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Opinions on F unit cut levers & airhorns Locos and rolling stock
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Frequent poster 923 posts Yannis Frequent poster 923 posts
Yannis

Hi all,

I am looking at some detail parts for some F units i need to work on (HO scale). Since i have not seen the parts in person and i only got access to what i see from webshops/listings, i would very much appreciate your feedback and suggestions on casting quality / thickness etc... if you have worked with them or saw them in person.

In particular i am looking into F unit pilot coupler cut levers from Details West and from Cal Scale. One is white metal the other styrene or engineering plastic from the looks of it. Any ideas with respect to casting quality, thickness etc?

The other parts i am interested in is 5-chime Leslie airhorns. I want to modify existing ones to an ATSF specific arrangement of 3 front-facing and 2 rear-facing horns. The existing ones i am looking into are Cal-Scale RS5R24 (part #655) and S-5TRPO (part #565). I suppose the latter is a better starting point for my ATSF modification. If you have any other suggestions from other companies feel free to chime in.

Many thanks for your time, replies and suggestions

Yannis

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gna Regular poster 193 posts
gna

Details West Cut Levers

I've tried the Details West cut levers.  They are very soft pewter or white metal.  It's very easy to bend it and hard to get it straight again.  Trying to get the lever(s) straight was tricky, as it comes in two pieces, and I failed:

  My LHS didn't have the Cal Scale, but I think I'd rather have the one piece.  I used a spare from an Intermountain (I think) which was styrene, on this F3:

I liked the styrene better.  If it was brass I'd like it even more.  

Horns, I'm not sure.  Could you use a Nathan, like 190-624, and call it good?

Gary
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Yannis Frequent poster 923 posts
Yannis

Hey Gary, Thanks for the

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the reply. Good to know about the shortcomings you mentioned! I ll look into the cal-scale one.

A Nathan might work for some roadnumbers as the ATSF did use Nathans and Leslies but i ll definitely need some Leslies since most roadnumbers i am interested in use Leslies (S5TR). I suppose casting quality between Cal-Scale, and other brass castings is more or less comparable?

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ctxmf74 Super User 15,965 posts
ctxmf74

cut levers

  Since the cross section would be small in HO scale I'd bend them up from wire. As for the horns I've seen them with the option to assemble the various bells facing forward or backward as needed....DaveB

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Yannis Frequent poster 923 posts
Yannis

Custom Finishing Air horn kit!

Thanks Dave, following your post i looking into the "kit" option and realized that the Custom Finishing ones are exactly what  i am looking for!!! A Leslie 5 Chime kit with the option to place all air horns as needed. In my initial searches i could not find that this is a kit.

I would have made the lever from Tichy wire (as i will for the B-units) but for the pilot i want the brackets that come with the lever as well. The cut levers that came with a Walthers Proto E9 were ideal (engineering plastic if i am not mistaken).

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