P&WV 2-8-2 1053

[nickelplate759]

Max - I saw that too.  I think I hate closeups
I'll give it a try.

[mmagliaro]

Max - I saw that too.  I think I hate closeups
I'll give it a try.

Heh heh, yeah, they are brutal, ain't they?  But I have to admit they have made my modeling better.  So at least there is something to be gained from the insult.   

[nickelplate759]

I made an attempt to improve the poling pockets, added the front handrail, and went for another closeup.  I'm a glutton for punishment.

[peteski]

I think that once painted, the pilot will look perfect.

[mmagliaro]

I agree.  It will look great when it's painted.  I would stop worrying about the pockets.
The handrail looks very good, by the way.

[nickelplate759]

Thanks - the handrail is just Gold Medal Models stanchions and 0.010" phosphor bronze wire (from Tichy, although all such wire looks the same to me).  The only tricky part was getting the stanchions straight.  Medium ACC  gave me enough working time.

[nickelplate759]

I'm not certain I'm going to try this, but how might one fabricate these steps on either side of the smoke-box front (note the green circle)?   


Everything I can think of is something that I think will shear right off the first time I look at it funny.    Folding 0.005 brass this small is not something I want to do on this particular model - plus, if I get carried away with details up front then someone is more likely to notice the places where I didn't (such as the fact the that P&WV put the tender ladders on the right, but the Bachmann tender I'm using has it on the left).

I note that Kato cast the suggestion of one such step (the right one) in relief, but it's really shallow and just looks odd.  They didn't suggest the left one.

[Chris333]

You could solder a brass pad to a piece of PB wire for support. Then use the wire stivking out to mount it into a drilled hole.

[mmagliaro]

I wouldn't use .005".  Scale be darned, that will just be too fragile.  Go with .010.   I like Chris's idea about soldering the wire to it and pushing that into a hole and gluing.  You could also just file the backside of the bit of brass so a little tang sticks out at the back and you push it into a hole into the smokebox front.

You can do better with some small U channel.  You can file the sides to get that tapered side look without having to fold anything.  Eileen's Emporium makes some really fine scale channel, like 0.5mm x 1.0mm and other sizes like that, and it is indeed only about .005" thick metal.  But in a U channel shape, I'd feel a lot better about it not bending or breaking off.

https://eileensemporium.com/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=product&task=show&cid=1076&name=brass-u-section-1-0mm-x-0-5mm-x-250mm&Itemid=189&category_pathway=1094

[nickelplate759]

Thanks for the pointer to Eileens Emporium.  Their Extreme Products line looks especially interesting.

[nickelplate759]

I ordered some tiny channel from Eileen's.  1.5 MM (just under 9.5" scale) and 2.0mm (a little over 12.5" scale) wide.  Lacking scale drawings, I'll see which one looks best.

@Chris333 - what did you use for handrail stanchions on #3817?  I've been using Gold Medal Models etched stanchions, but yours look like either turnings or castings.

[Chris333]

I think those are the handrails off the Concor 2-10-2. That pilot and smoke box are from the Kato mike, but the rest of the body is Concor.

[mmagliaro]

I ordered some tiny channel from Eileen's.  1.5 MM (just under 9.5" scale) and 2.0mm (a little over 12.5" scale) wide.  Lacking scale drawings, I'll see which one looks best.

@Chris333 - what did you use for handrail stanchions on #3817?  I've been using Gold Medal Models etched stanchions, but yours look like either turnings or castings.

Sounds good to me.  Be aware that it typically takes about 2 weeks for me to receive my orders from Eileen's.  They always deliver, and the materials are always correct and well-packed.  But it does take a little time to get to the US from England.

[nickelplate759]

Thinking about it another way, I realize that the headlight is probably about 12" in diameter, so the smokebox step is probably only about 6" wide, but protrudes forward close to 12".  So the 2mm channel is almost certainly too big.  We'll see.

[mmagliaro]

Okay, so these were USRA Heavy Mikados built for CNJ.  The smokebox face is about 88" in diameter, scaling off one of many on-line drawings of said 2-8-2 that you can find online (or in the Kalmbach steam locomotive Cyclopedia).  That same Cyclopedia has a good head-on shot of the front, from which I scaled the width of those steps to be 8.5% of the width of the smokebox front.
8.5% of 88 is  7.5", so an 8" wide step would be a good guess.  The photo you have is an angled shot, so it's really hard to compare the width of the step to the headlight.

8" = .050" or 1.27mm
1.5mm stock will be .059" or 9.5" in N Scale, as you say.  But don't beat yourself up.  You are close.