Best Of The TP56/TP70 Kitbash thread N scale

[randgust]

OK, first set of stats:

Total weight 54.8 grams.
Tractive effort on dynamometer car - 8 grams (14.6% adhesion)  (remember 1 dummy axle.)
Verified car pull on layout:  13 50-ft cars.

That's about equivalent to a Kato NW2 for performance.  It outpulls a current-production Atlas GP7 or GP38 and way outpulls an Atlas MP15.

So from an operational standpoint, that meets or exceeds any of my expectations.

On the low end, my little 25-tonner weighs 20 grams and has 1.5 grams on the drawbar.
On the top end, my rebuilt FP45 on a Kato SD40-2 chassis with more weight added racks in a 130 grams and 28 grams on the drawbar

[u18b]

@randgust
Since your cab is full of lead-- that would appear to make the center of gravity toward the cab.

Does your TP56 have any tendency to lift up in the front (maybe not do wheelies, but lift up at least a little).
That would include when cars are coupled behind the cab.

[randgust]

Doesn't appear to be an issue at all.

The cab weight is almost centered above the rear axle; there's a chunk of it that goes into the hood.   And the frame plate is solid brass, too.

But what really made the difference is that I didn't use the RP-printed acetal fuel tank, I just put a big slug of lead more or less the size of it right front of the front axle and will put detail on the ends.  I had to have that to hold the nose down against the 'spring' in the Roco truck, and that made it so the pickup and equalization was actually pretty good.  Until I put that lead fuel tank in the nose it was not balanced particularly well.   

I put up a video of where I'm at now, partially painted, wire handrails, running well:

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[mmagliaro]

That's really running well.  I think the 54+ grams of weight is crucial to this.   Getting reliable pickup from only 6 wheels is tough.
A lot of two-truck diesels (8 wheels) have suffered by having traction tires on only 2 of those wheels (like the old RS-11 or
the recent Arnold SW-1).   So getting this out of 6 wheels on a single rigid truck is awesome.

Looks good, too!

[randgust]

Thanks, but with Ron in the room I had to do micro-LED headlights, and still have to put on the right air conditioner, horn and put the HT strut back on the center axle, and with you in the room I have to put on etched windshield wipers and a fuel gauge on my scratchbuilt tank end!

When mine started about a year ago I didn't think Ron could jam a usable motor on that center-feed truck, so I went Roco-loco instead.  I could have probably built six of Ron's in the time I've spent trying to get this approach working right.   Most of my problems came from that lead idler axle issue - which was a design change in the Roco truck I wasn't aware of.

On my video I wanted to make sure that David Cutting got credit for the Shapeways shell.  None of us would be tinkering this this if David Cutting hadn't drawn up an RP-printable shell here.  After really studying it against the photos, he did a great job.

EDIT:  OK, finished it up last night.   I'm not going to do the decals, actually, I like it this generic.







Runs well, I'm satisfied.....we're done here!

[u18b]

Randy,

I love it.

It was worth the effort.

I hope we see a couple more from others.

[randgust]

For the record, I sold mine at Altoona, got an offer too good to refuse.

While it was fun to build, I had to admit that it was doomed to be a shelf queen, and that I already have so many little critters I've built like this that one more was pure display case decoration.   Everybody got to see it run down there that wanted to see it, and after that....well.....

For the record though, I'll openly state that Ron won this one.  If I ever did build another one, I'd opt for his drive.   Tuning the electrical pickup wipers, equalization, etc. on this one for reliable performance was way too fussy.  Kato truck wins.

While I was at the show I talked to the guy from Curry that actually ran it at Hollidaysburg, and it was sold as well - it reportedly went to Canada.   I haven't been able to find any photos of it after it left Hollidaysburg, post here if you know.   

[u18b]

Hey Thomas @keeper

Since this thread is back up..... what is the status of yours?

You left us hanging!

Any finished pics?

Anybody else work on one?

I'm hoping Randy will build another one now that he sold his old one.

[keeper]

I'm still here but nothing has happened since last the time.
There was simply no time/mood for modeling in the last few month.

But things are getting better and the time of year for modeling is just around the corner.
So stay tuned as these critters are the first on my list.

Thomas

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok guys, time to get going on round 2: The Spirit of Hunter.

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[peteski]

Ok guys, time to get going on round 2: The Spirit of Hunter.

Meh, that looks like a dummy. 

[u18b]

There's got to be a story for this.

Where is it?
At Huntingdon?

[nkalanaga]

Any relation to the Amtrak GG-1/2?

[randgust]

Ron, there is.   Here is the "before" shot:
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/573781/

2013 wreck it was the lead unit.   Still not sure why it cab and front truck were truncated, but you can see the wreck damage.

Oh, and more on-thread:  Out of the Box models now has the TP56 shapeways files to print the shell.   Out of the Box is doing some seriously good printing with their own equipment.

[u18b]

Ron, there is.   Here is the "before" shot:
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/573781/

2013 wreck it was the lead unit.   Still not sure why it cab and front truck were truncated, but you can see the wreck damage.

Oh, and more on-thread:  Out of the Box models now has the TP56 shapeways files to print the shell.   Out of the Box is doing some seriously good printing with their own equipment.

Since this came up.... in order to keep this thread accurate....

Here is the new link.

Notice he dropped the price.

https://outoftheboxmodels.com/collections/cutting-edge-scale-models/products/tcp-tp56-cesm