11-13-2010, 11:25 AM
Steamtrains Wrote:BTW...Does anybody make a boiler "backhead" casting, to cover up the motor that sticks halfway into the cab..?? That motor sure looks ugly in there...
PSC offers backheads for several specific prototype locos, but don't show sizes. Many are for tea-kettle type locos, but they show one for a WM M-2, a D&RGW L-105, and a B&O EM-1. I'm guessing that they're plastic parts as these three are all listed at $6.75 each. They also show superdetailing kits for cab interiors, with prices extending well-past the $100.00 mark.
You should be able to construct your own from sheet styrene, and, depending on the cab you use, it could be constructed to be part of a plastic cab. Another option would be to pre-curve some sheet styrene, then use ca to cement it to the inside of the curve of the boiler, and extending rearward into the cab. Cut the rear edge so that the top extends just past the top of the motor, and the bottom extends somewhat farther. Use solvent cement to put a styrene back on it, add whatever details you want (there's all sorts of backhead details available if you want to spend the cash, but you can simulate a lot of it with bits of wire and styrene) and paint. While the extra details can be very impressive-looking, most are almost impossible to see when the loco's on the layout. If the exposed motor is a can-type, a coat of paint is usually sufficient.
Steamtrains Wrote:E-Paw....What is that "fixture" on the engineer's side below the catwalk and behind the air cylinder..?? (First picture...). Mi engine has that cast in, but I don't know what it is.... :oops:
That appliance is a power reverse - used on all modern locos to move the valve gear to adjust the loco's running characteristics and, of course, to reverse the whole shebang. There are many styles and sizes available from Cal-Scale and PSC.
By the way, if you order from PSC, there's a $30.00 minimum. It's actually not too hard to drop much more than that on detail parts: the Mantua Mike that I posted earlier (the fuzzy-looking photo) has well-over $100.00 worth of parts added, and that's at late '70s prices.
It's not just recently that I've become nutz, y' know. 
Wayne