Most of you who live in the area know we have moved to another suburb of Chicago. Much of the dust has settled as we occupied the new housing - a town home.
The 1st and 2nd floors are just about completed as far as the move goes. The Chicago & Utopia (C&U) will be in the basement. This area requires more work. Hobby related items need to be stored away before a new C&U layout is started.
The old house is up for sale. Let's hope it sells soon! You can check the listing here: http://www.oakpark.com/Real-Estate/Listings/09197644/
To see where we stand in the way of past posts with incompleted topics will require some time on my part. I'm anxious to get started on the new C&U. Please be patient with me.
As to moving (down sizing) at the age of 75. My advice is, don't do it!. A lot of work is required. My wife and son deserve much of the credit for our moving out of the old home and into the new one. I'll spare you the details.
Let's see what develops. Cheers,
Ed
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
The "Last Run" of the Chicago & Utopia Railway
This was not truly the "Last Run" of the Chicago & Utopia (C&U) Railway. It was the last run as the C&U suspended operations at its past location.
Less than 4 months ago my wife and I decided to downsize. The location of the C&U on the 2nd floor of the garage had to be stopped.
My most sincere thank you goes to Eric Bronsky for producing the video. Eric used video taken by Bill Becwar. My thanks goes to Bill for taking the video.
You might recognize the 3-car NSL Silverliner seen in the opening of the video. They are the Sunset/3rd Rail replacement Electroliner cars I rebuilt to my standards and written about in the post.
The fellow in the yellow "Lotus" shirt is me. To the left in the opening video is Bruce Moffat.
The C&U will return in a different form in the future. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Ed
Less than 4 months ago my wife and I decided to downsize. The location of the C&U on the 2nd floor of the garage had to be stopped.
My most sincere thank you goes to Eric Bronsky for producing the video. Eric used video taken by Bill Becwar. My thanks goes to Bill for taking the video.
You might recognize the 3-car NSL Silverliner seen in the opening of the video. They are the Sunset/3rd Rail replacement Electroliner cars I rebuilt to my standards and written about in the post.
The fellow in the yellow "Lotus" shirt is me. To the left in the opening video is Bruce Moffat.
The C&U will return in a different form in the future. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Ed
Monday, October 26, 2015
The Past, the Present, and the Future
The impressive title for this post is to get you attention. Please excuse my absence from writing in this blog.
As the summer started a series of family things like a vacation, repairs on our house and cars, traction models to finish, repairs on traction models, and more turned out to be the series of events which occupied my time instead of working on this blog.
Also, my wife found out she can retire at the end of this calender year and not at the end of next year Then perhaps the event which has had the biggest, singular impact was my wife saying, "It's time for us to downsize." We have lived in the same house for 43 years. It is the only house we have owned.
While my wife and I are not horders, we did save some items like photos, items important to us, art work, and more. Without knowing, I had accumulated 60 years of model railroad related hobby items.
After bouncing the idea around in my mind for a week, I agreed with my wife that we needed to downsize. We have a house and garage which have become too much for us to take care of.
What to do with my models and layout initially bothered me. A number of different thoughts came into mind. How do I get a handle on the number of models I have? A few months ago some one asked me how many models I have. As I couunted the models on display in the garage, I suddenly stopped counting what a certain number was reached. There were more models than I thought I had! You'll get an idea as to the number of models in a later post.
Also. an article about how I became interested in modeliing trolleys has appeared in "O Scale Magazine". http://oscaleresource.com/ It's a free web magazine so take a look at it. The other article to read is about Eric Bronsky's photos.
Cheers,
Ed
As the summer started a series of family things like a vacation, repairs on our house and cars, traction models to finish, repairs on traction models, and more turned out to be the series of events which occupied my time instead of working on this blog.
Also, my wife found out she can retire at the end of this calender year and not at the end of next year Then perhaps the event which has had the biggest, singular impact was my wife saying, "It's time for us to downsize." We have lived in the same house for 43 years. It is the only house we have owned.
While my wife and I are not horders, we did save some items like photos, items important to us, art work, and more. Without knowing, I had accumulated 60 years of model railroad related hobby items.
After bouncing the idea around in my mind for a week, I agreed with my wife that we needed to downsize. We have a house and garage which have become too much for us to take care of.
What to do with my models and layout initially bothered me. A number of different thoughts came into mind. How do I get a handle on the number of models I have? A few months ago some one asked me how many models I have. As I couunted the models on display in the garage, I suddenly stopped counting what a certain number was reached. There were more models than I thought I had! You'll get an idea as to the number of models in a later post.
Also. an article about how I became interested in modeliing trolleys has appeared in "O Scale Magazine". http://oscaleresource.com/ It's a free web magazine so take a look at it. The other article to read is about Eric Bronsky's photos.
Cheers,
Ed
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Weaver Models Retirement
Weaver Modes has announced its departure from the model railroad business. Taken from the Weaver Models web site http://www.weavermodels.com/ ,
"Weaver Models is announcing the closing of its manufacturing business at the end of June after 50 years. Proud to have been manufacturing in the USA.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our dealers, customers, and the many great friends I've made throughout the years for making our business a success.
"I would also like to thank our dedicated employees, some of whom have been with me for more than 20 years, also for making our business a success.
"I have been affiliated with Weaver Models since 1970, when it was better known as Quality Craft Models. I acquired Weaver Models in 1994.
"We will be having a sale at our place of business, selling various items including memorabilia on a cash and carry basis.
"Update June 16
"Due to the overwhelming response to our business closing announcement, we will not have time to prepare for our retirement sale as originally announced. We are moving the sale to
"July 17, from 8AM to 5PM. "
Back in the 1970's, 80's., and 90's I spent my time making freight cars for my future layout. Walthers had the USH waffle side box car kit. All Nation Manufacturing had a number of older freight car kits. Max Gray had imported a number of brass models of post WW II freight cars. There were also a number of small manufacturers of freight cars most of which were not suitable fro my interest.
Two manufacturers stood out for making craftsmen kits of current freight cars. They were Quality Craft (QC) and Lykins. Neither manufacturer overlapped in the style (type) of freight car. QC kits were easier to obtain and assemble.
Over the years I assembled a C&O 61' well hole flat car, MILW 40' ribbed box car, plus other QC kits. If properly assembled, detailed, and finished with a good paint job and trucks, the QC kits were as good looking as the available imported brass models.
Over the years QC morphed in Weaver Models. When QC/Weaver left the wood kit market and went into plastics either as kits or ready-to-run, I obtain a few of them. The wooden and plastic QC/Weaver cars are still on my roster. They are special to me.
Over the ensuing years Weaver started going into the 3-rail market. At the same time a number of extremely interesting models were brought to the market place. A list of these models would be very long. They filled a void which up to the time Weaver made the model was often overlooked by other O scale manufacturers. Weaver was innovative in that sense.
The some of the unique Weaver models which come to mind are -
the Bradley-Pullman (American Flyer) passenger cars;
WW II Troop Sleepers, Kitchen, Hospital, and Express cars;
MILW S3 Northern and F6a Baltic steam locomotives;
Northeastern cabooses;
PRR BP-20 diesel locomotives; and
many, many more!!!
NOTE: Some of the models listed above may have been available from other manufacturers. But it wasn't until Weaver produced them that the model was easy to obtain and get rolling on a layout.
With the end of Weaver Models comes an end to Scalecoat paints. Modelers will have to adjust how they paint their models.
This post is my way of thanking Quality Craft and Weaver for making kits, ready-to-run models, and paint for me and the other modelers out there. May your retirement be healthy and enjoyable!
Cheers,
Ed
PS - If you have wondered why there has been a stoppage of post in this blog, my wife and I have been beset with some computer problems. We been told not to buy a new computer until Windows 10 has been released. Microsoft has set the date of July 29 of this year.
We're running on a computer purchased some years ago to hook up to a large screen TV to watch our vacation photos, Photoshop presentations, and DVD's. The capacity of the computer is limited.
We have over 25,000 photos and I do not want to load them on this computer to be able to use them in post for this blog. I hope to be back in operation posting info on the blog soon.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Finishing a CTM 4000 Baldie Kit Part 5: Rivets, Rain Gutters, and Something Odd About the Roof
Rivets on Roof
One of the details missing from the roof of the Baldie is the line of rivets around the bottom of the roof where the roof joined to the sides and ends of the car. There are also lines of rivets which go from side to side over the crown of the roof where the ARMCO steel plates were joined together to make the roof.
It's the single row of rivets which go around the bottom of the roof that I am interested in placing on the model. The best way of installing the rivets is to use the Archer Surface AR 88063 "7/8-inch rivets for streetcars and interurbans O-scale".
These are "regular" decals meant to be dipped in water, slid off the decal paper backing, and applied to the model. After an application of a decal setting solution, the decal material "disappears". The 7/8" rivets match the rivets already on the sides and ends of the model.
Only the most fastidious modeler will notice the rivets on the roof joining the steel plates together are not duplicated on the my model.
Rain Gutters
Before applying the roof gutters on your model refer to the picture of your prototype car. The big difference between cars, even in the same series, is the location of the rain gutters at the #1 end of the car. Some cars had the rain gutters below the air intake vent while other cars had these gutters over the vent.
I chose 0.015" x 0.020" styrene for the rain gutters on my model. In O scale, 0.015" model = 3/4" prototype and 0.020" model = 1" prototype. This size material also best matches the rain gutters on a Q-Car Plushie model.
On most of the CRT/CTA Baldies the rain gutters were the width of the doorway over which they were placed. After examining photos, mark in pencil were the gutters are to be placed. Most of the gutters looked almost flat as opposed to other passenger cars where the gutters were pitched.
Gently "tack" one end of the rain gutter in place. The gutters are to be installed on edge or the 0.015" side next to the roof. If the gutter is correctly placed, then using a toothpick place a drop of glue on the other top end of the gutter. Use the toothpick to flow the glue towards the other end.
The glue will fill in the top of the gutter. When the glue cures, the glue will provide a fillet between the gutter and the roof.
With a fingernail emery board I smoothened the edges at both ends round. From experience, if the ends are left with a "sharp" edge it's easy for them to be caught by paper towels or cloths during cleaning and torn off. Once the model is all done and ready for display, it's a pain to replace a roof gutter. Missing roof gutters are easy to spot!
Primering
Now is the time to apply another thin coat of primer on your model. The new roof detail will blend in with the balance of the model. Any area(s) where body filler had to be applied to the model will blend in as well.
After the primer dries, inspect your model for any "assembly" defects. Now is the time to correct them. Close up photos are great for "pointing out" any problems.
Plushie vs. Baldie Roofs
Finally something most of individuals are not aware of when comparing the Baldie vs. a Plushie. Below is a photo of the Baldie and a Q-Car Plushie. Do you notice anything about the bottom roof lines? The bottom of the roof on the Plushie is lower then the bottom of the roof of the Baldie.
I had to go round and round with Terry, the designer and producer of the Baldie kit. There is a difference in the way the roofs of these 2 series of cars were installed. Both series of cars started out with the same amount of material for the letterboard
The Baldie was a metal (roof) on metal (side and end) construction. The amount of material required for the overlap and riveting of the 2 materials together was only about an inch. It could have been less.
The Plushie with a canvas electrically insulated roof, required different construction of apply the canvas roofing material to either the wood or metal sides and ends. To give you a complete picture of what is required to install a new canvas roof on a railway car read what Randy Hicks of the Illinois Railway Museum had to do to install a new roof on a CA&E car.
The posts start about September 22, 2013 when Randy started to work on the roof of CA&E 36. This URL should take you to that post http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/search/label/319%20Progress?updated-max=2013-10-17T21:11:00-05:00&max-results=20&start=57&by-date=false
You'll have to "page" forward to newer post as you read what was involved in replacing the canvas on the car. Pay particular attention to the "tack rail" parts of the posts.
A tack rail has to be thick enough to hold the tacks holding the canvas to the side of the car - perhaps 1 or more inches thick. At the same time the tack rail as to be 1-1/2" - 2 or more inches wide. It has to be attached to the car side with screws or small bolts.
The overall effect of the tack rail is to have the roof material come down lover than the metal roof to metal side construction. This equals a letterboard with less area for the name of the railroad. At the same time the roof extends over the side more - the thickness of both the tack rail and the canvas material.
On the Baldie the roof should only be as wide as the sides while on the Plushie the roof extends a combined 4 or so inches over the sides.
BTW- if you aren't a regular reader of Randy's blog, shame on you.
Both the Plushie and Baldie are ready for painting. The past 6 weeks have been a busy time for me. The Annual March O Scale Meet held in the Chicago area is an important event. It includes visiting many O scale trolley layouts, including mine. Most of the trolley layout tours are private events - by invitation only.
After the Annual O Scale Meet some of my models which did not operate as expected have been repaired.
Coming up is the biannual East Penn Traction Meet in May. There will be many friends to meet and have a chance to talk with. I always try to bring a model or 2 to run on the EPTC modular layout. My models represent the Chicago and Midwest area.
To see if my models will operate on the EPTC modules, they are tested on my special test layout. This layout has both 9" and 12" curves.
One of the details missing from the roof of the Baldie is the line of rivets around the bottom of the roof where the roof joined to the sides and ends of the car. There are also lines of rivets which go from side to side over the crown of the roof where the ARMCO steel plates were joined together to make the roof.
It's the single row of rivets which go around the bottom of the roof that I am interested in placing on the model. The best way of installing the rivets is to use the Archer Surface AR 88063 "7/8-inch rivets for streetcars and interurbans O-scale".
These are "regular" decals meant to be dipped in water, slid off the decal paper backing, and applied to the model. After an application of a decal setting solution, the decal material "disappears". The 7/8" rivets match the rivets already on the sides and ends of the model.
The black rivet heads can be seen. I had applied the rivets before finishing the vent in the roof.
Only the most fastidious modeler will notice the rivets on the roof joining the steel plates together are not duplicated on the my model.
Rain Gutters
Before applying the roof gutters on your model refer to the picture of your prototype car. The big difference between cars, even in the same series, is the location of the rain gutters at the #1 end of the car. Some cars had the rain gutters below the air intake vent while other cars had these gutters over the vent.
I chose 0.015" x 0.020" styrene for the rain gutters on my model. In O scale, 0.015" model = 3/4" prototype and 0.020" model = 1" prototype. This size material also best matches the rain gutters on a Q-Car Plushie model.
On most of the CRT/CTA Baldies the rain gutters were the width of the doorway over which they were placed. After examining photos, mark in pencil were the gutters are to be placed. Most of the gutters looked almost flat as opposed to other passenger cars where the gutters were pitched.
Gently "tack" one end of the rain gutter in place. The gutters are to be installed on edge or the 0.015" side next to the roof. If the gutter is correctly placed, then using a toothpick place a drop of glue on the other top end of the gutter. Use the toothpick to flow the glue towards the other end.
The glue will fill in the top of the gutter. When the glue cures, the glue will provide a fillet between the gutter and the roof.
With a fingernail emery board I smoothened the edges at both ends round. From experience, if the ends are left with a "sharp" edge it's easy for them to be caught by paper towels or cloths during cleaning and torn off. Once the model is all done and ready for display, it's a pain to replace a roof gutter. Missing roof gutters are easy to spot!
It looks like some more cleaning of this vent detail is required. Note the rivet line around the bottom of the roof after primering.
Primering
Now is the time to apply another thin coat of primer on your model. The new roof detail will blend in with the balance of the model. Any area(s) where body filler had to be applied to the model will blend in as well.
After the primer dries, inspect your model for any "assembly" defects. Now is the time to correct them. Close up photos are great for "pointing out" any problems.
Plushie vs. Baldie Roofs
Finally something most of individuals are not aware of when comparing the Baldie vs. a Plushie. Below is a photo of the Baldie and a Q-Car Plushie. Do you notice anything about the bottom roof lines? The bottom of the roof on the Plushie is lower then the bottom of the roof of the Baldie.
The Plushie is on the left while the Baldie is on the right. Notice the difference in the bottom line of the roofs.
I had to go round and round with Terry, the designer and producer of the Baldie kit. There is a difference in the way the roofs of these 2 series of cars were installed. Both series of cars started out with the same amount of material for the letterboard
The Baldie was a metal (roof) on metal (side and end) construction. The amount of material required for the overlap and riveting of the 2 materials together was only about an inch. It could have been less.
The Plushie with a canvas electrically insulated roof, required different construction of apply the canvas roofing material to either the wood or metal sides and ends. To give you a complete picture of what is required to install a new canvas roof on a railway car read what Randy Hicks of the Illinois Railway Museum had to do to install a new roof on a CA&E car.
The posts start about September 22, 2013 when Randy started to work on the roof of CA&E 36. This URL should take you to that post http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/search/label/319%20Progress?updated-max=2013-10-17T21:11:00-05:00&max-results=20&start=57&by-date=false
You'll have to "page" forward to newer post as you read what was involved in replacing the canvas on the car. Pay particular attention to the "tack rail" parts of the posts.
A tack rail has to be thick enough to hold the tacks holding the canvas to the side of the car - perhaps 1 or more inches thick. At the same time the tack rail as to be 1-1/2" - 2 or more inches wide. It has to be attached to the car side with screws or small bolts.
The overall effect of the tack rail is to have the roof material come down lover than the metal roof to metal side construction. This equals a letterboard with less area for the name of the railroad. At the same time the roof extends over the side more - the thickness of both the tack rail and the canvas material.
On the Baldie the roof should only be as wide as the sides while on the Plushie the roof extends a combined 4 or so inches over the sides.
BTW- if you aren't a regular reader of Randy's blog, shame on you.
Both the Plushie and Baldie are ready for painting. The past 6 weeks have been a busy time for me. The Annual March O Scale Meet held in the Chicago area is an important event. It includes visiting many O scale trolley layouts, including mine. Most of the trolley layout tours are private events - by invitation only.
After the Annual O Scale Meet some of my models which did not operate as expected have been repaired.
Coming up is the biannual East Penn Traction Meet in May. There will be many friends to meet and have a chance to talk with. I always try to bring a model or 2 to run on the EPTC modular layout. My models represent the Chicago and Midwest area.
To see if my models will operate on the EPTC modules, they are tested on my special test layout. This layout has both 9" and 12" curves.
Blue arrows = 12" radius curves
Green arrows = 12" radius Old Pullman turnouts
Red arrows = 9" radius curves
The small aluminum rectangle in the lower right is the control panel for the layout. The layout is broken into 5 blocks. The yellow ties are the locations of cuts (with insulating rail joiners) in the rails. The black and red jacks are for power to the layout. More about this layout later.
Cheers,
Ed
Monday, March 30, 2015
Finishing a CTM 4000 Baldie Kit Part 4: More Roof Vents, and Miscellenous Details
Intake Vents
Thinking of how to add the 2 small square vents built into the roof of the prototype took some time. First something already available was looked for.
Nothing could be found.
These vents were built into the roof. They are louvers which blocked objects falling from above from entering the duct. At this end (#1) of the car, an electric intake fan in the ceiling of the entrance/exit vestibule pulled air from the outside through the 2 vents and into the car. The 2 vents near the center of the car were passive exhaust vents.
After much thought a square vent 0.010" thick was built out of styrene. Styrene 0.010" thick is flexible enough to conform to the contours of the roof. This same type of vent could be made from etched 0.005" or 0.010" brass. I do not know of anyone who etches brass so the styrene vent was made.
Now that my roof is finished, I feel my measurements were a little bit off. Therefore as we go through this section, my comments about measurements will reflect this.
First a square had to be built from 0.010" x 0.020" styrene strips. Using my concept of if 2 opposite corners of a square or rectangle (1/2 of a larger square being made) are square then the shape is square. The photos go through the building process.
Eight pieces of 0.010" x 0.020" styrene were cut and glued together at 90 degree angles. Each piece of styrene was cut longer than required. A small machinist's square block was used to ensure each joint was square. Small amounts of styrene glue was used. Too much would warp and/or dissolve the styrene strips.
After each of the joints had completely dried, they were prepared to be glued into squares. Notice the penciled lines on 2 of the 1/2 squares. These are the final size of the complete square.
The next steps were to make the squares. The photo taken below shows the process just after one of the sides was cut short. BTW - all cuts in the making of the squares is at 45 degrees to allow the square to lay flat. Small drops of styrene glue were used.
Handle the vents carefully. Now the vents have to be glued onto the roof. These vents are located at the #1 end of the car above the side door on each side. Glue the bottom of the vent 1st.
Then after the glue has set, continue gluing the vent around the curve of the roof. Be sure to glue each slat of the vent to the roof. The vent will be sanded and you do not want any of the slats to come loose.
Next comes the old auto body or if you prefer the old plasterers' trick. Many years ago we hired a pair of plasterers to repair some cracks etc. in a wall we had in our home. After the work was done I commented to one of them about how nice and flat the finished wall looked. He told me the wall really isn't flat but an allusion of looking flat. The trick was to make the wall look as smooth and finished as possible over the long flat plane of the wall.
I've repaired the body of an old car (1953 Porsche) with "bondo". The idea was not so much to match the curve of the other side of the car as much as to make the side being repaired look like a smooth and finish curve without holes or cracks. This was much the same as the plaster work in our home.
The intake vents on the roofs of the prototype 4000's were into the material of the roof. The vent did not stuck out from the roof. On the model the same thing has to be done. Squadron body filling putty is applied around the vent and allowed to dry. Do not use an old tube of Squadron putty. It will not flow well and will dry with cracks and small holes in it.
Apply the body putty up to the center of the roof, for 1/2" to 3/4" towards the center of the car, down to the bottom of the roof, and all the way towards the front of the car.
Squadron body putty actually dries to hardness. As the solvent evaporates the coating of putty with shrivel up. Thin coats will dry quickly and not crack. Thick coats with shrink in and crack!
It's best to wet sand (320 or finer grit) the vent and body putty until the area is smooth without cracks or holes. Clean out the slats in the vents. If the edges are not feathered and/or there are cracks or holes apply more body putty. When dry wet sand again. Clean out the slats in the vents.
Repeat the cycles of application and sanding until the area looks smooth and finished. At this time you'll notice the vent to appear as though it's into the material of the roof. The slight "bump" of the vent will be un-noticeable.
More work of filling in the cracks etc. had to be done to the vent in the above photo before the rain gutter and rivets were re applied. Unfortunately I failed to take enough photos of the work.
This post is getting long and there's still the rain gutters, roof rivets, and something strange about the roof! The next post will have to cover them.
Cheers,
Ed
Thinking of how to add the 2 small square vents built into the roof of the prototype took some time. First something already available was looked for.
Nothing could be found.
These vents were built into the roof. They are louvers which blocked objects falling from above from entering the duct. At this end (#1) of the car, an electric intake fan in the ceiling of the entrance/exit vestibule pulled air from the outside through the 2 vents and into the car. The 2 vents near the center of the car were passive exhaust vents.
After much thought a square vent 0.010" thick was built out of styrene. Styrene 0.010" thick is flexible enough to conform to the contours of the roof. This same type of vent could be made from etched 0.005" or 0.010" brass. I do not know of anyone who etches brass so the styrene vent was made.
Now that my roof is finished, I feel my measurements were a little bit off. Therefore as we go through this section, my comments about measurements will reflect this.
First a square had to be built from 0.010" x 0.020" styrene strips. Using my concept of if 2 opposite corners of a square or rectangle (1/2 of a larger square being made) are square then the shape is square. The photos go through the building process.
Eight pieces of 0.010" x 0.020" styrene were cut and glued together at 90 degree angles. Each piece of styrene was cut longer than required. A small machinist's square block was used to ensure each joint was square. Small amounts of styrene glue was used. Too much would warp and/or dissolve the styrene strips.
After each of the joints had completely dried, they were prepared to be glued into squares. Notice the penciled lines on 2 of the 1/2 squares. These are the final size of the complete square.
The red and green arrows point to the pencil marks. The blue area points to an area where too much styrene glue had been used. The styrene dissolved to provide the webbing effect.
The next steps were to make the squares. The photo taken below shows the process just after one of the sides was cut short. BTW - all cuts in the making of the squares is at 45 degrees to allow the square to lay flat. Small drops of styrene glue were used.
IMPORTANT - Leave one arm attached to the box (green arrow).
You need the one arm on the styrene square for the installation of the louvers. Four louvers need to be installed leaving 5 slots for the air to enter the car. The louvers are 0.015" x 0.020" styrene cut to the correct length to fit into the square.
The louvers are placed on their 0.015" side which means they will be sticking out of the square. After all the louvers are installed, they will be sanded down to 0.010" thickness.
Use the handle to hold the styrene square against the glass as each louver is installed and glued in place. Dentist scrappers and other picks are useful in cleaning up the vents.
This is a close-up of one of the vents after gluing and sanding. Notice how the glue has softened the styrene. At this point the styrene is stuck to the glass. It can be cleaned up plus the handle cut off. Gently use a new razor blade to remove the vent from the glass.
Handle the vents carefully. Now the vents have to be glued onto the roof. These vents are located at the #1 end of the car above the side door on each side. Glue the bottom of the vent 1st.
Then after the glue has set, continue gluing the vent around the curve of the roof. Be sure to glue each slat of the vent to the roof. The vent will be sanded and you do not want any of the slats to come loose.
The vent has been completely glued to the roof. The vent can be gently sanded to even out the vent plus reduce the slat size. Remember they were 0.015" sticking out (0.005" higher than the 0.010" thick vent material) from the roof.
Next comes the old auto body or if you prefer the old plasterers' trick. Many years ago we hired a pair of plasterers to repair some cracks etc. in a wall we had in our home. After the work was done I commented to one of them about how nice and flat the finished wall looked. He told me the wall really isn't flat but an allusion of looking flat. The trick was to make the wall look as smooth and finished as possible over the long flat plane of the wall.
I've repaired the body of an old car (1953 Porsche) with "bondo". The idea was not so much to match the curve of the other side of the car as much as to make the side being repaired look like a smooth and finish curve without holes or cracks. This was much the same as the plaster work in our home.
The intake vents on the roofs of the prototype 4000's were into the material of the roof. The vent did not stuck out from the roof. On the model the same thing has to be done. Squadron body filling putty is applied around the vent and allowed to dry. Do not use an old tube of Squadron putty. It will not flow well and will dry with cracks and small holes in it.
Apply the body putty up to the center of the roof, for 1/2" to 3/4" towards the center of the car, down to the bottom of the roof, and all the way towards the front of the car.
Squadron body putty actually dries to hardness. As the solvent evaporates the coating of putty with shrivel up. Thin coats will dry quickly and not crack. Thick coats with shrink in and crack!
It's best to wet sand (320 or finer grit) the vent and body putty until the area is smooth without cracks or holes. Clean out the slats in the vents. If the edges are not feathered and/or there are cracks or holes apply more body putty. When dry wet sand again. Clean out the slats in the vents.
Repeat the cycles of application and sanding until the area looks smooth and finished. At this time you'll notice the vent to appear as though it's into the material of the roof. The slight "bump" of the vent will be un-noticeable.
This is the vent during the sanding process. The rivet decal had been prematurely applied to the roof. Photos which are cropped and the size readjusted are great to show the imperfections in a model. The lines were drawn to be sure the slat holes were the same length.
This post is getting long and there's still the rain gutters, roof rivets, and something strange about the roof! The next post will have to cover them.
Cheers,
Ed
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Finishing a CTM 4000 Baldie Kit Part 3: Underbody and Odd Boxy Roof Vents
Underbody
Do you have your photos of the prototype Baldie you are planning on building ready? You'll need them for this part of the assembly. First, the floor was attached to the body with 2-56 flat head screws the same as the Plushie model.
If you are making a powered Baldie, the same Q-Car underbody kit as the Plushie can be used to supply all the needed parts.
If your Baldie is to be unpowered, many of the same parts are needed. It's the electrical control parts which are not needed. I used the diagram with part numbers supplied by Q-Car in the Plushie underbody kit to order all the parts needed.
Some of the electrical control parts which are needed besides the air brake parts are the 4 MU connectors at the car's corners and the battery box. BTW - If you are not aware, the 4 MU connectors at the 4 corners are for the door opening/closing controls and not the MU operation of the cars in a train! The MU connectors as well as the 600 v buss are located below the couplers.
This is where I started to have 2nd thoughts about not having a more detailed underbody on the cars. Since the cars would be operating on elevated right-of-way, it may be possible to see the underside of the cars. If this is possible then a more detailed underbody is called for.
To assuage my conscious the brake rigging from the brake cylinder to the trucks was added. The coupling at the end of the brake levers had to be drilled out to receive the brake rigging to the trucks. While there is a dimple in the soft metal, the soft metal casting was not the best. The drill would not stay in the center of the coupling.
A "tool" made up of 2 pieces of brass tubing was made. The drawing below will give you an ideas as to how it works. Sometimes more than 2 pieces of tubing are required to make-up the inner piece to get the correct diameter of the pieces to be drilled. Styrene tubing can also be used.
When using the tool be sure the drilling is square with the piece to be drilled. My drill slipped towards one side. But, all was not lost. Do not rush; work slowly!
This is what the underbody looks like for my Baldie after 0.028" diameter brass wire was glued in place for the brake rigging.
The body bolsters for the trucks were installed. For the 6'6" wheelbase truck an old Wagner un-powered truck was used. The wheel set was changed to a set with 0.145" thread wheels from NWSL.
Just 4 days ago I found a 5'6" wheelbase truck. The wheels need to be changed to NWSL wheelsets.
Exhaust Vents
Now comes one of the items all of you have been waiting for - the roof vents! In looking at photos of Baldies there looks like of the original batch, the trailers, starting with number 4001 up to a number unknown to me, a Utility exhaust vent was applied to the roofs of the cars.
Again, starting with some number I am not aware of, a strange looking boxy vent was applied to the roofs. In looking at the photo of the car I desire to model. It had the strange boxy vents on the roof.
Just in case you were not aware, vents were not usually make by the car manufacturers. There were small sheet metal shops which specialized in making objects out of sheet metal. They made vents for railroad cars, duct work, plenums, and other boxy looking objects. Utility, Globe, Garland, and Ward were some of the manufacturers of vents.
If your car needs Utility vents, the Q-Car CS016 or CS021 can be used. CTM, Terry, will have a Utility vent available.
Looking through as many photos as possible I noticed some odd, at least odd to me, things about the vents on what was to be my car. These include:
the side nearest the center of the car and 2 sides of the vent were solid,
the side facing the outside of the car while solid was open at the edges,
the 2 sides facing the center of the car and outward were parallel to the sides of the car,
the vent hugged the roof line of the car,
the roof of the vent followed the contour of the roof.
the vent was almost square, and
the sheet metal of the roof over hanged the sides.
No one makes a model vent like this! CTM is not making a vent to match this design. The 2 vents will have to be scratch built.
Time for a "time-out" - I've reached a point where there is something I have never seen before. Yes, during the time I rode both Baldies and Plushies, this type of vent may have been on the roof of the Baldies I rode. I've never noticed the vents before. There are only photos of the strange boxy vent available to me. Therefore the dimensions will be a SWAG (Silly Wild Ass Guess).
This series of photos is how I located and scratch built the vents.
The vents are positioned so 1 side of the vent is centered between 2 windows on the side of the car. A Q-Car CS021 vent was used as the base of the vents. Two of the CS021 vents were installed on the roof.
To make vents which have the correct side profile, vents were drawn on a drawing of the roof profile of a Baldie I had. The profiles were then printed on card stock (maybe 80 lbs., 8-1/2" x 11" stock). After the profiles were printed and cut out, each piece of card stock was impregnated with CA adhesive. CA was applied and wiped off.
Do not toss out any of the car stock as this will provide more than enough material for the other parts of the vents.
Finally (Unfortunately no photos were taken of this part of finishing the vent.) a piece of the card stock was glued over the top of the vent. If needed it can be sanded to shape.
Both of the odd boxy vents should be built at the same time.
The 2 vents on both sides of the roof at the #1 end are next. They will be built and installed in the next post.
Cheers,
Ed
Do you have your photos of the prototype Baldie you are planning on building ready? You'll need them for this part of the assembly. First, the floor was attached to the body with 2-56 flat head screws the same as the Plushie model.
If you are making a powered Baldie, the same Q-Car underbody kit as the Plushie can be used to supply all the needed parts.
If your Baldie is to be unpowered, many of the same parts are needed. It's the electrical control parts which are not needed. I used the diagram with part numbers supplied by Q-Car in the Plushie underbody kit to order all the parts needed.
Some of the electrical control parts which are needed besides the air brake parts are the 4 MU connectors at the car's corners and the battery box. BTW - If you are not aware, the 4 MU connectors at the 4 corners are for the door opening/closing controls and not the MU operation of the cars in a train! The MU connectors as well as the 600 v buss are located below the couplers.
This is where I started to have 2nd thoughts about not having a more detailed underbody on the cars. Since the cars would be operating on elevated right-of-way, it may be possible to see the underside of the cars. If this is possible then a more detailed underbody is called for.
To assuage my conscious the brake rigging from the brake cylinder to the trucks was added. The coupling at the end of the brake levers had to be drilled out to receive the brake rigging to the trucks. While there is a dimple in the soft metal, the soft metal casting was not the best. The drill would not stay in the center of the coupling.
A "tool" made up of 2 pieces of brass tubing was made. The drawing below will give you an ideas as to how it works. Sometimes more than 2 pieces of tubing are required to make-up the inner piece to get the correct diameter of the pieces to be drilled. Styrene tubing can also be used.
If you want to save the tool for future work the pieces of brass tubing can be soldered together.
When using the tool be sure the drilling is square with the piece to be drilled. My drill slipped towards one side. But, all was not lost. Do not rush; work slowly!
This is what the underbody looks like for my Baldie after 0.028" diameter brass wire was glued in place for the brake rigging.
Green Arrow = where CA was used to attach the end of the brake rigging to the body
Red Arrow = the original location of the battery box. After looking at a photo the location of the box was closer to the side of the car.
Blue Arrow = location of a filed out line in the floor used to indicate the #1 end of the car. The piece of styrene (glued to the door on the model) used to hold the floor in place has a similar filed out area.
Orange Arrow = metal washer glued to the styrene body bolster. The metal washer provides a better bearing surface between the body and truck.
The brake rigging was just glued to the bottom of the car. This is one solution for having the brake rigging hanging loose under the car. Normally the brake rigging is attached to each truck. Since this is a model without operational brakes and trucks which are free to rotate, what is done to the brake rigging is up to the modeler.
Gluing the brake rigging to the floor may not be the best solution. The brake rigging ends up going up to the floor at an angle which would never be seen this way on a prototype car. In a future post the brake rigging on the Plushie will be hung in a different manner.
Also, I like to be able to solder the brake rigging to the levers of the brake cylinder. I wish I had replaced the brake cylinders with brass castings.
The body bolsters for the trucks were installed. For the 6'6" wheelbase truck an old Wagner un-powered truck was used. The wheel set was changed to a set with 0.145" thread wheels from NWSL.
Just 4 days ago I found a 5'6" wheelbase truck. The wheels need to be changed to NWSL wheelsets.
Exhaust Vents
Now comes one of the items all of you have been waiting for - the roof vents! In looking at photos of Baldies there looks like of the original batch, the trailers, starting with number 4001 up to a number unknown to me, a Utility exhaust vent was applied to the roofs of the cars.
Again, starting with some number I am not aware of, a strange looking boxy vent was applied to the roofs. In looking at the photo of the car I desire to model. It had the strange boxy vents on the roof.
Just in case you were not aware, vents were not usually make by the car manufacturers. There were small sheet metal shops which specialized in making objects out of sheet metal. They made vents for railroad cars, duct work, plenums, and other boxy looking objects. Utility, Globe, Garland, and Ward were some of the manufacturers of vents.
If your car needs Utility vents, the Q-Car CS016 or CS021 can be used. CTM, Terry, will have a Utility vent available.
Looking through as many photos as possible I noticed some odd, at least odd to me, things about the vents on what was to be my car. These include:
the side nearest the center of the car and 2 sides of the vent were solid,
the side facing the outside of the car while solid was open at the edges,
the 2 sides facing the center of the car and outward were parallel to the sides of the car,
the vent hugged the roof line of the car,
the roof of the vent followed the contour of the roof.
the vent was almost square, and
the sheet metal of the roof over hanged the sides.
No one makes a model vent like this! CTM is not making a vent to match this design. The 2 vents will have to be scratch built.
Time for a "time-out" - I've reached a point where there is something I have never seen before. Yes, during the time I rode both Baldies and Plushies, this type of vent may have been on the roof of the Baldies I rode. I've never noticed the vents before. There are only photos of the strange boxy vent available to me. Therefore the dimensions will be a SWAG (Silly Wild Ass Guess).
This series of photos is how I located and scratch built the vents.
The vents are positioned so 1 side of the vent is centered between 2 windows on the side of the car. A Q-Car CS021 vent was used as the base of the vents. Two of the CS021 vents were installed on the roof.
Using 2 machinists' squares up against the sides and a ruler, the center of the roof was found. This has to be done twice, once at each end of the car.
The center line was drawn down the center of the roof.
The short line to the left is the side of the vent centered between 2 windows. The line of the right is the center line of the vent casting to be used. The inverted "T" is where the hole has to be drilled.
The Q-Car Co. vent was glued in place. Then I found the side of the vent facing the center line was too low. A piece of styrene of the correct size was attached to the top to correct the incorrect measurement.
The Q-Car vent is too high at one end. This end was filed down so as to be below the required profile.
If you are able to print out this photo so the actual dimension of each roof profile is 2" actual inches each, you can make your own vent side pieces.
The sides of the vent are glued on.
The top side is glued on.
The bottom side is glued on. Notice it's pushed in a little bit.
Blue tape was placed on both side of the vent to sand it. The blue tape protected the finish of the roof during the sanding process.
The body of the vent was filled in with white body putty and sanded on drying.
Finally (Unfortunately no photos were taken of this part of finishing the vent.) a piece of the card stock was glued over the top of the vent. If needed it can be sanded to shape.
Both of the odd boxy vents should be built at the same time.
The 2 vents on both sides of the roof at the #1 end are next. They will be built and installed in the next post.
Cheers,
Ed
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