Kitbashing a doodlebug

[cnrglen]

Nice work, Modified Mantua Pacific and Rivarossi passenger cars?

[doctorwayne]

Thanks, Glen. That's a Bowser Pacific (with a can motor and NWSL gearbox) and the first car is a Rivarossi, while the others, pretty-much out of sight, are Athearn.

Wayne

[cnrglen]

Got a bit more work done on the project/


I masked off the Tuscan and painted the underside as well as the roof. While I was at it I decided to mock up the car to see what it was like completed.


The rear truck is wired. (I sort of wish my soldering guy had used black or grey wires) They route between the two length-wise frames and up through the baggage area.

The interior is pretty empty so far but I'll be adding and interior shortly.
Next, decaling!

[doctorwayne]

That's coming along nicely, Glen.

Wayne

[cnrglen]

Thanks Wayne.
I got busy with decaling in the workshop this weekend.

I was pretty impressed with the results, considering these were 20+ year-old decals from Champ. These were in the collection that I recently inherited from another model railroader. Fortunately he stored them properly and they went on just fine with a littler help from some walthers Solvaset.

I was going to attempt the safety 'hashes' that cover the front and wrap around the sides a bit but with all the different levels of panels it just wasn't going to work out. Originally CP didn't have them on the prototype so I don't feel too bad leaving them off.

[Twist]

Hi,

that´s an very fine kitbashing. Looking great.

Cheers,Chris

[cnrglen]

Thank you Chris

I finally got back to the project this past week, starting with the interior:

first added windows all around then, scratchbuilt the interior from sheet styrene and uses Alexander coach seats, twenty of them in all for a passenger capacity of forty. The interior is removable, in case I want to add any more details later.

I then started to finish off the drive

I found some proto power west components that worked with the shaft diameter of my chosen motor. I needed the flywheel and motor-side universal from them. They slid right onto the motor's long shaft.

Here it is installed but not glued down. I've never attached a motor without screw before, I've heard some use silicon?

[Schraddel]

Glen,
you have done a nice work
You can do that, glueing the motor flat onto the car floor with silicone or whatever sort of glue will work.
But be aware, if the flywheel is not properly balanced, you will need no sound decoder. The flywheel with it's rotating unbalance will make it's own sound...

Lutz

[Eccentric-Crank]

How about a motor bracket soldered to the contact tab on the truck (where you marked the F).

Rotate the motor case so the brush connections are on one side for swing clearance, and glue with silicon.

I use zap-ties to hold until the silicon dries.

You might need some weight on the front of the bracket for balance, but with only one truck for drive that would be a good thing.

This guy has a wealth of info, including the motor you're using;

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Dan M

[cnrglen]

Thanks for your replies and interest. I installed the motor the other day using silicon caulk it it looks like it will work okay.

I got the tip about this motor for the same fellow, He's tested it in and MDC shay and I figured if it has enough power to run that complicated drivetrain, a single Athearn truck should be easy for it.

[cnrglen]

Getting back on track with this project. I installed the motor and flywheel, then sent to unit out to my DCC guy for the wiring:

It has a Lenz decoder installed and then I decided to ad an LED to the roof mounted light so some re-engineering was required.

I had to drill out the headlight for the LED but the LED was too long with the wires so I'll have to build a small cover over them. I originally wasn't going to add lighting but I found this in my local hobby shop a few weeks ago:

It was N scale but it will fit the passenger compartment and it was the right price.

[sailormatlac]

Glen, this is gorgeous! Having good old Doc Wayne providing friendly advices during a bash is always a great experience!

The thing I'm sur eis that you got probably more than your share of fun working out this project. Watching you work really makes me want to try my boxcab bash as soon as possible.

Looking forward for the completed project!

BTW, good to know Rapido sell it's magnetic stick and lighting device separately.

Matt

[cnrglen]

Thanks Matt. Doc Wayne is a real asset to this forum, I couldn't have built this without his help.

I'm nearing the end now. All the interior pieces are coming together:

The interior fits nicely behind the decoder and associated wiring, still working a crew and passenger list for it. You can see the Rapido lighting unit in the roof. It is long enough the it will shed some light into the baggage/ RPO section as well. The black stick at the bottom of the photo is the magnetic 'wand' the you use to turn the lights on and off with.


I finished off the exterior details, adding the ladders/stirrups beside the baggage, RPO and cab doors. I just have some detail painting to do and that's done.


Finally I added a wiring retainer to the fishbelly frame to keep the wires in place, I also painted the wires black to hide them a bit better.

I plan to airbrush the trucks and underside to weather them a bit yet but it's almost finished.

[cnrglen]

Well I finally finished it:

I finished off the interior, built the box to hide the light wires, painted and added the passengers and crew, and finally added just a bit of weathering using grimy black and dirt polly-s paints to the trucks and underside.

I have taken it for a test run but I haven't run much on the layout lately and I need to clean the track.


The Rapido lighting worked out very well for the interior.

I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I want to thank everyone for their encouragement on the project and especially Doctor Wayne for his initial inspiration and all the help he gave me during the build.

[Schraddel]

Glen!

Congratulations you have finished an extraordonary model!

Lutz