OK!...
so...had about an hour to sit down and figure how to tackle this bash/conversion-before I knew it I jumped right in!
Acouple of notes, first, about how i decided to tackle this one and why...
1)- I'm using the Microtrains RPO as the donor 'core' for this one...it's not necessarily less labor intensive than using a rivarossi/Atlas/Concor heavyweight, but I believe the microtrains car has a few advantages for this particular bash.
The underbody detail on the MT car is slightly better (and more accurate for this car-the only real change I may need to make is to shift the battery boxes slightly to the center)
The end and door stirrup detail on the MT car is very nice, and, although Roberto (M&R sides) provides BEAUTIFUL stirrups on the fret, i wanted to try to use the MT ones because they're made of Delrin, and will hold up well with handling-the fact that Roberto's sides are so well drawn and produced, i.e. the doors line up beautifully with the doors on the MT car!
The MT roof is beautifully molded and, although I'll have to shave some detail from it (the built up area around the smokestack), it's going to be superior to the Rivarossi roof.
The MT car is molded a little thicker-it'll stand up to the removal of material from the sides and still be pretty strong...
AND, along the same lines, using the MT car doesn't neccessitate sawing the car in half...although there's going to be a lot of 'carving', the MT 'core' will remain in one piece.
After mulling it over, here's what I'm going to have to do to the MT car to convert it...
sand the sides completely flat
remove the material from around the doorways and cut away plastic that will be behind the six windows on the brass side
remove the molded-on sill from the MT car
remove the molded-on bolster piece from the MT car (the MT car comes with 3 axle trucks AND the bolster is not centered to allow clearance on sharp radius curves-the ATSF car rides on 2 axle trucks)
Lower the strrup assemblies so that they sit at the correct height under the supplied brass ATSF style sill
add new bolsters at the correct location for the ATSF car
Shave the extra material from the roof until it is a 'clean' celestory style roof
All this sounds like a bunch of work, and I'm not trying to dismiss it as no big deal, but it's really not much more work than using a Rivarossi core and sawing it in half...and, unless I want to search and pay a ridiculous amount for a brass model (and I don't!), this is the only way to have a true ATSF RPO in my consists.
ya' can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs....
the first cut always hurts....(this is where I cringe a little in using the MT car-I've been able to buy a BUNCH of old rivarossi cars from Ebay at very low prices...even though I got this RPO at less than wholesale, it's still not a cheap as a rivarossi car!)
Doing my best to apply even pressure along the entire side, I sanded each side-checking frequently to make sure I was removing material evenly along the side.
after getting the sides completely flat, I checked the fit of the brass side...a quick note*...when laying the brass side over an unmodified MT car, you'll see that the brass side is about a millimeter long on each side-no worries!-this completely corrects itself as you sand the sides and remove thickness...once the sides are sanded flush, you'll notice the sides are perfectly aligned!...a testament to Roberto's AND Microtrains' drawings!
continued.....
