PRR BP 20 Balwin Passenger Shark build

[u18b]

OK.  Father Nature.  That was it.   His casting were white, if I remember.

So this is actually a kitbash.

[Lemosteam]

Ron, Yep and I think this is what the person did:



haasmarc, yes the wheelbase is off by 3'-3 1/2" (0.24" in n scale), but it's OK for me.  This loco is so smooth and it would be VERY easy to splice the 1/4" of material necessary as this is a plastic frame loco.  One would only need longer drive hose (front or rear of the motor, whichever gets lengthened).

However, I don't think I could fit an additional 1/4" of chassis in this shell.

[pnolan48]

Do these belong to anyone? If there's a copyright issue, I want to respect that. If I had to go all original, that would be OK. The only hard part would be the nose. The sides and roof are pretty simple for me. Let me see what they look like: a casting of a casting usually doesn't work so well.

I've done some Z scale car sides for Jonathan Edwards (Catt) as an experiment, but had a dull blade. They came out OK, but a sharp blade would have been better. A dull blade in .020" styrene causes even Z scale windows to distort, such is the drag.

I'm catching up with ship orders, so I should be able to spend some time on this.

Flat car sides should be about $7-15 a pair, depending on detail. Anything less, unless volume is tremendous, isn't worth it. I've learned to do a lot with the big BlackCat cutter, such as fine embossing.

[u18b]

Pete.  These shells are not castings. 

They are injection molded.  Probably from aluminum molds (cheaper but have a limited life).

You can see what looks to me like a broken off sprue Mark on the right side at the roofline just behind the door.

In my mind and memory (until I'm convinced differently) these black shells were offered by V-Line.  I have no idea who- if anyone- currently owns V-line.

[towl1996]

BLI is rumored/probably going to do both freight and passenger sharks....just sayin'.  Carry on.

[pnolan48]

I never looked much at V-Line, so did not realize they are injection molded. Makes this project more interesting!

[Lemosteam]

Ron, I sit corrected.

Good info on a recent thread here regarding V Line and Aksarben RF16's:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=35182.15

Sorry if I sounded argumentative, it was unintended.

[u18b]

Well, I learned something too.

I had no idea that Aksarben ever sold painted units.  Wow.

I wonder if Spookshow needs a special listing here.   

[Lemosteam]

Went through all my books and found some helpful pics.  One is of the rear end.  Backup light???



Ron this is the only near-roof shot I found.  Looks like it's on the Curve:

[u18b]

That almost shot is helpful.   That is the best I've seen.

The only other shot I've ever seen is a Kalmbach shot they used to use in advertising- some of you might remember it.
It was a somewhat high shot of a LOT of locos all jam-packed.  It was probably a scrap yard.  The lead/closest locos were an E8 and a C-liner (I think).
And there in the back- but too far to do any good was a BP-20.

So yes, at least your shot shows a little bit of detail.
And you can see that the RF16 shell detail does not match the BP-20.
Those square boxy-things are not in the correct position.

So if you wanted to do something moderately accurate, it is a job of more than just splicing two shells together.

[Cajonpassfan]

Forget the Shark; head end cars anyone? 
Love it!
Otto K.

[brokemoto]

brokemoto, you are correct ant that has been annoying me as well.  I am thinking about how I can get it there....

Does someone sell a paint pen in Dulux gold?  A very stiff cardboard circle around which you would draw the ring with the paint pen?   It would require a very steady hand and a miniscule point.
 If you, or someone whom you know has a really steady and firm hand, perhaps a really cut down paintbrush might work.

Still, nice work on the power chassis.  I always like to see power chassis bashes.

[Lemosteam]

Train phone heaven!

Not sure how others do these but I decided to use 0.010" phosphor bronze wire for the conduit, and solder the stanchions to the wire as an assembly.

I started by tinning the groove at the top of the stanchion on twelve of them:



I used thin tape strips as guides for the stanchions along the sides of the roof and as a starting point for the forward post:



Next I put some tape on a ruler so I could locate the stanchions at equally spaced distances.  I soldered the first stanchion and measured off the last and soldered that:



After dividing the overall spacing equally, I located and measured the location of each stanchion and soldered them in place, and removed the tape from the assembly



I started drilling in the front inside corner where two stops of tape intersected and used a sharp awl to put drill marks at each stanchion location following the edge of the tape toward the rear.



Here is the result on the Engineer's side:



Thanks for looking!

[eric220]

BLI is rumored/probably going to do both freight and passenger sharks....just sayin'.  Carry on.

Hopes raised quite expertly, sir.

[muktown128]

BLI is rumored/probably going to do both freight and passenger sharks....just sayin'.  Carry on.

I would definitely be interested in more sharks.  Hopefully they improve the detail on the trainphone antennae.  They are grossly oversized on some of their earlier releases. 

HO PRR freight sharks are included in their 2015 catalog along with P70's, I1sa, L1s, etc...