I'll paint these after church tomorrow when the glue has dried solid. I will drill holes into the frame or shell to insert the ends so they will have something to set in when going around curves.
Jerry, you're making not owning one of these reeeeealllllllly hard :angry: Anyonw have $150 I can borrow?
Jerry Looking real good, what is the purpose of the axle cables, I do not believe I have ever seen those on a locomotive before?
On alot of the early GE locomotives each axle was monitored by these cables. If the axle slipped/spun, a signal was sent to reduce power to that axle until the spin stopped, when power would again be applied to that axle. It was an early attempt to have the most power without spinning applied to the rail.
From one of my past classes.... In the early 70's, GE and EMD were in a locomotive building contest, pushing the limits of Horsepower and the best way to get it to the rail, and keep it there. Wheel slip systems were being designed, tested, and applied to new models. The best technology of that time was being used, and both were giving it there best. GE developed the SAWS system for their new locomotives of that time. Locomotives with this system had cables running to each axle. These cables all ran to a common area, and detected any wheel slip, or any imbalance to the axles. When one was detected, the engine would unload and slowly increase power again to the traction motors. The problem with this system, was that the entire unit would unload, which was a complete loss of tractive effort during a hard pull. The system was refined several times, adjusting the rate power was restored. While the thought was in the right direction, it never lived up to it's potental. The technology just wasen't there to make it work smoothly.
No, that type of system is no longer used. With the aid of computers and micro processing, wheel slip control is much more precise. A change of a tenth of a mile per hour is now detectable and corrected.
It was such a beautiful morning today Kimberly and I got up early, and while the girls were getting ready for church, I put the numberboards in. As luck would have it, there were not two numbers together, so each had to be cut and applied! I think I did a better job on the numberboards then the number on the front door.
Heres a look at what I finished today. The paint is still wet on the cables, and got the windows back in.
Really about all thats left is the couplers, (coming), the MU hoses, rear view mirrors, and some weathering.
I'll tell you, this has been a really fun locomotive to do. Between the searching for photos, getting the model, getting the parts, and doing it, I have had alot of fun. I am really looking forward to pulling some trains with this unit.
I did confirm with Sunrise about them, and I ordered the round SP phone booths to! You did an awesome job Jerry! It looks great!:thumbs_up: Thom
