An MBTA fantasy paint job

So suppose the New Haven had completed electrification from New Haven up all the way to South Station by the 1950s.
Flash forward to the meltdown of the Penn Central around c.1974 PC black GG-1s had been hauling trains down to Grand Central regularly. the MBTA inherits a few for Providence commuter service.

This is an N scale Arnold GG-1 originally five stripe red. very old, but runs ok. rather like the GG-1s the MBTA might have aquired in 1975.
The purple stripe and yellow nose panels are Microscale Trim-film. the yellow pin stripes are Microscale stripes, unfortunately a distinctly different yellow from the trim film. a hard lesson to learn.
The T roundels are just paper cutouts, I havent printed them on decal paper yet.


waiting for yellow gothic numerals. I would gladly entertain suggestions about how to place numbers on side,
and any other criticism is welcome.

the car is just an old minitrix toy, but good practice with Trim film.

ROFLMAO.

It's so ugly, it's beautiful. I think you did a damn nice job on the paint, though. I would consider placing the road numbers in the purple band, at the "ends" of the body, like Penn Central did with the large white numerals. You might also want to consider a black road number under the headlight or under the purple band on the nose.

Did I mention I like your adaptation of the MBTA scheme onto this difficult carbody? Very nice.

-otto-

HAHAHHAHAHHAHAH!Aaaaa!!

I love it! Just after I finished throwing up from looking at it I started throwing up from laughing after liking it so much!



--JSW

I think that it's great, too ! I especially like the meticulous job that you've done edging the coach windows in black. That's not easy. I like the concept also because it truely might have been, albeit for a short duration, but still, could have happened. I'll give you another one to fantasize about- it's one that I think about. What if your time frame was 50 years previously, and electrification went to South Station when it was built ? Then imagine that the NH and BERy work together and put to use that underground loop in the basement of South Station. I believe that that would have changed history as regards to the Dorchester Tunnel. So, you would have a need for southbound commuter rail/rapid transit out of South Station heading to Dorchester as well as using the Boston-Providence Main Line to West Roxbury or Needham. What equipment do you use ? It's got to be a short wheelbase motor to handle the South Station Loop and obviously electric, but that's about it as far as requirements are concerned. Something along the lines of an S or T Motor ? Interurbans ? How about a train of Niles interurbans in McGinnis ? Later, an FP-9 would have worked in electric mode, but then again, why would NH bother with diesel ?

thanks, gents for the positive responses. Ugly it is, MBTA fans bear that burden, but remember it was designed in the garish 70's
I'm still waiting for a PRR foamer to have a melt down !

the thing I learned to do which I hadnt anticipated was developing the curve to cut out of the trim film to wrap around the curved noses. A bit of trial and error, and futzing with old drafting ellipse templates - I have a feel for it, but not the math yet.

About the number placement - I agree that large yellow or black numbers belong in the purple band, ref: http://bmcdr.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=2095619 , in keeping with that of the mid 70's FP10's , but the air intake grill on the "right" ends presents a problem, I would have preferred to have a number on both ends, having the number on the left end only throws the symmetry overboard. placing them inside the grill, under the windows, kind of too close together... thats my dilemma with the numbers .
Too late I learn that some of the GG-1s did not have these grills, so I could have sanded them off and solved the problem that way, oh well next time, Ill have a variant.
what about adding those FP-10 back lit number boards ?!

As to more equipment for the fantasy South Station, I also have a NH EP-5 in the works, thought the shell isnt quite ready to paint yet.
Those also made it onto the PC roster.
Id also like to do a little freelance box cab, for those tunnel jobs, for example, (Paul you are talking way over my head there, I have alot to learn about how the system is layed out in that part of the world, I dont think Ive ever ridden the red line past Andrews sq.)
Ill look through the Pennsy electric roster and see if there is something i could cobble up on a RS-3 chassis. i think that would be solid maroon with a silver stripe like GP-9 1922 http://bmcdr.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=2086205

Eliphaz: Interesting model of a GG1 in MBTA colors-I would also have added one with the McGuiness NH colors for the time period...virtually anything would have been better then PC black...

Imagine if the NH had electrified to Boston back during their history how things would be...

Even though NJDOT had title for some GG1s back during the late 70s/early 80s era none received the NJDOT or for that matter the NJ Transit color scheme...

I would have liked the 80s era MBTA burgundy color scheme on them perhaps even better...

That model looks just fine-an N gauge model like that must have been tough to paint...HO scale would have been hard enough...

MACTRAXX

How about an Fl-9 in Grey Ghost ?

the Grey ghost and solid black arent terribly interesting schemes.
Too bad the E8s didnt last longer. I have an N scale E-8 I was thinking of doing in the full maroon and silver.

Eliphaz wrote:the Grey ghost and solid black arent terribly interesting schemes.

I feel just the opposite. A modified grey ghost on a FL-9 would be striking, I believe. RR doesn't have the large door space, so to compensate, I'd suggest a canary gloss yellow nose running back into the sides to a design culminating in a yellow zig-zagged lightning bolt. Yellow rear end. Battleship gloss grey everything else.

Are you thinking of adapting an FL-9 or E unit to how the busses and Orange line cars were painted?
http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?18435
http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?18435
something like this

Nice work, Eliphaz. No, you couldn't really do a transit "Grey Ghost" on an F unit due to the fact that the doors are not prominent. That way, it looks all grey with a tiny touch of yellow. Instead, all high-gloss battleship grey, roof and sides. Gloss canary yellow nose and rear end with a stylized wide "lightning bolt" in yellow running back from the front end to about 3/4 of the way down the sides. (symbolizing electricity) The lightning bolt starts as a continuation of the front end and turns into a "bolt". That would be stunning !

Eliphaz wrote:This is an N scale Arnold GG-1 originally five stripe red. very old, but runs ok. rather like the GG-1s the MBTA might have aquired in 1975. The purple stripe and yellow nose panels are Microscale Trim-film. the yellow pin stripes are Microscale stripes.

I like what the original poster did because he took an existing paint scheme (1970's F-10 paint scheme) and applied it to another piece of equipment from the appropriate era. What you are suggesting above is inventing a new paint scheme that never existed on a piece of equipment that MBTA never owned... If the MBTA had FL9's, most likely they would have been painted the same way as the F10's... Too bad we'll never know.

Otto Vondrak wrote:

Eliphaz wrote:This is an N scale Arnold GG-1 originally five stripe red. very old, but runs ok. rather like the GG-1s the MBTA might have aquired in 1975. The purple stripe and yellow nose panels are Microscale Trim-film. the yellow pin stripes are Microscale stripes.

I like what the original poster did because he took an existing paint scheme (1970's F-10 paint scheme) and applied it to another piece of equipment from the appropriate era. What you are suggesting above is inventing a new paint scheme that never existed on a piece of equipment that MBTA never owned... If the MBTA had FL9's, most likely they would have been painted the same way as the F10's... Too bad we'll never know.

Note third word in thread title.

the premise is that the NH had an electric operation in Boston prior to the Penn Central formation and breakup.
So suppose NH stationed some FL-9s in Boston. They would have quickly acquired PC black like the E8s and GG-1s
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddie-chic ... 708292350/
this one seems to have found itself in solid "grey ghost"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklynpa ... 234117792/
so once handed over to the MBTA, Grey ghost, solid black, or other varients can be imagined, as was the case with the E8s.
but lets leave that aside for now.

There was only one Grey Ghost, ex-Pennsy E8 4261
http://bmcdr.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=2087277
It did recieve yellow grab irons. now suppose it had been in better shape and lasted a few more years and got another shopping, and an order for a yellow visibility nose panel, like some of the RDCs got...
http://bmcdr.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=2097422
Perhaps a paint shop artist over at BET stayed late one friday night and masked it out like one of these:

Nicely done, Eliphaz ! I picture a darker gloss grey, but I know you can only use what is available. Love the lightning stripe ! I'm not sure if that E in the photo is "ghost grey" or "faded paint to primer" ! hahaha!!! Thanks again.