Best Of New Brass EP-2 assembly & Mod clinic

[central.vermont]

Ron,
I think that this may have been a blessing in disguise. I have  to agree with Dave Foxx on this and you should add a strip to the bottom just as Milwaukee did!!!
I think this because if you look at the first photo below you will notice in its early years that they did NOT line up at the bottom. Also there is a line of rivets at the bottom you can see in the photo just as on your model but if you look closely at the last photo you will notice this same line of rivets above the paint line and the lower edge lines up. To me it appears that they noticed this problem themselves and added a piece of metal below this rivet line to apply the yellow stripe. So there you have it, the silver lining in this cloud of oops!! 

So all is not lost but a bit of paint and time.

Jon

[u18b]

Wow, Jon.  You're right.

The learning never stops.  Turns out the model was correct.

In the black scheme, you can see that the bottom of the boiler room is much higher than the Cabs.

In the very first Hiawatha scheme (often called the experimental scheme) it is also raised.
Notice that scheme has a wide stripe at the bottom- so there is no problem.


It was when we go to this scheme that I'm working on, the railroad fair scheme, that the problem surfaces.
And you are correct.  It appears they added some sheet metal to the bottom edge to give room for the stripe.

On the cigar scheme, you can see some even with the metal still there, and others the bottom is raise and the metal removed.

Good catch.

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do.

[bbussey]

Ron,

If you have to go back and repaint the boiler room, perhaps this suggestion will help.  Can you glue a styrene strip or solder a brass strip that's the width of that orange stripe along the bottom of the boiler room.  I realize that there's probably a rivet strip down there, so it may look odd at 3".  But, from 3' away, it might cure a worse ailment, because you could then cheat the boiler room up enough to almost line up the roofline.

Exactly what I was going to suggest.

[u18b]

The joint was not as bad as it could have been.

First step was to take that underframe and narrow it.



I narrowed it a good bit.  Now there is plenty of room.



With the pressure off the joint, it returned to it's normal tight position (that's good).



Now, I can't just go heating the area or the floor brace will come off.



I scraped the paint out of the corner.



I applied flux and then just a little solder which ran into the corner.



I think that is all it needed.  And the paint did not appear to be damaged.



Of course, now with restricted room, I had to round the corner to clear the solder in the corner.

[u18b]

My thanks for the suggestions on the sill/skirting.

I have some ideas cooking.

I have to decide do I forge ahead and move to finishing (since I don't have to repaint the boiler room), or do I correct this?

[u18b]

Well, after many hours of modeling...... we have a skirt.

Made of brass.



I have a lot of photos to process and upload (and a busy day) so check back to see the full explanation of what I did.
(and I will admit- it wasn't easy).

Whew.   

[bbussey]

Center cab needs to be raised up some.

[u18b]

Center cab needs to be raised up some.

Hahaha!  Now that it has a skirt, your eyes go to the top! lol.

Improving the roofline is being done.
It will take me a while to get the shots up.

[u18b]

Lots of photos coming.

I wanted to add a skirt.
But how?

Does brass strip come in a size that I could solder to the bottom edge? (I didn't think so).

I could use styrene, but I was concerned with styrene not staying glued to brass.

I'd rather have brass.

Hmmmmm.  I wonder if I could mount something to the floor that would actually show in the edge.

So I took a small square tube of K&S tubing.
Measured and marked.



Started over on the floor.  Since my RTR unit was handy, I swapped floors.  The skirt is not needed on the cigar scheme.
I filed the paint off the bottom.



Took my tube.....
I wanted to cut a fairly straight line with my motor took and a cut-off wheel.



Pretty rough.
The wheel went across the top inner edge.






Use a file to clean things up and even up the lines.



Better.
Watch out for sharp pieces!



The top edge is the skirt.
The right edge will be soldered to the floor. (sorry, should have rotated photo).



But I can't test anything well with the screw obstruction. 
Have to cut slots for the screws.




....more coming.

[u18b]

Marked an area with Sharpie.



And cut the slot (both ends)









NOW we can test fit.  Need to make the sill shorter.



Sill to tall.  Meant to rotate photo.  Sorry.



Now the sill is closer to proper height.  All done by hand with files.
This is the proper orientation.



That's pretty close to what I was wanting.

[u18b]

But still not there yet.

Sill height is pretty close, but the base height is too tall.
Have to reduce part that solders to floor.



Once everything looks about right, "tack" it down.



Now add more solder.
(man, I wish I had a resistance soldering station).



Notice another problem.  The sill has to go in front of the water pipe on the left.
Must be thin there.



Here is a cross section view.  Soldered in place.



Actual orientation side view.



The end pieces are kind of delicate.

[u18b]

Now do it again and make another one!
Kind of messy, but I cleaned up joint some with a big file.



Here is one side.



And the other.



A lot of work and effort, but I think it works.

And I don't have to start over on the paint.



Next steps:

Adjust height with new orientation.
Start the masking and painting of boiler room.
sand blast the floor.
Prime the floor.
Paint the floor black.
Add the yellow striping to the sill (or paint it).

that's all for now.

[davefoxx]

Ron,

Once you get the boiler room set at the right height to line up the roof, that modification should work out almost perfect.  Nice work!

DFF

[Kisatchie]

Ron, you deserve a medal for perseverance!


Hmm... if Kiz had been
trying to build this loco,
it would have been
embedded in a wall long
ago...

[Mike C]

  Why not a micro torch for soldering to something like the underframe ? Or am I missing something ?