PRR A5 in N Scale

[VonRyan]

I put these progress shots up on my facebook, but didn't get the chance to post them here.



Got the walkways and all the other excess removed.



Got all the unimportant details filed off. Working on removing more of the front of the boiler so that I don't have to mill it down. Saves me time and potential frostbite if I get the chance to get this little hunk of metal over to the milling machine, which is in my friend's unheated garage.

And just to give y'all a taste of what I have to stare at while I work...

That purple object you see is a piece of Purpleheart, which is an exotic hardwood.

[chicken45]

I've been lurking on this thread and am excited to see where it ends up.
I googled that hard purple wood of yours and the results were quite amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltogyne

I had no idea there was purple wood in the world. Pretty neat stuff!

[VonRyan]

I've been lurking on this thread and am excited to see where it ends up.
I googled that hard purple wood of yours and the results were quite amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltogyne

I had no idea there was purple wood in the world. Pretty neat stuff!

I have a hunk of bright-orange Paduk stashed away. I also had some yellowheart and bloodwood, but I gave that to my woodturning friend, who happens to be the same guy who owns the milling machine.

[Lemosteam]

Better see a doctor if you have purple wood- might be a restiction...

[pnolan48]

I used purpleheart for cabinetry for years. Heavy, dense, hard, murder on tools, but I never suffered any respiratory symptoms because it doesn't make much sawdust if blades are sharp and not forced into the wood. It was not much more expensive than good quality maple 20 years ago when the dollar was stronger.

Nice progress on the A5.

[chicken45]

Better see a doctor if you have purple wood- might be a restiction...

I knew if anyone would catch my double entendre, it'd be you. If your hard wood remains purple for more than 24 hours, seek medical attention.

[VonRyan]

Not too much to report at current.
Milling of the B6 shell and the remnant of the Atlas body may be either this coming Monday, or the following Monday.
I was too busy learning some tricks of the resin casting trade this Monday.

I did however get a Minitrix B6 tender, even has a MicroTrains coupler on it already.
The course of action is to install the trucks off the Bachmann tender on the Minitrix tender frame, and to use excess decoder wire to jumper the contacts together per each side.

[Chris333]

I was just reading an old mag from the 1970's and there was a report from a big hobby show that had a photo of Atlas' pilot model of their 0-4-0 along with a list of projected roadnames.

[VonRyan]

I was just reading an old mag from the 1970's and there was a report from a big hobby show that had a photo of Atlas' pilot model of their 0-4-0 along with a list of projected roadnames.

I was just reading Pennsy Power I, and started looking for my Bachmann tender (again) to start putting the trucks on the Minitrix tender...

And I seemed to have lost it... and I literally never moved it off of my workbench... 
They say third time is the charm... and it charmed the tender out of existence.

There went $10... 

[Chris333]

May 1970 RMC.

[VonRyan]

Finally some more progress!

The stars aligned and preparations were made to get the Atlas 0-4-0 boiler onto my friend's milling machine.



Everything went smoothly until it came time to thin down the sides of the cab-floor/motor-anchor.
The mill bit knicked it the wrong way and it bent it up at a 45-degree angle.
Bending it back only served to cause it to separate from the milled boiler.
Luckily it shouldn't make all that much of a difference in the end as the new boiler parts and cab will hold everything together.





Just the other day I sat down to finally start slicing up the Minitrix B6.




And here are some shots of a test fit, just to show how everything goes together and how the steam pipes line up with the cylinders.





I would try and get the pipes to line up more centered with the Cylinders, but then I'd run the risk of interfering with the hole for the screw that goes into the boiler to hold everything together.
Plus, the mill squared everything off fairly well so I'd like to use that to my advantage.

Since I am going to try and get the shape of the headlight to be more prototypical, I plan on ditching the light-tube in favor of an 0402 smd LED and magnet wire.
Once I get all the pieces cut and filed to the proper proportions, I'll begin the process of removing any cast-on details that would be better represented by formed wire and pieces of brass.
 
Although making some parts out of styrene might be easier, I'd rather use brass for the added weight to insure that this engine has the benefits of as much weight as possible.
As such, I may indeed go with the GHQ L1 cab rather than the plastic K4 cab.



Until my next update,

-Cody F.

[mmagliaro]

What a great project!  I think it's gonna work!  And by simply remilling the original 0-4-0 boiler, yes, you preserve
all that weight and the motor and worm will mount right back in there. 

I do think you could mill the front back a little more to line up those steam pipes without encroaching on the mounting hole.
From the photo, at least, it looked like you had enough metal still in front of that hole that you could easily
take some more off and the screw would be okay.   Alternatively.... just mill it back until the
pipes line up, and then fill up what's left of that hole with JB weld and redrill and retap it.   You can even use a
smaller screw, like a 00-90, to give you more room that way.

But anyway... it's looking good.  I like it!

[VonRyan]

What a great project!  I think it's gonna work!  And by simply remilling the original 0-4-0 boiler, yes, you preserve
all that weight and the motor and worm will mount right back in there. 

I do think you could mill the front back a little more to line up those steam pipes without encroaching on the mounting hole.
From the photo, at least, it looked like you had enough metal still in front of that hole that you could easily
take some more off and the screw would be okay.   Alternatively.... just mill it back until the
pipes line up, and then fill up what's left of that hole with JB weld and redrill and retap it.   You can even use a
smaller screw, like a 00-90, to give you more room that way.

But anyway... it's looking good.  I like it!

Thanks Max!

I don't quite know if I want to go that far as I would have to get the holes in the boiler and the chassis lined up perfectly for drilling.
Luckily so far I have managed to avoid putting more than one week's pay into this project.

I would certainly like to have the pipes line up with the cylinders as it would really help me pull off this kitbash, along with the addition of the fine details.

As always, you're more than welcome to lend a hand 


-Cody F.

[chicken45]

Looking good! I agree with Max (who wouldn't) about those steam pipes. Also, I don't know if it's just the picture, the angle, or just because it's a test fit, but it looks like your smokebox is looking up to the sky a bit.

[VonRyan]

Looking good! I agree with Max (who wouldn't) about those steam pipes. Also, I don't know if it's just the picture, the angle, or just because it's a test fit, but it looks like your smokebox is looking up to the sky a bit.

I just noticed that. It's mostly just because it is a test fit. The top of the Atlas boiler is so uneven from my cutting the domes off and filing it smooth that I probably should mill it flat and replace the top with brass just to give me a flat surface for fitting the pieces of the B6.

My goal is to have this little guy up and running in some capacity by the Bedford at the very latest.


-Cody F.