Modeling Monday - Independence Day

In this hobby, when you're confronted with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, having a large block of time to just put your head down and plow through it, no matter what happens or how long it takes, is just what's needed. Today was one of those days and detailing my factory-painted Proto1000 RS-2 for a New Haven RR DERS-2b was one of those projects.

Forging new neural pathways and developing new skills and confidence are the inevitable byproduct of a day spent working through the walls that have kept me from moving forward.

My "work"day was spent drilling holes and bending wire. It took a LOOOOOG time, and there were a couple steps back here and there for all the steps forward, but I'm pretty happy with the result so far:

And if anybody tells you that Custom Finishing #205 curved grabs for RS units will drop right in, they won't. And they're straight rather than the correct drop grabs. The Cal-Scale grabs (#190-533) are better, but you still have to form the long curved grabs from scratch. The Cal-Scale "RS Corner Grabs" (#190-529) are too large for where the NBW castings are on this loco.

I plan to do a full build post/article at some point detailing all the right parts needed and some tips/techniques in case you have a P1k RS-2 kicking around that needs some detail. Hopefully you won't need quite the large block of time I needed. Save that for another obstacle you've been putting off and - as Paul Simon said - getcher self free.

What better way to end Independence Day than on that note of freedom