Wild West Train photos...hopefully

[Hitman]

This is my first attempt to import files in from photobucket...I hope it works, this time!!

Anyways, if it does, I promised a number of fellow LAF`s folks that I would attempt to post pictures of my painted Wild West train...the $6 Christmas Express that I picked up at WalMart a year ago this past Christmas.

This is what the train looked like before it was painted:


This is the painted version:


This is an upclose look at the engine:



This is an upclose look at the passenger car:


This is an upclose look at the scratch-built cattle car by my son:


This is an upclose look at the caboose:


The figures are by Artizan Design and Foundry.

I really hope this works.
Regards,
Hitman

[Hitman]

Horray...it worked. Thanks to those of you who helped me out in other posts. My next question is this:

How do you make the pictures a bit smaller?

Thanks in advance for any help provided.  Once that is ironed out I can now start sharing my other pictures, if anyone is interested??
Regards,
Hitman

[Galman]

Nice job on the train!  Tell your son he did an excellent job on the cattle car as well.  Im still trying to figure out the photo sizes too 

[Poiter50]

Lovely work, now are you going to post details of the work you did to achieve that standard?

This is my first attempt to import files in from photobucket...I hope it works, this time!!

Anyways, if it does, I promised a number of fellow LAF`s folks that I would attempt to post pictures of my painted Wild West train...the $6 Christmas Express that I picked up at WalMart a year ago this past Christmas.

This is what the train looked like before it was painted:


This is the painted version:


This is an upclose look at the engine:



This is an upclose look at the passenger car:


This is an upclose look at the scratch-built cattle car by my son:


This is an upclose look at the caboose:


The figures are by Artizan Design and Foundry.

I really hope this works.
Regards,
Hitman

[Hitman]

Painting the train was quite easy.
1) Remove the silly little stickers and any residue left from their backing as it will interfere with any paint used.
2) I prime everything in flat black using the "el cheapo" arcyllic spray paints from WalMart, but any flat black spray paint will do.
3) Pick 3 or 4 three different shades of paint to drybrush with. eg. for the passenger car - Deep River Green; Forest Green, Leaf Green and then Ocre. As you add each colour, make sure the brush is drier and drier to the point you don't think any paint is on it at all.
4) I then spray an arcyllic satin finish on with 2 very light coats.
5) I seal everything up with Testors dull coat.

For the engine and coal car, I used: black, dark charcoal gray and highlighted with hippo grey.

For the caboose: Russett, Heritage Brick, and Santa Red

For the Cattle Car: Burnt Umber, Autumn Brown, Palamino, and then Barnwood.

Most of the paints are from Americana or Deltaceram Coat paints. I try to buy them on sale for around $1.

Hope that helps...and thanks for the compliments. I'll pass on your praise to my son.
Regards,
Hitman

[Svennn]

Very nice job. I sometimes use those cheap craft paints on my miniatures too.

There is a resizing facility within photobucket but can be a little fiddly so I tend to do it in Picasa (free download from google) before I upload them. The nice bit about picasa is you choose the width in pixels so its dead easy.

[Hitman]

Svenn;
Thanks. I'll try to find it and give it a try.

[Hawkeye]

Hitman - that train looks great! I have TWO of those trains (I got the second one to get more straight track sections), and I have to say I've been putting off painting it/them for a while now. After seeing your photos, though, and reading about how you did it, I'm looking forward to it now!
Great work - it really looks great. I also love the cattle car conversion. Good to hear, as well, that all it takes to prime it is acrylic spray paint from Walmart! I'll get some today! (well, actually, I won't as there's a bit of an ice storm here at the moment. maybe tomorrow!).
Thanks for sharing!

[Hitman]

Thanks Hawkeye. I got two trains for the same reason...more straight track pieces, but I also wanted at least 2 passenger cars!! Where do you live to be getting such nasty weather this time of year!!  Mind you they are calling for a slight chance of snow tomorrow or Monday and I live in Southern Ontario!!

[Hawkeye]

I live in Kansas, Hitman. Apparently Dodge City had drifts of six feet of snow yesterday, but where I live is in a belt that got hit by an ice storm - trees and tree limbs down all over town!
I may pick your brains about the painting of the train again in the future, by the way. It really looks great. Like you, I got the second set for the extra track, but it's nice to have a second passenger car as well!

[Hitman]

Hawkeye;
I didn't even know Kansas City or Dodge City got hit so hard. We ended up with 54F weather yesterday and today it is about 50ish with a lot of rain. Many areas around us have flooded quite badly. We had a lot more snowfall this year than usual, but it has been gone for weeks now...thank goodness.

As for picking my brains on the train...no problems...if I can help!!
Regards,
Hitman

[Hawkeye]

Well, I'm down south of Wichita, so we missed most of the snow, but the ice-storm was pretty bad. It's all melting now, so I guess that's the winter's last effort before the spring arrives. I hope it is, anyway!
A question about your train - have you built, or do you plan on building, a train depot for it? It's one of the pieces of terrain on my 'to do' list, so I was just curious. The opening of 'Once Upon a Time in the West' keeps popping into my head!

[Hitman]

Hawkeye;
I am actually in the process of building a train depot. I picked up and painted a water tank tower from RLBPS, ehich was made by Frontline:

http://www.rlbps.com/frontline/25WB7.jpg

I also made a large Cattle loading station...lots of fence (Ertl brand) with a number of smaller corraled sections and a scratch built loading ramp which fits the cattle car perfectly in height. I will try to get the pictures for you.

I have 'Once Upon a Time in the West', and watched the introduction just for inspiration...I need to pull that movie out and watch it again...what a classic!!
Regards,
Hitman

[Hawkeye]

We're obviously thinking along the same lines, then. My idea is to build the train depot before I move on to painting (and, where necessary, converting) the train, as that way I'll have a building (and the track, of course) for a game anyway. In my mind, the train depot is going to be on the edge of town, so it can definitely be included in some adventures. Also, I want to convert a couple of the rail cars - like you, I want to turn one into a cattle car - so your idea makes a lot of sense, and sounds cool too. Looking forward to seeing pictures once you have them.
Of course, what I also need to do is find some players in the area, convert some of the local GW players by doing a few demo games, or find a Convention somewhere with an emphasis on historical games (preferably, one within driving distance so I can transport terrain and models!).
Speaking of which - do you know of any Cons in the Mid-West? Or anyone else on the forum, for that matter?

P.S. Forgot to mention - I've had my eye on that water tower for a while as well. I'm going to have a try at scratch-building one first, but if that doesn't work out, I know what I'll be getting!

[Hitman]

Hawkeye;
Some of the conventions I know of are:
1)Little Wars - Lincolnshire - just outside of Chicago (has already come and gone...it was in February this year due to the convention centre getting a make-over. Normally it would have been this coming weekend)

2) Rockcon in Illinois - sometime in the spring...not sure when.

3) Nashcon in Nashville, Tenn. in early June (I think)

4) Historicon...unfortunately its in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I am going to it this year.  You should think about it as well. It is a great time (July 16 - 19)

Other than that, I hear there is one in Kansas City but I don't remember the name of it.

As for the train depot...I opted to get the train done first, the cattle yard, and then get the train depot built...sort of build the town by the tracks, then build the depot as an afterthought.

Actually what happened is that I bought most of my buildings from Arnica, Montana. After the order arrived, they released the train station, then ended up selling the business off shortly thereafter, and now Hawgleg productions own the Arnica, Montana rights but has of yet started producing the buildings or make them available for sale...so I got tired of waiting and decided to build my own. I have it pieced together, now I just have to finish it off, paint it and base it, but I am waiting for warmer weather so that I can base it outside...my wife doesn't like all the sand in the house

Anyways, I have about 25 buildings all painted up and about 100 townfolks, Mexicans and so forth right now with about 100 to go.

By the way, I saw your post about the stagecoach. If you can find the pencil sharpener stagecoach...snag it quick. It is a great size and with a little bit of work, the sharpener end can be hidden, you don't have to build it, and it will paint up nicely. I wish I could find one really, really, cheap!!
Hitman