GE 44 ton early phase

[randgust]

When I scratchbuilt mine on the Kato 11-105 chassis (when only Ron Beardon and I were crazy enough to try this), the .020 styrene hoods were right up against the sides of the Kato motor (which is the same motor as in the Bachmann, just double-ended).   I eventually replaced the motor with a Faulhaber, but the hoods were left.

The overall look of the 44-tonner shell really leaves a lot to be desired.  Bachmann simply copied the HO model, which had its own odd issues.  Along with the windows, the pronounced 'break' between the roof and cab sides doesn't exist.  That was on the HO model to get the roof off.  The N model roof doesn't come off but they still imitated the HO one that did.  Along with that came the relatively square roof profile and sharp edges, the prototype is anything but.  If you compare the HO and the N (which I have both) you get to the forehead-slapping stage reasonably quickly as in 'why????'.  Equally puzzling as to why the frame is wider than the motor, making it unnecessarily fat, which is what Chris was attacking by remilling the chassis.

If you're going to do it right, it's a combination of both etching and resins.  You need the photoetch to get strength and detail on stock that is about .010 thick; RPP and resins both don't work well below .020.  But the hood tops and rooftops should be resin to get in the smooth compound curves at the ends and cab roof.   This thing has an absurdly narrow hood, and even with a .020 wall tight on the motor it's wide, but a whole lot better than the original:



I'm not volunteering to make anything, let me make that perfectly clear.   I just missed getting creamed by Bachmann on the 44-tonner, I altered course to the 70-tonner and had a couple good years before that was introduced.   But if you're as irritated about the 70-tonner, I have a handful of my resin shells and cabs left that work quite nicely on the Bachmann mech...just sayin.  I'm surprised the same irritation hasn't surfaced there.

The mech however is a different thing, it just so much better.  Makes it easy to overlook other warts.  I have one under my own 70-tonner shell, but at least the 70-tonner is prototypically wider to begin with.

I I were going to attack the Bachmann shell - I'd start at reprofiling the roof with a file, puttying everything smooth, in addition to thinning the windows from the inside with a dremel cutting bit.  I don't have a milling machine to imitate what Chris did, but it's sorta like what I did with the Bachmann sceniccruiser - cut a strip out of the middle and glue it back together again as a starting plan.

The louvers on my scratchbuilt 44-tonner are a scrap of brass GMM venetian blinds (which is really handy stuff for vents).   On my 70-tonner master I used Evergreen styrene siding to look like closed louvers, and it worked great.

[peteski]

much easier to thin the plastic walls from the inside with a dremel tool, if you want to have them look more to scale...actually, try using an emory board...it removes a good amount o fplastic...takes a little longer than the grinder in the dremel tool, but wil give you more control if you haven't used the dremel in this fashion before...
Respectfully,
Bruce

Sure you can thin the plastic. Since the roof and walls are single piece I'm not sure how you would use an emery board though. But even thinned (and if I managed to make the thinned walls evenly thick to properly install the clear "glass" sheets inside), the windows are way still too small.  The corner window should almost come to the end of each wall. I know that you can also start enlarging the windows (while trying to make them all evenly sized and not to make them crooked). That is a lot of filing and trying to make things look good. Seems like too much fiddling to me.

As far as a photo etched cab goes:  nothing would beat a 0.010" photo etched walls. With a photo etched cab, the windows could come right up to the corners, just like on the 1:1 scale engine.   I can design the artwork but I'm probably 3 years behind with my other projects. I'm hoping that someone else will beat me to this and produce a nice photo etched cab for this model.

EDIT: I just saw Randy's post and I agree that only the cab walls would be photo etched. Rood should remain plastic or a resin casting.  The photo he posted with a side-by-side comparison clearly shows the Bachmann model's shortcomings.

[Chris333]

I'm down for a RP shell if Mark can do it.

Would be nice to do the current Bachmann phase as well, but with a thinner hood. That way I can make a better Erie model.

Looks good from the side:


But not the front:

[Wardie]

For the time being I am content to work with the Bachmann shells, my preference would be a drop on replacement for the mechanism, but that is my preference. If a better more scale mechanism comes along later I will upgrade my roster.

[PGE-N°2]

I'm down for a RP shell if Mark can do it.

After reading this, I think I'd be interested in a replacement shell, as well... I was initially gritting my teeth about the nitpicking of what is actually quite a fun little loco from Bachmann, but after reading through here, looking at some prototype photos, I think I rather do see the significant visual discrepancies. It would be nice to have a better representation.

While you're designing shells, could someone maybe do an accurate 65 tonner to fit on this chassis? I've been trying to find a way to satisfy a growing desire to model the PGE's #551.

[wcfn100]

For the time being I am content to work with the Bachmann shells, my preference would be a drop on replacement for the mechanism, but that is my preference.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with a whole shell in this case.  But replacement hoods would be very doable.

Jason

[Wardie]

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with a whole shell in this case.  But replacement hoods would be very doable.

Jason

I was thinking replacement hoods, mostly I meant that for my current purposes something that fit the Bachmann mechanism was fine. Even if it is just sides of hoods, or one piece hoods.

[Chris333]

Either way. Once rendered it could probably easily be widened or narrowed.

[wcfn100]

Either way. Once rendered it could probably easily be widened or narrowed.

With a good parametric modeling software and some planning ahead it could be as easy as changing a couple numbers.  However, there is a point at which the Bachmann model could be so far off that nothing really translate over to just a narrower hood.


Jason