This is the second locomotive for my Canadian HO layout which I mistakenly thought was going to be an easy conversion from the Proto 2000 SW1200 model. The fact that it is a Canadian National prototype soon put paid to that.
My intention was to use the original motor and chassis but as I want to install a sound decoder and speakers it meant that I had to rethink my ideas due to the lack of space. Following consideration of the options I felt the only way I could gain the space for the decoder was to replace the existing motor with a Mashima 1630 motor. I shall describe this process later and begin with the body.
As usual I started by stripping the detail parts from the body and separated this into its three components; the hood, cab and walkway. These were then immersed in Superstrip paint stripper to remove as much of the factory applied paint as possible. The model was originally a Norfolk and Western version and being blue some traces of the paint is still visible. For some unknown reason it reminds me of the woad dye used by the Ancient Britons.
Anyway, to continue, I began with the walkway by marking out the position of the handrail stanchions along the length of the frame and then drilled 0.5mm holes to accept the Smokey Valley stanchions I had left over from projects many years ago. In fact, I had 13 and fortunately only needed 12. 0.45 mm brass wire was used for the handrails and soldered to the fitted stanchions. Care is needed here not to linger with the hot iron on the stanchion otherwise the plastic will melt. In theory I should have used 0.33 mm brass wire however 0.45 mm wire is easier to solder where butt joints are required and will become apparent with the end handrails.
The end stanchions and handrails posed a bit of a problem as there were no suitable ones available for an EMD phase 1 NW/SW switcher. Small end plates were made from a fine mesh, again left over from earlier projects, and 0.45 mm brass wire. The wire was bent into an 'L' shape, cut to length, soldered to the end plates and the solder running into the mesh to form a solid plate and the short leg of the 'L' forming a locating pin. Six were made in total and then three glued onto the each end of the walkway. Now comes the tricky bit.
Having formed the end handrails from 0.45 mm brass wire I began soldering these to the tops of stanchions, again being quick as not to melt the plastic ends. One end went perfectly but the other was a bit of a trial as one corner of the end started to melt as a result of lingering with the soldering iron. At this point I stopped and had a cup of tea. I rebuilt the end from plasticard and plastic filler. Once hardened, I re-profiled the end then refitted the stanchion. This time I was quicker with the soldering iron when installing the end handrail. The photographs above show the front and rear handrails.
Having breathed a sigh of relief that the end handrails were finished I began the preparation of the body to accept the detailing parts. My first task was to drill holes to take the Detail Associates nut, bolt and washer fixings for the hand grabs and handrail ends. Next, the moulded fan grille was filed off the front ready to accept the Details Associates SW1200 radiator flange and grille. Holes were drilled in the body behind the radiator area into which I applied the glue from the rear whilst holding the radiator on the front. The grilles from the hood roof were removed by daisy chain drilling around the inside edge of the grille and punching it out. The resulting hole was tidied up with files ready to accept the etched Details Associates version. Yet more holes were drilled in the hood roof for the two exhausts stacks and bell. A small brass plate was formed into a mounting bracket for the Details Associates air horn. Uncoupler lift bars were formed from 0.45 mm brass wire and mounted to the ends with Weinert short handrail knobs this time left over from European detailing projects. The photographs below show the walkway with the Smokey Valley stanchions and the body with some of its fittings. The latter not being glued at this stage apart from the Detail Associates early NW/SW headlights on the hood and cab. At the time of writing it became apparent to me that the Keystone Locomotive Works exhaust stacks look too short and these will be substituted with the Miniatures by Eric castings.
Having bitten the bullet I turned my attention to the chassis. As alluded to earlier I decided to re-motor the model with a Mashima 1630 motor and to do this it meant making a new motor mount. The photograph shows the chassis devoid of the bogies and the new motor and the original flywheels. The original motor is shown for comparison.
The space left following removal of the original motor was filled with liquid lead (small lead pellets) and a new motor cradle was fashioned from sheet lead. This is all held in place with CA glue and having handled lead I scrubbed my hands. I make no apology for repeating that lead is toxic and it is imperative that you scrub your hands after handling it.
Once the glue had set I made two hooks from 0.9mm brass wire to form part of the motor fixing. The motor will be seated in the cradle with silicon sealant and a traction tyre will stretched over the motor and looped over the hooks. At this stage I fitted a Details West EMD fuel tank bracket which was shortened from 24mm to 21.5mm. These photographs show the motor cradle and the fuel tank brackets.
This is the progress to date and will be updated as further progress is made.