tery louver castings, and the rain gutter above the window to
make room for sunshades.
I used some Archer transfers to simulate the new louvers
needed. Picture [8] shows the new louvers on the battery box
and the short hood.
Lastly I added new 18-inch grab irons on both hoods, m.u. cable
receptacle stands, modified the pilot a little bit by cutting away
the footboards, step plates and installed a brass sunshade above
the windows.
The observant reader will note that I omitted armrests and wind
deflectors. That is true, and I will add these in the future as soon
as I have received them in the mail.
Painting & decaling
I had purchased several
bottles of PollyScale acrylic
paints before Testors an-
nounced they would discon-
tinue them.
I airbrushed all my paint,
using a mix of approximately
8
8. The Archer transfers
have been added
to simulate the new
louvers. A prototype
photo was used
to determine the
locations.
SP GP9 commuter loco - 5
80% paint and 20% thinner. Distilled water works, but a proper
acrylic thinner is best.
First I sprayed the loco with primer gray. This was followed with
a few coats of SP scarlet red on both hood ends. After the scarlet
red dried, I masked off the areas that had to remain red, before I
sprayed the SP gray.
Next the shell received a coat of gloss acrylic lacquer to form a
smooth base for decaling. I used Microscale decals for the let-
tering and the wings. I was very pleased to find that the color
match of these and the paint I had chosen was very accurate to
my eyes. They blend even better after another top coat of clear
matte finish was applied.
The clear matte finish dull coat is a little coarser and gives a very
good base to use with weathering powders etc.
9
9. Painting in progress, I began with SP scarlet red.
MRH-Sep 2014
