I regret to announce that an old friend, Dennis Storzek, has died. He was a very active volunteer at the Museum back in the old days, and his expertise in every sort of mechanical art was a great benefit to the Museum as a whole, and to many of us who learned a great deal from him. One of his most valuable contributions was recovering the North Shore's Silverliner paint scheme. The 251 is still in beautiful condition. Here Dennis is proudly standing in front of his work on Member's Day of 1979.
It's hard to believe that was 45 years ago. He will certainly be missed.
Here he is in the process of painting the shadows on the 251:
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| Used with permission from the Jon Habermaas collection |
We do not yet have details on funeral arrangements. We will post them as soon as we can.
The first time I realized that the fluting on the 251 was painted on and wasn't real fluted mteal, I think my head exploded. I had known about the North Shore's Silverliner paint scheme since I was a small child, but had always though it was real fluted metal.
ReplyDelete-Matt Maloy
Before Dennis attacked the problem, there were various theories floating around about how exactly the Silverliner paint scheme was done and what sort of special equipment was needed. And I don't know to what extent he was able to get information from NSL shop employees, but he figured out that you don't need any special equipment, just a spray gun with the right nozzle and a painter with a steady hand and excellent control. And a lot of masking paper, which you can see in the second picture. He practiced on various spare pieces of plywood and sheet metal for a while, and then he was ready to go. I helped him and Patty for a day, just carrying supplies and disposing of all the paper. It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteDennis was a key part of the legacy of prototype modeling. He had assembled a remarkable understanding of prototype railroads in the steam era.
DeleteI believe Dennis spoke with former Highwood head painter Nick Nustra as part of his research.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Dennis tried speaking with Tom Jervan about it, but he had slides of the entire process from start to finish.
Thanks, that's quite interesting. Your memory is better than mine!
ReplyDelete