How to finish a brass diesel-locomotive - Daylight ALCO PA-PB  

Decaling (3)

The application of the stripes makes progress on the B-unit

But it takes time. After a section is applied I wait until it has dried before adding the next section.
Luckily there are four stripes to be done - so jumping from one stripe to the other is quite usefull to make good progress.

Decaling (4)

On the A-unit the stripes have to be bent to follow the curved colour-band.

Slight bending can be done by pushing the whet decal with the paint-brush. At that moment I do not use softener.
In the propre position I let the decal dry.
And finally I apply the softener, it will eliminate small bumps caused by the bending.

I do the positioning of the decal and let it dry for a while (1/4h) - then I check the result.
If the position of the decal needs to be modified at a certain area, I add some dip of water to that spot and the decal can be adjusted as desired.

When everything fits as desired I appy the softener to the decal.

Decaling (5)

The application of the stripes to the nose of the A-unit is a nasty thing.
I have no custom-made decals available that would have the right shape to fit exacltly to the ALCO-nose.

So I had to go the tough way - fitting the stripes with short decal-sections onto the nose.

The foto shows an intermediate status with the stripes partially applied.

Decaling (6)

The decaling-process is completed with the application of the lettering and the nose-herald.
It took some hours to do that work.

But I like the process to see how the character of a specific type becomes more and more visible.
Scroll back to the start of that session and make your own thoughts about the evolution.
For me it is great to own a model I have done a lot of work on it - it looks the way I want it to have! 

The foto shows the A-unit with all decaling work done!

Completing the body structure (1)

With the paint job completed I worked on the glass-installation.
Adding windows, headlights, wind deflectors, number boards.

In the cab I installed the windshield-wipers and the sun-visors

Completing the body structure (2)

Handrails and door-latch were painted.

Look though the window into the cab - the cab inside can be examined quite well!

Completing the underframe and trucks

I air-brushed the underframe and the trucks with black colour. 

On the B-unit I had to install a new motor.

Completing the tanks

I air-brushed the tank-assemblies for the A-unit and the B-unit

The finished "Daylight" ALCO's

The A-B-A set is parked on the ready track of "Taylor" 

It took quite a time to complete this additional two models now matched with the A-unit I already have in my roster.
In the past the ALCO run in a A-B-A-set together with two EMD E-units.
Now I can operate pure ALCO A-B-A-sets to pull the "Daylight" or the "Lark"

Southern Pacific PA-1 #6014

ALCO on the road

The A-B-A-set is moving on the mainline