Best Of New Brass EP-2 assembly & Mod clinic

[bbussey]

The Fox Valley passenger trucks are not appropriate?

[skytop35]

Use the Nystrom trucks.

[u18b]

The Fox trucks do look a little different.  Frame is similar, but the springs are different.

Bill,  not to be difficult, but I count the following variations of Nystrom trucks on that guy's site.

Nystrom 526    http://www.shapeways.com/model/1720600/nystrom-526-2.html?materialId=61

Nystrom 526E   http://www.shapeways.com/model/1690521/nystrom-526e-2.html?materialId=61

Nystrom 540   http://www.shapeways.com/model/1720601/nystrom-540-2.html?materialId=61

Nystrom 553  http://www.shapeways.com/model/1720602/nystrom-553-2.html?materialId=61

Most of the 4 above are pretty similar, except the 526E.

Does it matter which one I get (modeling 1949/50)?

[skytop35]

Ron,

The Shapeways Nystroms are all the same but fit different axle lengths and the one you noted (526E) is to be used with Kato copper pickups for lighting the interior if that is desired.

You have to modify the trucks for use on my shell by cutting down the bolster height but after what you did on the bi-polar that should be childs play!

[mmagliaro]

Ron,
I just caught up on this thread. 

Good show on the wheel blackening.  I wish I had been reading this sooner.

Yes, generally, cleaning the wheels just with liquids or a brush will not do it.  You have to get some abrasive on them.
I often just run an engine on its back and let some 800 grit sandpaper ride on the surfaces for 10 seconds or so.

I've also had the quandry of a brass gear on an axle, where I don't want to press off the wheels and risk
pressing them back on and having them be all wonky.  You can do a couple of things.  One, just ignore it.  Usually
the gear is unharmed since you don't sand or clean it.  Two, leave some oil on it.  The blackener really can't
work very well with oil in the way.

This may be old news... but anyway, I'm really glad it worked out.  The wheels look great.

You did a wonderful job there.  The black is terrific.

[u18b]

Max,  Thanks.

In this case, I took a chance and ignored the center gear.

Turned out to be the right decision since whatever that brass was that KMT used, the blackener did not attack it very much  a. at 40% strength and b. for only 1.2 minutes.

So it turned out well.  Gear hardly turned black at all.

I think I mentioned (though I can't remember) that I placed the newly blackened wheels in the Ready To Run loco I had and ran the loco a while.

THEN I placed the wheels into the Railroad Fair EP-2.  That way, I hoped to wear off what little black there was on the gears before placing them in the good loco.

[u18b]

Bill.

Thanks for the info.

Actually, that was very helpful.   I had already decided this car needed power.

I mean, with that BIG old red light in the back and all those many windows allowing you to see inside....

Obviously, this car needs a decoder.

Function 1 could be the red warning light in the back.

Function 2 could be overhead lighting in the solarium.

So the Kato pickups will be great.

[Mike C]

  As far as blackening the wheels without worrying about the gear goes. If someone was really worried about the gears and bearing surfaces they could always set the wheels so that only one end at a time is in the blackening agent. A piece of cardboard with slots to hold the wheels would work . 

[u18b]

Mike,

Good suggestion.
I thought of merely getting one tread in the acid.

But I concluded that swirling the acid constantly was important based on reading and experience with etching thin brass.  My son has an etching kit and it came with an aquarium pump so that you would run bubbles through the acid.
That way, the acid is always moving and "fresh" acid is eating the metal at all times.

But of course, if I'm going to be swirling the jar, the axle would fall over.

So I like your suggestion of making some kind of cutouts to hold and support the wheels so A. they won't tip over, and B. there would be a lowered risk of the acid splashing on the gear.
I may try that some time.

In this case, it wasn't needed because the acid was pretty easy on the gear.

But on a different wheelset, it might matter.

[u18b]

Skytop discussion moved to another thread.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=34180.0

[Sokramiketes]

Fewer side windows on the aisle side of the car, but more windows in the skytop itself!

[peteski]

I understood all the side-trip this thread took in order to complete a model of a locomotive. But now we are documenting a build of a passenger car?  Wouldn't it make sense to spin this off into a separate thread, then just put a link to that on this thread?  Just (again) thinking out loud...

[u18b]

I understood all the side-trip this thread took in order to complete a model of a locomotive. But now we are documenting a build of a passenger car?  Wouldn't it make sense to spin this off into a separate thread, then just put a link to that on this thread?  Just (again) thinking out loud...

You know, you're right.

Skytop discussion moved to another thread.

[Chris333]

Found your next project:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hAw9lHbIisg/U7o1iyclIwI/AAAAAAAAAcg/zlr2JM-pyms/s1600-h/mil5901%25255B6%25255D.jpg

[u18b]

Back to side trips related to the locomotive.

How about "presentation."


I got the laser etched plate in today.




Applied double sided tape to hold it down.


I'm pleased.








And just to add some fun, I picked up a souvenir coin that was actually given out in 1949.






I also came across an actual TICKET that had been sitting in some grandpa's drawer.  Person I bought it from lived in little town near Chicago- so it was someone fairly local to this event.   And it still had the stub attached-- unused!  Wow.  What a cool find.