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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.

I've used the Joe's rail painter and it is fairly straight forward. He has several colors you can buy but the applicator is easy and effective.

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.

Glad to hear you have seen the light and came back from the dark side.:)

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.

Rare? If it is not referring to a grilled steak, then I want demonstrated characteristics and not mere verbiage.

"...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...

Loads look very good. Great work on the tie-downs. How many HO gallons of Armor-All did the tires on the wheeled loader require?

I like the cars and the load is very nicely done.

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...

I use the NMRA standard adding weight to the bottom containers only. The real challenge are the spline cars. Not enough places to get weight low for a good C of g.

You can go to JC Whitney and buy them by the box. "Coated Adhesive Wheel Weights", part 314-30, 30 strips of 12, 1/4 oz segments. I think I paid $32. Way cheaper than anywhere else I found. Each strip is 3 oz, so that's 90 ounces total.

CJ - Thanks for the suggestions. I am strangely compelled to invest yet more time in these locomotives. Oddly, the last one purchased, from an early 80s run, is very quiet yet the trucks, frame, etc are visually undifferentiated from the earlier grinders. Sounds like a plot line for Fringe.

UP - same here. Too many 70s and 80s locomotives that have been detailed. I just purchased Detail West eye bolts to invest even more time into old tooling technology. The CSX Es (along with their AHM B-units) as well as the SP bloody nose E and FP7s will become station or fueling station...

I use PollyScale and my first attempt was 99% isopropyl in a 10 - 1 ratio but the paint coagulated. Threw that out and remixed with filtered water at 70 - 30. No problem. I usually spray at 90 - 10 but wanted more pigment to make the process quicker.