On my CP Rail sd90 I made shims for the gap that were a little more complex than these. I wanted the steps to appear to be even and open backed. I fear this made the shims weaker. They took much longer to make yet still were rough. I redesigned them simpler for the AC6000. They are just two pieces of styrene .80 + .40 glued together. It may not be exact in height but close enough for me.




I'm not happy with the seam between the pieces that appears in the camera.


The pilot is just sitting in place for now to check clearances. Joe

JOE great pictures, its always nice to see how you go about these modifications. Im interested in getting an AC6000 did MTH do them in 2rail or do you have to swap in the the 2/3 wheel sets......Stephen from Aust (cTr Choose the Right)

Stephen, I don't think MTH has made the AC6000 for two rail yet. This particular one was built from a 3r dummy and swapped the guts with a powered 2r SD70ace demo. It was a lot of work but is turning out pretty good. Joe

Thanks Joe... that would be another progect to add to the list then!!! The truth is I like progects.... Stephen from Aust (cTr Choose the Right)

Well here it is finished. The pilots are attached.

It seems the couplers must be set to the correct height and ignore the uncoupling arm. This front coupler's arm is too low but the coupler height is correct. I'll have to bend it and file the bottom flat.
There was quite a bit of grinding necessary to get the trucks to clear the pilots. The sideframes hit the inside back of the pilots. One brake airdrum had to be drilled into to get the line in deeper. The coupler is a KD 804. It needs to be sticking out farther next time. The screw holes for it should have been drilled right against the inside of the pilots face. Joe

Joe, to get rid of that seam between the pilot and and the shim you can always use a little putty to make it seamless