Post by timberley on Mar 15, 2017 11:32:21 GMT -5
As some of you may recall, VIA has had a series of wrapped advertising units over the years. The first one was a Diet Pepsi promotion back in 1990, followed by a Home Hardware promo in 1997, and then in 2000 a whole batch (10 in total) of locos were decorated in a colourful and eye-catching "Kool-Aid" scheme. They only lasted in that wrap until later the same year. You can read more about the various wraps on Manny Jacob's excellent site: railbus.ca/
I rode behind one of these Kool-Aid locos on a trip from Ottawa-Brockville back in the late summer of 2000 (I can dig up the exact date at some point...I still have the ticket!). The specific loco was VIA 6404, and ever since that day I've wanted a model of that locomotive.
With the recently released F40PH-2D from Rapido, I finally had the perfect starting point.
I chose to model this unit very specifically as it appeared late that summer - by which time it had lost the sunshade on the engineer's side (but not the other side), and had an air conditioner added to the roof. The particular A/C unit was white with "Genesis" on the side in red, and lasted that way for only a short while before being painted yellow (or replaced with a different yellow unit). I custom printed decals for the A/C unit.
I started with a Rapido F40PH-2D in as-delivered VIA paint. I left the yellow, black, grey, and the VIA logo on the side. Then I masked and painted the coloured panels with different custom mixes of Tamiya paints. This was a very tedious process! I then decalled the loco with Highball Graphics decals (a former SGS set).
The blue stripe was intentionally painted over with a slightly different shade of grey, because on the real ones you could often still see where the blue stripe was before the Kool Aid wrap. I put on a slightly wider stripe than the original, since the prototype was in its Canada scheme prior to the wrap.
Note that there is NO Canada flag on the cab between the numberboards. 6404 was the only one of the 10 Kool Aid wrapped units that did not have that flag (no idea why), so I have left it off as per the prototype. I tried to pay as much attention as I could to the very specific details of 6404 - I spent a LOT of time scouring over photos, and also trying to verify that it was modelled as it was when I rode it, given that it changed in several ways earlier in that summer.
One little detail of note - I also painted grey back over the various latches and hinges that are not covered by the wrap on the prototype. This was a little thing, but I think it helps sell the wrapped look rather than a painted appearance.
Finally, I lightly weathered the loco with airbrushed acrylics.
Here are a couple of finished photos:
Here's a photo before weathering, showing the Genesis decals on the A/C unit, and the cleaner pre-weathered look. This was also before I swapped the front coupler for a painted, scale-head Kadee.
This model recently appeared as a promotion for the Toronto Railway Prototype Modellers Meet on Rapido Trains Facebook page, as well as in Rapido's latest newsletter. I won't be at the Toronto RPM (it's a little far off for me...), but I'm flattered that Jason and co. were interested in using photos of this model. It does show one of the many things you can do with Rapido's excellent products!
That newsletter: Rapido News
I rode behind one of these Kool-Aid locos on a trip from Ottawa-Brockville back in the late summer of 2000 (I can dig up the exact date at some point...I still have the ticket!). The specific loco was VIA 6404, and ever since that day I've wanted a model of that locomotive.
With the recently released F40PH-2D from Rapido, I finally had the perfect starting point.
I chose to model this unit very specifically as it appeared late that summer - by which time it had lost the sunshade on the engineer's side (but not the other side), and had an air conditioner added to the roof. The particular A/C unit was white with "Genesis" on the side in red, and lasted that way for only a short while before being painted yellow (or replaced with a different yellow unit). I custom printed decals for the A/C unit.
I started with a Rapido F40PH-2D in as-delivered VIA paint. I left the yellow, black, grey, and the VIA logo on the side. Then I masked and painted the coloured panels with different custom mixes of Tamiya paints. This was a very tedious process! I then decalled the loco with Highball Graphics decals (a former SGS set).
The blue stripe was intentionally painted over with a slightly different shade of grey, because on the real ones you could often still see where the blue stripe was before the Kool Aid wrap. I put on a slightly wider stripe than the original, since the prototype was in its Canada scheme prior to the wrap.
Note that there is NO Canada flag on the cab between the numberboards. 6404 was the only one of the 10 Kool Aid wrapped units that did not have that flag (no idea why), so I have left it off as per the prototype. I tried to pay as much attention as I could to the very specific details of 6404 - I spent a LOT of time scouring over photos, and also trying to verify that it was modelled as it was when I rode it, given that it changed in several ways earlier in that summer.
One little detail of note - I also painted grey back over the various latches and hinges that are not covered by the wrap on the prototype. This was a little thing, but I think it helps sell the wrapped look rather than a painted appearance.
Finally, I lightly weathered the loco with airbrushed acrylics.
Here are a couple of finished photos:
Here's a photo before weathering, showing the Genesis decals on the A/C unit, and the cleaner pre-weathered look. This was also before I swapped the front coupler for a painted, scale-head Kadee.
This model recently appeared as a promotion for the Toronto Railway Prototype Modellers Meet on Rapido Trains Facebook page, as well as in Rapido's latest newsletter. I won't be at the Toronto RPM (it's a little far off for me...), but I'm flattered that Jason and co. were interested in using photos of this model. It does show one of the many things you can do with Rapido's excellent products!
That newsletter: Rapido News
