BobbyD posted:Joe Stachler posted:And if you'll indulge me, I'd like to make a few suggestions for you to ponder. First, are the stripes on the tender adhesive striping? If so, I believe the top one is a bit high. It should line up a bit above the bottom edge of the cab window. It's kind of a tough call because I see how you were trying to position it relative to horizontal lines of rivets.
In any case, congratulations on this accomplishment. As others have said, I'd like to see it in action.
Joe, the stripe may be off because the running board near the cab is higher than the window? At least on this engine it is lower and not being a NYC fan I didn't pay any attention until reading your post. A great model and conversion, I'd like to see all the models together and running too!
(The photo directly above is, of course, a J3a with a PT tender; my model is of the J3a-style streamlining applied to a J1e with a semi-streamlined 12-wheel tender.)
Well, I didn't expect to see this thread again. Thanks for the compliments. Yeah, the stripe is not quite right per the cab, but pretty right per the tender, and when you are doing a project where so much is "about" right, all those moving parts and approximations can lead to some compromises. The stripe is a decal, BTW.
The silver/aluminum drivers - I thought about this, but I like the looks of the flat gray Lionel drivers so much that I decided to stick with "they're real dirty" as my internal story. I may lighten them with powders to better denote a dirty aluminum color.
The 700E lubricator could indeed be done, but I chose not to because, well, I was tired of messing with it and ready to get finished.
I thought seriously about using a brass J3a "Dreyfuss" as a starting point for the Mercury 5344, and turning it into a J1 where needed. Easier to work with, actually. But, as the Lionel 700E and descendants were good models of the very 5344 that I wanted to represent, I could not let that go. The eventual visible cast-in boiler details were inherently correct.
I do intend to "line up"my 5344's for a photo. If it turns out well I'll post it. My workshop/train building is undergoing a small enlargement even as I write this (between the standard daily sub-tropical rains and TS Gordon that just blew through town - literally), so any RR'ing will have to wait for the completion and re-organization.
