Full Version: Another PRR A-5....
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....with my thanks to Lutz for both leading the way, and for providing some useful info for my first foray into DCC.

I'm not going to provide a step-by-step  "how-to", as Lutz has already covered the topic rather well.  Instead, I'll merely offer some photos of my progress, with a few comments where they might be useful.  Questions and/or comments are, of course, welcomed.  The kit was donated by a friend, and I built it for another friend.

A couple photos of the running gear...

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...and the all-wheel pick-up on the locomotive...

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...and tender...

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...along with a look inside the tender, where the power wiring is organised ....

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...and routed to the decoder...

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Here's the tender with its back-up light lit...

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Here's the LED which provides the light....

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...and a look with it, unlit, inserted into a small hole drilled into the back of an MV Products lense...

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The kit came with an impressive amount of brass detail castings, but some were missing, so I used either similar parts which I had on-hand, or scratchbuilt something appropriate.

A few random views of the fireman's side of the loco...

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...and tender...

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On the engineer's side of the locomotive, I decided to alter the running board to match that shown in a prototype photo.  The bumped-up area allowed for the installation of a power-reverse, but it also required new mountings for the piping which forms the cooling coils for the air provided by the air pump...

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Continued in next post.....
...continued...

..and here, installed on the mechanism...

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Because the model is cast metal, it was easier to drill oversize holes for mounting the small details,  as drilling the zinc with small-size drill bits often resulted in either broken or severely-worn bits.  Once the larger holes were drilled, I used styrene rod about .003" or .004" in diameter greater than the holes, dipping the rod into MEK in order to soften its exterior surfaces.  After a couple-or-three such dips, the over-size rod was easily forced into the under-size holes.  Once it re-hardened, any protruding material was sliced-off and the area filed or sanded smooth.  It was then easy to use a small drill bit (in a pin vise) to drill suitably-sized holes for detail parts, such as the grabirons on the sides of the sand box (dome).

A front view (the headlight lense is not yet cemented in place)...

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...and the view into the cab, with its not quite complete boiler backhead...

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A few photos of the painted and lettered loco before weathering...

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...and a look inside the cab...

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I took some more photos after adding some weathering, a combination of airbrushed paint and brush-applied artists' pastels...

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....continued in next post....
and the rest of the pictures...

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Wayne
Wayne,

Applause Applause Applause WOW! Can i say only.


Lutz
Wow, and thank you. Great build. And here it is after it was put to work. [attachment=32646]
Charlie
I agree Lutz---another work of art Doctor Wayne  Worship
Lutz, without your prior efforts and your willingness to share information, I might never have completed this project, so my thanks certainly goes out to you!

Wayne
Great stuff guys!!!!! Wayne, that's top notch work!!!
Holy Crap! That looks amazing Doc!
I found another photo of an A5 all cleaned up for an exhibition. All I know is it was prior to 1938. [attachment=35039]
Charlie