KGB X190 Model:

Andy used about a dozen photos of ballast spreader X190 photos including some showing the plow configured with a small blade for summer work as a basis for his model.  He models the Ahnapee & Western in the 1950s, and the original impetus was to have a Green Bay & Western ballast train that may have been 'loaned' to the A&W  to do some surfacing work.  Andy's found out that the A&W never borrowed the X190, but he decided to build the model anyway.

The model started with a Walthers Jordan spreader kit. He cut down the plow blades to match the ballast plow of the X190 and then fabricated the thirteen angled support brackets from styrene shapes. He cut out the window mullions in the cab and replaced them with mullions from a Pikestuff window (including one window left open for the operator). Andy used a Kadee #39 coupler on the pilot; it was the biggest trick of the whole project and took about two hours itself.  A steam-loco headlight from Cal-Scale and a horn from an Ulrich semi-tractor model rounded out the details.

Although he couldn't find positive proof of the cab color in the 1950s, Andy took a guess that it was yellow, and painted the model using Cat Yellow paint from a spray can.  The decals were printed on Micro-Mark decal paper (you can download the decal artwork here).  He had to apply each side decal three times before he finally got it right!  (Hint: The Micro-Mark paper will warp badly unless only the smallest amount of decal setting solution is used.)

The weathering was done by dry brushing with water soluble paints, including 5 layered colors in the plow mud streaks alone! There's even a nice 'smoke dust' ring around the smoke jack on the roof!