44 Tonner

[kiwi_al]

Hey that means the castings are full prototypical as is!!!

Richie are you gonna put headlights in it ?

[up1950s]

No headlights for me . the one looned end is now plugged . I could , but I don't want to bother . I am lazy I guess .

[sp_fan]

Awesome work, guys.  I'm saw your work over on the Atlas Forum and it's impressive.  Tom, what will you do for cab glass? 

[up1950s]

I got my Trainmaster handrails from Atlas today . I found that the straight walkway type handrail set is a touch better to work with than the drop walkway type  I had thought at first , but either will work . The straight walkway handrail set is Atlas 495208 . I only started , but as you can see it is starting to take shape . The hand rails that go down the steps will be brass things I will bend and CA in place . I am gluing as I go along . The angle piece is an added and glued on section from the Trainmaster set . I think the UP paint with these handrails in place will be a bit easier than messing with these after paint and decaling . Had these handrails been prefab and press in place , then they would go on last . I needed to re drill some holes to line things up , but the original holes and these new ones are right next to the originals . I present this as a way to get around the better method of soldering , as Randy did . Just another way to skin a cat .

[up1950s]

The plastic handrails are in place and the brass rails are now being  added . Not near as good as Randy's , but good enough for me .

[randgust]

Richie, I think it looks GREAT.  Outstanding job on adapting existing handrails.

The biggest mistake I did with mine - mostly because I was in a hurry to see what it would look like - was to put the handrails in before paint.  I had a terrible time after I'd ACC'd those wire rails in, getting everything in behind them, the striping, and the lettering.  I'm still fixing crooked stuff from that episode.  I always put wire handrails on after first paint/decal, and this was one time I violated that procedure and I paid dearly for it.

Do you have a photo/link of the UP unit?

Because I used brass wire, paint was a cinch.  Not sure what to advise on paint sticking to the delrin rails, but I'm sure others can help with that one.

[up1950s]

All the photos I have are in books . I tried a few times looking on the web , but came up with zilch . Thanks

[rtroop]

I wanted to try to see if I could get my chassis to fit further up inside the shell.  I decided to move the pickup wipers to the underside of the frame.  I first bent the pickup ears on the sideframes over as shown.
 


I discarded the circuit board and soldered .010” phosphor bronze wire to the wipers and bent the wire into an L shape.



I removed all of the ridges on the top side of the frame and trimmed it to length so that it will rest snugly against the underside of the walkway of the shell. I drilled two horizontal holes through the bulge in the bottom of the frame and inserted the wiper wires through the holes.

 

I added  small  dabs of 5 minute epoxy on the top side of the frame to hold the wipers in place.

 

The motor was set in place on it’s side using a piece of double sided indoor/outdoor carpet tape that has a strong yet removable adhesive.  I wired it up and was surprised how really well it ran.  I haven't checked yet but Murphy says I probably wired it backwards.

 

Since the frame will now seat up inside the shell against the underside of the walkway I think the appearance is improved.  When the wiper are painted black they will be virtually invisible since they are mostly hidden by the center skirt. The pickup plates on the sideframes are still sprung and float enough to insure reliable pickup. Since the shell now sits lower, the footboards barely clear the rails.  I’ll modify them to more correctly resemble those on the Pennsy prototype I’m modeling. Now if I can only clean up the shell and fabricate some handrails and sideframes that look as good as what the rest of you guys have done.

[tom mann]

Richie,

Those handrails look great.  What kind of wire is that?

rtroop,

Good idea.  When I lowered mine, I needed to hack off a lot of the footboards.  I filled in the pilots and made new footboards with a plastic I-beam (modified to look like an "L" from the side).

[up1950s]

Great beginning rtroop .

I used K&S #1596 .020 on the front for strength at those corners , the bar is also glued to the grill frame , and am using Detail a$$ #2505 .015 for the step rails .

Looks like that stanchion at the step handrail needs to be re plumbed . An easy task .

[kiwi_al]

Thats a stand out idea Richie!!!!

Here's my small progress, I've stretched the chassis and am trying to get it to sit on the kato mechanism a bit lower. How's this or is it still too high? I can live with it like this.




It's flanked by an FP45 (not finished) and an FM H12-44 (also not finished). Hmmmm do you spot a pattern here (not finished! ;D )

[up1950s]

Looks right to me .

[Skip]

It's flanked by an FP45 (not finished) and an FM H12-44 (also not finished). Hmmmm do you spot a pattern here (not finished! ;D )

Or maybe you just model "The Great Undec Railroad"?

[Chris333]

Bob,
any pic's of yours with the shell on to see how it rides?

Thanks

[rtroop]

Bob,
any pic's of yours with the shell on to see how it rides?

Thanks

Haven’t finished cleaning up the shell but you can get an idea of how it sets over the trucks.  The footboards just barely clear the railhead. It’s interesting that the chassis can move up and down slightly on the trucks due to the spring action of the wipers.   

It really needs to have the chassis stretched just a bit but I’ll wait till I add better sideframes before I decide.  It runs extremely well the way it is and I’d hate to mess it up.