NYCS "Dirty Girls Gone Wild": weathered 70MACs


mtrpls

mtrpls

Ignorance is Patriotic
So, after numerous comments about how my modern-day New York Central engines were simply too clean - while the rest of my rolling stock was weathered - I decided to weather two NYCS SD70MACs. I was VERY, VERY hesitant to do this at first, what with all the time and emotion I've invested into painting and operating these engines. I decided to be brave, however, and experiment by weathering two engines as a trial. After the results, I have decided to move onto the rest of the fleet.

The first two engines to get weathered are #613 and #757, and they now hold a very special place in my heart. You'll notice the trucks are weathered differently, and this was intentionally done to simulate the engines operating in different parts of the country; #613 just came back to home rails after power sharing with the Rock Island in the desert southwest. I didn't want them to look the same... it is my goal to give each engine its own personality.

Without further ado, here are the locomotives photographed on my friend Don Meeker's layout. Comments and criticisms are welcome!

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Wow, a ton of photos! :)

Nice, and it's really nice a subtle, very realistic. You should add a very light dark brown highlights where the moving parts on those stearing trucks are, like the UP units.

I can now accept them as real, because they're a prototype all their own!
 
Thanks Miles!

You are right about the engines being "real" - in fact, I was surprised to discover that weathering has given these "fantasy" engines a sense of legitimacy. One of the biggest goals modern-day fallen flag modelers have in modeling our concept is that we strive to convince people that our concepts are REAL. I believe the weathering goes a long way towards achieving this: it takes a clean fantasy model, which looks like it was painted up for novelty purposes, and legitimizes the entire concept by adding a real-life characteristic (road grime) that would never be found on a "display case" model.

Fact of the matter is that the weathering has not only enhanced the HO scale locomotives, but the entire modern-day New York Central concept. All of a sudden, it appears as if the locos were pressed into real-world service. Yes, the modern-day New York Central System is REAL! :)

PS - in addition to weathering, I also superdetailed the locos... adding an MU cable, grabirons on the snowplow, painting the edges of the steps white, painting key details on the fuel tank, and the crowning achievement (quite literally)... a Nathan K5LA horn from Overland.
 
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Looks great!

Now. When are we going to get some loaner power down here in the Ft. Worth district? I think a little Texas dust would look great!:D
 
mtrpls,

Looks like those units are finally getting a workout!! Outstanding weather job!! Between you, Zephyr(Eric) and macjet, keep those fallen flags alive & operating!!

Regards,
 
dito, nice job weathering the loco's, as said nice and low key, the balance looks right to me.
 
Again, great work, Matt! I especially like how they are weathered just right. By that I mean that they are dirty enough to look like they get used a lot, yet not too dirty to show they are relatviely new and that the railroad takes good care of them.
 
Excellent work! So many people think weathering means creating an old rundown rust bucket, but even new engines have a bit of dirt on them. Your weathering is just right and helps with the realism of the pictures. Congratulations on the arrival of the "working" NYC!
 
I agree with all the others - just the right amount of weathering to make them look like they've been on on the road a few years. The old NYC never let engines get too filthy before they were washed or repainted so it fits with the theme of the "real" NYC surviving until today.
 
Very nice work!!! I don't care if the New York Central is a fallen flag or not, those are awesome looking engines!!!!
 
Zephyr and mtrpls, could you guys PM me, I've got a freelanced RR called the Great Northern Pacific, basically a merged Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road.
 
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