Guys,

Check out the changes I made to this engine:

* Fixed the gap. Added Evergreen angle bracket and rods for pipes (painted black)
* Lowered the horn
* Added ditch lights to the front
* Moved the green marker lights to back, and red to front, like the prototype
* Last but not least, weathered it.







Here is the 5/16" angle bracket shaped on the ends, with to rods inserted at both ends for pipes. I used two different sizes for the pipes, .035 and .025. Used the Plastruct Plastic weld across the ends and the rods to adhere them to the angle bracket. I used my fine tip soldering iron t poke holes for the rods. I spray painted it flat black. I buffed the paint on the bottom of the metal base, where the trucks attach and used super glue to hold.

5/16" is a little tight, but had not problem through my O-72 turns. I may have problems if I run into uneven rails through a turn, but so far not problems.

This is the unpainted assembly.



A closer look



It hard to see when its black, but the assemble is glued to the metal edge.



More Photos

www.toytrainsontracks.com
Rich.

Looks great. I have done this to a bunch of units. Interesting, the Lionel D&H GP38 comes with a metal black bracket installed to hide the gap. It is a little bit deeper in, but wonder why MTH can't do this.

Rich that looks great. I am really liking all this new weathered stuff too! When will the Mohawk hit the booth?

How'd you add the working ditch lights to the engine?

Was this originally a fixed pilot model?

Nice job indeed.

Thanks.

Pete,

It would be nice if MTH did do this, it would save a lot of work, but then again, thats part of the fun. Maybe they can include the part to install later, the same way they included the extra piping for the Mohawk tender.

Al,

I knew you'd like it. I said I was going to weather, I just didn't say when. The Mohawk is in the shed getting nervous. It sees me eyeballing every so often.

Dave,

It was a fixed pilot with no ditch lights. For now I "borrowed" the lights and the housing from the back of my NS Dash-8 which has them on front and back. The bread board inside has pads for the spring contact they use to power the shell. I found which ones have constant power, and which one have the flash. For the wiring, I simply soldered the lights to these pad, one for the flash, and the other for the inverted flash.
Mechanically I had to drill through the front of the shell under the deck, and trim the housing by about half, other wise the light would stick way out making it look bug eyed. I used super glue again, and intrestingly discovered I need to paint the seams and edges arount the light housing to block the light that leaks out. In Jan/Feb timeframe, I will make an effort to post all the steps on my website.

Rich.

Very nice job Rich. I find these DIY projects to be the best of what this forum has to offer.

So you made a separate lighting circuit that works in parallel from the pickup rollers?

Just curious. Looks great though. Glad my era doesn't have ditch lights, but there are other applications that this may come in handy with.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveJfr0:
So you made a separate lighting circuit that works in parallel from the pickup rollers?

Just curious. Looks great though. Glad my era doesn't have ditch lights, but there are other applications that this may come in handy with.

Sorry, I wasn't clear, I mean the existing circuit board not bread board. MTH's circuit board has pads on the board that make contact with these "spring" connectors mounted on the shell. They use them so there are no wires to disconnect when you take off the shell. Using the same circuit board, they can wire different shells or engines with ditch lights or not depending on the engine. So my engine has the same board as all the MTH engines with these pads or connections for ditch lights. I just wired them up without using one of these "spring" connectors. So, no I did not make a special board, I just took the light assembly from my Dash 8 and added it to the SD50.

Ohhh, makes sense. Better than reinventing the wheel. Can't get much better than this.

Rich,

Really outstanding work all around. The beams really fix the SD 50 "high ride" look.

RM

Rich, looks great!! Nice work!! But stop working on your models and get busy working on your new DVD so we can buy a copy at spring York. A lot of people can't wait for it to come out. Including me. Anyway very cool model. Rick

Thanks Rick. You know what, your right, I need to quit goofing off, and start working on my DVD more, which means I'll have to give up sleeping. Ironically, weathering this was for a shot on the DVD. It was supposed to be ditch light and weathering only, and turned out to be "awh, what the hell, lets do everything", which consumed most of my day, all for about 20 seconds on the video. Thats typical though, and why its been so long since the last DVD. But I think the wait will be worth it.

Rich.

Rich, that is looking great. Getting that gap filled in really makes the difference, it definetly gives the engine a more hefty appearance. The weathering came out great also!....not a filthy look but a nice grimy touch. Great stuff.

Rich,

On closer inspection of your photos I noticed that it appears you did not add a filler plate to the gap, but instead moved the snow pilot down? Is that correct? I'm trying to figure out how to close a gap on an MTH diesel now and was curious how you did yours.

Thanks!

Jonathan,

I did add a filler plate, I show it the photos (white angled stips). I did not touch the pilot, snowplow or lower the body, just filled in the gap.

Rich.

Rich,

I saw the filler strips for filling the gap above the trucks. Very nicely done and an idea I plan on "borrowing". I guess what I'm missing is how you filled the gap between the front porch assembly and the pilot. Your last photo shows what looks like a peice of sheet styrene perhaps?

I'm working on a C30-7 at the moment and being a 1996 release, it has a huge gap between the swinging pilot and the porches.

Thanks for the follow up!

Rich, that is awesome for sure- I have some Rio Grande SD50's I want to add ditch lights to, then patch (for UP) the numbers. I'll see what i can do- Very nice work!

Jonathan,

Sorry, I didn't understand what you meant, but still I did not touch the front porch. What you see was there. The only seam is where the pilot attaches to the main shell. Below is a photo right after I go it. You can see the front is the same. I just drilled two holes under the porch to run the lights.




Jeff,

Thanks, the hardest part was trimming the light box to fit under the porch and making it square. I had to pull one twice and re-trim to get it square and symetrical. The wiring was easy, and I had to hot glue in the light to get it to stay. If you order the lights from MTH, you should try to get the spring loaded connector if you want. I took the easy way out and soldered to the pad. I had plenty of wire to remove the shell. If I need to fully remove it, I'll just unsolder it, but hopefully I'll will not have to open it up again. If you have any questions, let me know.

Rich.

Rich,

Thanks for the info. The picture helps!

I was looking through the MTH catalog last night and saw your layout. My next layout Im using the track you're using- MTH ScaleTrax.

Great photos by the way, very realistic.

Thanks Max.

I just saw your site, nice layout! I look forward to seeing your next layout with ScaleTrax. Just send me an email if you have any questions or need help.

Rich.

My only regret is not using scaletrax for my layout. Atlas track has worked well, and in spite of the ties, still does not look as good as Scaletrax. The thinner center rail makes a big difference, and take a look at Rich's low angle shots. One of the big reasons I advocate for a recessed center rail for track and switches for that future new 3RS compatible track system (in the sky) is that if it sinks below the outer rails you can do great photography work at eye level.

Back to the model. Was this one of the first "existing new" 3/2 engines. I want to verify in my own mind that this unit has not come out in Conrail yet.

The engine looks great. I find that running these fixed pilot scale coupler equipped engines adds to my enjoyment 10 fold. But wait, do I detect a tinplate coupler on that coal car? Don't ya hate it when I do that?

Pete,

LOL. Ya know, I said the same thing to myself about that coupler after I saw the photo. Dang. I'm surprised no one has said anything about the "New York Central" sign yet.

I agree with the 10 fold, the fixed pilot has made a big difference. The SD50 mods and weathering turned out better than expected and would not look near as good with a floating pilot. In fact, it would be pointless for me to go through the effort of making it look real and having it spoiled by the gap. This SD50 is my new favorite, and IMO the best looking engine I have to date.

I'm a surprised to hear you say that about ScaleTrax. I thought you were satisfied with the Atlas considering the choices available. Your track and layout look great. I do understand though with things moving more and more towards prototypical... at least for us. Of coarse I am very happy with ScaleTrax, but I too am thinking more prototypical and wanting better. I would really like to do 2-rail but I'll have to get really board or completely run out of things to do for a long time before I rip up track.

The New York Central we can give you some slack on.

Thanks for the track compliments, but I'm with you, want something better.

quote:

Maybe they can include the part to install later, the same way they included the extra piping for the Mohawk tender.

This is a great idea. How do we get MTH to respond? If they can do it for steam, why is it not just as important to get a diesel right?