12/31/2015

M-10005's B-unit with paint job finished

Finally the B-unit has received its paint, too


12/13/2015

A-unit assembled

Put together the A-unit - however, after some research I noticed that the lower red line is too thick so that area has to be re-painted.



12/11/2015

Painting M-10005's A-unit

Paint job on the A-unit is finished including the front logo and side badges - the shell's lettering is still missing



11/18/2015

M-10005: A-unit in the paint shop

Some pictures from the basic paint job on the A-unit and its trucks







Next step will be the red stripe dividing armour yellow and leaf brown
Additionally decals for the front and side badges have to be designed

10/11/2015

ATSF #2611 with basic paint job






Still missing upper silver lining, bell on roof (it was hard to discover on the prototype photos for #2611) and - of course - decals

10/02/2015

ATSF rebuilt 1-spot progress

Front area of the roof remodeled, pilot attached and side-skirt trimmed down.



9/25/2015

ATSF rebuilt 1-spot

Now after some progress a few photos of the first assembly steps (side skirt and roof not shaped now). Set-up is on Aristo's HW-trucks for demonstration purposes.





9/20/2015

Streamlined ATSF #10 or #1 in 1/29

Started with the first 'rebuilt' design of Amos & Andy - the streamlined bulldog-nose set-up with the cab on top of the nose.
There are slight differences in the bulldog-nose' shape between #1 and #10 the latter having a more slanted nose above the herald and a different window arrangement.
Up to now I'm not quite sure which unit I'll build...it depends a bit how the  bulldog-nose will emerge from the trials.

Once again, body and basic roof are from an Aristo-Craft HW.
The bulldog nose is quite a challenge - compound curves in every direction!

I haven't make up a final decision on truck arrangement - either the earlier 1B-B or the final 1B-1B version. Additionally I'm not sure whether I should use the A1A-trucks of USA-Trains as a substitute (actually a 1B, too). There are a few differences in appearance between the 1B (asymmetrical axle distance, about 14' 6" wheelbase) and the A1A (symmetrical axle distance, app. 15'6" wheelbase).
Pictures of first assembly will follow

9/15/2015

Update on ATSF #2611

Some progress on shell & roof





9/06/2015

Further progress on ATSF #2611

Installed the ventilation hatches on the roof, head and rear light and couplers.






8/29/2015

M-10005 - new pictures of the aux. power-baggage car

Some progress on the baggage car (trucks' sideframes started, most of the rivets on the body set etc.)



8/26/2015

Further progress on ATSF #2611

Window & door openings roughly cut and roof modified to asymmetrical design of front and rear






8/22/2015

ATSF #2611 - further progress

Basic pilot design and side skirting as well as roof shape were finished



8/12/2015

ATSF #2611 in1/29

Another project: ATSF #2611, a transfer unit rebuilt from one of the one-spots.

ATSF #2611

Body will - once again - consist of an Aristo-Craft HW. Shortened, with the HW's end slightly inclined.
Roof will be a bit more difficult due to the different intake grills on each end and sides as well as the two 'counter-sunk' exhaust/muffler arrangements (quite similar to those of the M-10005) and the several cooling intake hatches.

Trucks of an USA-Trains F3B will be used.

First pictures of the basic body & truck assembly (I have to admit, looking really strange & ugly). Body height seems to be rather small in comparison to the usual F-units and the trucks - however, it is according to the app. 6'10" listed in the drawing in 'Santa Fe early diesel daze'.


8/01/2015

M-10005: electrical controlling system installed


Since I use four motors of app. 750W each (36V) I had the choice between two controlling systems:
- a single, very powerful controller with long wire harness to the motors and the two 36V-packes (12V batteries in serial connection)
- two smaller controllers one for each truck, connected in a master-slave set-up, with shorter wire harness and none of the problems of connecting two different 36V-packs

Well, after several months of consideration I decided to go with two controllers in a master slave set-up (4QD Pro-150).
The front truck is the slave, the rear the master controller which is connected to the controlling box (with ignition, forward/reverse-switch and speed
pot).
For safety I put several fuses into the harness (ignition, battery connection and to each motor) -  maybe overkill but this set-up may help to locate a problem or to ease limping back into the station.






7/24/2015

PRR #4663 out of the paint shop

Some pictures of the basic paint job

 


Next step will be lettering with decals



5/27/2015

PRR #4663 - more details

Now with doors, handrails etc. applied; front truck finally has been moved forward by 5/16"




5/17/2015

Some further progress on PRR's #4663

Some work was done to the shell and the roof.
Front received its windows and the roof the inlet grill for radiators



Additionally the exhausts outlets were mounted


The rear got its modified door windows, rear light and horns





The underbody received basic details (air & fuel tanks, battery boxes) which are visible in the side view



One may notice that the window & doors scheme is not symmetrical (front door and smaller window close to the passenger's compartment only on engineer's side). This is modeled after the original floor plan - obviously the brass model wasn't done with that plan on hand (it has symmetrical door & window scheme on both sides).