A grand effort indeed! Well done John...
Bob
I too want to thank you for your posting of this series. What a beautiful job on 2 railing those Lionel 3 rail models!
Steve
2 Thumbs up John - Ed
@John Sethian posted:By now everyone has discovered that I don't work all that fast. But here is the latest update
(First of all, a well done to Mario..those will make life easier)
Now on to progress. As promised I moved the lead motor in the A unit to the lead truck in the dummy B. This is a trivial swap. The motor wires are fed through a Minatronics Micro-mini two pin plug
I brought the wires through the door. This matches the motor feed wires coming through the back door on the powered A
Yes they will show, but they are small and black, and with the close spacing I have in the units they are tough to see
I came up with a better way to clamp the chassis for cutting out the recess for the pilot. This photo shows the method:
I also used only Bondo to smooth the pilot/shell transition. It is easier to sand. I used bondo to hold the pilot in place to the shell. When it cured, I still reinforced the joint on the back side with JB Weld as before. Here I am, having a little diversionary fun with the pilot:
As you can see, this technique made for a smoother pilot
The air hose is made from PSC parts: The glad hand and hose are from the MU kit, the angle inside the pilot is from a PSC angle cock/brake hose assembly, filed to fit. The last loop of the chain slips over the glad hand before it is pushed into the hose. That gives the prototypical method of holding the hose.
You can also see that I changed to golden yellow LED for the headlights. Not perfect, but closer to an incandescent than the original. I disconnected all the other LED headlights, to prevent that "glowing spot" on the unit ahead
Here are two "Builders Photos" beauty shots
As you can see I still have a ways to go: weathering, adding cut levers, adding MU connections. I also have a squeak in one of my electrical contacts (easy to fix), and a newly discovered TMCC/Legacy "dead spot" on my layout. Probably can be fixed with a suitable ground plane.
A nice subtle touch are the yellowish/warm headlights on your models - frosty/cold bluish-white leds just look wrong on first generation diesels.
John, your detailing makes the Sharks look like brass ones. I wish Lionel would make 2 rail wheel sets like MTH did.
