Best Of New Brass EP-2 assembly & Mod clinic

[u18b]

Got some more work done.

The A Cab drawbar seemed just a little loose.
Remember, I had made slight bend adjustments to it to try to fine tune the height of the boiler room.

I studied the inside of the shell and saw that there was very little solder applied.
It looked very neat!  But not strong enough.  (The B Cab had more solder and was fine).

So I added some more solder.
Filed down the excess with a motor tool, but left a VERY strong joint with a lot more support than before.



I then ripped out the boiler room windows and started over.
New acetate, new painting of gray.
Did a better job of keeping them flat.

And as someone suggested, I cut separate pieces for the windows, instead of two big pieces.  It was kind of a tedious job.  Not looking forward to the Cabs-- but they are next.



With the boiler room now totally finished, I installed an identifying mark on the underside.
I've used this logo for a long time on my custom equipment.
This is the first time I ever put a number on one.

[u18b]

Here is the drawing I submitted to the laser etching person.



There are not a whole lot of drawings of EP-2s on the web.
In fact, the drawing on the wiki page is stupid.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/MILW_Bi-Polar_drawing.jpg/1024px-MILW_Bi-Polar_drawing.jpg

Obviously, no EP-2 ever existed that looked like the wiki drawing.
I assume this might be a drawing GE made in their selling brochure from 1918/19.
So maybe chalk this drawing up to a loco that was never actually made.

The sad thing is that dumb drawing appears in lots of places.

[peteski]

Nice box Ron!  Funny, several years ago I bought the same boxes at Michael's for an Orient Express set I was going to make.  I even stained them and put on several coats of urethane.  But that project got moth-balled (as many of my projects do because I seem to get attracted to new projects all the time).    On mine I was planning on applying a gold artwork depicting the CIWL/VSOE shield (printed on Alps).  However, since Kato came out with a superb model of the Orient Express, I don't think that I will ever come back to that project (using the Rivarossi cars).  Kato even packaged them in a really elegant set of "books" with navy blue and gold printed sleeves.

I'm glad that you re-did the boiler room windows.  It is now worthy of the "Quality Model..." label! 

I'm curious, is the plaque artwork bitmap or vector graphics?  Laser cutters/engravers work the best with vectors.

As far as Wikipedia goes, why not go ahead and re-write that EP-2 page?  That's what is so great about Wikipedia - anybody can correct entries there (and then someone else can "correct" your corrections). 

[nkalanaga]

If your pans won't reach a standard wire height, here are some numbers from "The Milwaukee Electrics" by Noel Holley. 

Standard wire height    24 ft 2 in
Minimum height             18 ft 9 in
Operating range            17 to 26 ft

The pantographs would work as little as 3 inches above the locked down position, and could actually go above 26 ft if there was no wire to hold them down, but contact would be poor.

Slack wire on sidings could rise to as high as 26 ft due to the pantograph spring pressure, which is the reason for the long "horns" on the shoes, and the anti-snagger bars.  The GN and Virginian used similar anti-snaggers, while the PRR, NH, and other Northeastern roads seemed to keep their wires tight enough they didn't need them.

So, if you have to, you can put your wire just about anywhere you have to.  The Overland Little Joes have trouble with wires anywhere above standard height, because the pans won't go higher than that.  Another flaw, and not an easy one to fix.  I'm NOT going to rebuild one of those things!

[u18b]

I'm curious, is the plaque artwork bitmap or vector graphics?  Laser cutters/engravers work the best with vectors.

As far as Wikipedia goes, why not go ahead and re-write that EP-2 page?  That's what is so great about Wikipedia - anybody can correct entries there (and then someone else can "correct" your corrections). 

The business lady used Corel Draw x5 on her laser.  Which was great since I use Corel Draw 9.
I sent her a CDR file.  I just published the PNG file here as an export so y'all could see it.

Making a decal for the box...... hmmmmm.  That is an interesting idea.

[u18b]

Nick,

Excellent.  I like a bit of a range.   I think I'm good.

Very helpful information.

[u18b]

I checked the height.

This is a rough estimate- but it looks like I'm OK.




It was then time to turn to window glass.
I was a bit worried.  Epoxy is OK, but is hard to work with.  It is sticky, goopy, and it seeps into crevices.
If it goes wrong- it messes everything up.

Windows are one thing, but the headlight is pretty exposed.

What I needed was a way to "tack" down the headlight lens.

So I tried a different approach.

This clearcoat can be sticky- and since it is thin, any excess will not be very visible.




Took a wire and dipped the tip into it.




This gave me a tiny droplet.




I applied it all on the inside of the headlight housing.
Let it dry for a second, and then stuck the lens on it.

I let that dry, and then applied more coating around the outside rim of the lens.
Once that was dry, I did it again.



Worked pretty well.  Made a nice seal.
Not sure if it will last for years, but it works right now.







Time to turn to the window glass.

My first attempt at the door glass did not look right.
On further inspection, I saw that it was because the back of the door was not flat.
There was a solder blob from KMT assembly.



So I took a motor tool and VERY carefully flattened the solder down.




Now the glass lays flat.

[u18b]

I installed some more window glass.  Still a little more to go, but making progress.







Still waiting on wind deflectors and Jax Black to darken the silver wheels.
Weights will also need to be installed.

Getting close.

[u18b]

Adventures in Wind Deflection.

I want to say up front, I was doubtful I was going to use these.
I know it is an important detail, but there was no way I wanted to risk damaging the paint and the work I've done so far.

BLMA #64



I got my sheet of acetate and the acrylic gloss coat.



Nicely done.
Too bad it became an offering to the carpet gods.
They are little.  One down.



This one, I'll leave on the sprue.  I cut some acetate.
First try- wide enough for whole thing.  Made it look too fat.
Second try (this time) made it fit INSIDE the frame (bottom right frame).



Added a micro drop of clear cote to glue it in place.  Not too much.
My hopes were high at this point- looking pretty good.



When that coat dried, I added more.




Unfortunately, the glass must have shifted.
As you can see from the shadows and highlights that the ends are not even.




It looked fair (right) but not great.  (two down- I only bought one set.  Yikes! Should have bought two.)

Brainstorm.  Why not just place the wind deflector right on the paint and add the clear coat?
But I was too scared to do it on the model, so I tried it on the paint chip I sent Peteski using a leftover windshield (left).  OK, I think this might work.



So I placed a good one on the paint.



Added a micro-drop of clearcoat and let it dry.  When I felt it would not fly off, I used a hair drier.



Then added some more.



I might have added a little too much.  This one took longer to dry.




But by this morning it was looking great.



I used less on the other side..... but it probably needs one last light coating.

[u18b]

I had an embarrassing email from the laser etching lady.

She asked if I could send the file in EPS or PDF.  She was having trouble finding fonts that matched what I had.





I wrote back with deepest and sincere apologies for wasting her time.
That was a custom home made font I created!
And I sent her the Railroad Fair True Type font.

 

[TiVoPrince]

Export
fonts as curves when saving and it will work in vector formats. Text will not be editable, but I find that so many oddball and unique fonts go awry with my ALPS that I have become used to using the export shuffle...

[u18b]

Yeah.  I should have done that.

But instead of export, I just selected the words and chose to convert to curves-- which is what Peteski likes to do all along.

Just sent the revised file.  Hopefully we will be back on track with the name plates.


Also, the JAX blackener arrived.
No directions.
So I'm going to have to find some.

[peteski]

Yeah.  I should have done that.

But instead of export, I just selected the words and chose to convert to curves-- which is what Peteski likes to do all along.

Just sent the revised file.  Hopefully we will be back on track with the name plates.


Also, the JAX blackener arrived.
No directions.
So I'm going to have to find some.

You don't need no stinkin' directions!  Real men never read those things anyway.    This is how I do it.

First, you need to make sure that the parts are fully degreased.  Any trace of oils or grease (or even body oil from fingerprints) will prevent the blackener from working.   But knowing how you rinsed the brass parts in acetone and alcohol, I thin you have this figured out quite nicely already.

Then (at room temperature or a bit warmer) I pour the blackening liquid into a glass or plastic container large enough to immerse the parts I'm working with.  Then I dump the parts in.  After few seconds the parts will start darkening.  This stuff will work in cooler temperatures, but the blackening action will be slower. Leave them in for as long as you need to achieve the desired effect. 

Then take them out and rinse them in warm water.  Some of the blackener might rub off - that's normal.

That is all there is to it.  I do not reuse the liquid - the blackening chemical in it gets depleted as it is deposited on the parts being blackened.

The only thing I'm concerned about is whether you got the correct blackener.  There seems to be plating on those wheels (which themselves are probably brass or nickel-silver).  I hope that the blackener is compatible with the metal used for plating.

As far as fonts go, whenever I provide a finished artwork to some 3rd party (where no more editing of the wording will be taking place) I always convert text to curves.  That makes the artwork portable.

If the exchange is between the same app (Corel to Corel) then in version 10 I can embed the fonts used within the CDR file.  Or like you did - include the .ttf files needed with your artwork.  But that can create a legal problem, since you basically giving a copy of a font to someone else than the original owner.

[u18b]

The laser etching person sent me a photo of a test shot of the name plate.

It is wonderful.  Just what I had in mind.

She said she could not get good results at the very finest line setting in Corel Draw.
So she changed the lines to .007 inches and that is what you see here.  Good crisp lines.
She was worried that the herald on the boiler room would drop out, but I said I didn't care.
I'm interested in the overall quality effect, not the be able to actually READ Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad!!!!!!!  lol.

It is not perfect.  I submitted a couple of changes, but the black anodised aluminium creating silver drawing lines is exactly what I wanted.

[peteski]

Nice, but the complete circles of wheels are visible over the sideframes. Looks like the laser software only recognizes the outlines (not fill).  Looks like you'll have to do some trimming in your drawing.