MTH S-2 Bessemer & Lake Erie

Awesome work man! That last proto pic sort of looks like 12th St. in Erie. Looks like a brand new Bucyrus Erie product on that flat.

It looks excellent!

Beautiful paint job. I like the black and orange. Nice job. 

Norm Charbonneau posted:

Awesome work man! That last proto pic sort of looks like 12th St. in Erie. Looks like a brand new Bucyrus Erie product on that flat.

I think you are correct on both.

Great work! I agree with you on the sound file. Sounds like the 539 engine but the ever present turbo sound is faint. I could always hear the turbo before I saw the engine. 

Nice work Dave. I especially like the mix of colors in the ballast

Joe

Thanks Joe!

dave, love the "wings" on the front,wish they would have do that with the last set of f7 that came out 

What a terrific scheme..... Thanks

Nice work Dave! 

Here is a little update on the new railings.

Thanks to all for the nice comments!

Great job, Dave.  Looks fantastic!  I haven't attempted yet to make full-length handrails, so forgive me if this is a silly question.  Are the new handrails on the ends of the front and rear pilots made from one piece of wire that is fed through the V-shaped deck stanchions, or are they two separate pieces, one for each side?  If the latter, did you leave the original short, straight wire at the top of the "V" in place?

Joe,

The hand rails are one piece, bent in place.  I use .030" TIG welding rod.  It is copper coated steel which is nice if you have to solder.  Some of the pilot stanchions are rolled to accept the railing and some are drilled so you might have to adjust them a bit or slightly open the hole.  I then drill a small hole in the bottom of the pilot to accept the bottom portion of the railing.  It takes a little practice to get them right but it is not too difficult.

I hope this helps.

Dave

David Minarik posted:

Joe,

The hand rails are one piece, bent in place.  I use .030" TIG welding rod.  It is copper coated steel which is nice if you have to solder.  Some of the pilot stanchions are rolled to accept the railing and some are drilled so you might have to adjust them a bit or slightly open the hole.  I then drill a small hole in the bottom of the pilot to accept the bottom portion of the railing.  It takes a little practice to get them right but it is not too difficult.

I hope this helps.

 

Dave

 

How about making a kit Dave?

jonnyspeed posted:

David Minarik posted:

Joe,

The hand rails are one piece, bent in place.  I use .030" TIG welding rod.  It is copper coated steel which is nice if you have to solder.  Some of the pilot stanchions are rolled to accept the railing and some are drilled so you might have to adjust them a bit or slightly open the hole.  I then drill a small hole in the bottom of the pilot to accept the bottom portion of the railing.  It takes a little practice to get them right but it is not too difficult.

I hope this helps.

 

Dave

 

How about making a kit Dave?

Pliers, drill bit and welding rod....hmmm...lol

David Minarik posted:

Joe,

The hand rails are one piece, bent in place.  I use .030" TIG welding rod.  It is copper coated steel which is nice if you have to solder.  Some of the pilot stanchions are rolled to accept the railing and some are drilled so you might have to adjust them a bit or slightly open the hole.  I then drill a small hole in the bottom of the pilot to accept the bottom portion of the railing.  It takes a little practice to get them right but it is not too difficult.

I hope this helps.

 

Dave

 

Thanks for the explanation, Dave.

David Minarik posted:

Joe,

The hand rails are one piece, bent in place.  I use .030" TIG welding rod.  It is copper coated steel which is nice if you have to solder.  Some of the pilot stanchions are rolled to accept the railing and some are drilled so you might have to adjust them a bit or slightly open the hole.  I then drill a small hole in the bottom of the pilot to accept the bottom portion of the railing.  It takes a little practice to get them right but it is not too difficult.

I hope this helps.

 

Dave

 

I straightened or replaced many hand rails and stanchions on the real ones, along with cut levers. Nice work, looks like the real thing.

Don

Fantastic work Marty. And one of my favorite MTH engines.

Just don't take it apart. Ugh!

WOW!!!  Gorgeous!

Scott T Johnson posted:

Fantastic work Marty. And one of my favorite MTH engines.

Just don't take it apart. Ugh!

????

Let's see a video Dave.

That is impressive craftsmanship!!! The paint job looks amazing!

David, that paint job looks incredible! Great job! If you didn't say so I would have thought it was factory MTH paint. 

When I did my first PS3 upgrade the boards had a diesel switcher type sound set in them and the sound set was awesome. It was such a good sound set that it was a shame to change it out. I wonder if that is the same sound set you have. 

Thank you very much for explaining how to do the handrails. I would have never thought of using tig welding rod. Great idea! 

Always cool stuff Dave!

Layout and OGR video were top notch too! 

SWEET! Nice work, Dave! Will Mercer Jct. be offering these models at some date in the future? I'm sure these would be a hit! 

Thanks Dave, just ordered a LIRR S2 after reading this thread.   Al

SIRT posted:

Always cool stuff Dave!

Layout and OGR video were top notch too! 

Thank you Steve!

Tom Shirey posted:

SWEET! Nice work, Dave! Will Mercer Jct. be offering these models at some date in the future? I'm sure these would be a hit! 

 

Tom,

MTH would have to offer it.  My painting days are limited.

Dave

Hudson J1e posted:

David, that paint job looks incredible! Great job! If you didn't say so I would have thought it was factory MTH paint. 

When I did my first PS3 upgrade the boards had a diesel switcher type sound set in them and the sound set was awesome. It was such a good sound set that it was a shame to change it out. I wonder if that is the same sound set you have. 

Thank you very much for explaining how to do the handrails. I would have never thought of using tig welding rod. Great idea! 

I use TIG rod for most of my railings.  It is very cheap, compared to brass, and solders up very well.  The .030" is hard to find sometimes but it is out there and 5lbs lasts for years. (and you can weld with it!)

Dave

Here ya go Steven:

Great video David. The perspective of a moving train next to what you are filming adds realism. Very realistic video. 

Dave that is excellent I love that paint scheme color combo.

As always, terrific work Dave. So very realistic.

David Minarik posted:

Scott T Johnson posted:

Fantastic work Marty. And one of my favorite MTH engines.

Just don't take it apart. Ugh!

????

Sorry for the confusion David. I was referring to the time I took the shell off of my Premier S2. It was not fun trying to get it off or get it back on.

David,

I purchased the DVD, "Great Layout Adventures, vol 12" and its terrific. Your layout is as great as I imagined it to be. Your skill, both technical and creative is unmatched. And, your presentation was terrific. Keep on truckin, or railroading, as the case may be. Best, Lou