To paraphrase Vane Jones, "Knowledge is of little value until shared with others."

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

AEFRE 49 - #6B Detailing the Model

One detail which sets the 49 apart is the high headlight mounting on each cab end. Over the years the headlight(s) was mounted either high on the cab end and/or on the snow plow mechanism. On my model the headlight will be mounted on the cab end. Refer to photos publish previously in this blog.

This is my engineering drawing of the headlight bracket. It contains some dimensions. Other dimensions will have to calculated by the builder.

Flat brass was bent to represent the left, upper, and right sides of the bracket as seen above. Remember each headlight bracket requires 2 pieces. That's why 4 pieces of brass bent to shape. 

As a modeling note - always make the same parts of something being scratch built at the same time. If there is any chance what is being scratch built being lost or damaged, make enough of the parts to build an additional item. Trying to scratch build a part years after it was originally made may be an impossibility. 

Of course, storing the additional part can be a problem. Perhaps after 49 is completed, the topic of storing, inventorying, etc. a model will be covered.

Next the part of the bracket which holds up the headlight up is soldered in place using 6% silver solder. This gives stronger joints. Do not file any of the excess solder away.  It's the solder which holds the parts together! The photo shows the 2 brackets for 1 complete headlight bracket.


The next process is soldering the cross piece, which will hold the headlight in place, between the 2 brackets . Let's step back from the headlight making to cover the choice of headlight and why it will not have a bulb and is not lighted.

For the headlight Q-Car B-140 brass suburban headlight casting was chosen.. After examining the photos of 49, this casting seemed to be the best. The headlight on 49 hangs on a bar between 2 brackets. The back of the suburban headlight has a single mounting hook.

The headlight will not be lighted since 49 ran during the day when the sun was out almost exclusively. The headlight was probably lighted during storms, snow removal, fog, and poor weather in general. The AE&FRE was a short line railway not crossing state lines. It didn't have to have lighted headlight during daylight hours. It wasn't until the early 1950's when the State of Illinois passed a law, did all railroads (ways) have to have a lighted headlight on all trains.

The following is a series of photos which show how the 2 brackets were blocked in place to get a square soldering job. 

Using a piece of wood having the exact distance dimension required between the 2 brackets, the brackets were clamped to the wood using clothes pins. Notice how the clothes pins were altered. BTW - The spring clothes pins come in 2 sizes. I use both sizes depending upon how much tension is required and the size of the job.




The headlight is NOT soldered or glued to the bracket. The brackets are shown before they are cleaned up. File away excess solder but not all of it. It's best to use a round file except at the ends or sides of the brackets. The headlight casting is attached to show how the headlight hooks onto the cross piece.

To finish up the brackets, pieces of styrene are ACC'ed in place. Notice the cutout on the top piece of styrene for the headlight clip.The pieces of styrene may be a little over size. The vertical piece of styrene will be glued to the cab. The more surface area, the better the attachment.


The Q-Car headlight casting comes with a hole for a light bulb to be inserted. My model will have a MV Models lens installed.To block the hole and provide backing for something to fill in the back of the casting, a piece of styrene was glued into the inside back of the casting. Both headlights were done at the same time.


    Once the glue holding the styrene has cured, Squadron body putty was inserted into the hole. When Squadron body putty is used in a deep hole, the body putty contracts as the volatile solvents evaporate. One than one layer of body putty may need to be applied. Once the body putty has completely dried, the area can be filed smooth and level.
After looking at the photo, I realized the back of the casting has not been finished. This is the casting as the body putty is drying.


The MV lens will be added after the model is painted. The headlight brackets will be mounted to the cab later after additional detail parts are completed.

It looks like an additional post will be required for more details.

Cheers,
Ed

PS - If the spacing between paragraphs and photos seems to be uneven, I haven't worked out how to get the spacing right.


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