Thanks! The pilots are now complete. In hindsight I probably should have fudged things to raise the pilot steps a bit compared to the prototype. If there are any dips in the track, this locomotive will find them!
Only things left to add to the shell are the Mars lights and the bell, both of which I was sure I had in my little box of spare parts. Two more things I need to order, I guess. Speaking of things I need to order, anyone have DCC decoder recommendations? It's been 10+ years since I installed a wired decoder, and I'm guessing there are newer and better products on the market nowadays.
First...great work. When I first saw the FM's I thought they were ugly but they sure have grown on me. What you've done has added to that. I added a Digitrax DZ126T to one.... .... It runs pretty good .... .... and I haven't spent any time on trying to fine tune the drive-train. Since you can get an ESU LokPilot 5 Micro DCC for about the same price ( $28 ) I'd go that way. It has 4 functions vs. 2 for the Digitrax so you could have more than just the front and rear lights. It also has two logic functions that can be used like regular functions with a small add on board (also available from SBS). It is also suppose to have superior motor control and is smaller than the Digitrax. My install is ( HERE ) although there are other installs out there also. If you are interested in the flexible LED light strips like I made up I be happy to make them up and mail them to you. Are you interested in sound? I thought for sure I had recently seen a sound install in one but can't find it. Sumner
Yep, as far as I can tell from scouring (what feels like) every SP H-12-44 photo ever put online, both the Gyralite and Mars light have brackets that go around the rounded hood corner. My brackets are a little oversized (maybe ~30%) compared to the prototype, but just bending pieces this small had me cross-eyed, so I'll live with it. The DZ126 is about what I remember. I was expecting grain-of-rice decoders at this point . I'm still undecided about adding extra functions, depending on how successfully (or disastrously) my attempt to drill fiber optic holes for the front Gyralite goes! Either way your decoder thread lives right up there in my H-12-44 Precedents folder. I'd considered sound (the F-M opposed piston diesel makes a fantastic noise!), but I don't think I'll go that route unless I find a Bachmann NW2 chassis. The Minitrix chassis would require a LOT of material removal to fit a speaker, which will take away from its main advantage, i.e. that it's a brick that pulls better than just about any other N scale switcher.
I hadn't heard one but ESU does have a sound file for it down the page a little ways ( HERE ). Oh do I love that. I might have to consider it for the one I did or one of the other FM's I have on Atlas chassis. Not sure if you saw it or not but I did turn the wheels down ( HERE ). They didn't seem to hit the spikes much or at all on the ME code 55 I have but that might be because I think the spike heads are lower than some of the other code 55 track out there. I might have to try sound down the road in one after listening to that sound file. Love it, Sumner
I'm jealous of how clean your paint came off! What did you use to soak it? My pilots started with two strips of 0.040" styrene, cut to fit the gap in the pilot, glued together, and drilled and tapped for a MT 1015 coupler. Once I cemented that to the shell that 0.080" piece provided the perfect coupler mounting height. The rest of the pilot face was filled in with two strips of 0.020" styrene (leaving a gap for the coupler, naturally). Then I filled and sanded the outside face smooth before adding the pilot steps, uncoupling levers, etc. Here's what it all looks like from below:
um...91% isopropyl alcohol...scary thing...I couldn't find a toothbrush, I used kleenex. Oddly enough, the cab roof paint refused to come off. I decided that it is worth the money to have Randgust make my handrails... Hey Wolfman, what did you use for lights?
I suppose my alcohol might have been over the hill, it was the tail end of an old bottle. The roof is a separate piece molded in black plastic and glued onto the shell. Weirdly, it's the one area I didn't have trouble removing the paint! I'm still kicking the handrail can down the road, but sooner or later I'm going to have to get started.
Progress has slowed while I search for the right size styrene stock to scratchbuild the Mars lights. No shop around here has it in stock, and my attempts to cut down a larger piece were less than satisfactory! I found the bell I was sure I didn't have, and mounted it with a bit of phosphor bronze. I also made some cab number board brackets out of 0.005" brass sheet. The shape is a bit of guesswork, as I couldn't find a single clear photo of them. Luckily the prototypes seem to have gained and lost the number boards themselves at various times, so I can skip making those. Multiple Bachmann NW2s have eluded me (I saw someone pay over $250 for one, I didn't want it THAT badly ), but I did find another cheap H-12-44 on Ye Olde Auction Site. Once that gets here I should have enough spare parts to get the mechanism back in shape and fix whatever else I break along the way...
Hey John, A combo of Detail Associates and shapeways. For the dual oscillating lights - Detail Associates For the single emergency - Wutter (Shapeways) Best regards, Wolf
How's the quality of the Wutter detail parts? With Sunrise Enterprises and co. long gone there aren't many options for SP signal lights left. My experiences with 3D printed parts have been… mixed.
Well that's a bit of a letdown considering how much a pack costs! I guess I'll take a couple more shots at scratchbuilding before I spring for the printed lights. Every lopsided styrene lump I send to the scraps box costs almost nothing
Can you show a picture of what you need? I have a feeling that I have some SP detail parts in a box in the garage somewhere
