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Graffen
Crew Chief
Sweden
861 Posts |
 Posted - 05/25/2011 : 06:08:36 AM
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| Thanks Troels, I don´t have a separate power for it yet, but I tried another card and a voltage between 3-4 V is acceptable. So I guess an old Cellphone charger could work..... |
Swedish custom painter
http://sites.google.com/site/graffairbrushart |
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Graffen
Crew Chief
Sweden
861 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2011 : 5:11:19 PM
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Good to be back!
Some news in the summer heat 
I have always had a desire for one special locomotive for my layout.
It all started when I read about the small port terminals in New York and the locomotives that they were using.
Central of New Jersey had an Ingersoll-Rand Boxcab locomotive that is one of the first commercially made diesel locomotives:
A very beautiful locomotives in my opinion :)
Then came Tim Warris with his Bronx Terminal in HO (an incredible layout by the way).
On his Blog, he showed how to take a brass Boxcab and rebuild the drive to get it to run as well as it looks.
The problem with Boxcabs is that the only models that are available are either made of brass and costs a fortune, and runs like a bag of s**t.
Or you may have to be be content with an old Roundhouse locomotives in plastic that is also going like muck ... Plus, you have to add the extra detailing to make it look reasonably good .....
Neither option seemed very good 
I thought it would be nice to build one myself just for the fun of it.
One problem was that it was really tricky to get hold of the drawings of the locomotive.
Luckily, John, one of the members here have recently built an I-R Boxcab in brass and in S- and HO-scale.
I emailed him about the drawings and he emailed me back everything he had as PDFs  (BIG thanks!!)
I had to resize them a bit before I got the printouts right for HO.
After some thoughts and inquiries, I finally found a locomotive that would do as a chassis donor:
(See http://www.rmweb.co....__1#entry410924)
Apparently it is a "bit" of a difference in length. but very acceptable to me.
I decided that I would build the new body in plasticard, which could be a challenge.
I used 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mm plasticard and some profiles.
This is about everything you need for the basic construction (needle files and tweezers are not in the picture).
I drew up the parts with an ink-pen and drilled the corners of the windows before I cut them out with an Xacto-knife.
This is "the base wall" , made of 0.5 mm plastic On to it, the embossed outer skins of 0.25 mm plastic will be applied. That way I get good stability in the body and a "plate-like" appearance.
The chassis was shortened 4 mm on one side, and the entire original decoder with lights sent into the round-archive  .
I made two boards to mount my LED's and resistors on.
The Lenz decoder was hard wired in and mounted above the motor, but under the weight.
I made a new base from 1 mm plastic.
This is how it looked after I glued the walls to the base:
I made the outer skins and the inner window frames of 0.25 mm plastic.
The outer skins, I placed (upside down) on the (also upside down)drawing, and used a self-made light box to emboss all the rivets with a needle in a wooden holder.
I can now reveal, that when you venture into this kind of construction, without having tested the techniques, it can REALLY go down the drains!
The picture that follows shows just that:
First, it did not work out with my roof, it was formed like a Banana..... Luckily I found a roof in the scrap box that could be cut to shape and be used instead.
It was not the biggest problem .......
I had glued the body together and glued the window frames in place before applying the outer skins with the embossed rivets .
It did not work out at all that way, so I started from scratch .
But as I had done it once, it went rather quickly the second time ......
The Chassi beams are plasticard I-beams 2.5 mm.
I had almost feared the construction of the roof mounted radiators ....
Fortunately, I had a piece of corrugated patterned plasticard. I shaped a piece of 0.5 mm metal in the right curvature, then I took the plastic, forcing it to follow the shape of the plate and secured it with clamps and then dipped the whole shebang in boiling water for a few minutes. When it had cooled down I had a row of convincing cooling tubes in the right shape!
So here is the build as it stands right now, just some paint and small details remain:
The exhaust pipes on the roof is turned from beech dowels in a drill stand
Scratchbuilding is FUN!
Here is the painted loco:
It looks as if it would fit right into the timeframe...
Not really finished yet, a few windows to finish and so on.... |
Swedish custom painter
http://sites.google.com/site/graffairbrushart |
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George D
Moderator
USA
10017 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2011 : 5:39:31 PM
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Very nice looking locomotive, Michael.[:-thumbu] If you hadn’t pointed out the difference in the wheelbase from the prototype, I never would have noticed it.
George
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milocomarty
Fireman
Netherlands
4968 Posts |
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Graffen
Crew Chief
Sweden
861 Posts |
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kirk
Fireman
Sweden
4542 Posts |
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Frederic Testard
Engineer
France
16524 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2011 : 6:38:00 PM
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Wonderful locomotive, Michael!
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Frederic Testard |
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MisterBill
Section Hand
73 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2011 : 9:42:17 PM
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| Nice build pics. My favorite road, The Reading Co., bought the second one made. Thanks for such a neat article. |
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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
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Graffen
Crew Chief
Sweden
861 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2011 : 5:51:10 PM
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Thanks guys!
Ad now for something different:
I found a kit at a Trainshow here in Sweden this weekend:
A 1934 Ford Bus. Just what I needed for my layout!
As I understand it, it was very common during WW2 that these smaller types of buses were used in major cities in the U.S., in addition to trams and Subways.
Jordan/Highway Miniatures makes really nice kits I think!
The amount of detail is sufficient without making it tricky to assemble. I deviated from the manual however, as the description advocated that all parts should be painted before assembly ...... I hate to glue together pre-painted parts, so I glued it together to a point where it wouldn´t obstruct the installation of the windows later.
The headlights were made of solid clear plastic. That makes it very easy to make them look good.... I just masked the lamp housings and then painted them silver before I painted them with the end color. Then you get real reflectors in them!
The purple you see here on the lenses is Maskol (liquid mask film from Humbrol).
This is how far it could be assembled before painting. Very nice interior detail I think. Just enough detail.
I painted the bus créme yellow, black fenders and rims, and a gray roof. I clear coated it with Future Kleer, and weathered it with a light wash.
Here is the result:
As can be seen, I have both driver and passengers in the bus
A very nice acquaintance, which surely whetted the appetite! [:-glasses] |
Swedish custom painter
http://sites.google.com/site/graffairbrushart |
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rickb326
Engine Wiper
USA
174 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2011 : 10:27:38 AM
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Michael,
The bus is great! Almost reminds me of the busses that they still run in Yellowstone National Park here in he U.S.. The boxcab is amazing as well. You're skills are second to none! Thanks for sharing.
Rick |
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bitlerisvj
Crew Chief
USA
947 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2011 : 10:32:09 AM
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Hi Michael,
First, I want to congratulate you on a very good build, and using the trucks from the Bachmann diesel, was very smart. I really like what you did.
Now a question for experts on Boxcabs. I know an awful lot of them were sold and used as switchers. I also know the only models I have ever seen ran like cr*p and sounded worse. Someone told me that the originals were just as noisy, but I am looking for confirmation of that. I have a complete intention of remotoring and re-gearing my MDC Boxcab with a pulley and belt system to quiet it down, but I am wondering if I will take away the prototypical grinding noises that it currently makes.
Regards, Vic Bitleris
quote:
Originally posted by Graffen
The problem with Boxcabs is that the only models that are available are either made of brass and costs a fortune, and runs like a bag of s**t.
Or you may have to be be content with an old Roundhouse locomotives in plastic that is also going like muck ... Plus, you have to add the extra detailing to make it look reasonably good .....
Neither option seemed very good ......
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Graffen
Crew Chief
Sweden
861 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2011 : 7:11:12 PM
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This is the state of my model activities this time of the year:
It does improve the visibility to work in the sunshine
I felt a bit inspired yesterday and began serving my Broadway Limited SW-7.
It had been showing some poor power pick up in the leading bogie, so I disassembled the locomotive as best as I could .
I washed out as much oil as I could from the gearboxes, as it seemed to be the probable reason for the problem.
While it was disassembled, I took the chance to weather it as well
It was supposed to look used but not to death.... U.S. RR´s during WW2 usually wasn´t much into cleaning the locomotives, and not particularly Port-switchers....
It was marked for NYC, but I wanted to have it in my RR's markings: M-K & E.
I erased the text with a fiberglass brush and then painted a layer of black (Vallejo Model Air) to completely remove all traces of the text.
I assembled the shell and masked all the windows with Humbrol Maskol.
I then mixed a color of 50-50 black and gray / black. Then I used that in order to tone down the black original color.
The bogies were blasted with baking soda and primed with a dark gray paint.
Radiator grilles were painted with a lighter gray color, so the dark wash would work against it.
The wheels were also masked with Maskol, both the treads and bearing journals.
Current consumption is via the journals, so no colour there!
The wheel sides were painted black and weathered with pastel powder.
The bogie sides were painted in the same way.
Some decals and general weathering later, it became like this:
Clearcoated with Modelmaster Dullcote .
I have also been changing a bit on the layout, the gas station that were on the front of the layout:
It has been replaced by a coal merchant:
And then I finally got some use for this car:
(I really like that car, wish I could find some more of them....).
PS, when I tried the SW after assembling it, it worked perfectly! Really nice to eliminate the flaws. |
Swedish custom painter
http://sites.google.com/site/graffairbrushart |
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Graffen
Crew Chief
Sweden
861 Posts |
Posted - 06/30/2011 : 5:45:10 PM
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I have bought some figures for the layout:
It was some need for some work crews for the yard duties
"Bob the brakeman", has the switch list at hand..
It looks a bit more "yard like" now I think...
Here are some more pics of the SW:
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Swedish custom painter
http://sites.google.com/site/graffairbrushart |
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dnhman
Fireman
USA
1049 Posts |
Posted - 06/30/2011 : 7:48:52 PM
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That Boxcab came great! well done,,
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Cheers!, Joe |
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Topic |
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The M-K & Eastern RR
