Grandt Line has their product line on the web for viewing. Recently they phased out many of their brass castings in favor of plastic castings. Precision Scale Co. (PSC) has only a few of their vast product line available for viewing on the web. The builder has to purchase PSC's catalogs to see the product line.
There are other vendors - The Irish Tracklayer, The Back Shop products available from Brian Wiseman, and more.
Although this is the finishing phase, there are still more details to add. We'll start at one end of the decking and move to the center of the model. Some details need to be added to both ends. Take a look at a photo of the end of the deck. What do you see in the photo that is absent from the model?
OOPS! - When I received the cab from Jim Osborn, all of the windows were closed. The operator of the 49 almost always opened at least one of the 2 center windows on the west side of the cab. I opened one of the windows by removing the sash with a file. This has to be done before painting the model.
On the decking, in front of the sand box, near the end of the deck are 2 hand holds. The hand hold is not continuous across the deck. When standing on the foot board the trainman needs something to hold onto. The coupler rod should not be held onto.
The coupler (Actually it should be called the uncoupler.) rod is "suspended" out from the deck. Room has to be provided for the trainman to grab the rod "handle" and rotate it 90 degrees or more to lift the uncoupling pin.
The hand holds are Des Plains Hobby O Scale America castings. The coupler rod holders are flattened PSC castings. The coupler rod is 0.020" brass rod which has been bent to shape. Don't forget the piece of rod sticking out to support the chain to pull the uncoupling rod.
For the era my model is in, the retriever was installed on a piece of lumber attached to the sand box. The photo above is the west view of the locomotive, therefore the 3-chime whistle is mounted above the door. The headlights can be installed. Notice the 2 upright post near the cab. These are there to help anyone mounting the loco from the ground using the step attached to the frame.
Truss rods and a turnbuckle on each rod need to be installed. Be sure they clear the trucks.
This is another west view. The model is painted and lettered. The grab irons attached to the cab are 0.020" brass wire. A Grandt Line step made from Delrin plastic. Delrin is incompatible with styrene, that is, common plastic glue will not work with the two plastics.
Make a larger hole in the styrene frame than required for the Delrin studs on the back of the casting. Use ACC to glue the step to the sideframe.
The brake hose was ACC'ed to the round styrene tubing installed for it next to the coupler box. The brake hose brass castings are fragile. Use a pliers designed to bend brass or other material into a round shape to bend the brake hose out of the way.
I don't use the brake hose castings with the pliable plastic tubing for the air hose. Too many times the plastic hose has come off the brass casting and become lost.
A controller, brake valve, and air gauge were installed. For the air gauge to have a nice round face, white decal was punched with a leather punch to produce a round piece of decal. The round piece of decal was place on the face of the air gauge after the black paint died.
The stand alone grab irons are brass tubing with a Q-Car casting installed on top. At the bottom of the rod are 1/64" eyelets.
You may have noticed on the photos of the side of the cab and in the photo above, the rain gutter and drain over the center windows. This is a piece of brass tubing with the top filed off to open up the center of the tube. The drain at the right was soldered on before the tubing was filed open.
Clear styrene 0.010" thick was used for glazing. MV lenses were installed in the headlights using clear bathtub caulk for glue.
Install the trucks. But before that, I "painted" the trucks with brass blackener. This is a chemical reaction in which the brass turns a black to dark green color. (I taught high school chemistry so I know exactly what happens to the copper and zinc which compose the brass.) After the trucks dried, some weathered back paint was applied in various locations.
An Arttista "mtorman" was installed in the cab. He has his arm over the window opening. There is only 1 wire to connect to the center post of the cab under the deck.
The last item to be installed is the coupler. The PSC set of castings include the coupler with 2 additional castings - the knuckle and the coupler pin. Place the knuckle into the casting and fix with the brass rod provided. Only used solder at the top and/or bottom of the coupler body to hold the brass wire in place. Do NOT use ACC! The ACC might seep into the "works" and prevent the knuckle from moving.
The coupler pin has to move freely up and down. It is installed form the bottom of the coupler. It should be able to open the knuckle when pulled/pushed up. I used a piece of soft brass to make a long loop between the eye on the top of the coupler rod and the lift bar of the coupler rod.
When the coupler rod is pulled up the coupler knuckle "pops" open. The coupler is compatible with Kadee couplers. However, I do not intend to switch cars with the 49. It is able to run on a layout pulling 1-2 freight cars.
The drawing mentioned in the last post which showed how the whistle was made will be included in the next post. Additional photos will be included.
Cheers,
Ed
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