Update on aux. power-baggage

Some progress to show on the operator's car
It has been fitted with batten and rivets, the lower skirts have been modified and the the parts of the roof now lining up quite well

A short glance on the rivets

A- and B-units' shells now have been fitted with all rivets - I'll post better pictures after reworking of the grill

Back to the 'Borden's'

I've finished my 1"-scale 'Borden's' milk tank cars (lettering was missing) quite a while ago. Finally here are some pictures of both cars:

M-10005: ready for rivets

Finally both the A- and B-unit's shells have all the details attached.

M-10005: A-unit's shell almost finished...

Apart from making new skirts for the B-unit as well as the aux. power car which took considerable time I decided to add L-shaped brass liners at the lower edges of the shells and the skirts' upper edges. The brass liners were countersunk so there are a smooth, sharped edges which can take some impact before a damage will occur. Nothing of a 'highlight' to show but necessary according to my experiences on handling the models.
Finally there is some obvious progress to show of the A-unit:
- the battens were applied
- handrails & steps were built and attached
- the front 'shield' and the logos on the nose's sides were constructed and attached

 

The B-unit's shell still has to be sand before battens, handrails and steps can be mounted.

Additionally I have to decide which size (head diameter) and material of rivets are appropriate (also considering the costs)- I estimate app. 5000 or so will have to be applied to each shell.

Meanwhile the aux.power-baggage has been leveled (both parts of the shell were not completely in line but slightly tilted). So finally the roofs could be adapted in line, too (no pictures of this).

M-10005: A-unit with modified skirts

Eventually I changed my mind and made new skirts - smaller (reaching less downward) than the former design now closer to the prototype (probably one is accustomed to the look of lower skirts and tanks of later E- and F-units). So here's the improved construction:

And from above with the new shape of the front windows

Additionally a picture of the the final look of the trucks with all suspension, swing hangers, brake equipment etc. installed.

Small update on aux. power baggage car

Although I've spent some effort into the car during January & February only a small progress is visible. The roof's parts are almost without steps at the interfaces.
Skirts have received some glass-fiber layers and a final gel-coat and provisions for three footrests were applied. Bars were applied to the windows and the roof received a muffler & exhaust (located between the radiators) for the virtual diesels inside.

M-10005 - Air-brake cylinders on trucks

The four (non-functional) air-brake cylinders per truck  as well as the accompanying two pistons per cylinder (one on each side) were attached to the trucks.

A-unit's front window modification

Comparison of the original shape (upper outside edge)

with the shape of the model

reveals that the radius has been too small (ok, the upper part of the frame should incorporate a slight bow, which had been on the loose frame itself but mystically vanished when it was fitted into the shell - now it's too late to correct)

The difference in the edge's radius was corrected - looks more prototypically now

Additionally brass L-sections were applied to shells' ends of the units' shells in order to get sharp, impact-resistant edges.

Progress on aux.power-baggage

The details on the front-part of the car's roof (intakes, exhausts, radiators etc.) were applied:

Unfortunately the roughly finished lower skirting interferes with the shell, so the two shells as well as the parts of the roof do not line up very well (there a 'step' from the front to the middle part of the roof).

The skirting currently consists of a rounded 1/10" steel plate (a refurbished oven's tube):

So that's the current look from the side:

M-10005: Further progress on engineer's car

Current status of shell & roof:

As mentioned before, the roof is divided into three parts - the front part will be furnished with the intakes, exhausts and radiators of the two aux-diesels.

And for comparison (adjustment of the shell's height) with the B-unit

M-10005: engineer's car

Of course the train has to receive a car for the engineer - according to prototype's composition this will be the auxiliary-power/baggage car #11700 that ran on the third position of the '36's prototype. It's app. 75' 10" body will turn into a model of 10'4" length. For ease of handling during transport I decided a) to  separate the 'body' from the car's frame, dividing it into two parts of 5'2"  length and b) to separate the roof from the body's side dividing it into three parts (avoiding a common 'break' of roof and body at the same position).
At the roof's front (app. first 2ft) the vents & exhaust of the two aux. diesels are located (of course only as simulated details). The rest of the roof should be able to carry up to three adults (engineer+two passengers) - this will give some serious design challenges on the trucks' suspension system.
First pictures...

M-10005: Assembling A- & B-unit

Eventually I assembled the complete locomotive - of course there were some problems with the powered truck which still interferes with the A-unit's coupler-pocket...more cutting & grinding necessary....
Total length is app. 18.5ft

M-10005: remodeled grill, update on trucks etc.

Some new pictures of the complete model with the reworked grill (aspect ration close(r) to prototype) and the trucks fitted with coil & leaf springs; the shell been covered with gel-coat for smoothing & UV-protection of the glass-fiber surface):

Rebuilding the front grill...

After checking the aspect-ration of several prototype-photos against my model it became clear that the model's front-grill is no wide enough. After a month of consideration I finally made up my mind and have started to modify he grill.
I cut through the grill vertically, removed the outer half & enlarged the opening in order to shift the outer half of the grill app. 1 1/4" apart. Finally brass stripes of appropriate shape & length has to be fit to close the missing grill work.

upper picture shows current design, lower picture is a digital mock-up of new design

M-10005: B-unit & trucks' sideframes

Here are new pictures of the B-unit. At the B-end the outlets of the two steam-generators are applied - the vanes & openings directed straight to the rear end.
The side-frames of the trucks are basically assembled - the (simulated) leaf- and coil-springs and the brake cylinders are still missing.

M-10005: anti-climber & buffer

The anti-climber has been detailed and the buffer (made from a massive rubber block) was adapted to it's receptacle for a test. The profile of the tip of the nose was slightly revised  (straightened) on the lower half.

M-10005: pilot's details

Application of raised chrome parts and hex-nuts to the pilot

The hex-nut row at the bottom of the pilot will not be applied - it interferes with the welded frame inside as well as it would weaken the pilot bottom.