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appeared to be smooth and flat, ❹ on
the previous page. The sanding film is so
fine that the rivet strips act as a barrier
that helps prevent the sander from over-
riding the strips and removing the detail.
At this point, the hardest work is
behind you, and the remainder of the
project proceeds more like a typical
painting/superdetailing/decoder project.Detailing and painting
On Life-Like’s E8 and E9 models,
most of the detail parts are plastic and
appear to be affixed by melting the plastic
tabs on the interior of the body shell. This
presents a bit of a challenge in removing
the detail parts. I found that chiseling
away at the melted plastic on the interior❻ Bonus parts. Louis used the winterization hatch grills that came with his Plano
intake grills so he could see the fan detail below. He used a grinding bit in a motor
tool to remove most of the plastic before squaring the hole with files.
Rough opening❼ Headlight tricks. Louis drilled two
no. 54 holes in a square piece of styrene
to simulate the twin sealed-beam
headlight mounted in the door.❽ Marker lights. Louis mounted small,
red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into
slots cut in styrene tubing for marker
lights. The slots hold the LEDs’ leads.Winterization hatch grillside goes far to help remove the hand-
rails, which are particularly thick.
I wanted to replace them with thinner
wire handrails. I made handrails from
.016" brass wire sized to match the
mounting holes in the body shell.
The nose and roof-mounted handrails
were another story. I had considerable
difficulty attempting to remove these
detail parts, and realized that I risked
damaging the model in the process.
I actually like the look of these parts and
the nut-bolt-washer castings. They just
appeared to be a little too thick. This is
where the wisdom of age kicked in.
I elected to retain these plastic detail
parts. To me, the most apparent, overly
thick parts were the roof-mounted hand-
rails directly over the windshields. I used
a fine file to gently remove the somewhat
visible mold marks and ever so slightly
reduce the thickness of the main span of
the handrail. At this stage, I added sev-
eral other detail parts, including a new
horn, lift rings, and m.u. hoses ❺.
The body shell was ready for paint,
and I took the typical preparations of
removing dust and debris, washing the
shell in warm soapy water to remove oils
and other contaminants, and letting it
dry adequately before airbrushing.
Modeling the Penn Central has its
advantages, as black paint is universally
available from a variety of manufactur-
ers. I’ve become a big fan of the
MicroLux line of model paints from
Micro-Mark, and put a coat of its no.
29008 Engine Black on the E8. It’s a very
forgiving paint that sprays and cleans up
easily. I then prepared the shell for decals
by applying a gloss finish. I applied and
sealed the decals with a satin finish
before installing the windshield glazing.
I replaced the manufacturer’s grills
with photo-etched metal E8A intake
grills made by Plano (part no. 14830),
attached to the body shell with CA.
Plano’s kit also includes grills for the
winterization hatches.
To “see through” to the fan below
requires drilling out the plastic molded-
on grill on the winterization hatches and
filing the opening to a square edge ❻.
Plano’s small grill fits this opening well
and attaches with a tiny bit of CA.Lighting
I prefer to add lighting effects where
possible, and Penn Central no. 4300
provides several opportunities. The
locomotive was one of two former PRR
E8s equipped with a nose headlight and a
signal light above it, and as far as I can❺ Extra details. In addition to plugging the portholes, Louis added m.u. hoses,
handrails at the doors, grab irons up the nose, and a new horn.
Door handrailsNose grabs
MU hosesHorn Thinned
grab irons