You can now paint and decal the model, i mixed the gray color
from pictures to match Seaboard's gray. The decals are from
Microscale. Some of the BQ23-7s have seen several paint
schemes in their life. You even can paint it in CSX´s bright
future scheme. After you apply some coating to protect the
decals, there is one last challenging project – the windows. The
Bachmann cab had just glass plates added from behind, but
due to the thickness of the cab, that doesn´t look good. I used
a thin sheet of clear acrylic, 0.8 mm thick, and cut out every
window individually. This takes some time, but the result looks
great. I attached the windows with Micro Crystal Clear from
Microscale. The prototype has silver gaskets around the front
5
5. A close up of the front with the new handmade
windows. Silver gaskets to be done...
Kitbashing a BQ23-7 - 3
windshields. i was thinking about making a decal for that, but
a different way is to paint them with a thin silver pencil from a
craft shop. Fortunately, the light bar set from the B23-7 fits the
Bachmann cab with little to no modification, you just have to
cut the light shield a bit to prevent light from shining into the
cab. From Atlas´ AEM-7 are the two strobe lights on the cab –
just drill two holes and glue them into place.
You have now an unusual model.
6
6. Finished, with a slight weathering.
MRH-Mar 2014
