Oh, Bob...

[wm3798]

I'm thinking some 220 grit or finer very delicately applied to remove the offending markings, re-decal, then let the application of dullcoat take care of any scarring.  If I had the appropriate decals (I think all I have is gold leaf PRR lettering - no buff) I'd take a stab at it.  I don't think you can cover the lettering adequately, and it's likely to 'ghost' anyway.

Lee

[2-8-8-0]

Good thing more PRR stuff isnt available in N just now...those are gorgeous.

Whoever said PRR steam is an addiction is probably right...im addicted to enough stuff!

[Bob Bufkin]

I hope someone at PCM reads these and notices how much money they could make on PRR steamers and how much they have lost by not doing so.

And Carl - Not just NO but HELL NO!!!!

[Dave V]

I'm thinking some 220 grit or finer very delicately applied to remove the offending markings, re-decal, then let the application of dullcoat take care of any scarring.  If I had the appropriate decals (I think all I have is gold leaf PRR lettering - no buff) I'd take a stab at it.  I don't think you can cover the lettering adequately, and it's likely to 'ghost' anyway.

Lee

Hmm...  I will have to be very careful not to affect the rivets.  I would go with buff diesel lettering.  That's what I use on all of my steamers (except the M1; I needed the super-long roadname and only had it in deluxe gold).  You think I can get the letters off without marring the paint beneath?  I can give it a try.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Well, because it's brass, you can throw pretty much any solvent you want at it...

[Dave V]

Maybe I can borrow Athearn's paint roller...?

[wm3798]

Ed's right.  You can strip that baby down to nuttin' and put a nice fresh coat of DGLE on it.  Any variation from the engine paint can be camouflaged with some weather.

The cab needs re-numbering too.  Looks like they put that on with a spray can.

It's pretty much a dip job.  Shouldn't be hard to re-do the whole thing...

Lee

[victor miranda]

I thought I'd mention...
on the bay is a psc k4.

I tossed a non winning bid at it.

and I am pretty much out of my budget for such things
on this loco.  If they had only waited a month....

v

[wm3798]

I had the opportunity to run the K-4 a little bit more to test the new staging loop.  It still lugs pretty badly.  I'm thinking that the front and back drivers need to be shimmed a tad to even out the weight distribution.  I think the decoder might be pressing down on the middle driver a trifle.

This may be beyond my level of patience, at least until after the weekend's activities.

Lee

[Bob Bufkin]

I got a bid on the one now listed.  Right now I'm the high bidder but really don't want to go much higher.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Dave V]

Lee, in my tinkering with her I may have knocked the drivers out of phase.  I don't believe they're actually out of quarter, but that would be something to check.  No rush.

[victor miranda]

Hi Dave,
ummmm... out of phase?

how hard did you knock it ?

on mine, the front and rear driver on one side are doing pick-up service.

just two wheels, with a traction tire to rock over....  the loco tends to baulk at low speeds.

victor
 

[victor miranda]

Hi Bob,

the price I see most times is around 400.

the brass collectors are brutal on weathered and customised locos.
this one is free of that issue.

the highest prices are for the slat pilots and spoke drivers.
so that should hold it down a bit.

bad news is that it has been a while since a K4 has been up for sale.
that makes the price hard to guess.

luck.

victor

[Dave V]

Hi Dave,
ummmm... out of phase?

how hard did you knock it ?

victor
 

It was never knocked or bumped...  Here's the trouble, if I remember back to 2004 or whenever it was I last tinkered with it:

It had a serious tendency to derail the pilot truck.  At the time I couldn't come up with anything to fix that other than to change the spring, hoping the right tension would fix it (this was very early in my N scale steam career; I've since learned to be more creative).  So, the issue was, that in order to access the truck I had to remove the underside of the frame holding the drivers in place.  I know on at least one or two occasions, the drivers lifted out of their axle slots.  I can't promise I set them back in on exactly the right gear tooth.  Not sure if this is called "out of phase," as I understand "out of quarter" to mean that the wheels are actually more or less than one quarter turn out of phase on the same axle.  I don't believe I did anything to affect the quartering on the axle, but that's not to say they came from the factory perfectly quartered either.

I probably didn't use the right words, but hope this explains it.

[Bob Bufkin]

The M1 was stalling alot on the switches.  Ran alright except for that.  Got it home and am happy to say the engines runs around my mainline with little problem.  However, the tender has a tendency to detail on a couple switches.  Will have to work on that.