Advice for making a slug

Fellow Board members,

Your sage advice is needed. I'm trying to make a slug like this one:



My research showed these slugs were made from SD7/9/35/39/40/45 donors. For this particular example, the Atlas SD35 looks like a good enough donor, so eBay dutifully coughed up one for me to butcher.

My basic plan (that I'd like your feedback on) is fairly simple. I have a choice of creating the body from a piece of solid metal or wood, and adding the handrails and trucks. The contours are the most basic: straight edges with fairly sharp corners.

However, I thought it may be more useful to retain the cast metal frame. It already exists and has (a) the correct fittings for trucks and (b) it keeps the electrical pickup. Rather than a passive dummy, I want to actualy put it to use for picking up electrical current for slow yard switching work. (Robert gave me the great idea of using brass strips between the body and frame, soldered to wires that run between the locos.)

Then I thought I'd cut off the body at the nose level and add a strip of styrene thick enough to allow me to use Microscale Santa Fe decals on the side. This will create a slug that's a tad higher than the prototype, but I don't think it will be so hideous that people will have to turn their heads away.

If that plan sounds workable, then I need to find a way to cut the frame and body, which look like this at the moment:






The black arrows show where the body will need to be cut, and the long black line shows approximately where the body will have to be cut.

Now the questions start: How to cut the frame without losing its structural integrity? How to cut the body without it distorting? Any tricks to sanding down the engine door detail? Would it be better to simply take a few strips of styrene for the body?

For the handrails I thought to wait till Atlas releases parts for their SD9. The problem with the SD35 handrails is the step on the left side. I don't want to go the brass route for the handrails, because my dexterity level is below average and I'm too picky. Gluing two SD9 handrail halves is a far simpler approach and one that's likely to yield a better looking result. So in advance I appreciate the advice to use brass for detailing, but this time round at least, I'd like to take a simpler route.

Any and all comments, tips, tricks, pointers and advice welcome!

Thanks for your help. The yardmaster thanks you in advance

 

For the frame I'd cut an oblong chunk of (preferably hard) wood to a snug fit in the large hole and glue it in place with epoxy. When it is thoroughly set cut the top off.

You could fill it with other materials, but for me that would seem the best compromise of rigidity and ease of working.

 

This is where a millling machine comes in handy.... hmmm.... and a drill press!

The structural integrity you point out will be an issue. Cutting the chassis is not difficult - use a dremel, fret saw, jewellers saw for the initial cut then touch up as necessary.

Now you'll have the thin section above the tank area to keep the ends apart - not good.



Probably the simplest solution would be to cut two pieces of styrene strip .100"-.125" thick by the height of the motor cavity and fill it in with the styrene, or wood as Mike suggests. Far simpler to what I'm suggesting below.

The not so simple solution is one I've been thinking about for some time, though for stretching chassis in my case. Support would need to be given in a stretch and this would be the best, but most difficult, way to strengthen your chassiswhilst allowing the chassis halves to be seperated for maintenance. This procedure has been covered many times in the hobby press so I won't go into too many details here.

I imagine you have a Dremel so use the milling bit. Two trains (no pun) of thought here regarding how to strengthen the chassis;


[*]cutting the chassis down then notching top of each half either side of the motor cavity but may allow the chassis to twist or bend (the weak points),



or,


[*]notching the sides, which requires more work but can be done before cutting the chassis and hence supporting the chassis whilst being cut.



My thinking is to use brass strip as a support strap. Something like 1/16" thick by 3/16" wide will do the trick. Cut to length, drill and countersink for a 01-80 or 00-90 countersunk screw. Mark, drill and tap the chassis halves, according to the method used above. If there is any bending during the cutting the straps will assist in lining it up again when finished.
The chassis should look like this:



or



Slip a suitable strip of styrene between the chassis halves when assembled to prevent the halves squeezing together.
A lot of work but once you have it sussed it should be straight forward for any similar project.

Whichever method you use you will be able to cut down the chassis lower than you have indicated. The trucks can be stripped of gears so there is plenty of room left.

Using the slug for additional pick up is a great idea and one I used with a pair of Kato GP38-2's to assist with their erratic pick up. NWSL used to have very flexible, fine insulated wire that's superb for this.
The wirescan be soldered to the pick up strips, or to the brass chassis straps if you go that route, then the wires threaded between the chassis halves and through the pilot.
Keep in mind the main problem here is the locomotive and slug will be more or less pernamently attached to each other. The earlier open pilots on Kato's GP38-2/50 and SD7/9's, etc., had a separate pilot fill piece as part of the MTL conversion which could be unscrewed making separation and disassembly easier. The current style makes it harder and you will be needing to unsolder one end of each wire to separate the loco and slug for any work. Allow extra wire in the slug for this as you will need to cut the soldered end off so you can get it through the hole in the pilot.

The body. Sanding the hood detail off will be painful so I suggest using the ends from the donor shell and making new sides, adding any detail to them.

Hope this helps.

[ 14. March 2004, 11:52: Message edited by: Gats ]

 

Thanks, guys! I think given the (current) level of my modeling skills, I'll go with Mike's approach of adding some hardwood and then cutting. A friend happened to bring me a scrap piece of white oak last week, so we'll put that to use.

Gary, I like your idea of just retaining the ends of the loco and using styrene to make the top and sides.

I wish I can find the post that Robert (Pray59) made, I think it's almost two years ago, about a simpler way to m.u. two locos. As I recall he said to use (for each half) a thin brass strip to slide up from beneath between the frame half and the body, at the end of the loco, facing the other one. Do this for both locos, then connect them with wire. This makes it easy to uncouple them - simply slide out the strips.

I hear you about the difficulty in routing the wires, though. When I had a few Kato U30C's with truck mounted couplers, I simply routed the wires through the pilot openings. What a simple and effective solution that was! Ahhh, the good old days of truck mounted couplers... Now I think I'll need to either drill holes in the pilots or cut a slot in them to route the wires through. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, though...

Mike, nice website, by the way!! If you still have the problem with weight, I've heard that soft, formable tungsten is (a) heavier and (b) more flexible to use as weight. It's sold in the fishing tackle departments of our Wal-Marts, so I suspect you may find it at a place where you buy fishing tackle. Just thught I'd pass that along...

 

William,
You could also mill off the frame to the high point of the screws. This would give you the option to lower the hood. GATS gives good advice on milling the shell and the only thing I could add would be to try to add weight close to the same as the locos surrounding it to prevent derailments.

Since the donor is Atlas consider using an extra complete SD35 shell for the low nose and rear walkway. Combine two rear walkways and meet handrails as necessary. The two noses could be fitted with strip syrene for the balance of the body.

For fine flexible wire consider the Digitrax decoder wire pack. I cannot comment for longevity in a twisting application but it is very thin and flexible.

 

Thanks! When it comes to the height of the hood and body, I'm afraid I'll end up higher than lower, for no other reason that the only Santa Fe decal available is the full-size one used on the yellow/blue warbonnet scheme. Those are big letters, and the side needs to be tall enough to take them. The real ones have slightly smaller lettering and to be honest, I don't know how to go about generating just two custom decals, nor do I think it will be cost effective.

I agree about the weight issue, both for stability, as well as current pick-up.

 

I realize you've already made your decision regarding starting point, but just to make a suggestion for others out there, you avoid the fram issue entirely if you start with a bluebox Athearn. Say, a 40-2. No frame milling needed and you're gonna chop most of the detail off anyway so as long as it's the right length...

 

YoHO, I'm sorry - I should have said I am modeling N scale, so, no Athearn blue box

I'm reminded of the story of a driver following a slower car down a residential road. The car ahead suddenly slowed and started to make a right turn. Figuring the driver was either parking or about to enter his driveway, the second guy began to overtake the slower car when, suddenly, it veered across to the left, right in front of him. Wham!!

The second guy, needless to say, was a little perturbed at that bit of driving. He approached the first driver yelling, "what in the world do you think you were doing, swerving in front of me like that?"

The other driver had this very perplexed look on his face, "I'm sorry Sir, but EVERYONE knows I live at number 432, so I just assumed you knew I was fixing to turn left into my driveway!"

All this to say, I just assumed EVERYONE knew I model N scale!

 

Personally, I'd use the original ends from the shell and make the sides and top from strip styrene. You can cut in door, louvres and fans if needed. As for the height, is there a decal set with slightly smaller letters such as used on switchers? Might check it out. As this is an unpowered slug, I really dont feel you need to worry too much about the whole frame strength thing. Its just going to be hauled around much like your regular freight cars and most likely wont be put under any more pressure than they are. Most of them just have thin plastic underframes. Hope this helps.

[ 15. March 2004, 21:40: Message edited by: John Barnhill ]

 

Thanks for the compliment. The weight is now adequate for my purposes, but in my searches for small shot (in the UK) I never came across tungsten, though several other lead substitutes cropped up. Mind you, now you said that I'm not certain that what I have is lead

(This post is rather OT - I think we are talking about an item on my website about weighting open hoppers )

 

I read some time ago on this board that tungsten can be bought at golf supply stores. It's used to weight clubs. It comes in a small container.

 

John, I'm concerned about the frame strength for a few reasons. The main one is because I intend to use the slug for current pickup, I'll need to clean the wheels from time to time. In order to use the quick and easy Minitrix engine brush thingiemajig, I'd want to remove the trucks every now and again, to swap them with another SD-35 for a cleaning. With my clumsiness I've broken stronger things. Secondly, I'm just conservative for when I cut the top half of the frame off. Further, I don't know how brittle the alloy is. If I bend it accidentally, I don't want it snapping off as I correct it.

I'm leaning toward Mike Sheridan's suggestion of using a piece of hardwood and epoxying it in before cutting off the top half.

Thanks again for all the ideas!

 

I have done this! I used a factory AHM/IHC GP-18 high nose diesel, with the cab cut off, an filled an then cut length-wise, an then like half an inch of each end filled with epoxy, an then center drilled that cavity an taped for a 2-56 thread machine screw, to mount the body to the walk way (the hood an walkways on this loco is separate!). and than added my own motor, flywheels, lighting (if needed). Sadly, your needing 3 axle trucks that of an SD unit.... HMMMMM That would or could be done with an old Atlas SD-38 high hood, with the hood choped length-wise as shown above, but that can lead into some real cosmetic work. Possibly some side an top plating as well..... Alot of cutting on those shells can be tedious work.

I have pictures of one of the 2 slugs I've made! I'll have to post them for all to see.

 

OK, heres what I started from to make my slug. I used a basic AHM/IHC GP-18 high hood diesel. (This one, I made to represent ONE the B&O actually had, Altho, I painted it in Chessie System, the real loco never made it to the Chessie System roster, BUT it does carry the B&O's original road number! -Just to make things interesting for everyone, an have a nice "talkitive piece".

But, this is the "base" I used to make my slugs from. You'll see the work done as I post more pictures from the "actual" loco, an the slug it created!



I also added a few of my own details as well, the dynamic brake blister, an fan. Being AHM/IHC never offerent this to the factory loco!



I also added my own metal hand railing, an also a Kadee coupler to both ends of this unit. *notice the separation from the hood to the walkways*



The other end.



A complete side view of the whole loco, after the detail was added, an then custom painted, an the custom handrailing put on to make the finished loco!

The following post will be of my slug, made from a loco just as the one pictured above!

 

Ok here's the slug in its finished condition! All made from the same loco as seen in my above posting. In the picture below, you can see the slug unit, and the GP-18M coupled together, to the left of the picture.



A good side shot. (excuse the picture), it shows a "bow" in the frame of the loco, but it doesn't have this, something with the picture caused this, but what, I'm not sure of...



An end picture, showing the metal railing, an grab handles, all custom bent hand railing around the walkway sills, an notice the separation from the hood to the walkways! The steps of this loco originally was in made shap, so with a Athearn GP-35 body I had, that was in bad condition, I cut out parts to make all the steps the same, and had to "plate" all the sides of the hood, with .010 of an inch thick styrene, to get a good flat sided surface. All was put on roughly, an fastened with epozy, an then once all the angles were done, cut an filed to shape, an lightly sanded, an filled any gaps in the separating lines of the white styrene. The underside of the hood had its ends filled full of epoxy, to make a mount base, drilled through the walkways/frame into the hood itself an then the hole in the hood was taped for a 2-56 thread screw, an the hole in the walkway/frame was drilled out to clear the 2-56 thread machine screws, on both ends of the loco.



The other end of the unit. showing more added detail.



Another shot of the other side of the unit. Showing the custom panting, decalling, an details added. All derived from the GP-18M seen in the above post.



The opposite end from the end I showed above. (They look closely the same).

I have done a "ALCO" version of a slug as well for the Western Maryland Railway, however, I don't have no pictures of it online yet. I hope be able to show it as well.....

BOTH the slugs I've made are powered, with motor, an flywheels, an all wheels powered as an Athearn would be, with extra weight added to each unit for added traction.

 

Hey John, that's awesome! I'd be ecstatic if my N scale jobbie looks half as good as that! Did this unit have a solid split frame like most N scale locos have nowadays?

 

William,
On the frame, you meaning the inner frame made of Zamak "pot metal"? NOPE, the frame to this loco, was the walkways that the hand railing connects too ALL PLASTIC! The frame, an the hood on this unit as the GP-18M as well are 2 separate parts, the hood snaps onto the walkways, an then a screw goes through the frame section dirrectly under the cab on each side. I had to turn the trucks slightly to remove the screws to pull the hood off the frame, an all that was left was the walkways an the old original plastic hand railing.

I added my own extra weight with nickle rod I got from a auction a local town held an these rods were to a road sweeper that they got a new one, an I bought the old replacement sweeper bristles which in fact are nickle! Nice weight, being one rod is 2 feet long an cuts easily so.... And makes nice stuff to work with when needed (specially soldering). But I super glued them inside the frame (loco walkways an such, to add as much weight as possible, PLUS added them to the inside of the hood on the roof section, an added around 4 to 5 more ounces, Being I had to remove the fuel tank from the unit which had a chunk of pot metal inside it that had a screw that went through the plastic tank casting, an on through the pot metal weight (through a hole) an then the screw turned into a plastic mounting lug on the underside of the loco frame.

I can only wish the loco had the type frame you mention, that would have given me the weight needed BUT would have created more work as it would have needed to be milled down being the slug's hood is lower then a normal loco.

As for your own, take your time! I got like 3 months tied up in making mine look as it does in those pictures! You take your time, yours will look as good if not better....As mine, is lacking some detail, that if I get a chance, I'll add later. But its good enough for now, I can live with it as it is! Its nothing special an all soo, plus, its mated to a loco just like it, that I had said about in an above posting. That GP-18M. With making them a set like that, I had to custom paint both so they would match, when run together.

[ 22. March 2004, 21:58: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]