The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 3

[ACL1504]

Tom,


I'm looking forward to the new motive power on the A&S.  I cannot believe you made us wait three whole years since the last steamer went through the paint shop.

Jerry,

Thanks for stopping by. Hard for me to believe its been three years since the last brass paint job.

My last brass painting thread was in February 2016. Wow, time does fly these days.

http://www.modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=1824.0

Tom

[ACL1504]

I'm still working on adding LED marker lights to the many cabeese on the Atlantic & Southern RR. Adding them to a brass caboose is much easier than to a plastic one.

I thought I'd share the process for adding Tomar LED marker lights to plastic cabooses or as I like to refer to them as cabeese.

Many years ago I purchased two Seaboard cabeese from East Coast Railroads. These were perfect for the A&S RR as one was for the Georgia Division and the other one for the North Florida Division. The Atlantic & Southern RR operates in North Florida and Georgia.



Kadee makes a pair of caboose trucks specifically for adding markers to cabeese. More on these later in the thread.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

The plastic caboose is much like an Athearn model. The ECR model has the bottom frame and bed all molded as one. The caboose trucks have to be removed first.



Then by gently prying the sides apart with your fingers, the body drops off the frame.

In the next photo you can see the bolster on the caboose frame. This has been filed to accept the Kadee trucks but I forgot to show this prior to cutting them off.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Here is an Athearn underframe and you can see the raised portion on the bolster. One the ECR model, this is the portion I cut off.

[ACL1504]

The screw that held the ECR  trucks on was very small and had fine grooves on the screw.

The screws on the Kadee trucks are about 2mm or 1/16" in width. These won't fit into the ECR model bolster without forcing them in. Also, the Kadee truck screws are of a larger thread than the fine.

I used a 2mm tap and retapped the 2mm hole into the ECR caboose bolster.



This was very easy to do as the tap was self cutting the new threads into the plastic. I did this slowly and by hand.

When finished, I turned the model over and reversed the twist and let gravity pull the tap out of the newly threaded hole.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

Here is a view of an old marker that had the old 1.5 volt micro mini light. The outside diameter of the portion fitting into the caboose is also 2mm wide. I used a two mm drill bit to drill the holes in the sides of the two plastic cabeese.



Here I'm setting the drill press to just above the caboose so I can get a clean drill hole in the plastic.

The key here is to use a low RPM when drilling the hole. A fast RPM will heat and melt the side of the caboose. I made several small down strokes to get a clean hole without distorting the plastic caboose side.

I placed the plastic caboose on a clean rag to keep the plastic off the metal drill press table and to protect the sides.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

The marker light holes are now drilled on each side of the caboose.



The markers were then test fit in the holes. The markers are upside in the photo.



I'll finish the marker installation tomorrow afternoon.

Tom

[BandOGuy]

Over the past few months I've been building structures and working on a small area around the turntable roundhouse.
After this current build, the Gulf gas station, I'll be back to work on the layout most of the time.
http://www.modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=4113.0
I'm getting excited to start the track work coming off the Ovalix and onto the third level.
Also, every three to four years I get in the mood to paint more brass. It's been three years since the A&S RR shops have painted/repainted any locomotives.

One will be a B&0 2-8-0 by United/PFM. I replaced the open frame motor with a new Sagami 20X32 MM can motor. I also dropped in a new gear box. This loco will be lettered for the Atlantic and Southern.


Prior to any painting, I need to finish many started projects on the workbench.
The one major project is to finish adding marker lights to the brass cabeese.
Yesterday I drilled the holes for the Tomar Adlade Marker Lights.
I have four ready now but only have marker lights for three. I've ordered 10 more sets.
Tomar sold the marker light division. I'm not sure of the new owners name for their new business but they are a very nice couple. The markers are LEDs now and have to be hand made for my red, red, red lights in the markers. This is an extra cost but well worth it.
More in a few.
[/quote

Tom,
I've got that same B&O 2-8-0 in need of the same processes.
Can I get some "private counseling" on issues you may not cover online?

[ACL1504]

Chip,

Yes, absolutely. I'll be happy to help in any way possible.

Do you still have my phone number?

Tom

[BandOGuy]

Chip,

Yes, absolutely. I'll be happy to help in any way possible.
Do you still have my phone number?
Tom

Ends in 5796?

[ACL1504]

Chip,

Yes, absolutely. I'll be happy to help in any way possible.
Do you still have my phone number?
Tom

Ends in 5796?

Yes, it does.

[ACL1504]

Sorry, ran out of time and had a lack of interest in finishing the lighting of the cabeese thread today. I will definitely finish it tomorrow.

[ACL1504]

The kadee caboose trucks each have a long wire lead. I cut them to a manageable length after they are pulled through the underframe.



Once the hole is drilled through the underframe, a hole needs to be drilled through the metal weight plate as well.

[ACL1504]

[ACL1504]

Once the hole is drilled in the weight plate, I used Weldwood Contact Cement to glue the weight to the top of the underframe.






More in a few.