Rusted Porter Steam Locomotive
Mfg. ID: RRMS-O-09
Scale: 1/48

Rusty Rail offers a wide range of 1/48 scenic castings. RRMS-O-09, Rusted Porter Steam Locomotive is a newly released Rusty Rail 1/48 diorama castings. Rusty Rail has been casting model railroad scale - and now 1/35 - buildings, accessories and kits since 2001. These incredibly detailed castings feature many recessed and relief detail, solid and hollow, with amazing undercuts.

RRMS-O-09, Rusted Porter Steam Locomotive

"Rusted Porter Steam Locomotive" is simply packed in a medium weight plastic bag held shut by a stapled label. It has a small footprint that measures 4 1/2" by 4" and 2 1/2."

The casting is an oval of a derelict Porter steam locomotive sinking into gravelly land strewn with demolished components: tires; drivers; locomotive appliances; cans & drums & bottles; piping; scrap. The cab is gone, the bell scavenged.

Size & Scale

This model can be a vignette of a scenic component of a larger diorama. Scaled for On30 -- 1/48. Porters were used in industrial yards, mines, quarries, logging industries, agricultural complexes. Tiny "tea kettels" like this were found everywhere in the world. If you intend to use this for a larger scale the gauge gets narrower; 1/35 converts to an unusual 22-in. (560 mm) gauge and looks simply too small.

I show the wreck with 1/43 figures in natural and artificial light. It represents a locomotive caught in a battle or destroyed in an air raid. Or simply a locomotive undergoing salvage then war overran.

Casting quality is impressive, full of recessed and relief detail, amazing undercut areas, extraordinary valve stem handles! Your reviewer has cast some resin in the past and can not figure out how Rusty Rail managed the opposing undercut items. This mimics cutting-edge high-tech slide molding used by the leading injection molding styrene model manufacturers.

The majority of the casting is high-grade. I found some minor flash plus excess resin gobs, and some flecks of debris. It appears what Rusty Rail intended to reproduce did cast. This resin is thick and robust. Not hard and brittle, not soft and malleable.

Detail

The oval base is landscaped with a fine gritty ground texture. It can easily be enhanced by ground foam, static grass or whatever you like to use. Set into it is the detritus of a destroyed heavy vehicle.

Couplers are the knuckle type found in North in the Americas and Asia. Removing them and replacing them with European types shouldn't be difficult.

Painting

I primed it light and painted dark grays in undercuts. Lifecolor sets for rusts and weathering wood were applied with airbrush and bristle brush.

To create the rust I painted the wreck with my "flick method." When dry I employed Salt Weathering (See Click here for additional images for this review below.) before airbrushing Polly Scale Tarnished Black across the flanks and under the domes and stack. Then I resumed my flick-painting.

Ground colors are as many brands as colors used. I wanted the dirt to be sandy to contrast against the dark rusty metal. Rusty run-off and oils and grease and soot staining the soil implies decay. A coil of pipe on the crew deck was judged to be recovered copper, offering a splash of color - copper and patina. Dulled brass was used on pipe unions and valves, the builder plates and number plate. A nice green bottle and green and blue cans add contrast to the corpse.

Conclusion

Your reviewer thinks this model creates a unique display/diorama scene. The level of detailing is excellent. The quality of casting is high.

Whether you are a model railroader or a modeler of military or civil scenes this casting is very versatile. It is perfectly scaled for incorporating with 1/48 models. I think using it in a 1/35 diorama could be done - I am amazed at how small some industrial steam locos were - although the figures could be crowding. I have seen a photograph of United Kingdom troops during the battle of Normandy next to a track that hardly looked wider than their feet!

I had a great deal of fun painting this model. Whether I use it as a stand alone piece or incorporate it into a diorama, it will look great! I happily recommend it.

Please remember to tell vendors and retailers that you saw these model here - on Armorama.