keep in mind to have some graffiti weathered, as if it has been on the car for a while. When you do a car's side with multiple graffiti, this will give you a look of various vintages of tags.
On my "never uncouple" consists, I remove the KD arms after the first car behind the motive power. And some motive power consists have a dedicated operating direction - I remove the KD arms on the front unit to avoid conflicts with snow plows, etc and to improve the aesthetics.
I have read that during the Spanish inquisition, model railroaders were punished for using horn-hook couplers. I am haunted by the images of the torture to this day.
The bishop of the Kadee province was suspected of collusion with the tribunal judiciary.
Lost the connection of the OP and having a beer on the porch. But if I do, its my beer and my porch. And in our town, it is not a violation of any law so no issue with a situational ethic.
"...But I would argue that the money used by my municipal government to pay for it came from my pockets." No offense, but that sounds like situational ethics. It is the park district's property.
I agree with the previous poster that you should consider your time into the equation. There...
Some of the units appear to be weathered lightly. Some consider changing the road number to make them custom. Noticing a few are still sub-$70 which would be good if it holds.
Re the difference in color or degree of weathering of one side compared with the other, who says they have to match? We don't see both sides at once and I suggest any difference, even significant, only reinforces the illusion of a bigger model railroad and a different train when it makes its...
Heat from lights? Try the Arizona Sun in July. I don't run in the middle of the day for obvious reasons but have done some running when the shade returned to the east side of the yard. The air temp was still above 110. Much hotter than that and the beer doesn't stay cold long enough to drink...