The "Big One" -- an O scale Cylindrical Hopper in Proto:48

[ednadolski]

Hi Peter, thanks for your note,  the ballast IIRC is the Highball O scale, in a medium gray.   This is just a section of test track that I did a long time ago, so not much thought or effort went into it.  In fact, the ties are glued straight onto the foam, there isn't even any roadbed.   A train running on track like this likely would be pretty noisy, but OTOH it's pretty light weight too 

Ed

[avel]

Wow, nice!

It might be the weathering, but the narrowed trucks look great. I've been thinking of using a narrower bolster to mount the Atlas O truck side frames on too. Did you scratchbuild the bolster out of styrene or just narrow the stock Atlas bolster and glue on the sideframes?

[ednadolski]

Hello avel,

I made the bolster from brass bar.  It took a bit of tinkering to come up with a technique, but I think I finally came up with something that is relatively straightforward.   The Atlas bolster consists of a top and a bottom part.  I discard the top part and then cut out the center section of the bottom part, leaving only just enough of each end to still hold the brake shoe piece and the screw.  The metal is soft so I make the cut with a linesman's pliers.  I then use a piece of K&S rectangular brass tubing, 3/16" x 3/32", for the main bolster.   I drill a center hole for the main truck pivot/screw, and then two smaller holes on each end (with a countersink chamfer) to accept the screws that hold the tabs for the sideframes.   I also grind off a triangular section from each end to create additional clearance for the sideframe tabs and plastic brake shoes.  So, in quick ASCII art, a side view of the brass tubing ends up looking kinda like this:

+-----------------------------------+
 \                                                /
   \--------------------------------/

The sideframes attach by sticking the tabs into each end of the brass bolster and re-installing the screws.

I also had to make new axles.  This was a process of cutting a length of 2.5mm steel rod, and installing the NWSL P:48 wheels onto the axle using the plastic bushings that came with the Atlas wheels.  The plastic bushings have to be turned down a bit to fit into the NWSL wheels, I simply used a small flat file with the bushing placed onto an axle that I chucked into my cordless drill, then just kept removing material until it fit into the opening in the NWSL wheel.  Repeat for all 8 bushings.   The other thing is, the plastic bushings rely on a knurl in the axle to keep from slipping out of gauge.  I didn't have a knurling tool to I just made some nicks in the metal at the right places with an old wire stripper tool.  (Careful -- overdoing the nicks can make it hard to set the wheels in place.)  When installing the wheels on the axles, the wheels have to be the correct distance from the ends of the axles so that the bearing caps can be re-installed, and the gauge of the wheels also has to be set correctly using the P:48 standards wheel gauge.  Also some care is needed to ensure that the wheels are installed square and true.

The Atlas bearing caps sit on a shouldered axle tip so the hole is too small for a 2.5mm axle.  I enlarged the hole in each cap by chucking it into the cordless drill, turning the cap at slow speed, and gently pressing a 2.5mm drill bit into the hole.  Care has to be taken to avoid removing too much material, either by letting the hole get too deep, or by not holding the bit square.   When done right, the caps can simply be popped right on to the ends of the axles, after the rest of the truck has been assembled.

Hope this helps, if you're interested I can try to find my notes where I wrote down a bunch of the dimensions that I used to do this, just let me know.

Ed

[avel]

Yes its helped and this is enough information.
I am still not sure if I even will try to narrow the trucks, I might just replace them with Weaver trucks. I don't really notice the rotating bearing cap when operating.

Also have you considered putting this post up on OGR?

http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/frm/f/3181048701

Your pictures are amazing and drool worthy, also inspiring.

[avel]

Saw this in MRR, nice!

[ednadolski]

Thanks Avel, glad you enjoyed it!      One update, Protocraft now has the P:48 roller bearing trucks available in 70T and 100T:

http://protocraft.com/category.cfm?ItemID=351&Categoryid=31
http://protocraft.com/category.cfm?ItemID=352&Categoryid=31

Altho pricey, they are about as awesome a truck as anyone could ask for

Ed

[seusscaboose]

I have a friend (models NKP in O Scale) that always busts my chops when I see him and he tells me "Inside every N Scaler is an O Scaler waiting to come out"...   Nice shots!

EP

[Bremner]

Birthday or age

my bet is it is the wife'sbirthday....so he does not forget again

[central.vermont]

my bet is it is the wife'sbirthday....so he does not forget again

+1 

[Bremner]

all kidding aside, that looks great. I would love to have a pair of Southern Pacific GP9E's or SD9E's that look that good

[ednadolski]

... so he does not forget again ...

I've never forgotten anyone's birthday!  or anniversary!   

Ed

[Bremner]

ed, you forgot mine

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, that is killer beautiful.

[Gen]

Outstanding Ed. The stubtlety of the patch work and rust is executed to perfection..

[stewarttrains_98]

very awesome looking model. Job very well done. thanks for sharing. Love the weathering.