The Rest of the Story
But now I decree I am master of my domain – with my wife’s permission, and the Protos will come to life. The end result will be a Kato motored Proto E with upgraded trucks, Tsunami 2 sound, close coupled sugar cubes, added details, and LED lights. First up is an AB pair of UP Es to be followed by an SP-Black Widow A-unit. (Same adoption scenario.)
First Things First
Gently flex the body at the fuel tank to clear the pins molded into the fuel tank side and lift. Tilt the rear up to allow the coupler to clear through the pilot opening. I find it easier than trying to remove the coupler and invariably dropping the screw on the floor never to be seen again.
Remove the upper frame weight by removing the attachment screws. Put it in the recycling bin as it is not needed. Remove and trash the factory wiring and control boards.
Truck Tune Up
If you did not remove the track feed wires from the trucks, do it now. Remove the trucks from the frame by gently massaging (prying is another word which comes to mind) the worm gear cover from the truck’s frame to expose the worm gear. Many of these units use a multi-piece spine drive shaft connecting the worm gear to the flywheels. These will slip free and trucks will drop through the frame.
With the truck sitting on your work surface, and from the top, gently flex the side frames away from the axles and male guides and lift up. The axle tips nest inside the bearing caps so flex until they are clear. Inside is a molded piece with the brake detail and it secures with molded pins which nest into the truck’s metal frame. Lastly, the axles are retained in the truck by two snap-fit clips on the bottom of the truck. They pry loose with a small flat bladed screwdriver applied from the end.
Disassembling and cleaning the trucks reveals the expected split axle gears all too common with ‘90s vintage Proto locomotives. Someone in the design and production chain likely decided Delrin axle gears were not a necessary expense. Oops. Some have suggested the Athearn replacement geared axles can be used for repair and maybe some can.
My stash of Athearn geared axles have 12 teeth while the Protos yearn for 11. I tried the Athearn gears, once, and the mismatch bound the trucks to the point the ESU decoder’s motor control circuitry fried. So, in go Walthers 920-584494 replacement geared wheel assemblies. While the trucks are somewhat smoother rolling, there is are still some resistance.
Partially re-assembling the truck reveals two concerns. The molded brake shoes fit very close to the wheel flanges and it doesn't take much for them to rub against the wheels and add drag. I used sprue clippers to remove the brake shoe details eliminating any possibility of interference. (And the brake shoes are hard to see anyway.) In the photo, the top piece has brake shoe detail and bottom shows after trimming.
Another source of friction can be the inside spacing of the truck skeleton sides. This is where the bronze axle bearings rest and if too wide, the bearing will not position properly. If the bearing rests inside the frame, it can cause binding by allowing the axle to be lower on one side resulting in a slight bind in to the gears and an out of square truck. I used my needle nose pliers to gently squeeze the metal sides to narrow the opening allowing the bearing to position properly.
New Motor Coming Up
I am using a Kato motor for this project which incorporates the older-style motor mounts which fit, with a little modification, into the Proto fuel tank mounting holes. Before installing the motor, I trimmed the typical Kato metal motor connections and added 30-guage wire leads.
The motor comes with 2 mounting screws but most of us have containers of extra screws in a variety of sizes so finding 2 more fasteners was no challenge. (Notice I left the Kato light board in place to stabilize the mount while installing.)
The frame mounting location required modification to gain clearance and was accomplished with a battery powered hand drill and a rotary metal cutting tip. After the grinding, I painted the exposed bare metal with basic rattle-can black.
The Kato motors have, as well as most later Athearn RTR and Genesis versions, hex drive shaft connections machined into the flywheel. I used the PPW-Aline #12032 - Coupling Kit –
Universal Hex Drive. These are length adjustable and incorporate a molded ball on one end and a separate hex connection which is slipped into place after the correct length is determined.
Some of my assorted older Proto worm gears have a provision for mating with a molded ball but did not provide the needed swing clearance for going through turnouts and corners. I substituted the readily available worm gear assemblies from Athearn.
For mounting the Tsunami 2 decoder, I created a mounting pad from styrene which will attach to the top of the motor cradle in the same manner as the Kato light board. It adds stability and rigidity to the decoder mount. I soldered the track feeds to the decoder and used spring clips between the decoder and motor wires to confirm the correct motor connection polarity. This is a good time to proceeded with a break in run in both directions.
Adding Details
Most of what I have done on this project follows UP practices but there are a few deviations such as my choice of horn and cab shades. I also omitted the ugly MU connection applied to the engineer’s side of the nose as it reminded me of a big zit.
I painted the cab interior an EMD-ish shade of light green I ould have used a hint of white to lighten a bit but it works I added light grey dots for the gauges. I also repainted the engineer and fireman as their factory blue duds made them look like prison guards. I added an India ink wash to mute the clothing colors and add shadow to the creases. I painted the shell’s cab side walls and roof in a medium grey as it is not readily seen. Okay, the truth is I was mixing the cab green from black and green paint in a too small container and kept running out. I did not want to mix another batch so I made a management decision.
Let There Be Lights
For the head light, I cemented a 1.8mm warm white LED into the upper light position of the Walthers nose light piece. I added number board illumination using 0603 SMD LEDs mounted to the Walthers side lens assemblies. I drilled a hole in the number board piece and elongated it with a file to allow insertion of the LED.
I routed the wires through the same front opening where the headlight wires are routed from the factory. I used Faller Expert to cement the 0603 SMD LEDs into position.
As with some UP Es, my A-unit does not have the nose door Gyra light so I used a 2mm yellow LED for the roof top beacon cemented directly to the shell from the inside. It works and looks good. These LEDs have long leads which I trimmed to about .250 inch and bent at 90 degrees (oriented to the rear of the cab).
I cut/filed a notch in the top of the rear wall as a pass through for the beacon wires. I used acrylic silicone to secure the light into the mounting location after soldering the wires leads. I used several coats of black paint to insulate the leads and control light bleed.
I added the iconic UP snow shields from Utah Pacific to the top of the winterization hatches. They are nicely molded in brass but out of the package, the mounting legs were a mess. My guess is normal manufacturing handling, packaging, and shipping took its toll. It is difficult to find a closeup photo of the original installation. At some point, maybe the mid-90s rebuilding, the front winterization hatch was shortened to make room for cab air conditioning and there are photos of that. Close, but no cigar.
I made some presumptions and used a spare winterization hatch to trial fit and tweak the legs in position before gluing to the shell with a drop of CA.
I also relocated the air horn to a strap (Evergreen styrene) mounted over the winterization hatch’s screen section per photos. The grey I used was close enough as the roofs in these areas became quite sooty from the exhaust and my units are not corporate train units. Lastly, engineer side grab irons are installed with CA. Make sure to trim the grab iron legs flush with the inside of the shell so they do not interfere with the body install or final fit. The MU hoses are on deck.
Fitting the Body
Some older Proto E A-units, including these, have a minor flaw which prohibits the body from sitting level on the frame (from a front to rear perspective). It causes the nose to angle up ever so slightly while the rear is ever so slightly low. I ran into this 5 or so years ago when creating my fantasy CSX corporate Es.
The fix is very simple: remove the fuel tank rear pins and install a piece of styrene angle on the rear wall of the shell. This allows the shell to rest on the frame level. The body will still engage the front pins and secure it to the frame.
Sound Considerations
I considered my previous E-unit speaker configurations (the Coke bottle cap exercise) and my close coupled sugar cube hood installations and decided to see how three sugar cubes would perform after firing one up on the test track. And as it is merely a different value into CV 123, I might make these little guys 645 non-turbos from the mid-90s rebuild. Just for grins, of course.
I position the body next to the frame and visualize how the speakers will fit and confirm there is adequate clearance. Nothing is quite as frustrating as doing all the work and then the body won’t fit. To be clear of the worm gear retainer, it is necessary to remove the recessed (exterior perspective) fan housing beneath the winterization hatch grill at the rear of the shell. It ain’t pretty but it can’t be seen.
I made a mounting pad from styrene and secured the speakers with acrylic silicone (clamping them in position while the silicone cures). The wiring is simple enough and has been covered in previous blogs.
I secured the speaker subassembly to the rear roof with acrylic silicone and the sound firing down towards the track.
I am not sure about the sound yet after programming and tuning with the equalizer. I may experiment with the RailMasters Hobbies 28mm round speakers, and also do a trial with the 16mm diameter speakers and wood enclosures from TVW Miniatures. I will post an update as this exercise progresses.
