E-paw's Get off yer duff Challenge - Part I
#1
All right it time for me to toss my hat into the fray. My challenge will be to convert a Bachmann 0-6-0 into a free lanced camel back for my SH&D railroad. I originally purchased this used from a hobby shop at least two years ago, and it sat on a shelf waiting to get started. I know there have been problems with the drive with these engines, but I have run it off and on and have found nothing to hint at any concerns. She is a well balanced machine, with descent slow speed performance. With the light use she will see on my layout I'm not worried. As reference for this build I'm looking towards the Readings and CNJ's class of smaller 0-6-0 camels as seen in the two fallowing links.

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I have started by disassembling and stripping the boiler down to a basic tube, and removing any unwanted details from the tender.    

   

Metal trucks for tender pickup were swapped out for the plastic ones provided with the model.    

A two pin disconnect was cut into the tender and wired to each truck, so now the engine and tender receive power from both rails. I also added weight to bring the tender up to NMRA specs.    


Attached Files Image(s)
   
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#2
This morning's job on the 0-6 build was to install the other side of the disconnect to the drive and work on the back up light. I soldered the leads directly to the motor and was able to tuck it away into the cast frame.    

A diode and white LED were installed to the tender wiring. I filed the rounded tip of the LED flat and glued the clear plastic insert from the headlight casting to it with Testors clear parts. The results were exactly what I was looking for.     cement.
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#3
I did a bunch yesterday. The boiler was wrapped with a thin layer of styrene and I started on the rough firebox work.
   

   


The firebox backhead was built from castings that I made back when I build these.....<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5279">viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5279</a><!-- l -->
Although I do like working in brass more, I opted for plastic on this build because of the time restriction,,, Brass takes a lot longer to work with.
   
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#4
e-paw Wrote:I did a bunch yesterday.....

Boy!! You're not kiddin'!! Looks good Steve, and I like the use of those castings.

Time for me to get crackin', too, I think. Crazy

Wayne
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#5
With the holidays over I had the time to put into my first challenge. I started on the air tanks and did some more work to the firebox.

The Air tanks are cut from some brass tubing with the ends filled in with squadron putty. When it's all dry the ends will be sanded down to the correct profile. the mounts are cut from strip styrene, the straps will be added latter.    

As for the fire box , the safety valves were added along with the bell and whistle. I cut the plugs for the inspection holes from plastic sprues and glued them into the holes in the lagging near the top of the firebox. I still need to fill and sand parts of the firebox to get them smooth. This is a slow process that takes several applications and passes with fine sandpaper.    
   

A single boiler band was added and a filler plate with rivet detail was fitted behind the last driver to help hide the models frame. I used my riveting press for this part of the job.    
   
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#6
Nice progress! Cheers I'm guessing this is HO?
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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#7
Here go's on today's progress,,, The Cab.
This was cut from thin styrene, and embossed with rivets on my rivet press. I went with the Brooks style cab with the offset arched window as used on most CNJ and SH&D camels.
Here are the side panels.
   

The front and rear ends.
   

My very advanced squaring jig.
   

It will take some fitting until it fits nice and snug.
   

I added some internal bracing to help stiffen it up.
   
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#8
The rest of the cab pics.

Another interior shot of the bracing.
   

,and now attaching the floors. I glued the cab to some strip styrene and will then cut it to fit when it's dry, that way there are no gaps to fill.
   

The straps were also installed over the air tanks.
   
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#9
Finishing up this weekend's work on the 0-6-0.
Today I worked on the front coupler and pilot. This model has a molded on coupler and a sagging pilot beam. This just won't do, I want this switcher to operate. It needs a working coupler on the front if it's going to switch cars around, but first, I need to fix the sagging the pilot. I drilled and taped a set of
00-90 holes into the metal part of the frame to support the front of the model. ( hint,,, It's the two brass screws. )    

The coupler was then cut off and the pilot beam was hollowed out to make a coupler pocket. I cut the back end off a long shanked kadee, and drilled it to clear a 00-90 screw. Corresponding holes were also drilled and taped in the pocket to mount the coupler.
   
   
   
   

I did remove the coupler spring so it wouldn't get lost with all the handling, and the screw was cut and filed flush with the pilot beam.
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#10
The spring replaced and a quick check with a coupler gauge shows all to be good.
   
   

With that out of the way I soldered a 9 1/2 in single stage compressor to it's bracket and mounted it to the fireman's side of the boiler.
   
   

And after I posted this I realized that I didn't take any pics of building the cab roof . :o As you can see in the last two pics,, it has been built and installed. It's more of the same styrene embossed with rivets. It has two vent hatches and a dummy hatch that provides access to the steam dome for maintenance.
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#11
Good progress, Steve, and good-looking results, too! Applause Applause Applause

Wayne
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#12
Steve, I'm surprised each time on a new with which easiness you are building your loco models.
Great job and great results! I'm envy you and your work! Applause Applause Applause
Cheers, Bernd

Please visit also my website www.us-modelsof1900.de.
You can read some more about my model projects and interests in my chronicle of facebook.
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#13
Thank you Gents, it's always nice when the masters complement your work.

Finding detail parts and scratch building supplies is something that is getting harder and harder to do lately. After a nonproductive trip to the LHS and a not so local one for supplies, mainly a stack for this model, I scavenged the deep dark recesses of my parts boxes and came up with a solution. In with the parts from my Russian decapods were the discarded stacks from my 2-10-0 builds. The height and diameter looked about right , but they had a strange flair at the top that just looked silly on a north American model. Here's how I fixed that.

I was able to pass a 2-56 tap through the stack and threaded a screw through it, this gave me something to clamp onto to hold it. With a set of rail nippers and a course file I did some rough demo to the flair. Then out came the drill Big Grin , I chucked the screw and put a rubber band around the trigger, now I had an improvised lathe 357 .
   

Using a file and some sand paper I could now turn it down to a straight stack.
   

That's more like it.
   

I ground down the head of the screw to fit inside the stack and used it to mount the stack to the smoke box. A thin strip of styrene was used to dress up the top lip of the stack. In this pic you can also see the headlight that I intend to use. I believe it is also a leftover from my 2-10-0 build.
   

"EDIT"
I mentioned my 2-10-0 builds,,, maybe I should include a link for the build. :?
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 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#14
A little more progress
The headlight assembly has been mounted. That section of brass wire that was drilled into the boiler front really helps to strengthen up the mounting.    

For the sand dome, The 2-10-0's came to the rescue once again. It was a smidge too tall so I cut it in half . The middle will be sanded down to a more pleasing height and glued back together.    

For the tender, I bent, soldered and cobbled up a railing, grabs and cut leaver. The blank space above the coupler was filled in with a scrap of plastic with rivets embossed into it.
   

The "U" shaped hangers are for the fireman's tools, I'll get to those latter.
   
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#15
E-paw

I am always so impressed with people can work with steam engines. One day I am going to attempt to tackle a steam engine. Keep us posted on your progress!!
Be Wise Beware Be Safe
"Mountain Goat" Greg


https://www.facebook.com/mountaingoatgreg/
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