Start Foaming..Lets See the STEAM!!!

[superturbine]

Loren Perry's Pics----

Hopefully not the last but definately not least!!  "Man"!!! ! need to stop working on engines and do work on my layout_

[RWCJr]

Sure don't see models of ATSF mountains often 
Beautiful work.

[mike_lawyer]

I need to post some pictures of my K4 conversion that is almost complete.  It uses a Kato C55 mechanism with a Faulhaber coreless motor.

[elnscale]

[Loren Perry]

My sincerest thanks to Jason (Superturbine) for posting my two ATSF 3700-class 4-8-2 photos for me. I still can't figure out the system of photo posting on this site despite multiple efforts, so I had to depend on Jason to do it for me. Maybe one day this website will come up with a more user-friendly way to do it for dummies like me.

The two engines (I like to build two at a time) started out as Bachmann Light Mountains. I did all the modifications without removing the mechanism from the shell. The only things I didn't do was correct the shape of the pilot and replace the baker valve gear with Walschaerts although I did modify the Baker gear somewhat to more closely resemble the Walschaerts version.

The engines run beautifully and doublehead perfectly.

I have already delivered a complete two-part, heavily illustrated how-to article on building these engines to Pam at N-Scale Magazine. When she decides to run them is up to her.

I also did a similar two-part how-to story on building accurate models of an ATSF Alco DL-109 A and B unit, Engine No. 50. Pam has received that article also, so they're in the pipeline.

[Zox]

I still can't figure out the system of photo posting on this site...Maybe one day this website will come up with a more user-friendly way to do it for dummies like me.

Okay. You see this picture?



This picture has a URL (Internet address) of "http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1903/santafesteam34a.jpg".

(In Firefox, you can verify this by right-clicking on the picture and picking "View Image Info" from the menu that appears; other browsers have similar options.)

To make that picture show up, you put "" in front of that URL and "" after it, like this:

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1903/santafesteam34a.jpg

The "Insert Image" button on the "Post reply" screen will insert "" into your message for you. It's the second button in the second row, just after the YouTube icon.

(I had to use images to show the "img" tags because otherwise, they'd try to insert an image instead of displaying the tag.)

[Cajonpassfan]

Loren, beautiful job on those 3700's, maybe there is a reason to keep subscribing to that mag...
What did you use for tenders and tender trucks?
Great weathering, too!
Regards, Otto

[robwill84]

Wow, inspiring thread guys! Here's my contribution, an in progress Southern Pacific M6 mogul. This is based on the Model Power 2-6-0, with Bachmann tender trucks added for all wheel reliable electrical pickup.







I actually went through three of these to find this one, silky smooth runner. This is also the newest version with the traction tire on the rear set of drivers. The smokebox front is on temporarily, which is why there is a big gap at the bottom.

I'm working on adding sound, cramped quarters in the tender but will be doable. There is room for a 16mm speaker in the oil bunker, which will make a pretty good size baffle. Speaker will fire down into the body of the tender, with plenty of holes in the bottom to let the sound out. We'll see how it sounds, I'll be posting updates to the installation.

Rob

[atsf_arizona]

Loren Perry's ATSF Mountains

Loren, superb. 

Your pics struck me like a lightning bolt, I didn't know Bachmann 4-8-2 could look so Santa Fe-like.
I can't wait to see the articles of yours published, so that I can follow and try to do a couple of feeble imitations of your models.
After seeing your two locos, you've inspiring me to try following and doing what you've done.

Like Otto asked, what did you use for the tenders and tender trucks?

Thx again for getting SuperTurbine to post your great pics to inspire us.

 

[mike_lawyer]

My sincerest thanks to Jason (Superturbine) for posting my two ATSF 3700-class 4-8-2 photos for me. I still can't figure out the system of photo posting on this site despite multiple efforts, so I had to depend on Jason to do it for me. Maybe one day this website will come up with a more user-friendly way to do it for dummies like me.

The two engines (I like to build two at a time) started out as Bachmann Light Mountains. I did all the modifications without removing the mechanism from the shell. The only things I didn't do was correct the shape of the pilot and replace the baker valve gear with Walschaerts although I did modify the Baker gear somewhat to more closely resemble the Walschaerts version.

The engines run beautifully and doublehead perfectly.

I have already delivered a complete two-part, heavily illustrated how-to article on building these engines to Pam at N-Scale Magazine. When she decides to run them is up to her.

I also did a similar two-part how-to story on building accurate models of an ATSF Alco DL-109 A and B unit, Engine No. 50. Pam has received that article also, so they're in the pipeline.

Loren -

How did you convert the locos to Walschaerts valve gear?  Also, on your weathering, what did you use to weather the drivers and the tops of the tenders?  Is it Polly Scale dirt?

[rogergperkins]

Loren, I too am eager to see your future articles. Anything steam is an inspiration to me.
WoW!!
Thanks.

[Loren Perry]

Okay, here's part of my picture-posting problem:

I cannot "right click". My spanking new, top-of-the-line Apple MacIntosh mouse has only a single button control. No left click, no right click. Just "click".
I'm not well versed in the "geek" language, so I'm barely semi-literate when it comes to internet activities.
I have no idea where you found the "URL address". I don't recognize Img849.imageshack, etc. Maybe Jason created this somehow? Certainly wasn't me.

I really and truly love all you great guys who try to walk us non-nerds through the process of posting photos, but it's like throwing pearls before swine in my case. I've printed out hard copies of your instructions to try to de-code at my leisure, but so far, no joy. To me, none of it is intuitive and to me at least, it just isn't a user-friendly arrangement. Being located in a remote island location with no nearby internet/iMac experts to sit down with and work together, I'm at a disadvantage. Maybe I'm just stupid.

I know how to attach photos to e-mails, and that's about it. So until this website comes up with a much simpler system for photo posting, I'm dependent on others to do it for me, and this sadly won't happen very often because I don't want to waste someone else's time. I'd rather build models, if you know what I mean.






This picture has a URL (Internet address) of "http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1903/santafesteam34a.jpg".

(In Firefox, you can verify this by right-clicking on the picture and picking "View Image Info" from the menu that appears; other browsers have similar options.)

To make that picture show up, you put "" in front of that URL and "" after it, like this:

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1903/santafesteam34a.jpg

The "Insert Image" button on the "Post reply" screen will insert "" into your message for you. It's the second button in the second row, just after the YouTube icon.

(I had to use images to show the "img" tags because otherwise, they'd try to insert an image instead of displaying the tag.)

[Loren Perry]

Like Otto asked, what did you use for the tenders and tender trucks?

How did you convert the locos to Walschaerts valve gear?  Also, on your weathering, what did you use to weather the drivers and the tops of the tenders?  Is it Polly Scale dirt?


My ATSF 4-8-2's have the long Bachmann tenders. Here's an excerpt from one of my articles to give you a preview of what you'll see in N-scale magazine soon:


"Santa Fe extended the water tanks of many of their locomotives, especially during WW2, to allow longer running between water stops. Bachmann’s Light Mountains come equipped with USRA-style short coal tenders, but they also offer the USRA long coal tender as a  separate item. Photos show that Santa Fe’s 3700-class engines used both short and long tenders (coal and oil) that strongly resemble the USRA designs. My two chosen engines were photographed in Los Angeles in the late 1940’s with long tenders equipped with oil bunkers, so I purchased a pair of Bachmann’s long tenders and some Ultimate N-Scale oil bunker conversion kits.

I also had some older Bachmann six-wheel Commonwealth tender trucks in my spare parts box and converted them to two-axle, all-wheel pickup configurations like the earlier Mikado project. These replaced the USRA trucks without any surgery other then carefully thinning the inner surfaces of the tender stirrup steps to allow sufficient truck swing on curves. If one is able to acquire the latest version of Bachmann’s six wheel tender trucks, these have all six wheels picking up power, so this would be an improvement."

You have to get your eyes down to rail-head level and get within about six inches of the models to see that the tender trucks have only two axles each instead of three. Sure, it's cheating, but it works for me. And it solves a number of problems, too. The old American Flyer Alco PA's in S-gauge also had two axles each in their supposedly three-axle trucks. As a kid, I never noticed the missing wheels.

As for valve gear and weathering: the modifications to the Baker gear involved removing all molded plastic linkages that were Baker-specific and not needed for mechanical functioning. Then I added some scratchbuilt reverse-gear bellcranks and levers that are Walschaerts-specific. That's about all I could do without completely removing the entire valve gear system and finding and installing a replacement system. I'm not ready for that yet.

All the weathering is 100% airbrushed. I start with a light coat of Floquil's Grime. I apply this over the horizontal surfaces of the engine and tender and trail streaks of it down the sides of the boiler and cylinders where steam and water deposits would be found. This is followed by a very light application of Floquil's Mud on top of the Grime, mostly on the lower sides of the boiler, running gear, and lower tender sides and trucks to give it a slightly warm tone. Next, Floquil's Engine Black is lightly sprayed down the top of the boiler, trailing off as it reaches the cab to mimic soot stains. Finally, Floquil's Rust is lightly sprayed around the top of the tender's water tank and some of the engines's water piping runs. All the running gear paint is applied while electrical power is running the engine's motor at low speeds - this is done with the model upside down in a foam cradle. I clean the wheel treads after painting with a brush dipped in lacquer thinner.

[mmagliaro]

Okay, here's part of my picture-posting problem:

I cannot "right click". My spanking new, top-of-the-line Apple MacIntosh mouse has only a single button control. No left click, no right click. Just "click".
I'm not well versed in the "geek" language, so I'm barely semi-literate when it comes to internet activities.
...

On a Mac, hold down the "Ctrl" key (down by the space bar),  and then click the mouse.  That will
do what a right-click does on a Windows machine.

[atsf_arizona]

Loren, thx for the replies on how you did it, and look-ahead for those articles. 

I think we have some major inspiration here from all!