Best Of New Brass EP-2 assembly & Mod clinic

[Chris333]

Oh mann.

[spookshow]

I was pretty pleased with the final results.

OMG Ronnie, fell right outta my chair on that one 

Cheers!
-Mark

[u18b]

Here is a little trick.

Sometimes when masking, the thicker upper layer leaves a bit of a raised portion.

This is a pretty small example, but look how the gray is raised slightly at the angle, on the horizontal part (so, to the left of the bottom of the window).



Sometimes I take a smooth round tool and roll that spot down.



A clear-coat was applied to the Cabs.

Also, since the last time I worked on the walkways, I was applying orange frame-stripe decals...
I clear-coated them too to seal them.

Next, I'll try to work on that excess orange on the water pipe.

Oh!  And I got my black paint out to touch up this spot in the corner of the number board.



And I could BARELY even see it with an optivisor.
So in spite of super close macro shots, this definitely falls into the 3 foot rule. 
Heck, even the 1 foot rule.

[u18b]

I finished some touch up.

I wanted to get rid of the excess yellow that got on the water pipe from the yellow decal stripe.



So I went searching for black decal stripes in my big box.  I found some C&NW passenger locos decals.  Stripes were just right.

I added them to the top of the water pipe.



I noticed some of the black paint had worn off in high handling areas-- like the left end of the water pipe.
I touched that up with black paint.



And the jacking pad.  Touched that up too.



I also painted the step rail red.  Then clear-coated the walkway to seal everything up.

I was concerned that wear and tear would wear the paint off.
So I gave everything a last clear-coat focusing on all the high impact areas- the sideframes, the plow, the ladder.

Everything at this stage is now finished with basic painting.

Wow.  Time to re-assemble.

[nkalanaga]

RE:  "only one pan raised"

The comment that only the rear pan was usually used on these motors is right, but not the whole story.

As stated, MILW rules called for using only one pantograph on any motor, unless drawing excessive current, such as starting an unusually heavy train, or in icy conditions, where contact could be intermittent.  They also specified the front pan was to be used, EXCEPT on the EP-2s, where the rear was specified, for the very reason Ron gave.  The pans are so close together that if the front one was damaged it would almost certainly take out the rear as well.  On the other motors, the pans were far enough apart that the railroad preferred to use the one over the occupied cab.

No, I have no idea why the difference, but it's very rare to find a picture of a MILW motor with only the rear pan raised, except for the EP-2s.

[u18b]

Thanks for that Nick,  Makes sense.

In fact, here are Quills running front pant up.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/MILW_EP-3.jpg
http://morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvndb-zoom-jpgs/RVN10275.jpg


And Little Joes, front pant up.
http://morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvndb-zoom-jpgs/RVN22144.jpg
http://morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvndb-zoom-jpgs/RVN22407.jpg
http://morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvndb-zoom-jpgs/RVN20980.jpg
http://morphotoarchive.org/rvndb/rvndb-zoom-jpgs/RVN21801.jpg

[peteski]

That also seems to explain why I sometimes used to see locos with both pantos raised (back in Poland). They were pulling long (and heavy) trains.

[sd45elect2000]

They also used both pans when they needed to bust sleet off the wire.

[u18b]

I started some re-assembly.

Cleaned the wheel.

As I got one Cab assembled again, I noted a couple of things....

1.  I'm REALLY glad I scratched an A or a B on each part.  Wow that helped.



2.  I also note from the photo above I made a slight error (easily fixed).  My design relies on the frame to conduct electricity to the wiring harness (and thus decoder).

But I painted everything.  The main conduit for juice is through the motor mounting bracket.
I need to sand all the paint off of the side that faces the motor.

3.  As I said long long ago, one of the keys to the performance of this loco is getting the right worm/drive gear mesh.



I spent a lot of time making a shim.  Trial and error.  A better solution would have been to solder a 00-80 nut to the frame (or drill a new hole as long as it does not obstruct my wiper system).  I could then cut a screw to just the right length to make a adjusting screw that could raise the motor as needed.

4.  But how can I make adjustments?  Now it is ALL trial and error.  I need a window to what is exactly going on.
I'm thinking of drilling a small hole in the gearbox where the blue dot is so that I can actually see the gear mesh.

[u18b]

Time to disassemble and get to work.

I take a permanent marked and mark where I think the hole needs to be.



Since the motor is removed, I'll file the paint of of the inside of the motor mount.



Better.



I then use my motor tool to cut a hole in the gearbox.
I don't mind telling you that I was nervous.
Afterall, this IS Zamac.  I had visions of it breaking.



Yep.  That was a good spot.



All assembled.  Better than before--- but it is really dark in there.
I wonder if I should have drilled through the other side to let more side-light come in.

[u18b]

I also figured out a potential issue with the Cab weight.

Kumata did not design these with flywheels- so my adaptation changed the internal geometry.
Looks like the weight could possibly hit the flywheel.



I removed material from the area where the flywheel might be.




That is much safer.



Here is the front truck retaining screw (center).

I added some superglue to keep it from working loose.



Time to build the B unit chassis.
I opened up holes on both sides of the gearbox.

WOW!  Now THAT is what I'm looking for.


THIS will make finetuning  so very much easier.

This worked out so well, I went back and drilled the other side of the A unit.


Both mechanisms have been reassembled.



Now time to move toward decals.

[u18b]

Actually,  before I get to decals on the Cabs, I need to work on the boiler room.

If you have been following this thread, you may have wondered why you have not seen the boiler room till now.

That was intentional.

Having studied the photos of other peoples work (and the ready-to-run painted EP-2 I bought from Kumata) I can tell you that getting the lines straight on the boiler room is a problem.

First, there are enough variances in the set up (meaning the following parts may not be EXACTLY alike: drawbar posts on the Cabs, the floor mounting tabs in the boiler room, the lips on the boiler room drawbar) that there really should be a Front and a Back so that the boiler room is always positioned the same.

Second, how do I best know where to place the color separations (gray, orange, red) on the boiler room?

It seems to me that actually assembling the model and using the actual lines on the cabs is the solution.

So, first I finish assembling the Cabs.  I am VERY pleased they run about the same speed.
Of course the decoders remembered the settings I gave to them weeks ago.  But more than that, I means I have assembled them well, and not introduced a new amount of friction.



I was a little light on the orange paint when I did the boiler room a while back.  I think I'll add a bit extra orange to brighten it up a bit.

Also, I can now paint one of the horns.



OK, now we can see what we need to see.


Before, when I was making adjustments to the drawbar lips, I was focusing on-- the closeness to the cabs (the gap) and  the height (the roofline).  I realize if I get the gap too close, it actually may have difficulties on curves.

But I have also been doing thinking about the height- and lining it up at the roof.

I now no longer want to do that.
One of the problems I have noticed about the NJ brass model (and it applies a bit to this version too) is that the cabin is a bit underscale compared to the whole model.  And it is MOST noticeable in this railroad fair scheme.

The problem is that if you make adjustments so that the roof is all in line, then the BOTTOM of the boiler room edge will not match the Cabs.

Under normal circumstances, that might not be a big deal, but this scheme has a thin yellow stripe down there!
You can see it in almost any photo- like this one.



You can see what I'm talking about with this wonderful model by Tony Hines that he posted earlier.



Notice that the roofline is perfect on his model-- but the height now no longer allows for that stripe.

Consequently, since the roof is gray, it probably matters little if it is not perfectly lined up.
So I am going to make the BOTTOM edge line up so I can be sure and add those orange stripe decals.

So looking back at this photo, the left edge near the A cab needs to come down.

[u18b]

As another indication that the boiler room is just a tad underscale...



I don't have much wiggle room on the gray separation.
I'm already pretty close to the window ledge.  So I can't go down too far.

[u18b]

Oh no, no, no, no, no,  Rats.

We interrupt this thread to face another problem.

I noticed when I installed the floor into the boiler room that it popped into place.

I didn't think anything of it-- other than the paint thickness was probably at fault.

But when handling it, I noticed a solder joint at the corner popped loose.  Dang.



It was snug, but I didn't think it was that tight.

I think the handrail solder joint got me.



OK.  Now I have to regroup.

At the least, I can scrape off the paint down to bare metal on the inside and add some more solder (not easy without resistance soldering station).
I will then have to file the floor again to give PLENTY of room this time.
Floor will have to be repainted black.

In the worst case, the orange paint will melt/bubble/burn/distort from the soldering repair.
IN which case I will have to strip it and start the painting all over.
With the primer, that could take a while.

While mildly bad, it's not TERRIBLE bad.

I mean, the worst case I've worried about is dropping the whole Can and damaging it!

[davefoxx]

Ron,

If you have to go back and repaint the boiler room, perhaps this suggestion will help.  Can you glue a styrene strip or solder a brass strip that's the width of that orange stripe along the bottom of the boiler room.  I realize that there's probably a rivet strip down there, so it may look odd at 3".  But, from 3' away, it might cure a worse ailment, because you could then cheat the boiler room up enough to almost line up the roofline.

Hope this helps (and sorry about your luck on that solder joint),
DFF