Whitcomb 45 Tonner build

[Jim Starbuck]

I’ve wanted a Whitcomb for years and when asking guys in the Modutrak group if they had ever seen one Mark (Elgin Locomotive Works) says Yeah, I’ve had that modeled in Solidworks for years. He put the shell in my hands at RPM Chicagoland last weekend.

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Here we go.

The hoods are to scale and narrow but after milling out some wall thickness a 6x15 coreless motor fit nicely.

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I’m using the trucks from a Kato 11-106 powered chassis. Since the motor is a single shaft it will be one truck powered.
There’s no width in the hood to let the geared truck pivot but that doesn’t matter since this is so short.
I milled a pocket in the sill that lets the clever stock Kato clip hold the truck in place. The clip also holds the worm and shaft bushings.
The horizontal lines above and below the pocket are a slight step up on the chassis and also the outline width of the hood. The nice narrow hood covers the pocket but only by about.010” on either side.

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The other truck pivots on the stock post which was cut from the donor chassis and epoxied into a slot milled in the printed chassis.

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The motor rests in a shallow slot milled in the chassis low enough to match the motor and worm shafts. It’s soft mounting on canopy glue.
The shafts are different diameter so I turned a brass flywheel/ coupling with the appropriate size hole drilled in either end. Red Loctite holds everything together.

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There’s a Lokpilot decoder and TCS keep alive in the cab.
First test runs were promising so detail and paint will commence.
Here’s a short video of the test run.

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[Jim Starbuck]

Here’s a couple size comparison photos to a Bachmann 44 Tonner.

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[Chris333]

That is slicker than worm sperm!  You gonna do side rods? 

[Jim Starbuck]

That is slicker than worm sperm!  You gonna do side rods? 

I’ve got printed side rod trucks but I haven’t put any thought into making them operational yet.
The shell is actually modeled from the unit that’s on static display at the railroad park in Rochelle, IL.

Edit: I was wrong about the side rods. It appears all of the 45 tonners were equipped with side rod trucks.
Hmmm. Now to figure out a way to make them operational.

[chessie system fan]

Looks great. Tell me more about that motor.

[Jim Starbuck]

Looks great. Tell me more about that motor.

Tramfabriek    http://tramfabriek.co.uk/

Here’s a link to the seller’s site. He’s like the UK version of Northwest Shortlines. Motors, gears, bushings etc. specializing in repowering European steam.
He also sells on EBay if you want to go that route just search 6mm coreless. They’re about $20.  He sells a bit cheaper direct and I’ve alway had great service.

My Whitcomb used a 6x15 12v coreless. It’s the same motor I put in the American crane and 25 Tonner.
They’re super quiet, powerful and play very nicely with ESU decoders.
I have 6 and 7mm versions in all my custom builds and have never had any problems let alone a failure.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What, no sound? You're slippin homie.

[NorthWestGN]

Nice runner! That thing is tiny!

Can’t wait to see it finished…

Brent

[peteski]

Impressive (but we kind of expect that from you).   

[Dwight in Toronto]

Inspiring, as always. 

Man, to have the tools and capability to do things like making your own flywheel, that can accept a different shaft size at opposite ends.  You keep giving me cool things to aspire to.

Looking forward to seeing railings, lights, paint, decals and such.

[Jim Starbuck]

Progress on this project has been slow but I did get Z scale couplers fit up along with .008”phosphor bronze wire railings and Gold Medal etched stirrup steps.
It t will be running at Trainfest in Milwaukee this weekend.

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[Dwight in Toronto]

Jim - please follow up with a running video from Trainfest!

Also, might you possibly share some pics ‘n pointers on how you form and solder those railings, please & thanks?

[Jim Starbuck]

Jim - please follow up with a running video from Trainfest!

Also, might you possibly share some pics ‘n pointers on how you form and solder those railings, please & thanks?

I’ll try to remember to get video this weekend.

As far as the railings, I use a pair of jewelers pliers, which are like needlenose but the jaws are round and tapered thinner at the tip so whatever radius you want is just bent wherever you want  up the taper on the pliers.
I drill .25mm (.0095”) holes in the sill and in this case the cab and bend a piece of wire longer than needed to reach each hole. Then using a fingernail clipper, shorten the wire to the desired length.
The intermediate uprights are just straight wire pieces stuck in the holes in the sill then clipped to length.
I have some small flat jaw alligator clips that I clip across the horizontal and vertical wires at an angle. This holds the vertical wiring position and also leaves room to touch the backside with a small amount of solder.

Edit: added photos

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[nickelplate759]

I’ll try to remember to get video this weekend.

As far as the railings, I use a pair of jewelers pliers, which are like needlenose but the jaws are round and tapered thinner at the tip so whatever radius you want is just bent wherever you want  up the taper on the pliers.
I drill .25mm (.0095”) holes in the sill and in this case the cab and bend a piece of wire longer than needed to reach each hole. Then using a fingernail clipper, shorten the wire to the desired length.
The intermediate uprights are just straight wire pieces stuck in the holes in the sill then clipped to length.
I have some small flat jaw alligator clips that I clip across the horizontal and vertical wires at an angle. This holds the vertical wiring position and also leaves room to touch the backside with a small amount of solder.
I’ll edit this post with photos when I get home from work tonight.

I've never seen flat-jaw alligator clips - sounds really useful!  Where did you find them?

[Jim Starbuck]

I've never seen flat-jaw alligator clips - sounds really useful!  Where did you find them?

I got mine from eBay and no doubt you could get them from Amazon.
Do a search for micro toothless alligator test clips. They’re usually in a pack of 10 for $10 or $12.