Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[TMo]

Plow finally arrived on Friday afternoon...

It's 3d printed, and I assume CMR figured that you would just glue it to the pilot, which would have been all well and good for an Athearn RTR unit with couplers secured from the underside, not one of the old blue box jobs with the coupler securing clip that secures from the top...  Yeah, I've finagled a set of needle nose pliers in there to snap shut a coupler assembly after the locomotive's all together, but it's difficult.  Additionally, the blue box shell still has the pilot steps on the bottom of the pilot, which are going to be in the way of the back side of the plow which is flat.

   


Rough cut was with a pair of track cutters to snap off most of each step, 

   

then got the Dremel out with a cylindrical file barrel to grind off more plastic, hand file to finish.

But how to mount the plow to avoid having to wrestle with a coupler clip?  Decided to install the plow with two screws (removeable) running through the back of the pilot and into each side of the plow.  Best small screws I had were a little too long, so I'm going to install a couple of nuts on the back side to function as washers.  Drilled two holes through the pilot and lined up the plow where I think it should reside and marked the two hole locations.  Ran the screw into the back of the plow and then put everything together.  I can now remove the plow and easily remove the shell.

   

Because the plow juts out in front of the pilot, I also replace the coupler with a long version so the coupler isn't impeded by the plow. Now she needs paint, and it get's the zebra stripe, which is going to be a challenge...