The details

First thing I did was work on the ring that pivots the whole works. I sanded and filed till it moved with very little effort. Then added some grease left over from a Tamiya gear kit.

Next I removed the two cast on ladders. These will be replaced with one or two scratch built brass ladders.

I removed the stack form the boiler and sanded it smooth.

I took a piece of post it and used it to get a square line across the roof line. Also a patch was glued to were the boiler stack was.

Then I used another post it length wise. This gave me a template for cutting a section out of the roof and made sure it was square with the end and side.

After cutting out the hole I filed the void with .02" thick styrene.

I cut, file and sanded the styrene to shape and added a muffler.

A couple of more pictures of the muffler from different angles.

I forgot to mention that I'm making this crane into a diesel powered version.

Next on the mod list is to make a section for the radiator in-take. I'm thinking of using the upper panels and lower panels on the back of the crane, I'm also thinking of maybe getting some Cannon doors for some new side doors to make it look like you access the engine from the sides. I'm also thinking of using a set of brass trucks from Precision Scale, #32346.

That's it for now.

Bernd

Article Inspiration + Motivation = Action

Dear Bernd,

Hats-off to you for getting inspired by Geoff's article, and "having a go"...
(and for posting the results!)

and hats-off to Geoff for writing such an inspirational article in a manner which actually prompted fellow modellers to overcome inertia and "have a go"...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Looking Good

Hello Bernd,

That crane is looking real good. Keep up the good work and keep the updates with photos coming. Thanks for sharing.

John R

Thanks

John. I'll be posting as I progress. Like I told the Prof, I hope I can keep the enthusiasm going.

Bernd

ladders on crane chassis

Nice work, so far....

Hey Bernd, have you thought what you might do with the tacky molded on ladders on the crane chassis? I have thought about going as far as sanding everything down and just using Archer rivets to replace rivet detail... My similar project stopped when I could not figure this part out.... Not sure what to do and just thought I would see what you are thinking?

Thanks,

Kirk

Ladder Removal

Thanks for the comment, appreciate it.

I used a reshaped #11 Exacto blade to carefully cut off the ladders. Then I sanded any lumps down after shaving off the ladder. I'll take a pci of the procedure that I used and post it here later tonight.

As far as rivets go. I decided that mine was all welded. Much easier I think. I do see it has rivets on only the boom. I have another crane with a broken boom that I'm thinking of making a brass one. Don't know about that yet.

I plan on taking this up to a couple of more posts. Right now I don't know how far I'll go with the detailing. I need to order the motors and the model railroad finance officer says that it'll have to wait, the coffers are a little low.

Keep checking in to see if I've made any progress.

Bernd

Detail Removal Tool

Here's what I use to remove small plastic details. It's an #11 Exacto blade ground to the shape shown.

(Picture need to be retaken)

Carefully push at a slight angle.

(Picture need to be retaken)

And this is what you should end up with.

(Picture need to be retaken)

I'm working on adding more detail. Hopefully I'll have something by the end of the weekend. Stay tuned.

Bernd

#17 exacto blade

Exacto also makes other blades such as the #17 chisel blade so you don't have to make your own..

I stand correted

Peter,

That's the blade I meant, the #17. The #11 is the knife style.

Anyway, I took the #17 and ground it down to a finer chisel point. Thanks for catching that error.

Bernd

This is great!

Bernd,

Thanks for sharing this!  I really like what you did with the muffler, I think that looks great.

The tips for shaving the ladders off are much appreciated too.

I hope you follow the project through to completion and do share it all with us.

Anyone have an extra Athearn crane they would sell?

Regards,

Thanks

Kevin, appreciate the comments.

I've got a few more details I want to add, like extra radiators. I chopped up an old C420 Alco for grills. I'm hoping I can get that posted before the weekend ends.

Right now I've got to much outside work to do and it's going to be another nice day. But I will keep posting as the project proceeds.

Bernd

P.S. There are some Atherans on E-bay.  http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cranes&_sacat=19130&_odkw=&_osacat=19130

Another Installment

Got a bit more done on the crane in the last day or so.

Drilled holes for the addition of a radiator in the top two and bottom two panels.

The panels have been squared up and I'm going to use these louvers from an Alco C420.

I used 1/3 of the louvers to glue over the furthest door toward the end.

Same for the other side.

Next I have to make the radiators for the bottom two panels. Haven't decided whether to use brass or styrene.

That will be it for a while. Till the next installment.

Bernd

Loving those Louvers...

Lots of great ideas to apply to my own crane!  I have purchased my Athearn Crane but it has to come all the way from Florida so will be a couple of weeks anyway before I see it here in Canada...

In the meantime I hope to see more progress on your crane mod project bernd.

Thanks for sharing it!

Regards,

Great you got a crane, finally

More progress to come, it's just going to take some time. I'm debating as to whether I should add an air tank to the roof. The prototype pictures that Geoff posted, IIRC, one had an air tank on the roof.

I also need to get some cash together to buy a couple of motors. In the meantime before I get to that point I need to work on contacts and the electrical ring for power pick up.

Bernd

Detailing Update

I'm as far as I can go with some of the major details. I've ordered the motors. They should be hear next week. In the mean time here are some more pictures of the detailing I've done so far.

Looking for some grills to put into the holes I cut out I had these. The parts below are etched nickel silver headlight grills for large scale car detailing. I've had this for a long time and couldn't tell you the manufacturer. They were purchased in my LHS.

 Problem is they are to small. What to do?

 Well I had some of this nice diamond through etched brass from K & S Metal.

 I cut a square piece and glued it behind the openings.

 I wanted to represent louvers that open & close to control the temperature as I've seen on diesels. I used pieces of angle and 1" X 2" HO scale strips to represent the individual louvers. Each is cut to length and glued in individually.

 One side done.

Last louvers done.

 Next I'll work on the cab rotation motor when it comes in next week, but first a 3 day vacation to rest my eyes and steady my nerves.

Bernd

I like it!

The grills and louvers are coming along nicely.

Are you going with the same moors that Geoff uses in his article?

Waiting for my stuff to arrive in the mail.

Mr. Postman, look and see, is there a box, a box for me...

Excellent !!!!

Hey Bernd,

Once again excellent modeling. I am so enjoying this thread can't wait until you next installment.

John R

Motors

Thanks for the compliments, very much appreciated.

I ordered my motors from Pololu. http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/60

The motor for the cab rotation is a 1000:1 rotation which will give a 14RPM at a max voltage of 4.8. The other motors were to big, they won't work. I ordered the ones Geoff suggested for the winches to move the boom and hook. Ordered them on e-bay, they won't be here till the 14 to 17 of Sept.

I guess I'll just have to work on the remote uncoupling passenger car. That's the third project.

Bernd

Next Installment

Thank you kindly for those words, really appreciate them.

I'm thinking my next installment might be putting the cab rotation motor in. Was contemplating today on a way to proceed. I'm looking at a different way of mounting it. But from the looks of it it might be the same way Geoff did it.

Will keep posting till I get her done.

Bernd

Motorized Athearn Crane

I saw this article, about one year after I had motorized my own Athearn Crane. I started with the older all diecast metal version, it is much heavier.  I used small three (model airplane) servo motors and a four channel receiver ( for tiny R/C airplanes) for my electronic control. I modified the servo motors for continuous rotating operation by removing the mechanical stops on the gears, and making the servo feedback potentiometer slip on the output drive shaft. One servo drives the hook, one drives the boom lift, and the third one drives the cab rotation. The cranes's control system is powered by a rechargeable 3.7v Lipo battery. Charging is applied to a small access plug on the chassis, next to a power on/off switch. When powered on, there is a flashing red LED located on the top of the cab.

I do like the idea of having sound, but my crane is not DCC. My crane can be operated on a DCC or Analog system, because it does not draw power or signals from the track.  It can even operate just sitting on a table. I use a airplane dual stick remote control to operate the crane, I can operate two servos at one time if I like. I have a forth channel available on the receiver, I hope to use it to control an electro magnet (powered via relay with track power). I will have a short video of my crane available on You Tube, under the name dadnyfur.

Pictures

I, along with other members, would be interested in seeing some pictures of your crane here on this thread. I have four of them and like the idea of using radio control. Perhaps a separate thread on your crane would be nice, along with a "how I did it".

Thanks for responding to this thread.

Bernd

Another update

More progress on the motorized crane.

Time to drill the hole in the center of the frame for the motor shaft. I used my mini-mill and centered the ring.

Test motor for fit in hole.

Drilling a hole in the swivel base.

Parts for a jig to help cut a square hole the size of the motor.

Bushing used for line up.

Pipe with a piece of styrene the size of the motor is placed on the swivel base.

Styrene glued to both sides of the swivel base. This is a template to help accurately cut out the square for the motor.

This method produces a nice clean and square hole.

Motor and swivel base assembled for test fit. Nice fit, looks good.

Added two 1/8" square pieces to get rid of to much side play.

Next I made a brass plate for the motor's D-shaft to fit in.

Next the plate will be screwed to the frame with 00-90 screws.

That's it for now. More to come.

Bernd

Good job

How did you make the "D" hole?  Was it a bushing you had on hand already, or did you have to make it?

By the way, I like the way you're showing your work.  It's one thing to show off the finished product, but another thing entirely to show things like the jigs and intermediate steps.  Excellent work so far!

D hole

First, thanks for the compliments, much appreciated.

Tell ya' what I'll do. I'll make a little write up and take pictures of how I made it. Would work much better and be clearer than trying to explain in words.

BTW that whole assembly is three parts. I'll let you sleep on it and see if you can figure it out. It's quite easy once you see how it's done. But, there's always a but, I used a lathe and mill to make that part.

Bernd