N-Scale Climax ?
#1
.I'm in the process of trying to build a N-Scale Climax that will actually run and ( hopefully ) run well enough to use in operation. On another forum we are posting the process as we go along (no two people are building the same thing). This way if I fail to pull this off you all can have a good laugh at my expense . Goldth Goldth 357 Goldth Goldth But that's O.K., I'm used to being laughed at, after all I was married for years! Goldth Back to topic here. I will be using a Life-Like SW9/1200 for the power plant as it's the smallest good running mech I know of. I won't be able to reduce the height much so I will try to reduce the length as much as I can to give the loco as small a look as possible. It will probably come out looking like a 35-50 tonner (don't think they made Class A's any bigger than 25 tons) but I want to keep as much lead as I can. I will not give up performance for the sake of rivet counting. On that note, I picked the Class A Climax because of all the photos I have no two are quite the same, which helps the defense against rivet counting Goldth Eek Goldth Mine will have the wood stacked on top of the water tank even though this wasn't a common practice, to hide the lead. It will also have the enclosed cab to hide the motor. This first photo shows the two body shells, the 0-6-0 (donated by Charlie, thanks Charlie! Big Grin ) has the boiler section already removed. That is the only section of that loco that will be used and it will have to have a lot of modifications. The only thing that will be used off the SW will be the running boards which also carry the electrical contacts. The rest of the body will have to be scratchbuilt.

   

Here we do a test fit of boiler to running board.

Here "No Fingers" sees if what we have so far will still run (thankfully it does).

   

The circled areas show were lead was filed off the back off the chassis, which will be the front of the Climax.

   

On the other end the only mod so far is removal of the printed circuit board.

   


Attached Files Image(s)
   
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#2
As much as I hated to lose all that weight, the underside of the Climax is fairly open and airy. With only the smallish gearbox and driveshafts able to be seen so the big hunk of lead that the sand/fuel tanks fit over has been downsized a bunch.

   

Here is the boiler mods that I've done. Comments are always welcome.

1- Removed the section that had the bell on it. This was done mainly to help shorten the loco. The bell will be remounted on the roof as was the more common practice.
2- Added the balloon stack
3-Moved the headlight out over the front of the smokebox as was again the more common practice
4- Removed the dome that was to the right of the bell and the lines going to it, most pictures I have don't show one there.

I hope this helps to hide the 0-6-0 heritage some and give it more of a Climax look.

   

Here is a side view of my 1st attemp at a water tank w/firewood.

   

A top view. Duh, forgot the hatch so you could put the water in! :o One more thing on the to do lis

   

My 1st thoughts on a car body side. I would still want to close in the window opening some, also need to build a door. Comments anyone?????

   
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#3
Thanks Pete! Shamus you are correct in that many didn't have doors, but I need something to keep the motor from being seen. May try the cloth hanging in the door like I've seen in some photos, what do you think?
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#4
How about painting the motor area black.Then put a standing crewmember in the doorway on each side.

By the way your giving me the itch to do one of these for the Grande Valley.
Johnathan (Catt) Edwards
"The Ol Furrball"

"I'm old school,I still believe in respect"
#5
That's a thought Catt. Course that means I'd have 2 crew members goofing off on company time instead of one. Misngth 357 Icon_lol 357 :o
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#6
Well here is the final (I hope ) version of the water tank. I sloped the sides some from the top of the tank down to the firewood, did (again I hope Icon_lol ) a better job on the rivets and added a hatch so water could actually be put it the tank! Goldth

   

Top view

   

For a sense of actual size

   

Quote:sure looks great, those pieces of fire wood looks amazingly real, how did you do?, both the wood and the tank, what is it made of?

Jesper

Jesper the firewood is real. It's a dead twig off a maple tree that was cut to length and then the peices were split with a single edge razor blade. The tank is made out of styrene, the pointed end of a mini-file was used to "punch" the rivets from the back side. The water hatch is half a window shutter off a cheapo model power house. The weathering was done with pastel chalks. Hope this helps you! :mrgreen:
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#7
Well this is what is finished so far. I have added the driveshafts (bend-a-rod) and the couplers. Also learned Curse don't waste my time building car sides until AFTER the couplers are on cause the sides will be too short otherwise!

   

With a bunch of fake puter smoke we see "No Fingers" going for a test run. She took 6 cars and a caboose up a 4% grade while going thru a compound curve, 12 cars no problem on a 2% grade and thru a curve . I'm satisfied with the performance needless to say!

   

Thanks guys! O.K. David, I'll bite. You don't have the space??? Man it's only 3" x1/2"x3/4" Goldth

Well here is a stuck together mock-up? The sides would still have to be painted/weathered as would the roof. Still need to make the wood ends for the front and back, weather the trucks and add details like foot boards etc. While I haven't seen any with front windows and only a few with rear windows, side windows were fairly common. Also thinking about cloth curtains for the doorways, while trying to see if it is truly starting to look like a Climax. Comments????????????????

   
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#8
Now my question is does that look like cloth or canvas hanging in the doorway?

   

Roof braces

   

What I hope will work for the step

   

And the braces in place

   

Here is one with the step, roof, bell and whistle installed. Put a chain on the front boards for effect , also dirtied up the canvas and hired a good ol' boy who don't wear no coat or tie I also filed off the rivets off on the water tank, just couldn't make em' small enough

   
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#9
Well 1 step forward, 2 steps back . :cry: :o :cry: Got to looking and the right side of the body was leaning in slightly so I removed the roof and side. Reglued the side on straight only to find the roof was now to narrow. :cry: :o :cry: ! So I now have made a new roof and reattached it. Maybe after going backwards today I will be able to go forwards tomorrow??? :?

ell I think the back-end is done. Most pictures I have show angle iron for foot plates so that is what I did here. With black on black the front one shows up better :o . Now to work on the front-end .

   

O.K. here's some pics of the front.

   

The headlight is just painted in for now, I know Icon_lol I got a jewel type marker here somewhere and when I find it...............................................

   

And a profile so you can see the driveshafts, chain etc.

   

No, the train wasn't climbing a 5% grade in that last pic, I just forgot to level the camera :? Misngth Icon_lol . At this point I pretty much consider this done, however if you can think of any additional details or whatever please let me know. As far as lettering and numbering goes, the vast majority of the pics I have don't show any. I think this is due in part to the fact that a lot of companIEs that owned Climax's only had 1 so no need for numbers, as far as no names I don't know the reason, any guess' ???? Maybe finances played a part in it. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do

Casey Feedwater suggested a water pump and hose was in order to put out the fires the loco would start. So here is what I came up with, it's the little thing on the top back of the water tank.

   
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#10
One from behind

   

One last one from closer up. This is about as small a thing as care to work on! Glad I don't have to build a fleet of these things.

   

Don with all the false starts and things that didn't work out I probably have about 30-35 hours in it. If you remember from earlier on in this thread I mentioned I learned not to build the sides till AFTER you mount the couplers as the sides will be too short otherwise . I spent 2 hours looking thru my junk box for parts and pieces to make my water pump before coming up with what I did while the actual pump took about 15 min. to construct, just to give you a couple of examples. Knowing what I now know I could probably get it to this point if I were to build another in about 7-10 hours.

While I spent most of today with the kids, yesterday I hit a few flea markets and craft shops in search of suitable antlers. No luck yet, but I'll keep trying. Hope I don't have to try to scratch em'! May go ahead and try some decaling next, didn't want anybody to think I'd given up! Goldth Goldth

Well I found some suitable antlers and now everyone can have a chuckle on me. After amutating them and splicing, painting, weathering and mounting em' on the roof, I set back with a cold one to watch her run around the layout! You guessed it! everything was fine until the first tunnel portal :cry: Sad Icon_lol :o :cry: Wink , sigh , back to the workbench for repairs and remounting. Here they are in the new location.

   

And her she is AFTER safely exiting a tunnel Goldth

   
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#11
O.K. this is where I am at with my "horny" little problem Wink Goldth . All the pics I have seen not many locos had antlers on em' Eek Icon_lol . The ones that did were on the roof, the head light or on the front boards where I now have em'. I made em smaller, shaped em' some etc. Please be honest, should I keep em'?, get rid of em'? keep em' but make changes (if so what changes)????

   

And a shot of the loco out in the woods

   

Well I tried dry transfers and decals to put the Climax name on her, but wasn't happy with either. I did add a chain at the right rear and a 55 gal drum with a hand pump up at the right front. You might think that drum carries drinking water or fuel oil or lubricants. You might think that, silly you Goldth . With the likes of sumpter250, Casey, Errol and Charlie around here those 1 gal. jugs of Graham County's finest weren't lasting 5 minutes so

   

You notice there are no labels saying what is in that drum! Didn't want to invite a train robbery :o Goldth 357 Icon_lol

   

A shot of her pounding upgrade on the Tellico Gap loop.

   

Thanks guys! :mrgreen: Tad all my pulpwood eoads are hardwood twigs cut to size. Most are Maple and Hickory, some Oak.
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
#12
This thread and tutorial was originally created by "Tyson Rayles" during May and June, 2003. I was fairly new on the forum back then, and was constantly being amazed at the modeling skills presented by Tyson and other modelers on the Gauge. If you look at the precise details achieved, you'd never believe it was N scale.

Many responses to this thread were deleted when it was first put into the Academy in order to reduce its size but still maintain the importance of the thread. This is one that we couldn't afford to lose, even with the missing replies. It appears that the rest of the thread and all the pictures are intact, we thank you Tyson Rayles for allowing this to be reposted here. Thumbsup Thumbsup
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD


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