Colorado Consolidation

[Kevin Strong]

The latest off the workbench...







More here: http://tinyurl.com/DRGW350

Later,

K

[Paul W.]

Nice Job Kevin! It looks great   

[Charlie Mutschler]

Nice work, Kevin.  Looks great, and quite plausible.  The pilot deck tool box is a very nice defining touch.  The weathering job is very nice.  Evidence of hard use, but not so dirty as to be a sign of a lack of maintenance. 

Charlie M.
-30-

[grumpy]

Kevin
You have done a very professional job of modifying the  2-8-0 . I have one that has only been run long enough to determine that it does run. I consider it  a beautiful loco as it is . Please consider this as just an honest question . It is not my intention to question anyones  intentions but why does anyone find it necessary to modify a loco that looks so good to begin with.
Don

[Kevin Strong]

...why does anyone find it necessary to modify a loco that looks so good to begin with.

The short answer is "because it's fun!"

The longer answer is to get something more suitable to the exact aesthetic whims of the modeler, or to get closer to a specific prototype.

There are very few pieces of equipment on my roster that I would be embarrassed to run as they came out of the box. Bachmann's and Accucraft's 1:20.3 stuff is top drawer, and if I were modeling a freelance narrow gauge railroad, I'd likely just letter the cars for my railroad, add a bit of weathering and be perfectly happy. However, since I model a specific railroad (or in this case, the gentleman I did this for models a specific railroad), I look at the commercial models as starting points. How close are they to what my chosen prototype ran, or did they even run anything close? So, everything I buy generally gets some level of customization, be it new paint, or a complete workover. Again, it gets back to the "fun" quotient. I enjoy recreating history, and the research that goes into it.

Yeah, there are days where I wish I wasn't so focused on a specific prototype. I think the new Articulated's a beautiful piece--one I'd probably just weather a bit and be perfectly happy with. However, such a locomotive would never have been necessary on a small branchline narrow gauge operation like what I model, so I can't really justify buying it. Instead, I'll spend my money on other locos that can be built into models of my chosen prototype.

Later,

K

[Casey_Jones]

Kevin,  great job! looks awesome,  thanks for posting the pics

[az2rail]

SWEET!!!!

I have been wanting to do something simular to mine. I hope you don't mine if I kind of copy you.

Bruce

[grumpy]

Kevin
Thank you for your explanation.
Don