Rob, You are raisin' the roof with those details! Really looks good. I don't know what that is between the stacks, but in your drawing it looks like there is a turnbuckle in the middle. Scott
Rob, I saw the stanchions, I just didn't realize there was a turnbuckle. Here are some of my dad's boxcabs in S, HO, and Z. Scott
https://www.cnwhs.org/ageir/ageir5.html in this description they refer to it as a “guy-wire” maybe that means a hand hold or safety wire for anyone working up top?
Maybe… “By definition, a Guy Wire is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They were commonly found on ships to stabilize the masts. They can also be found supporting radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and in our case, rooftop equipment. Guy Wires have been around a long, long time.Oct 15, 2021”
Who knows for what that wire is for sure? Everyone involved passed away long ago, and what was common everyday tech then that went without explanation, is voodoo practice to people today. Sometimes I think steam era people were actually smarter than people are today. We lost something over the years between "Better living through chemistry", processed foods post 1970's, and "Ethyl Gasoline Additives" so todays people might not be as smart as they were 100 years ago. Think about the inventions... Steam Power, Harnessing Electricity, Radio, TV, etc. And all the geniuses we had, Einstein, Tesla, Marconi. Since then we have not really invented or discovered anything new. No anti-gravity, no transporters, no really groundbreaking physics discoveries, we have just been proving and disproving what those early geniuses came up with.
So today I drew up the car sides and ends in Corel for raster etching. At this magnification the surface looks pretty rough, but it's no worst than the 3D prints coming from Shapeways are. Thanks to Chris333 for his help with rivet placement, as the photos are not always clear enough: Next I got the end grab irons formed and installed: Then the sides and roof grab irons were installed: And a coat of primer to see how it looks so far. I still need to work on the front and side drop steps before painting:
Rob, Looking very niiiiiice! Two questions: 1. What size wire for the grab irons? 2. What adhesive did you use? Scott
I use .008: brass wire, which scales to 1.75" diameter, so is a bit out of scale, but it's still finer than cast on grabs. I just use superglue as the adhesive. I prime the shell immediately after applying the grabs because that also acts as a glue in effect.
Rob if they don't give you a score of 90 or above they have no right to be a judge, that is coming along great. rich
Look at the stack covers and linkage: https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie0401lbC.jpg https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie403.jpg https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie403w.jpg https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie0403lbC.jpg Erie's boxcabs seems to have mufflers added to the stacks. http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/errhs19.jpg http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/err20.jpg http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/errhs202.jpg But the mufflers look like just an Erie thing. Check this cool video
Thanks Chris, with all that new info, I'm ready to start over and build a better shell! I hope I have enough time to get it done.
I don't think you need to start over. I was just showing why I guessed they were stack dampeners. I could still be wrong. And all boxcabs were different. Erie had 2 boxcabs and each had a different radiator setup. I use the same (free) program as the guy in the video and I can tell you mine is not that great. In the end mine looks OK, but I'm sure the way I went about it would make eyes roll. https://photos.app.goo.gl/JTkdRwgjEH49YecW7 The idea to print the headlights with the radiators was just to end up with better prints. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XJnYWFMdtFgSK4YcA I molded the grab irons in place. https://photos.app.goo.gl/EA4v5ZanU7jRLuvN6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/s4TkAq6YmqDxbXh77 But each time I draw something up I learn new stuff and ways to do it better next time.
Chris, Nice 3D modeling! You have a lot of detail. The rungs are solid, is that because of growing limitations? What if you provided holes for brass wire? Thanks for the screen shots. Scott
Scott, Could have put holes into the model. In fact I would have put the holes right next to a flange with a nut just like a real grab. But this was for N scale and I just didn't want to mess with wire grabs. I did do it on another N scale Mack loco project, but it drove me nuts! https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZKTiewVaVURFL1W47 https://photos.app.goo.gl/cB1HgcBwfv7SCuMe7 Sometimes it takes a bunch of tries to get what you want, but luckily these only cost about 50 cents each to print https://photos.app.goo.gl/iCbCRX4gNEon1vDeA
Yes, the grab irons are the worst part of a project. I is always the part I hate the most, but they look nice and do make the models look finer and more detailed.
