Tender dimensions for the Athearn Challenger

[Mike C]

I ordered the upcoming Athearn Challenger a couple weeks ago to do as a WM Challenger stand in . I know the tender is all wrong but it will work for now . I have a guy that will run me off a set of Fireball decals , I just need to get the dimensions of the tender . What I need is LENGTH , AND HEIGHT OF THE TENDER AT THE HIGHEST POINT NEAR THE FIREBALL. AND ALSO WIDTH AND HEIGHT OF THE TENDERS END PANEL. ALSO THE AREA BELOW THE CAB WINDOW WHERE THE LOCOMOTIVES ROAD NUMBER IS LOCATED ON THE LOCO'S CAB. Inches , MM , or CM should work fine ..Thanks !........Mike

[Joetrain59]

Uh Mike, change the subject line to read Athearn, not Atlas. Might help get responses.
 Joe D

[robert3985]

I ordered the upcoming Athearn Challenger a couple weeks ago to do as a WM Challenger stand in . I know the tender is all wrong but it will work for now . I have a guy that will run me off a set of Fireball decals , I just need to get the dimensions of the tender . What I need is LENGTH , AND HEIGHT OF THE TENDER AT THE HIGHEST POINT NEAR THE FIREBALL. AND ALSO WIDTH AND HEIGHT OF THE TENDERS END PANEL. ALSO THE AREA BELOW THE CAB WINDOW WHERE THE LOCOMOTIVES ROAD NUMBER IS LOCATED ON THE LOCO'S CAB. Inches , MM , or CM should work fine ..Thanks !........Mike

Okay, Google Photos has officially taken Picasa down, and the links are different than what I'm used to.  Let's see if I can post photos here using their supplied links.  I'll start with the Athearn Challenger cab lettering dimensions under the window, front edge to rear edge, between rivet lines under the window....here goes:

Nope 

I can't get the proper information on the Google Photos site to make the photos visible here, and I don't have the time to try and figure it out right now....Okay...got it figured out...Photos to follow....

Photo (1) - Cab lettering dimensions front to back, and from rivet line to rivet line under the window:


Photo (2) - Here's the tender length, two height dimensions, and the height of the "flat" portion of the curved sides:


Photo (3) - Height & width of tender end:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Mike C]

Uh Mike, change the subject line to read Athearn, not Atlas. Might help get responses.
 Joe D

Hmm , that's odd , wonder how I did that     Thanks, at least it's not my first mistake .  And Thank You to Gary for fixing it !

[Mike C]

Thanks Bob ! Exactly what I needed . Except that third photo doesn't show up for me .

[PiperguyUMD]

Milke C - If memory serves me correctly, the Challengers used the same tenders as the Potomacs.  I've 3D printed a Potomac, including the tender.  It would be a piece of cake to make it available for you if you'd like.  The tender trucks are a pain though, I don't have the time or the patience to tackle 3D printing commonwealth trucks.  The Bachmann trucks are great if you can find them - that what I designed the tender for.  I'm currently trying to adapt the Miniatures by Eric castings to fit.

I need to get my hands on some of those fireball decals as well.  There was a guy selling them on eBay a few weeks ago, I bought some of his fast freight hopper decals and was very impressed, but they have since disappeared.

[robert3985]

Thanks Bob ! Exactly what I needed . Except that third photo doesn't show up for me .

Hmmm...shows up for me.  I wonder what the prob is?  Here are the measurements:  Height = .740", Width = .814" 

However, there's a backup light and two marker lamps (and their respective wiring & junction boxes) in that space, so you need to get the photo.

Milke C - If memory serves me correctly, the Challengers used the same tenders as the Potomacs.  I've 3D printed a Potomac, including the tender.  It would be a piece of cake to make it available for you if you'd like.  The tender trucks are a pain though, I don't have the time or the patience to tackle 3D printing commonwealth trucks.  The Bachmann trucks are great if you can find them - that what I designed the tender for.  I'm currently trying to adapt the Miniatures by Eric castings to fit.

I need to get my hands on some of those fireball decals as well.  There was a guy selling them on eBay a few weeks ago, I bought some of his fast freight hopper decals and was very impressed, but they have since disappeared.

@PiperguyUMD , Very nice indeed!  Yup, that would get the Athearn Challenger much closer to the Baldwin WM Challenger.  Love those Archer rivets transfers!  I assume you didn't include them in your 3D print, so you could sand the outside surfaces flat...getting rid of "ridging"???  Very smart, and nice work.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[PiperguyUMD]

Love those Archer rivets transfers!  I assume you didn't include them in your 3D print, so you could sand the outside surfaces flat...getting rid of "ridging"???  Very smart, and nice work.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Exactly!  A Wet sand with 500 grit automotive sandpaper, coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000, a quick once over with 1000 grit sandpaper, and a final light coat of Mr. Surface 1000.  Good to go!  Maybe I'll get around to actually painting it one day 

[Mike C]

Thanks again Bob !

@PiperguyUMD , I'll keep the tender in mind . The Challenger comes with sound , so I'd have to switch that over too .  I'm getting the decals from a guy named Ricky  rarupp@hotmail.com . The company is modernrails.com . I think he said they are going to be 12 bucks per sheet . Seems that WM steam decals are really hard to find .