First I needed to find out

First I needed to find out the dimensions of an S-12 as accurately as possible. I measured the dimensions of my HO Stewart models as a starting point and checked these measurements with pictures of the prototype. Then I made drawings in CorelDraw, printed them out and glued these printouts to sheet styrene using non permanent adhesive spray.

After a few hours spent cutting, filing and sanding, it looked like that:

The styrene sheets I am using are softer than the plastic material of the MRR manufacturers. That is why I will build the walkway, hood an cabin as one piece to prevent warping. Now I only hope that all the parts will fit together as planned.

Kurt

Looking Good!

Dear Kurt,

Looking good soo far, and respect for taking on a true scratchbuilding project!
Your body design looks pretty sound, although you may find you'll need 0.080" square styrene (Or "L channel"?) glued into the inside of the 90-degree joins for re-inforcement.

The stairwells on each corner are traditional "sticking points" for most diesel scratchbuilders, when you get to that point may I suggest drawing up a jig or similar to aid in the holding-and-assembly of the stairwells...

I take it you are working in O2R or P48? If so, donor mechs may be a challenge. Stanton (NWSL  http://www.nwsl.com/uploads/chap2_web_09-01.pdf and check Page6 ) and Black Beetle (Steam Era Models   http://www.steameramodels.com/bbeetle.htm ) self-powered trucks are available in O gauge, and the 27:1 geared BBs particularly are imminently suitable for such missions...

Alternatively, if you want something "off the shelf" with relatively minor mods, maybe an Atlas 2R SW9/1200 could provide suitable donor components, if not a suitable truck<> truck spacing?

Whatever the case, you look like you're well on your way to building a great model,
very much looking forward to hearing and seeing more as it progresses...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Dear Prof,thank you for your

Dear Prof,

thank you for your kind and encouraging comments. I am using 2 mm thick styrene for the hood and walkway and 1,5 mm styrene for the cabin. I hope it will work without reinforcement, but I will see once the parts will be assembled. Using L shaped styrene is a good idea.

I will use Atlas SW8/9 trucks (only available as 3-rail) with wheels, motor and couplings from NWSL. The chassis will be made of 3 mm thick brass, just like the chassis Des Plaines Hobbies offered for Red Caboose Geeps. I am using this kind of drive already in a Gilmaur SW1500 and it works very well.

Kurt

Perfect timing

Was considering kitbashing an SW1, for 2r O scale. But scratchbuilding might be the way to go.

Definitely will follow this one. 

Eugene

Bravo!

Modeling as it was intended. From nothing comes something. I eagerly await your progress.

I love scratch-builds...

I love reading about scratch-builds.  I've done a few so far, with decent (I think) results.  The single most important thing, I think, is the scrap box--as in, a willingness to consign pieces to the scrap box and restart.  If it's not right, junk the piece and redo it.  I did 3 water tanks for my HOn30 Climax.  The first two, I rusted heavily and put into a scrap load--the third is on the locomotive.

Your project looks very promising--please keep us posted!

Hood doors

Looking great, can't wait to see the next phases of this build. 

So how did you make the hood doors seem raised? 

Thomas Gasior

 "I have a few HO Stewart

I don't like the china drives but I've seen Weaver Baldwin switchers  and they look pretty good. I think they could be made into a decent scale loco with some detailing and weathering.The twin motor drive can be wired in series to slow it down so if anyone else is looking for a Baldwin it might be worth checking them out. The hard part might be finding a 2 rail version as the manufacturers  tend to make too many 3 rail and not enough 2 rail locos so the 2 rail locos usually end up harder to find.. ........DaveB 

Nice to see so many

Nice to see so many interested in some O scale modeling here. Thank you.

Thomas, the doors on the hood are raised. As you can see in the drawing that I posted above, I put a complete set of doors in the lower left corner of the sheet to cut it out separately using 0,3 mm (.013") styrene. After gluing the doors to the hood, I sanded them to make them a bit thinner.

Dave, I had a look at the Weaver model, but I do not want to buy an engine with a chine drive. Even if wired in series, it will not give me the low speed performance I am looking for. Apart from that, the Weaver is a VO-1000 and I wanted to have a S-12. Anyway, scratch building is more fun and a lot cheaper.

Hood Doors

Kurt,

First I'd like to compliment you on your scratchbuild. Very nicely thought out. Something you don't see much on forums anymore, scratchbuilding.

Thomas mentioned your hood doors. Many manufacturers seem to have this part wrong by having the doors protrude above the sides. In actuality they should be flush with the body. Here's an example of an S-12.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=337069

Didn't want to rain on your parade, but that's one mistake many manufacturers have made by not having the doors flush with the sides. Why I don't know. Not very prototypical.

Bernd

Hood doors

Bernd, you are absolutely right about the doors, although I found a few pics of S-12s where the doors are not perfectly flush with the sides http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=430336(seems like they built different versions), but even there the doors protrude only fractions of an inch – hardly visible in a model. I thought of scribing the lines of the doors on the sides of the hood. I tried it out, but the results did not satisfy me. So I had to glue the doors on. Sometimes you need to make a compromise – and I am sure there will be a few more as I move along.

Doors

Kurt,

Yes they do protrude on this one. Prototype for everything.

I'm following along. Love what you're doing. Hope you keep posting as you make progress.

Bernd

So far, so good!

Bernd, looks like it depends on the lighting if you can see the doors protrude or not. Here is a good comparison: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1377950,http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2196767. I am glad I found these pics, Makes me feel better that you can see the doors so clearly protrude in the second one.

I put the hood, cabin and walkway together and to my relief, all parts fitted perfectly. The shell is quite sturdy, looks like I do not need to reinforce it.

Kurt

Nice Looking

Kurt,

That's excellent looking model so far. Very clean.

Yes, the lighting has lots to do with how the doors look. The angles that you took the pictures make the doors look much better, plus your sanding them down a bit makes it look excellent.

Great job, carry on.

Bernd

It’s a Baldwin!

All the big parts are assembled now and it really starts to look like a Baldwin! It seems like this project will come to a good end and not the scrap yard.

The trickiest part so far was the roof on the cabin. I had thought that  the pilots would be difficult to do, but that turned out to be a breeze. The smoke stack was made from a 1/3" brass rod using my power drill as a lathe.

The engine is put on the trucks only provisionally for these pics and it is sitting 1/10" too low. This will change when I build the brass chassis.

Kurt

Looks Superb

Kurt,

You are doing an excellent job on this build. Very clean. I'm impressed.

Keep up the good work.

Bernd

Bern, thank you. I must admit

Bern, thank you. I must admit that I did not expect it to turn out so well. But maybe the design of these Baldwins with their straight lines makes them easy to build.

Kurt

Looking good !!

How did you get the nice straight radius on the rounded hood edges? ......DaveB

Sanding!

Dave, I am using coarse 120 grit sandpaper to shape the edges and then 240 grit or finer to smoothen the surface.

Kurt

Sanding corners

Kurt,

I'm impressed with those rounded corners also. They all so symmetrical. Mine would look very wavy. And those hood doors really look great. It'll be interesting to see when the first coat of primer goes on. All that fine work will really pop out. Keep up the good work. One of the better scratchbuilding posts I've seen in a long time.

Bernd

Crawling along

That is me, not the engine. Progress is slow and the list of parts that I still have to add is quite long.

Still waiting for the brass plate to build the chassis, but at least I got the styrene sheet with the treadplate texture today, so that I could finish the walkway. The headlight gave me some headache yesterday, but I got it mounted on the hood eventually. Though it is a tight fit, I can put in two 3 mm (1/8") LEDs from the inside.

Kurt

Disproportionate time

I've found that the first 80% of a build goes quite quickly.  It;s the last 20% that takes 80% of the time.  In any case, I've been watching and eagerly awaiting every new installment.  Very impressive work!

Lookin' Good

Kurt,

Looking better every time you post. Like Ken said 80% of is fast the last 20% takes 80% longer. You'll get there.

Bernd

Awesome Work

I have to wholeheartedly agree! That is an awesome build. I'm watching with extreme interest.

John