Bachmann S4 - Any pics?

jamesdewarinireland Aug 13, 2013

  1. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    Hobbytown has tungsten putty. 1oz. for $11. Comments on that price? Checked a bait/tackle shop and Walmart today. Not in those stores.
    Joe D
     
  2. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    A little steep in my opinion but then a little will go quite a way when adding weight. Main fishing outlets that carry it are going to be those with a significant fly fishing inventory. Also the product has been known as moldable lead. Possibly Cabela's and Hudson Bay are two more sources. This is a link to Cabela's http://www.cabelas.com/product/Tung...&Ntt=weights&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products

    It can also be found on Ebay.
     
  3. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks John. Would like to avoid shipping$
     
  4. railtwister

    railtwister TrainBoard Member

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    Check a Golf Pro shop. They use tungsten putty to balance golf clubs, so they may have it for separate sale.

    Bill in FtL
     
  5. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    Dicks has it, no mention of weight. Presume it would be 1 oz. $8.99.
    Thanks, Bill.
     
  6. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    Put the cab in a can of hot water for a while. The glazing comes out fairly easy with the press of very small flat blade screwdriver at window edges.
    The real test will be putting them back in!
    Joe D
     
  7. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    Allright, so how DO you get the shell from the power chassis?
     
  8. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    Stick a little screwdriver between the sidesill and the chassis and pry. Once you get a little separation, the shell should pull right off.

    -Mark
     
  9. skipgear

    skipgear TrainBoard Member

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    You can get more weight using layers of thin lead sheet cut to fit than with tungsten putty. Tungsten putty is lighter given the same volume than lead, it's just easier to work with. Lead sheet is soft enough that you can form it fairly easy to fill in the same spaces that the putty would and get a better result. Solid tungsten would be the best answer but it is hard (impossible) to work with and hard to find in small enough pre made shapes that can be usefull. Don't get the pressed tungsten composite, again, no heavier than lead. It's just putty, preformed into shapes and pressed a little tighter together.
     
  10. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    Tony, where can one get this thin lead sheet you speak of?
    Joe D
     
  11. skipgear

    skipgear TrainBoard Member

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  12. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    While not trying to deliberately dash cold water on the thin lead idea I just don't think there is the available space to use it. Not much if any clearance between the circuit board and the shell top. Whereas the Tungsten putty can be rolled into thin tubes and dang near shoe horned anywhere there is a small space. I have used thin lead before but I had more clearance for the sheets on the loco I used it on. Also the advantage of the Tungsten is to be able to keep the fore and aft weight distribution fairly equal.

    As far as a possible source of thin lead I can think of two off hand. One would be a plumbing supply as thin sheets of lead have been used for vent pipe flashing, and the other would be a craft supplier of stained glass materials. Option three would be to take an old soup can and gets some lead bullets (black powder enthusiast supplier) and go outside over the BBQ gill and melt your own lead pouring it out onto aluminum foil and a flat surface then cutting with shears when cold.
     
  13. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    Just out of curiousity, what was the max pulling power of the prototype in terms of number of cars (ballpark)?

    -Mark
     
  14. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    A lot more than the model!
     
  15. Westfalen

    Westfalen TrainBoard Member

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    An switcher could generally couple onto what ever a road engine brought into the yard and move it, just not as fast.
     
  16. skipgear

    skipgear TrainBoard Member

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    Any place large enough to put an appreciable amount of putty, I can put more weight in lead. This is what I did to my Walthers 0-8-0:

    [​IMG]

    The weights replaced two stock zinc weights and added weight to every nook and cranny to take the boiler weight from 5g to 15g.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Not denying that some lead can generally be put into most locos, particularly steam, Just making the fact that there are no sizeable places for lead sheet in this mechanism and more small balls and thin tubes of putty can be shoehorned in this tight mechanism than lead sheet simply because of the flexibility of the putty vs the lead.
     
  18. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Back when the RF&P was still around and there was a hump yard in Arlington and Alexandria I used to sit at night, close to the North and South humps, eating my late meal and watching the classification going on. The switchers would latch onto entire trains of 60 to 80 cars and take them over the hump to line up for the shove back to the classifying yards. Now that was upgrade with those cuts to get into position on the other side often and again upgrade as they started shoving the cars over. Occasionally with a particularly heavy train they would be double headed with either a calf or another switcher. Often the little switchers were used for transfer runs in areas like Chicago between different yards. Also they became the favorite used engine for a lot of shortlines and logging roads because of their tractive effort at the slow speeds often found on those lines. And the log trains tended to be heavy and the lines did not always go downhill all the time to get out of the woods.
     
  19. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    You know I think we lose sight of the realistic expectations of our models versus the actual 1 to 1 versions. Weight wise they no where near equal what the 1 to 1 weighs in proportion. Restrictions now in effect limit the materials that can be used for the mechanical chassis making our models even lighter than the much earlier ones. An example is the weight and pulling power of the old Arnold S-2, a loco similar in size with no traction tires like this one. If the loco can manage 12 to 15 cars coming out of a turnout, and then while part of the train is still negotiating the turnout, enter either a 9 and 3/4 or 11 radius curvature and still maintain traction, then I suggest we are probably doing danged good. In the real world of the 1 to 1 that same loco would do that with three times the cars. We can beat this thing to death but are still not going to get this loco to pull thirty or forty cars. Adding a 2nd unit to the lashup will get that or a cabless booster or calf. And if your layout is like some and has some grades that are up there then forget it altogether unless you double head this loco.
     
  20. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    Mine is still working as the Nopedale switcher; that locomotive is one of the busiest on the Short Creek and Nopedale. It has slipped once, with eight cars and a Kato caboose up a one per cent grade. It was going through a Kato #4 at the time. Funny, when I pushed it the other direction and tried again, it went through. I wonder if a trip pin did not hang up somewhere on the turnout. It has proved adequate enough to the task that I deemed it worthy of an erasing job. I removed the All Tramps Sent Free herald and reporting marks and erased the first and last digits of the road number. There is still some stalling, but more of the wheelblack is wearing off, so it is less frequent. One consistent stall point, on a PECO 'medium radius' INSULFROG, with the points aligned for the main has started to show. A fresh track erasing cured that, so I am still blaming the wheelblack.

    The handrails on this come off and go back far more easily than they did on the GE industrial diesels. One thing, though, BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THESE HANDRAILS, THEY ARE EXTREMELY FRAGILE . I broke the horizontal rail on the starboard side about in the middle. Fortunately, despite the delicate construction, they are also resilient to the point that both pieces will stand on their own. It is difficult to see the break.

    It has two more 'days' of work to determine if it is adequate to the task of Nopedale switcher.

    I still do not like the flexing wires soldered to pivotting trucks. My LLs did not last long before I had to resolder. I was so happy when the split metal frames appeared and I could transplant the old shells onto the new chassis.
     

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