Good start

Your walkways might not be as narrow as you think.  On a modern SG diesel, the hood is about (exactly?) 6' wide, with 2' wide walkways on either side.  Put a hand rail along each side of the hood, and I don't see any reason why someone couldn't be out there while the engine is moving.  With that said, I expect it would be more common for trainmen to mount and dismount on the move, and at slow speeds that could be done just as well from the cab end and still allow them to get ahead of the engine to throw switches.  Make sure you have decent steps and handrails on the corners.

Interesting.  I love working in styrene, especially when building fairly simple shapes like that.  What made it so much of a pain for you?

It's likely that the mechanics or crews would have either run with the doors open, or removed them entirely, either of which would have solved that problem in a hurry.  Don't forget to put louvers on the hood.  You can get some nice louver decals these days.

I've seen some small early diesels which did not have a headlight built into the body.  Instead, they had automotive style freestanding headlights, usually one on each end.  Especially given that you don't need it to work, that would be a nice little detail to add, and something with plenty of character.

Getting started with styrene

I built about a half dozen hoods before I got one to come out right; I'm just geting started with scratch-building, and the tolerances had to be VERY close.  The entire scratch-built boxing ring and punching bag that I did in 1/87 was easier!  Once I decided to make this as a homebuilt loco, it became easier; no need for the nice curves at the corners--just sheet metal welded together.

The crew won't take the doors off for several reasons.  First and foremost is snow--New England gets a lot of that, and this is a year-round railroad, though this little one might not do well in snow--too small.  Second of all, due to space constraints inside the model, it would be difficult to show any of the running gear inside.

I have some Archer Transfer louvers; they are definitely on the agenda.  (Springfield is a GREAT train show!)

Styrene tips

Next time, try this:

Cut the top of the hood to the size you want.  Cut the sides to length, but tall.  Cut the end both tall and wide.  Using solvent, weld the pieces together with the bottoms in line (or perhaps just a hair too tall, to leave room for final fitting) and the top and sides overlapping.  Reinforce the joints internally as you see fit.  After the solvent cures completely (at least a day, if the styrene is thick), trim the overlapping edges and sand the joints.  At that point, you can either leave the edges perfectly square, or round them over.  In fact, the rounded edges are a little easier, since slight imperfections are less obvious.

Also, a suggestion for leaving the doors open.  Print a photo of an engine, and glue it to the inside of the shell.  The thickness of the paper shouldn't be too much of a problem in fitting the shell over the mechanism, and it will show through any open doors you have.  Especially in something this small, the lack of 3D won't be too obvious.

Another trick

I forgot about this one:

When building something like that hood, what I might do is to cut the pieces as described above, but before gluing them together I would glue the reinforcement to the end and sides.  On the end, I'd glue both top and side reinforcements, and on the side I'd glue top reinforcement, making sure to leave enough room for the strips on the end piece.  That way, the whole thing is more or less self-aligning when you go to glue it up, and all you have to do is make sure the joints are reasonably tight.  Then, as above, I'd let the assembly cure and trim afterward.

Thanks!!!

This is a more challenging build for me than the Climax; I'm getting the hang of nice angles and corners in styrene.  (The only thing I had to form in styrene was the boiler on the Climax, and a single piece roof--no precise squares.)

All the advice here will be much appreciated and used for future pieces--like the steeplecab in my future.

I couldn't put a cross brace at the back of the hood to keep it rigid; the mechanism is in the way.  But I had just bsrtely enough room to put a strip of l-shaped plastic along the bottom of the walkway on each side, sticking up like the ridges on a plastic kit, to keep it in place.  It doesn't show well on the photo, but it works

You can see the ridges sticking up about 3/4 of the way down the opening.

No wrong way

If you build the hood first, you can fairly easily clean up the corners and seams, and sand the base flat.  Then it's a fairly simple matter to glue it down to the base you show above, since it will sit there on its own without moving or falling over.

One of the things I've learned about working with styrene is that it's important to plan the order of operations, so that things assemble and align themselves as much as possible.

Another thing I've learned is to never be afraid to throw something away and start over.  The next version is almost always leaps and bounds better than the last one.

Throwing away...

Thanks!

I have learned about throwing things away, sort of.  The gondola full of scrap mostly came from failed parts for my previous scratch-build.  I built at least 4 hoods for this one, and 5 boilers for the last one.

Order of operations has thrown me--especially if I decide to add something later on.

Since my last entry, I built a new hood; it turned out that the earlier one was the tiniest bit too narrow, and the mechanism wouldn't quite fit.

Progress on Diesel 1919

I’ve made more progress on Diesel 1919.  Once again, I had to discard a hood; I want doors in it, and adding them alter seemed impossible.  I built a new one from strips of styrene and a few sheets.  Now, when I add open doors, all will be well.  Some will be closed, but the joints between the door plastic and the hood should look right.  (I hope!)

There’s a fair amount of room under the hood for weight and/or a DCC decoder.  The weight will wait until after the decoder is installed, or be easily removable.  Currently, I don’t even know if the narrow gauge is going to be DCC, though I suspect it will be, to allow dual gauge track and crossovers.

One challenge I'm going to have is the couplers--changing them out from the old style N-scale couplers to microtrains n-gauge couplers.

This freelanced North Central 2’ diesel was built by the railroad shop, using a diesel from a submarine, and the expertise of some demobilized submariners.

The hood for the diesel was made as small as possible, both to allow a walkway on both sides, and to maximize visibility ahead.  The distinctive stepped hood is a result of that decision, and resulted in ongoing overheating issues.  Through most of the summer, some of the access doors are kept open, or even taken off.  Since it was used more in the summer, some of the doors will be much more lightly weathered than other parts of the locomotive.

The locomotive’s ability to be turned on for a short time, then parked for a few days, and turned back on at short notice, proved to be very useful; even tiny steam locomotives take time to build steam.

In 1928, it’s well worn but still in occasional use.  Parked in the late ‘30’s, it sat, mostly forgotten, until the 1970’s, when it was taken in hand for a restoration.  Bearing its original Sandy River and Rangely Lakes lettering, it’s still hauling cars in the 21^st century.  (It was built before the railroads merged into the Great North Central.)

The road number isn't 1919--it's the only diesel locomotive class the railroad introduced in 1919.

Its length overall, excluding couplers, is only 17 feet; the pic shows it next to a 50’ standard gauge boxcar.  (The boxcar is a cheap toy train car that’s soon to be fodder for a weathering project…)

Progress...

I have been working on my narrow gauge diesel.  I have a Shapeways cab, and wanted to use it; I doubt that I could, as yet, build a convincing cab.  I tried to make some hoods out of sheet styrene, but had trouble with the doors.  I ended up, instead, making it out of strips of plastic, so there wasn’t a need to cut square holes in plastic.  I then cut doors out of sheet plastic, and put Archer Transfer louvers on them.  Currently, the doors are held in place by scotch tape on the back of the hood.  Eventually, I’ll glue them in place, possibly with one or two of them in the open position.  (It’s late summer in Maine, and the loco is a prototype.  The hood was made as small as possible for visibility reasons, so the unit overheats at times.)

Things like grab irons, running boards, and the like will be done much like steam locomotives are—for example, there won’t be a railing on the running board, but a long handrail against the hood for crew to hold onto.

The conductor won't be there on the final model--but he does show how SMALL a 2' gauge train is...

I plan on lightly detailing the cab interior—just enough to look like there’s something other than a Kato mechanism inside.

The stack is only in place temporarily; I’m not sure where to locate it, or if she should have two.  This loco was built by a more successful Maine 2’ line in their shops, just after the Great War, by demobilized submarine crew that found work with the line.  Since it was running by the end of 1919 or, more likely, spring of 1920, diesel locomotive practices are all quite nebulous.  The prime mover came from the navy, the traction motors came from the local trolley line, and most of the work was done in the line’s shop during down time.

What sort of dressing up should she get?  And—very important—I need a color scheme!

As always, any comments, suggestions, and advice are welcome!

Thanks!

Good Progress

Looks like your making good progress on that little diesel. Some steps and hand railings along with some nice foot boards front and rear should dress that up nicely. As far as color scheme, two colors would be hard to do on a small model like that. I'd say stay with a single color. Ah, I do have a suggestion, since you a are following the SR & RL RR why not find out what colors they used on their equipment and buildings and start with that.

Bernd

More progress

The little diesel is taking shape nicely, and, I think, is starting to look like a locomotive.

Since last time, I have made a variety of handholds.  They aren’t glued in place yet; just positioned for the photo.  I also used some Archer Transfer rivits to add that detail to the cab, and made a radiator grill out of grillwork for an EMD diesel.  Some thin strips of styrene around the edge of the grill competed that part of the project.

Next:  Fuel tank, footboards, couplers, and of course, bells and whistles.  I'll do a basic cab interior.  The engineer leaning out the window will take up a lot of the big opening, thus making it possible to do a rudimentary interior instead of a detailed one.

The strip of standard gauge track below is to give a sense of proportion--this loco is TINY.

Your Critter

Irish,

That's going to be a good looking critter when you get done.

What size wire are you using for your hand rails? Looks a little large in diameter. Usually .010" to .012" dia. wire is used for hand rails.

Bernd

Thanks!

I appreciate the comments.  The wire is too big--but it's what I had in the box to experiment with.  I'll be geting some .010 or .012 soon, and redoing it.  I'd thought that the .022 that I had would be OK, and stronger than the thinner stuff, but it needs replacing.

I'm hoping it doesn't look too sophisticated for a 1919 or 1920 homebuilt!  I plan on putting a roof vent like steamers have, simply because all locomotives on the line have them. 

Any thoughts anyone has, feel free to share--the comments so far have been very helpful

April Update

I’ve done very little with Diesel 1919 as I’ve been working on other things, both railroad and non-railroad related.  But, I finally had some time to work on her.  (The first diesel on the North Central—and since it’s 1919, one of the very first diesels running in revenue service in the world…)

I made new handrails out of music wire—much thinner and yet strong enough to stand up to a clutz like me.  (Cutting them is hard on the wire cutters; thank goodness for the Craftsman lifetime unconditional warranty!)

Since she’s a prototype, built by the shop, she uses many steam locomotive practices, such as the grab rail along the hood.  On the left side, there’s a second short railing, for a railroad man to grab to swing aboard—on the right side, there’s no need, as a right handed trainman will grab the front guardrail.

She’s painted Pullman green, which will become the standard color for SR&RL diesels, and later, North Central diesels.  (In reality, none of the Maine 2-footers ran diesel power.)

I also added couplers…microtrain knuckle couplers attached to the frame.

She still needs footboards, headlights, and the bells and whistles.  I have some steam locomotive headlights, or I might give her automobile-style lights.  Unless it would be impractical to make the prime mover generate it, the locomotive runs at 600 volts DC, since it’s using streetcar traction motors.  So, she’ll be using whatever lights can be obtained that run on 600 volts—streetcar bulbs.  Steam loco headlights are rather large—not sure which way I’ll go.  The bright shine around the number should vanish when I apply dullcoat later on.

She’ll have a big air horn on the roof—car horns aren’t loud enough.  And, of course, a traditional bell on the hood.

Eventually, there will be an engineer in the cab.

She’s sitting next to the first locomotive I ever bought with my own money back in elementary school—a tiny 0-4-0—to show the comparison in size.  The two are on dual-gauge girder rail for a future photo diorama.

Another HOn30 modeler. Wow!

It's great to see another Hon30 modeler on this list. As far as SR&RL colors go, the depots were painted grey and green.  I think I've read somewhere that Model Master aggressor grey and dark green are pretty close.

Jeff Schumaker

HOn30--some

I'm not going to have a lot of HOn30, but will have some.  (I lack the patience to build a large roster...)  My intended roster will include the little diesel, the (dummy) Class A Climax, and hopefully, eventually, a 2-6-2, a Forney, a < big> articulated 4-6-6-4, and a six axle diesel.  Rolling stock will include a modest assortment of whatever I have a chance to grab.  Current rolling stock is one SR&RL boxcar, 2 open gondolas, and a work car.

Pics?

Jeff, Do you have links to any pics of your HOn30 stuff?

Pics of some of my rolling stock

Irish Rover,

Here are links to some of my rolling stock, as well as an HOn30module group I belong to.

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36209

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41272

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34695

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40808

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40306

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=35990

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36823

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=35622

http://railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=42256

Jeff S.