Comparing the 44 and 70 tonners with the Bandai DE 10, about a foot longer than the 44 tonner. And I still don't like those railings. Something to think about over the next day. 100_4983-2 by John Moore posted Apr 8, 2016 at 3:09 PM And a surprise in the mail today. No not the danged running trucks but the first of my Bandai 4 axle drive power chassis. So have to convert the couplers so I can test it against a Kato chassis. Supposed to get snow and rain tomorrow so I have something to do.
Memory serves me up a recollection the early diesels only had hand rails on the hoods and front platforms until the law required walkway handrails. In fact I came up with a photo of one. http://www.railswest.com/images/SPSW1_1000_perry.jpg I have just enough handrail parts in the old parts box to handle that. Fun is going to be getting the rails of the front and rear and extending the front and rear platforms by a bit. Fitted Unimates to the coupler boxes of the Bandai power chassis for testing. Just did not feel like installing the 1129s today but I will later.
Problem of handrails solved, I think. Removed the over thick handrails. From scrapped LL SW shells in my parts box I took the handrails. Took the stock front platform and sanded and cut off the railings and details. Since the front and rear platform is to narrow I took styrene strip and ACC'd it to what remains of the front platform to extend it out. Part of the original platform was retained to facilitate attaching to the body. I will sandwich the Delrin handrails between this styrene strip and a thinner one. The front and rear corner handrails will be mounted by drilling out holes and ACC'd in place. A touch of paint here and there and should be done. Those handrails are also from scrapped SW shells. 100_4984-3 by John Moore posted Apr 8, 2016 at 7:05 PM And about 30 minutes later. 100_4985-4 by John Moore posted Apr 8, 2016 at 7:50 PM Beats the heck out of bending and soldering wire.
Looks much better. I hate trying to bend wire. Getting two pieces the same, even with a carefully made jig, I just seem to have troubles.....
Well woke up this morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. Okay woke up with all joints creaking, stumbled to workshop, and an hour later after 2 cups of coffee was finally bright eyed enough to set up the test track. Pulled a baker's dozen (13) cars out of the car boxes. All but two, a 39 foot box and a caboose, were 36 foot old wood reefers and boxes. I decided to test both powered chassis, the Kato 11-105 and the Bandai chassis #3 with the cars. First I gave both mechanisms new out of their boxes some break in time. Both chassis were tested as is with no shells or weights. The only running differences were in the top ends with the Kato being a racehorse. Next went for level grade with cars and no weight. Bandai was eight cars with no wheel slip or bog down on curves. The Kato 105 managed three cars. Both mechanisms have one traction tire but the advantage goes to the Bandai chassis with 4 powered axles versus the Kato with two powered axles. 100_4986-1 by John Moore posted Apr 9, 2016 at 9:04 AM Now the Bandai chassis comes with a weight package designed to be placed in the shell going on the mechanism. I removed two of the weights and using some tape I affixed it to each mechanism in turn and tested for improvement. There are four weights in the package. The Kato 105 was improved to five cars on level and the Bandai was ten cars. 100_4989-2 by John Moore posted Apr 9, 2016 at 9:04 AM Next was the grade test at a 3% grade as measured by my meter. The Bandai with the extra weight was eight cars, the Kato was three cars. That testing done I dropped the layout back to level. I then removed the rest of the weights from the package and affixed them to the Bandai chassis. Then I went for the baker's dozen with it. Thirteen cars without wheel slip or any bogging down on the 9.75 R. curves. Now the addition of the side truck frames and body shell will add a tad more weight so I figure that it will get up to about 15 cars in a consist. The use of Tungsten putty which is heavier than the supplied weights will yield further improvement, I am guessing about 18 to 20 cars. The Bandai running at about 30% throttle. So I am breaking down the test track for now and getting back to replacing those handrails. For me the test of the mechanism is a success. My goal was to get at least 6 cars up grade alone. I plan to double head most freights any how and my trains are going to be restricted to 10 and 12 car lengths. Small layout, tight curves and grades. The former Hog Wallow division of the Turtle Creek had 6% grades and 8 inch radius and I used double headed locos and a pusher. I have two more Bandai 3 mechanisms coming and two DD 51s to mount on them. This one is a DE 10.
Did your weights come with the power chassis? I just got my power for the dd-51's and I thought it would come in the package/ Trey
They got the Feline stamp of approval this morning. The younger ones heard the mini-meeces running and stormed the room from all corners. Three of the SW-9s are now officially retired and I am only retaining the one SW-8. The speed range of the Bandais is close to the fleet of 44 and 70 tonners I have. The SW-9s are going to be used as donors for the handrails for the Bandais and I will retain one mechanism and one truck set for the SW-8 as it uses the same mechanism. Bandai has three versions of this 4 axle drive the 3, 4, and 5 power chassis. This is the 3 I am using. I think this 4 axle powered opens up a whole new window for critter powering being more than double the tractive effort of the Kato 105, 106, and 107. Cost is about 3 or 4 dollars more than the Katos but all axles geared negates that slight cost difference. The Kato series is still the choice for the Bandai shorty passenger though and I am using the 105 and 107 there. Still running and testing and in fact I now have it double headed with a 44 tonner. No issues so far.
In the box with the number three chassis were the weights in a small plastic envelope. The box and the instructions that were in it. 100_4991-4 by John Moore posted Apr 9, 2016 at 10:54 AM
After looking at the power chassis, and again at the weights, the weights don't fit nor are for the diesels, at least not my model. They are instead for the passenger cars with the power chassis use or the box cab electrics. However I see where I can shoe horn in some Tungsten putty so I will probably install the weights in the express cab of the passenger car I bashed.
MY DD-51's use the #5 and did not have any weights. I have the double set and will doublehead them anyway. The Shinkansen uses the #3. I am going to power it with 2 units. I love the new hand rails too. You did well. I will probably leave mine until it bothers me, if it ever does. Too many irons in the fire as it is. Thanks for the info. Trey
New railings installed and painted. Next is some fine brush work painting those walkways where needed and the gray on the pilots. Then it is assemble, chase springs on the carpet, and install the MT 1129s on the mechanism. Finally get some Tungsten putty out of the weight box and see how much I can get in there while keeping the balance.Lastly install the airhorns on the roof. Then decaling and numbering. 100_4992-6 by John Moore posted Apr 9, 2016 at 5:16 PM
John, did you see that post where a guy used his wife's panty hose on the end of a vacuum hose to find tiny "stuff" in the carpet?
Actually I just used a small hand vacuum to find a roof vent that vanished. Of course that was after I spent some time of my knees with two Felines assistance. I can just see myself going into the Wife's chest of drawers coming out with a pair of panty hose and getting caught in the hallway by her.
Well occasionally I mess up not bad in fact I can recover and be ahead off the game. Ended up with the wrong power chassis. It should have been a #5. Came to that conclusion after it would not fit even if I stood on my head and made faces at it. Not even messing with Amazon's slow self I went direct to Japan ordered what I needed and will have it next week. The other power chassis 3s I can use in the passenger fleet and put a couple of the Kato 107s in the parts box as spares. My three and four car passenger trains will be over powered with them and I'll be able to achieve bullet train speeds up a 10% grade. Then I found that the MT 1129s would not fit the Bandai coupler pockets nag dabbit. It is a T shank pocket but the MT adapter is to large. Okay I have an assortment of other T shanks including the Unimates which do fit so going that route. Meanwhile the MT 1129s won't be wasted as they will fit the Kato running truck sets and the Kato 107 power chassis. That is if I ever get those Kato running trucks that seem to be on a very slow boat, or still in Amazon's warehouse
I ordered some tank cars from amazon, and it said from Japan, but got them in 5 days. Also looked some other stuff, from Japan, and it said 2 to 6 weeks, lol. Don't know if I would remember what I even ordered them for after that long. I like to order from Japan directly and get the EMS shipping. Very resonab;e and pretty fast. the slowest part seems to be customs in Chicago, but some times they are not too bad. Tell us the recipe for the couplers when you find what works. I don't have the extensive parts inventory that you do, yet, but no worries, I am a 3rd generation pack rat. Now if I could only remember where I put things. Trey
