Weekend Update 1/14/18

[Iain]

Some NS action in the Pacific Northwest.



Can you spot the two that don't quite fit in?



ESM ACL lowside gons under construction.  Damn fun kits.

[garethashenden]

Dude, go the extra mile and replace those plastic fans with at least etched grills.

Whose do you recommend? Later diesels had nice flat fans that are easy to model with etched grills. But these ones are raised in the middle. That sort of shape really doesn't lend itself to etching. It should be a resin casting of some sort, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes those in N scale. I tried the GMM ones on a previous attempt to model this locomotive, it looked far worse than these fans.

Here's what I'm going for:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2660058

Here's an easily etched GP-38 (or GP-38-2):

[GhengisKong]

Miniatures by Eric has nice brass cast 36" and 48" fans. I have used the MbE 36" fans for a late phase F3 which was rebuilt to F9 standards and was very pleased with his castings.

[peteski]

Miniatures by Eric has nice brass cast 36" and 48" fans. I have used the MbE 36" fans for a late phase F3 which was rebuilt to F9 standards and was very pleased with his castings.

And are those see-through castings, or they look like the plastic ones already on that shell?
Personally, I think the cast-on ones look plenty good and there is no need to reinvent the grilles.  Even if the brass ones are see through, the will not be fine enough to be in-scale.

[jpwisc]

MbE makes a lot of nice parts, but I wasn’t impressed with his cast fans. The ones I had weren’t see through. If you spend a little time and round out a set of Gold Medal Model grills from their GP7/9 detail set, that could work. But honestly it is hard to beat the molded Atlas fans on the GP7 or GP9 shells.

For the record I use a mix of TrainWorx and BLMA etched grills on my SD40-2s, SD45s, SD50s, 60s, GP38’s and so on. But those are a different style of fan.

[Iain]

Whose do you recommend? Later diesels had nice flat fans that are easy to model with etched grills. But these ones are raised in the middle. That sort of shape really doesn't lend itself to etching. It should be a resin casting of some sort, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes those in N scale. I tried the GMM ones on a previous attempt to model this locomotive, it looked far worse than these fans.

Here's what I'm going for:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2660058

Here's an easily etched GP-38 (or GP-38-2):

Some GP18s had flat fan grills (the NS GP18s come to mind).

[Lemosteam]

Whose do you recommend? Later diesels had nice flat fans that are easy to model with etched grills. But these ones are raised in the middle. That sort of shape really doesn't lend itself to etching. It should be a resin casting of some sort, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes those in N scale. I tried the GMM ones on a previous attempt to model this locomotive, it looked far worse than these fans.

Disagree completely.

Etchings can be formed using simple tools like a drill dimple in a block of wood and the end of a shaped dowel rod or similar.  This is etched stainless about 3.5mm in diameter, larger would be easier especially in brass.  Case in point, and sorry for the lousy cropped closeup:

[CR4100]

Search for "dapping block".  They're used by jewelry makers to form metal into concave/convex shapes and come in number of sizes.  I'm sure there is one that would be good for shaping the fans.

[jpwisc]

For curving the grills (Q-Fans too) I used a dull pencil and shoved the middle of the part into a soft eraser. It’s a cheap way of getting the smooth curve.

[jmlaboda]

Some GP18s had flat fan grills (the NS GP18s come to mind).

Pan topped fans were used from GP18/SD18s through to GP38s,'39s/'40s.  The type shown in the photo was what was introduced as part of the changes for Dash-2 units.

[pjm20]

If you can, could you tell me what thickness the styrene was and what your thoughts are on the Cameo cutting styrene? Thank you.

[davidgray1974]

Beautiful shot Caleb.  Outstanding work as usual.