Old Ambroid/NESL coach kit

[deemery]

Well, after talking to James Van Bokkelen and Bob Parrish, and then looking carefully at the Northeastern Scale Lumber website, I've discovered there are -2- different versions of the kit based on the roof.  The older Ambroid version has a solid milled roof piece.  The newer NESL kits, and the NESL website, have a new roof piece that has the cut-out for the clerestory lights.  One piece is for an 80' car, and the other piece is for my 67' car.  I have ordered 2 of those 67' pieces (and some other stuff) from NESL.  With luck, it'll arrive Saturday, more likely Monday.  

So now I'm waiting on 2 separate orders, one from LaBelle with my trucks and undercarriage pieces, and the other from NESL with the new roofs.   But I did make a little progress today, touching up some paint, and trimming the undercarriage to fit the ends and platform casting.  

dave

[Michael Hohn]

Dave,

Which trucks did you order?  Have you made a final decision on the distance the bolsters should be from the end?

Here's what I did with my LaBelle combine:



Mike

[deemery]

My box of goodies from LaBelle arrived today, including the 602 trucks.  These are 8' wheelbase, but don't have the obvious brake shoe outriggers that the Central Valley trucks have.  Looks like you have CV trucks on your car.  It appears that the bolster centerline is 8' from the end of the car ends (not the platform ends, and not the end of the undercarriage.)  A quick test-swing shows the 602 trucks should swing just fine with the bolsters at that position.  So tomorrow I'll work on the undercarriage, including the center sill, the bolsters, truck mounting holes in the bolsters & needle beams.   I found some Cal-Scale passenger brake parts (BC-220) and ordered those today.  

My NESL order should arrive soon.  It depends on how efficient UPS is (they're usually pretty good for shipments close to me.)  

Also today I glued the quarter round pieces to the car sides.   

dave

[deemery]

Here's the bolster check:

The bolster location is as specified by the kit.  The trucks I'm using is on the left.  That's an old Central Valley truck on the right.  It's the same wheelbase, but wider because of the brake shoes.  That will rub against the end platform steps.

You can also see my replacement center sill, 2 strips of styrene channel glued to 1/8" square solid brass.  This will provide both some weight and rigidity, pulling the slight warp out of the underframe.   I epoxied that part to the undercarriage, the glue is curing while I eat lunch and check the forums.  You can see the wood part that came with the kit at the top of the photo.  My substitute isn't quite as wide, but I don't think that will be noticeable.

Next step:  position the queenposts and work on the truss rods. 

dave