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Not much time even to warm up for the work on the F-1 steam locomotive, so the easier work is progressing on the GM6C electric locomotive. Having literally sawed off whole step and pilot assemblies from the main frame, I've had to file the glue from the bottom of the frame on both sides. After that i've glued pieces of flat styrene to the tops of those steps and pilots co compensate for sawed material. Finally i have glued both front and rear step/pilot assemblies back to the main frame...this time front pilot got where it needs to go;
Very visible difference is the "blind", or covered bottom step well on the front, which is immediately visible on pictures of the real locomotive.
This time i also got the step/pilot assemblies a lot more vertically than before. While styrene sheet is visible for now, it should disappear when the whole locomotive is painted.
Today i attended a large train show in Edison, New Jersey. How a like old junk boxes, found a set of driving wheels for All Nation steam locomotives (0 gauge two rail) on one stand. Also on the same stand picked up this large boiler/cab built out of brass and a main frame for a 4-6-2 what looks like All Nation Pacific;
That delta trailing truck might be usefull also, but the wheelset is completely rusted out and can not be salvaged. The driver set was rusty and the wheels were loose on the axle, so i made a tool for tightening those All Nation wheels: small screw driver with slotted middle:
On another stand i found this pilot beam with cow catcher, also 0 gauge and same as those used by Northern Pacific railroad:
So my Rivarossi "Casey Jones" 4-6-0 might become a Northern Pacific engine:
Or Baltimore and Ohio as i just found out some B&O engines also sported that style cast steel pilots. Still learning. This 0 gauge model had exactly the same style pilot and this is B&O "4-8-2:
Small project is going installing that cow catcher on 4-6-0:
I soldered a rectangular pipe in the back of that pilot beam and pushed it into a slot already in the frame. I'll have to build up the main frame on the bottom and drill and tap maybe two holes for mini screws to more permanently attach that beam to the main frame:
Monday evening, so took it easy. A few weeks ago i picked up this Pennsy P70 on a show for all of $3. Today i sat down with it to try to refurbish it and make it presentable. I have already fixed the caving in roof. I'm guessing this is Bethlehem Car Works kit, and most of the time they are not put together nicely. Now it was time for a new set of steps on one of the corners.
For that i just used styrene flat and "L" shapes:
After that quick paint job:
I've also fixed that round tank, as that was squeved and glued all crooked. That's it for today. Next will be installation of Kadee couplers and i'll try to build end wall rubbers.
I actually had to do something other than plug in an accessory or snap together track. Today when I took out my Lionel Polar Express Gatemen (plug and play) one of the presents under the light up Christmas tree on the gatemen's platform had come unwrapped. I rewrapped the present and tied the ribbon!
My modest achievement makes me appreciate your elaborate craftsmanship even more.
Keep up the magnificent work, you are an inspiration to us all and as always, thank you for sharing your work.
I actually had to do something other than plug in an accessory or snap together track. Today when I took out my Lionel Polar Express Gatemen (plug and play) one of the presents under the light up Christmas tree on the gatemen's platform had come unwrapped. I rewrapped the present and tied the ribbon!
My modest achievement makes me appreciate your elaborate craftsmanship even more.
Keep up the magnificent work, you are an inspiration to us all and as always, thank you for sharing your work.
Today cold freezing weekend, so i'm back at the Lehigh and New England F-1. It's time to tackle that Bethlehem booster, and thinking it would have been an easier swap, i found out i still have to build the actual booster truck from scratch;
The dimentions shown on the drawing are fine...but the style of that booster is actually Franklin type, or something in between Franklin and Bethlehem types. The Rivarossi model which i snagged at some train show is way shorter for me to do just a wheel and siderod swap:
These are my own drawings which i eyeballed just looking at the pictures of Bethlehem boosters and using the axle spacing prowided in the drawing:
An aquaintenance of mine has sent me the Bethlehem booster drawing from one of his books:
Looks like i did pretty good. So trying to think the whole process over as i'm now cutting metal. The main frame will be about 1,5mm thick brass:
After getting that second bar cut, i'll have to probably solder two bars temporarily together and drill the holes for axles, to be continued...
Keeping on with that booster truck, more progress has been made:
Since the distance between the axles was longer on the Bethlehem booster, i've had to cut the side rods in the middle and will have to solder in extentions, to make them longer. Last the sad remains of the Rivarossi Franklin booster:
The way the plastic pieces of that booster were put together, i was not able to save it. Now onto the details for the new booster...tbc.
Last post for today. After wrestling with the main running gear and getting nowhere do to it binding, i finally was able to spot misalligned counterweight on one of the axles. It's barely visible, but it was there:
Both of the opposite tear drop counterweights are lying on one edge on the opposite side.
Trying to get them both the same on both wheelsets took some time. Here the rods are getting soldered, again:
Finally after eyeballing the counterweights and using the steel vice for a prop, i was able to do a satisfactory soldering:
The chasis is rolling well after lubricating with La-Belle oil.
This is just main frame with wheels and rods. There are still details to cut and much more soldering to do, but that's tomorrow.
There's still a bunch of stuff to do; leaf springs together with "leaf spring holders" , chains on the side, two cross sections at the ends, and a way to keep the wheelsets from falling out on the bottom, which means another plate which will probably have to be screwed in. I will also have to add tiny sections into those side rods to fill in and make them look like single piece rods. I think i'm done for today though.
Not much to write today. I did however fill in the side rods on the booster with brass, flooded the space with solder and filed side rods to shape as best as i could:
After that i soldered in the bottom spring plate:
I started working on the springs, but that is a very tedious work and managed to only do one leaf spring, these are just time consuming. Picture of the real one as sent to me by another modeler who is into this:
The top spring plate will definitely be complicated matter.
Today more work was done on the tender. I soldered in a few more flat pieces of brass to bring the bolsters on the tender frame in proper height:
At this point drilling and tapping of the holes for trucks had to be done;
Next both bolsters are ready for soldering:
I mounted both trucks into the frame, but i'll have to come up with some kind of sleeves to be able to tighten both screws and have the trucks turn easily;
The booster truck still needs cross bracing at both ends and a plate to keep both wheelsets in place.
This jig was actually given to me by Micro Mark employee when i purchased their resistor soldering station. It definitely has proven to be very useful.
Today work continues on the tender for the F-1 decapod. I cut bottom cover out of thick black styrene for that, since i'd like to install electric pickup wires in the booster truck;
I can pick up the tender now without stuff falling out of it:
There are still a few details to do on the tender before painting, four angle brackets which held the tender body into the rear pilot, some electrical imitation piping, mounting the re-railers, coal doors in the front and steps on side of the front tender walkway. The booster truck needs few more details; cross sections at both ends, spring retainer on the top and (maybe) i'll solder in the chains to the trucks.
