Copper State Railway SD40-2 progress report

[ednadolski]

Brian, of course the new parts look "fan"-tastic!   (LOL, could not resist!   )   Seriously tho they look like you've taken the best available HO parts and magically shrunk them down to 1:160 scale.  The pics look great, and I'd bet that they still don't do justice to how good the new parts look in-person.  I'm also impressed at how accurately you've cored out the one on the end, I presume that was done on a mill rather than by hand?

These parts are light-years ahead of the cast-on fans, so on an appearance-only basis I am not sure why you would be on the fence about them.  There is also of course the practical side of the equation, but that I think is an individual decision.

Likewise, I'm sure the 0.002" parts will really be outstanding, the only question in my mind would be if, after painting and weathering, will you be able to see them at all other than in closeup pics (esp. if they will be a dark color)?  At those sizes I would think that the etched metal would handle like tin foil, which might be a trick for most modellers to install accurately, but you of course are the right person to do it well.  BTW Re: paint, what sort of paint would you use -- do model paints bond well enough to the stainless steel, and can these parts be painted without compromising the fine level of detail?

BTW, the air cylinders in the one pic look really great too! 

Ed
 

[6axlepwr]

Brian, of course the new parts look "fan"-tastic!   (LOL, could not resist!   )   Seriously tho they look like you've taken the best available HO parts and magically shrunk them down to 1:160 scale.  The pics look great, and I'd bet that they still don't do justice to how good the new parts look in-person.  I'm also impressed at how accurately you've cored out the one on the end, I presume that was done on a mill rather than by hand?

No mill was used. That last one was done by hand. Used a tapered reamer and then finished it with an aluminum rod with sand paper wrapped around it.

These parts are light-years ahead of the cast-on fans, so on an appearance-only basis I am not sure why you would be on the fence about them.  There is also of course the practical side of the equation, but that I think is an individual decision.

I thought that maybe the fan guard hold downs might be a bit to bulky. The more I look at it though, the more I Like the setup.

Likewise, I'm sure the 0.002" parts will really be outstanding, the only question in my mind would be if, after painting and weathering, will you be able to see them at all other than in closeup pics (esp. if they will be a dark color)?  At those sizes I would think that the etched metal would handle like tin foil, which might be a trick for most modellers to install accurately, but you of course are the right person to do it well.  BTW Re: paint, what sort of paint would you use -- do model paints bond well enough to the stainless steel, and can these parts be painted without compromising the fine level of detail?

I am first going to use 0.004" nickel silver. The reason for nickel silver is because there are othe rparts on the sheet I am doing that require soldering. So the whole sheet will be nickel  silver.

Model paints bond well to everythign I do because everythign gets grit blasted before painting. Even SS. After grit blasting SS, it really looks good and has a very nice fine "tooth" to it.

BTW, the air cylinders in the one pic look really great too! 

Ed

The air cylinders are almost 6 years old now. I have not done anything with them yet.

[peteski]

I am first going to use 0.004" nickel silver. The reason for nickel silver is because there are othe rparts on the sheet I am doing that require soldering. So the whole sheet will be nickel  silver.

I'm curious as t why not simply brass?  Brass solders just as easily, and it usually is cheaper than nickel-silver.

BTW, according to at least couple of Railwire luminaries, stainless steel etchings also solder quite easily. 

[6axlepwr]

I want the rigidity of NS. Brass at .004" is not very stiff. Especially for scale size lift rings when you push them into small tight fitting holes.

[peteski]

I want the rigidity of NS. Brass at .004" is not very stiff. Especially for scale size lift rings when you push them into small tight fitting holes.

In my experience, NS and brass have similar stiffness.  I also realize that NS comes in soft, medium hard and hard. But I think that so does brass.  I guess you have to use whatever material is available at the etching company.

[ednadolski]

In my experience, NS and brass have similar stiffness.  I also realize that NS comes in soft, medium hard and hard. But I think that so does brass.  I guess you have to use whatever material is available at the etching company.

Phosphor bronze may also be worth considering.  AFAIK it is stiffer than NS or brass of the same size.

Ed

[6axlepwr]

When the artwork is ready, I will talk to the photo etch shop about all my options for material. They do have everything available.

I am not making much forward progress, more along the lines of lateral progress. But soon that will change. A lot of my experimenting is coming to fruition and the model can move toward being finished. Although I am still working on perfecting the Q exhaust. So far not so good. The shrinking is happening, but not enough. It is the length thatis the problem. I think on this, when I finally get it to the correct length I am going to have to do some surgery to get it all setup correctly. I have a plan. I REALLY want to do this detail.

So you have seen this cab before, but there is something different. There is something else I have added. In an earlier update I had mentioned I was working on something that I thought was going to be pretty cool. It is now done and on the cab in the photo. Look at the windows. They come out to the edge of the gasket or rather closer to the edge of the gasket. No more window shelf. I had some laser cut window test shots done.

These windows do not fit the older Kato cab though. The windows between the new Kato SD40-2 and the older one are differeny sizes. So I will have to figure those ones out as well.



I got a couple other things done today that I did not shoot photos of. First I poured the second half of the mold for the cooling fans. Not really confident that my mold making work will come out all that well, but I will see tomorrow. It is sitting in a pressure pot curing. Second, I made some masters for the inertial filter hatch and exhaust hatch. With getting scale lift rings done, I needed new hatches because the holes I drilled in the hatches that are on the model now are to big and I could not get the Sunrise Enterprises lift rings out. So I cut the inertial filter hatch off a parts shell. Sanded it down and made a very clean master. I shaved off the lift ring pimples and put a 0.0083" dimple for a drill locator to drill and install the new lift rings. For the exhaust hatch, I did the same thing and also one other thing to it. The exhast STACK is pretty lame. I cut one off an Atlas GP40 which is actually to scale and transplanted it onto the Kato plate. It does look much better. Tomorrow I will pour the mold for it. This is just a single cavity mold. I can do this kind of mold easily. It is the clam shell molds that I am not good at. WIth making detail parts for these hatches, I can now sand the plate thinner and give that stand off or floating look to them.

[Catt]

I'd be willing to bet you would have no trouble finding a willing market for those windows be it the KATO SD40-2 or any other spartan cab EMD loco.I knmows I would be into at least 2 dozen sets for my EMD fleet.

[ednadolski]

Those windows look great.   I've tried making windows by hand, but it is very hard to do accurately.   I also like the absence of any cast-on wipers (I'm not sure if Kato put cast-on wipers onto this particular model, but I've had to shave them off for other models, which took an effort.  So I fully appreciate the absence of cast-on parts     ).   Are you going to be doing anything for the side windows?

One other  thing I notice is the cast-on door handle.  Will you be shaving that off, to replace with a wire part?

Ed

[wazzou]

One other  thing I notice is the cast-on door handle.  Will you be shaving that off, to replace with a wire part?

Ed

Remember this is N Scale now, not Proto:48.  What do you use for door latches in that scale?  Bent coat hangers? 

[ednadolski]

What do you use for door latches in that scale?  Bent coat hangers? 

No,  I use 0.008" wire bent 90 degrees:  http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o153/ednadolski/IMG_0131-Copy.jpg

Remember this is N Scale now, not Proto:48

True, the difference is somewhat conspicuous     http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o153/ednadolski/IMG_0877-1.jpg

[6axlepwr]

Those windows look great.   I've tried making windows by hand, but it is very hard to do accurately.   I also like the absence of any cast-on wipers (I'm not sure if Kato put cast-on wipers onto this particular model, but I've had to shave them off for other models, which took an effort.  So I fully appreciate the absence of cast-on parts     ).   Are you going to be doing anything for the side windows?

One other  thing I notice is the cast-on door handle.  Will you be shaving that off, to replace with a wire part?

Ed

I only know of cast on wipers in HO scale. I do not know if I have ever seen them in N. It is easy to remove them though and clean up the window. At least in HO it is. Slice them off with a sharp knife. DO NOT SCRAPE, SLICE ONLY. Use a buffing wheel in a dremel and just barely touch the surface and polish it out. If you hit the surface to much, you will melt the plastic. Just barely touch it.

I am having more windows made for the older Kato cab. The older cab has a slightly narrower and taller/wider window. The windows you see in the photo ONLY work on the new Kato SD40-2 with ditch lights.

Nope, not going to put wire door handles on. It will look like a wire door handle.

I have also decided not to go with the new fan parts I had made. Not until I can afford to get them injection molded so I can do ALL the fan types. Most likely that will never happen. I like my models to have a uniform look to them. If I do a model with these fans and then do another model with say some cast Q-fans, it just will not look right having nice open detailed fans next to castings. So it will be castings all the way around.

[Spades]

Finished detailing the fuel tank. The kato underframe for their new SD40-2's is pretty nice. It fills in an otherwise empty space and gives a good representation of what should be there. I wanted to add just a bit more. Most of it will never be seen, but I wanted to do it anyway.

Brian

I don't any of the newest Kato 40-2 releases.  Is the frame, the big rectangle structure the fuel tank sits in the middle of, a Kato part? How does it attach to the locomotive, mech or shell?  Did you do away with the contact strips?

Greg

[6axlepwr]

Greg,

The underframe is part of the fuel tank. The fuel tank snaps to the frame and the extreme ends of the underframe clip onto the frame at the front and back. The contact strip is still there. No way to get rid of it. It is what the trucks ride on. But the strip is nestled into and behind the underframe detail.

[ednadolski]

Thanks Brian, I will have to try the Dremel.   I had previously done that sort of thing once or twice, using 2000 grit sandpaper, followed by polishing with toothpaste (sounds odd but I've hear that's what the military modeler guys do).

Funny thing about details like door handles and such.... we have round parts that we want to look flat, and flat parts that we want to look round, LOL.

Ed