Sabtu, 27 Ogos 2011
August 27, 2011 Atlas GP-9 Basket Case
I read the Model Railroad Forms quite often. I've noticed that they rank the Atlas Locomotives very high and I've never owned one so I placed a bid on E-Bay for a GP-9 and won it.
The listing said that the locomotive wasn't in very good condition and because I like overhauling engines I went for it.
I was a little surprised at it when I received it because it was a basket case. The listing said it was a good runner, maybe at one time but not as received. Both trucks were flopping loose and the shell was a disaster. It's orange peel had orange peel.
This engine is in the worst condition for not having anything missing as any I have purchased. I have bought several engines with missing and broken parts that were in much better overall condition. The shell on this one is a goner. What little Atlas detail was there has been totally destroyed with some sort of orange peel clear coat.
I have a spare Athearn GP-9 shell leftover from an earlier project that I can use to replace the Atlas shell.
The Atlas frame, motor & drive line look good. It will be super easy to install a DCC decoder in it.
The Athearn shell has a floor that flanges out from the bottom and covers the frame, the Atlas uses the frame for the floor so I had to cut off the bottom flange of the Athearn shell.
I cut the bottom of the Athearn shell off with my X-acto knife then I put a sheet of 60 grit on my workbench and moved the shell back and fourth on the flat sandpaper until the walls of the shell were even.
The new shell now fits snug on the Atlas frame and looks very good.
Both Atlas trucks were broken, Atlas used a 2mm plastic stud as a center pivot on top of the truck housing that fits into a hole on the frame. With both of the studs broken off the Atlas was dead in it's tracks. I drilled 1.5mm holes where the plastic pins were and tapped them with a 2mm tap. I used 2mm screws to attach the trucks to the frame. A 2mm screw 4mm long worked out very good without touching the gear inside the truck and still leave .5mm of slack between the trucks and the frame for the trucks to move freely.
My new Atlas/Athearn GP-9 is finished. I'm not sure about the Atlas design using a frail piece of plastic to center the trucks. If all the Atlas locomotives use this arrangement I wouldn't give one to a child, one good ding and it's a goner.
The Athearn has a reverse design on their truck mount, they have a metal pin on the frame that fits into a hole in the top of the truck, the top piece of the Athearn truck is metal. The Proto 2000s use a design very similar to the Athearn. That's a much better design for strength and durability.
The following pictures are of the finished GP-9
Read More..
The listing said that the locomotive wasn't in very good condition and because I like overhauling engines I went for it.
I was a little surprised at it when I received it because it was a basket case. The listing said it was a good runner, maybe at one time but not as received. Both trucks were flopping loose and the shell was a disaster. It's orange peel had orange peel.
This engine is in the worst condition for not having anything missing as any I have purchased. I have bought several engines with missing and broken parts that were in much better overall condition. The shell on this one is a goner. What little Atlas detail was there has been totally destroyed with some sort of orange peel clear coat.
I have a spare Athearn GP-9 shell leftover from an earlier project that I can use to replace the Atlas shell.
The Atlas frame, motor & drive line look good. It will be super easy to install a DCC decoder in it.
The Athearn shell has a floor that flanges out from the bottom and covers the frame, the Atlas uses the frame for the floor so I had to cut off the bottom flange of the Athearn shell.
I cut the bottom of the Athearn shell off with my X-acto knife then I put a sheet of 60 grit on my workbench and moved the shell back and fourth on the flat sandpaper until the walls of the shell were even.
The new shell now fits snug on the Atlas frame and looks very good.
Both Atlas trucks were broken, Atlas used a 2mm plastic stud as a center pivot on top of the truck housing that fits into a hole on the frame. With both of the studs broken off the Atlas was dead in it's tracks. I drilled 1.5mm holes where the plastic pins were and tapped them with a 2mm tap. I used 2mm screws to attach the trucks to the frame. A 2mm screw 4mm long worked out very good without touching the gear inside the truck and still leave .5mm of slack between the trucks and the frame for the trucks to move freely.
My new Atlas/Athearn GP-9 is finished. I'm not sure about the Atlas design using a frail piece of plastic to center the trucks. If all the Atlas locomotives use this arrangement I wouldn't give one to a child, one good ding and it's a goner.
The Athearn has a reverse design on their truck mount, they have a metal pin on the frame that fits into a hole in the top of the truck, the top piece of the Athearn truck is metal. The Proto 2000s use a design very similar to the Athearn. That's a much better design for strength and durability.
I used two 1mm lamps for headlights and installed a Digitrax DCC decoder in it.
The following pictures are of the finished GP-9
The finished locomotive is a fine runner and very powerful, it's drawbar pull measured a little over 3.5 ounces. It runs very smooth and quiet.
The total investment was $35 including S&H for the Atlas Basket Case, 1 used Athearn shell, 1 Digitraxx Decoder $20 off E-Bay including S&H, Four 1mm lamps for headlights, a bit of paint and decals printed on my Alps. Not bad for a DCC equipped good looking and good running engine.
I added the Atlas GP-9 #5625 to my fleet that now totals 6 GP-9s.
Oh yes one more thing, about 8 very enjoyable hours of my time rebuilding it. I really enjoy restoring HO locomotives.
The total investment was $35 including S&H for the Atlas Basket Case, 1 used Athearn shell, 1 Digitraxx Decoder $20 off E-Bay including S&H, Four 1mm lamps for headlights, a bit of paint and decals printed on my Alps. Not bad for a DCC equipped good looking and good running engine.
I added the Atlas GP-9 #5625 to my fleet that now totals 6 GP-9s.
Oh yes one more thing, about 8 very enjoyable hours of my time rebuilding it. I really enjoy restoring HO locomotives.
Sabtu, 6 Ogos 2011
August 8, 2011 Brass GP-9 Shell
I won a bid on E-bay, it was listed as a PFM SD-9 BRASS HO ENGINE SHELL. When I received it I was disappointed because it wasn't an SD-9, it was a GP-9. I recovered quickly and decided to do it to it anyway using an Athearn GP-9 chassis instead of the planned SD-9 chassis.
I used a Muriatic Acid wash to thoroughly clean it then a Rubbing Alcohol wash. After it was dry I painted it with a very light coat of Rust-Oleum Self Etching primer.
I let the grey primer dry over night then shot it with Testors Flat Black.
There was a lip on the Athearn frame that I had to remove so that the brass shell would fit flush.
I removed all of the motor, drive & trucks to grind the needed ?" from the frame as shown above.
I drilled 4 holes in the Athearn frame to use the existing mounting holes in the brass shell.
The Self Etching Primer worked very good as the shell paint took quite a beating during the fitting process.
The hard work is finished on my Brass/Athearn Geep. I ordered some Liquid Masking Tape because I can't remove the hand rails to paint the hood ends silver. After the silver paint on the hood ends dries it will be install the window glass and decal time.
The Liquid Masking Film worked but it was a disaster! It took two hours to clean it off. I only used it on the end pictured on the right above. I finally had to use a wire brush to remove it. That left me with the brass handrails broken loose. I used AC to reattach them because I figured that the heat from the silver solder would ding the good paint. I did the touch-up with two coats of flat black Crafters Acrylic thinned with water so that I wouldn't leave brush strokes.
I used the 3M Automotive Masking Tape on the cab end and now it's ready for the Black Widow decals.
The Black Widow Decals are on and the red SP stripe is on the frame. The 3M Masking Tape did the trick again.
My Alps printer does a bang-up job on decals.
The 1mm 1� volt lights worked out very nice for headlights. I used a full wave bridge rectifier in series with the motor to supply the constant 1� volts to the lamps.
It's finished and on my layout ready to go to work.
Read More..
I used a Muriatic Acid wash to thoroughly clean it then a Rubbing Alcohol wash. After it was dry I painted it with a very light coat of Rust-Oleum Self Etching primer.
I let the grey primer dry over night then shot it with Testors Flat Black.
There was a lip on the Athearn frame that I had to remove so that the brass shell would fit flush.
I removed all of the motor, drive & trucks to grind the needed ?" from the frame as shown above.
I drilled 4 holes in the Athearn frame to use the existing mounting holes in the brass shell.
The Self Etching Primer worked very good as the shell paint took quite a beating during the fitting process.
The hard work is finished on my Brass/Athearn Geep. I ordered some Liquid Masking Tape because I can't remove the hand rails to paint the hood ends silver. After the silver paint on the hood ends dries it will be install the window glass and decal time.
The Liquid Masking Film worked but it was a disaster! It took two hours to clean it off. I only used it on the end pictured on the right above. I finally had to use a wire brush to remove it. That left me with the brass handrails broken loose. I used AC to reattach them because I figured that the heat from the silver solder would ding the good paint. I did the touch-up with two coats of flat black Crafters Acrylic thinned with water so that I wouldn't leave brush strokes.
I used the 3M Automotive Masking Tape on the cab end and now it's ready for the Black Widow decals.
The Black Widow Decals are on and the red SP stripe is on the frame. The 3M Masking Tape did the trick again.
My Alps printer does a bang-up job on decals.
The 1mm 1� volt lights worked out very nice for headlights. I used a full wave bridge rectifier in series with the motor to supply the constant 1� volts to the lamps.
It's finished and on my layout ready to go to work.
Langgan:
Ulasan (Atom)