Briggs Models MLW RS-3 Build Thread

[BCR 570]

Thank you both.  No, there was no modification to the motor cradle; just metal removed to accommodate the new fuel tank, and of course the wire pick-ups to replace the lost contact strips.

I anticipate the same modifications for the RS-10s and RS-18s with the 1200 gallon fuel tank when I get to them.


Tim

[BCR 570]

The fun continues.  With all of the holes successfully drilled through the pilots, they can now be mounted onto the deck/sill parts.  The previous work to remove the original pilots and prepare the rear of the new pilots resulted in a fairly easy and successful fit:




The next step was to add the cut levers.  My plan for this was to install the left eyebolt securely to the pilot, thread the second eyebolt onto the cut lever, then thread the cut lever into the first eyebolt on the pilot, and finally secure the second eyebolt and the cut lever with it.  Unfortunately this approach did not work.  It was just too difficult and fiddly to get the second eyebolt to go into its hole and stay there while I reached for the glue.

Plan B was to cut the cut lever into two pieces and have their inner end butt onto the centre grab iron.  This actually mimics the three piece assembly on the prototype.  This was much easier to accomplish and likely resulted in a neater installation for me.  I then installed the grab irons which go inside the cut levers.  Here are the front pilots with cut levers and grab irons installed:






Next up was installation of the Micro-Trains #1015 couplers.  They went in without too much fuss and were secured with the supplied 00-90 screws:




Next to the couplers, I installed BLMA train line air hoses:




These BLMA parts are great to have with these types of builds and I hope that Atlas will be able to get them all back on the market at some point.


Tim

[mandealco]

Nice work Tim, enjoying the thread.
Cheers
Steve

[philippe.whyte]

These BLMA parts are great to have with these types of builds and I hope that Atlas will be able to get them all back on the market at some point.

I agree with you Tim!  That being said, the Atlas website does currently have a number of the BLMA parts listed for pre-order.  I decided to go ahead and order the parts that I will eventually need for my locomotive fleet in hopes that it will encourage them to produce them.  Unfortunately, they haven't listed the entire BLMA catalogue so there are some items I will need that I'm afraid they may not produce (#64 Locomotive Wind Deflectors for example).

Philippe

[BCR 570]

Nice work Tim, enjoying the thread.
Cheers
Steve

Well if people are watching, I'll keep going!  Thanks.

The next item to be added to the deck assemblies are the safety lights under the deck below the cab.  BLMA makes an etched part for these which works:




Next up are the rerailers which are slung below the deck.  I used Period Miniatures part #8020 which is a soft metal casting, and drilled #80 holes through them.  I then fashioned hooks from .010" brass wire, threaded them through the holes and glued them in place:




I then drilled #80 holes in the bottom of the side sills and mounted the rerailers.  The positioning is tight and care must be taken not to foul the rotation of the trucks.  The earlier BCR RS-3s with the original fuel tank arrangement have one rerailer either side in between the rear brake cylinder on the front truck and the air reservoirs.  Here is a view of 567 and 570 with safety lights both sides and rerailers installed either side behind the air reservoirs:




The later BCR RS-3s with the longitudinal fuel tanks have two on the left side between the air reservoir and the forward brake cylinder on the rear truck.  Here is 574 with safety lights either side and two rerailers mounted on the left side ahead of the air reservoir:




The last item to tackle for the decks are the MU hoses.  In 1977 the BCR RS-3s were still equipped with 6 SL brake which means two MU hoses either side mounted up on the deck.  The hoses are connected to vertical standpipes which come up out of the deck.  I could not think of a way to securely mount an MU hoses to a vertical pipe; in their exposed location on either end of the locomotive they would be prone to frequent breakage.  I thought of using Precision Scale Co. brass trainline air hoses from their #6713 brake detail kit and modifying them.  The advantage of brass is that it can be bent.  I bent the horizontal mounting pin down 90 degrees to make it vertical, and removed the lever at the top of the hose.  This gave me a vertical pipe with a hoses attached at its top end.  The photo below shows a stock trainline air hoses  from Precision Scale Co. on the left, and my modification on the right:




I drilled four #76 holes at each end of the deck to receive the MU hoses.  Here is one of the deck assemblies with four of the MU hoses sitting in place for a test fit:




I cannot glue these in place yet as they go through and behind the end handrails; thus the end handrails will have to go on first.  The hoses will be put away for safekeeping and added later.

Another part I want to add are the end drop steps, but I am not aware of a suitable part in N Scale.  I have a package of ALCO drop steps from JnJ Trains, but they are not the correct shape and there are not enough in the package for my three engines.  I will have to get some proper ones etched.  I also need to come up with a way to secure the end handrails in place, as the holes for the vertical mounting pins were lost during the pilot change-out.  I am thinking of perhaps drilling some #80 holes and using brass wire pins to help secure them in place.


The above notwithstanding, at this stage the deck assemblies are basically complete with all modifications and additions made.  Here are two photographs of the completed deck assemblies mounted on the mechanisms:






It is time to move on to the carbodies!


Tim

[mclarenf119]

Tim,

This work is inspiring to me. Really a fan of those jigs and drill templates, gonna be adding that idea to the repertoire. Looking forward to the rest!
-Eric

[craigolio1]

Awesome progress Tim.

I’m happy to jump in with you on any etching projects for BCR locos.

 Craig

[BCR 570]

I’m happy to jump in with you on any etching projects for BCR locos.

 Craig

Well Jeff informed me that he could print some see-through drop steps rather than get them etched.  I was a little skeptical but have been proven wrong - I saw them this weekend and they are very good.  I would have thought it possible to print see-through grating in N Scale but it is!  One dimension to fix and they will be good to go.

Tim

[BCR 570]

The work on the RS-3 carbodies began with a review of prototype photographs to list what additions would need to be made.  The Briggs Models carbodies already incorporate the carbody filter and headlight/aux light modifications so it is really just the details to work on.  Lets look at a few photographs:



This photograph of BCR 570 in 1973 shows the long hood to advantage.  Here I will need to add the exhaust stack (which is supplied with the shells), the radiator fan screen (also supplied but I will substitute an etched one), and the bell (which Jeff is also working on a part for).  I will also need to fabricate and install the five curved grab irons on the end of the hood, and a sixth up on top, and the guard rails across the radiator shutters.




This view of 566 in the early 1970s also shows the end grab irons, radiator shutter guard rails, and the bell mount on top to good advantage.




This overhead view of PGE 567 in 1973 shows the short hood with the same arrangement of end and top grab irons, rear brake wheel, and Sinclair radio antenna on the roof.


The Briggs Models carbodies come in two parts (long hood and short hood) and they join together underneath the Atlas cab which they mate with.  At this point the work on the carbodies has included making the cut-outs to fit over the mechanism under the battery boxes, priming the shells grey, sanding the roofs, and drilling out the holes for the headlights and aux lights to accept fibre optics for digital lighting later on.

Long hoods:




Short hoods:




Tim

[BCR 570]

I decided to tackle the end and top grab irons first as I thought they would take the most time, and I was correct.  it has taken an entire week and more to get all of them fabricated and installed.  The challenge is that the grab irons are curved at their outside end and the outer mounting pin goes into the carbody at a 45 degree angle from the inside one.  One of the grab irons extends right around to the side of the carbody so the outside pin for it is at 90 degrees to the inside one. For a nice tight fit the grab irons have to be stretched slightly to snap into place, which increases the chances of them flying off into space.  And no, none of the proprietary grab irons will fit, so I am having to make my own from brass wire.

The Briggs Models carbodies provide pre-drills for all of the holes so the first step is to drill all of them out with a #80 drill and remove any debris from the inside.  This is important because I will be securing the grab irons in place with CA from the inside.  I usually bend grab irons from .008" brass wire (Detail Associates #2502) but for these I elected to use .010" wire (DA #503).  The .010" wire is a little stiffer and I thought that it would hold the curves a little better.  It also fits into the #80 holes a little more snugly.

So, how to form a grab iron with a curve at one end?  The photograph below illustrates the sequence I used, which resulted in a fair degree of success.  With parts this small, this is not an exact science and you have to be prepared to make more than you need and throw some away:




Beginning on the left, I make a 90 degree bend to form the first mounting pin.  I then insert it into the inside mounting hole and bend the wire around the curve of the carbody.  I grab the wire with my tweezers next to the hole for the outside pin, remove the wire from the model, and make the bend for the outside pin.  It is this bend which determines whether the part is good or not; if made too long or too short it will not fit.  I then trim the two mounting pins, place the part down on the cutting mat, and complete the bending of the curve.  This last move is done by eye and is where the part can be adjusted to some degree for a good fit.

I then insert the part on the model by hooking the outside pin into its hole, and then stretching it into position for the inside pin to go in.  At this point he fit can be assessed, and in some cases I was able to remove the part and make adjustments for a better fit.  As much as is possible, we want all of the grab irons on one end to be similar in shape so in some cases I switched them from one model to another for a better match.  Once they were installed, I fixed them in place with thin viscosity CA adhesive from the inside, relying on the glue to wick into the holes and secure the parts.  In this type of application, not much CA is required for a secure fix.

There is also a smaller grab iron on top at each end.  These are straight and thus much easier to make.  They were formed by making the first right angle, inserting them into one of the holes on the model, grabbing them just short of the second holes, removing them them and then making the second bend.  After trimming the pins to length, they were secured in place.  I should mention that with all of these grab irons, we do not want the wire sticking out very far on the inside, so after they were secured in place, I filed the ends on the inside to dress them back flush with the insides of the shells.

Here are the long hoods with the six grab irons installed:






And the short hoods with the same arrangement of grab irons:






I am very pleased to have this job behind me, and the next task will be the guard rails across the radiator shutters.  More bending of brass wire!


Tim

[philippe.whyte]

Nicely done on those grab irons Tim.  Having done some of those curved grabs myself for a locomotive, I know how much of a challenge that is.

Philippe

[BCR 570]

Well the radiator shutter guard rails went a lot quicker and easier than I had anticipated.  From the reference photographs posted here you can see that these guard rails comprise a bottom horizontal guard rail spanning the entire width of the radiator shutters, a vertical guard rail coming down and butting into the bottom rail, and two additional horizontal guard rails which go across the shutters and butt into the vertical rail.  I elected to use .010" brass wire again, and attempted to make these as close as possible to the prototype arrangement.

The first step was to drill the mounting holes around the outside of the radiator shutters with a #80 drill.  These holes are actually easy to locate because they go where some of the bolt heads for the shutter frame go.  On the prototype, these bolts were used to also secure the guard rail assembly.

The next step was to form and install the bottom guard rail spanning the entire width of the shutters:




With this in place, the vertical rail can be formed, cut to length, and glued in place up against the bottom rail:




Once the vertical rail is in place, the remaining two horizontal rails can be formed, cut to length and installed:




I was pleased with the results, which match the prototype arrangement rather closely.  Once the carbodies have been painted dark green and light green, these guard rails will be painted yellow, and will thus stand out against the dark green radiator shutters.


View of completed guard rails on the left side:




And the completed guard rails on the right side:




So the two biggest jobs on the carbodies are now behind me, and I can move on to finishing them with installation of the remaining parts.  Going to bed happy!


Tim

[BCR 570]

I have experienced a setback with this project.  I was all ready to go ahead and install the remaining parts on the long and short hoods, commencing with the brake wheel on the rear end.  In doing so I noticed that the brake wheel would collide with the second grab iron up.  I wasn't seeing this in reference photographs, and it took me a while to realize that on the model, the grab irons are in the same place on the long and short hoods, but on the prototype the grab irons on the short hood are not in the same place as those on the long hood!

On the long hood, the three shorter grab irons are mostly on the flat end face and terminate at the halfway point on the corner radius, as seen in this Penn Central example:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eddie-chicago-railfan/4708888431


On the short hood, the three shorter grab irons are further over and are centred on the corner radius, as seen in this D&H example:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1171649


There are variations, notably on the GN and NP RS-3s, but this appear to have been the default arrangement.  I checked the Atlas shells and they have an identical grab iron arrangement at each end, so they are incorrect.  Ditto for the Briggs Models hoods.  Fortunately, they are 3D printed and it is not a lot of work to move the pre-drills for the grab irons over and reprint the shells.

It just goes to show how much one can learn when involved in a comprehensive build of a prototype, even with one so familiar to me.  I hope to have new short hoods this weekend, at which point I can continue wit the build.  Unfortunately, I will have to bend and install the rear grab irons all over again . . . 


Tim

[PGE_Modeller]

Tim,
Looking at the photo of 567 (Jan 13 post), the door on the short hood end needs to be located closer to the right hand side.  The edge of the door is not at the centre of the hood but is farther to the right - looks as though it is in line with one of the bolts on the headlight rim.

Cheers,

[BCR 570]

Tim,
Looking at the photo of 567 (Jan 13 post), the door on the short hood end needs to be located closer to the right hand side.  The edge of the door is not at the centre of the hood but is farther to the right - looks as though it is in line with one of the bolts on the headlight rim.

Cheers,

Yes, I concur.  And this is made possible because the grab iron on the right rear corner is not a longer one, but a shorter one centred on the corner radius.

Out of interest I checked the Atlas shells and while their left rear grab irons are incorrect, they do have the rear door and right rear corner grab iron correct.

Back to the drawing board 3D software!


Thank you,

Tim