Best Of Arnold SW1 - what's inside (technical review)

[coosvalley]

Probably because they are ideal fit for your layout.    And they look good (except for the "treadplate" on the walkways. But unless you look close, you don't notice that.

It's not just that, but they run so smoothly at their slowest speeds, even on my filtered DC power pack. The only other loco in N scale that runs so well at slow speeds is the Atlas VO-1000, IMHO. Even my Atlas locos seem like terrible runners, when compared to these little things.Considering these are so small, and very lightweight , they fact that they run well at all is impressive to me.

It also helps that they scaled it properly, and it rides at the right height.

*edit: These locos were actually part of the inspiration for building my layout, so yes, they are a good fit for it.  If they hadn't been good runners,however, then I would have probably not built my current layout..I like these so much, I'm sorta inspired to try modeling some MILW Road MU equipped units, like this:

There's something about SW1s in the weeds I find appealing.

[mmagliaro]

That's a great resource, Max, thank you. With cubes this small, I suppose one can assemble lots of rectangular based shapes. I do have a stash of small circles, but find them inflexible and wasteful of space in most installations.
Could you please weigh one (or more) of these actual cubes? For example, what would a six by ten cube rectangle weigh? And are they consistent in size/thickness?
Thank you!
Otto K.

I also like to use pieces of solid tungsten plate, like this: http://www.maximum-velocity.com/tungstensnapoffplates.htm
If you are patient, you can use a Dremel with a diamond cut-off disk to shape or cut these.  All you need to do is
cut across about half of it.  Then you can snap it off with a quick blow from a hammer.  Do ALL the work with the plate clamped in a vise so it won't get hot as all get-out.  The diamond disk can also nip off edges and corners.  You can make very customized shapes from the plate and then there is ZERO space wasted.

As for the cubes...
50 of them weigh 5.5g

And yes, they are VERY uniform in size. They are  .076" x .076" x .076"

So your 6x10 case (60 cubes) would weigh 6.6g

And if anybody is calculating...
6 x .076 = .456
10 x .076 = .76

So the 60-cube volume is .456 x .76 x .076 = .02633 cu in
6.6 / .02633 = 250.664 g / cu in  or  15.296 g/cu cm

Since pure tungsten is supposed to be 19.3g/cu cm, these cubes must not be pure tungsten.

Looking back at the "details" on the cubes on that web site source I cited, it does say they are an ALLOY with a density of 17.5g/cu cm.  But I'm not seeing that much density.

This is still way better than lead, which is only about 11g / cu cm

[phil55]

On this forum, if it's not Atlas or Kato it ain't *****!

[Cajonpassfan]

Thank you Max, Sir! That's exactly what I was looking for, tangible information.
Otto

[peteski]

On this forum, if it's not Atlas or Kato it ain't *****!

Maybe you just do not read enough posts in the forum?  We critique all the model brands.  If if a model is good, regardless of its manufacturer, it is praised -  if it has problems, we sure point them out.  Kato and Atlas don't get free pass.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thank you Max, Sir! That's exactly what I was looking for, tangible information.
Otto

Oh, one more question: if I were to glue a mass of these together to form an irregularly shaped, but removable solid weight to fit a unique space, what glue should I use? Thin AC? I have no experience gluing tungsten to itself...
Thanks,
Otto

[peteski]

Oh, one more question: if I were to glue a mass of these together to form an irregularly shaped, but removable solid weight to fit a unique space, what glue should I use? Thin AC? I have no experience gluing tungsten to itself...
Thanks,
Otto

It is metal, so I would use any metal-compatible glue.  Any CA glue or any epoxy should do the job.  I would make sure to clean and degrease the cubes first. I would clean them with either alcohol (91% isopropyl), or Naphtha.

[peteski]

I was asked by Hornby/Arnold to come up with a conversion to MTL coupler.  One of their customers asked for that.  I might as well post it here, in case someone else wants to convert this model to MTL couplers.