The Freelanced Blackwolf Mountain Line (Equipment/Layout Progress)

Wow. So. Yeah I started a thread a while back trying to do glacier view anda metic crap ton fell on top of me including losing half my equipment, including that kit, my home, etc. Things are okay now but I've redirected my layout progress, Cascadge Green in large scale and my Freelance Concept Blackwolf Mountain is coming to life in small scale. I plan on using this thread as my update on equipment, layout work, paint scheme work etc.

TO start a quick backdrop, the Blackwolf Mountain is a go betweeen class 3 that shares a working relationship with Canadian National and serves as a cargo hand off from Wisconsin Central (who drops things off on their home tracks) and carries them up to be interchanged at THunder Bay in Canada. I'll do a workup more in depth later. But I digress.

My original freight train was done and took some losses to equipment with a few dinged up detail parts, I lost my auto Carriers, my front runner cars and a boxcar. THat's fine it can be replaced. Since then I've picked up a set of Kato articulated Maxi IV TTX well cars which are absolutely fantastic. I know the that the grab Irons are a bit chunky on them but unlike the atlas gunderson set where you have to tweak it to get it to run right, these roll great out of the box. I also picked up a Rapido ANgus Van caboose which wasa total shock to me. It's rironically painted for CB&Q but will be getting the Blackwolf Mountain paint soon. And speaking of which my MOtive power has already started.

I picked up for 5 bucks a NIB never been run Athearn Bluebox Dash-9. My plan is to base the detailing off BNSF & CN and use the Boston & Maine Bluebird colors in a modified way. I also took my Steart BN F('s and hit them with a good coat of primer. I never was comfortable using them on my rainbow fleet passenger train but I didn't want to discard them either. Originally I was going to be using a set of Rapido FPA/FPB4's but they are getting a bit hard to find at a resonable price Oh well I guess I can use the decoders from the FP9's in these girls.

My stewart units already have the long cooling pipes, F_Unit winterization hatches and the details west doorways and diaphragm kits. But most of that is going to get swapped out with see thru fans from cannon/hatches. The side grills while molded on feel and look like real etched metal so they will be left alone. I am going to be using a wide variety of F-Unit parts to represent an in house rebuild. After all the Golden Rule of model railroads, right? I've also got a concor streamlined baggage car that will be my power generator for the business fleet.

I haven't gotten rid of my BN MOW cars, they're still there and I picked up a set of custom executive painted SD60B/GP35's but that's for another time. For now here's some photos of my girls before the primer work (primer is still drying atm and I'll post photos later today) as well as my logos and mocked up paint schemes. Enjoy. And yes I'm back.

 

Decided I would combone the diagnal striping of RailLInk's FP9 ut replace the white with black and the yellow stripe with White and then add the Boston & Maine McGinnis white nose scheme. The colors were chose because te original inspiration was the real 4226 B&M which at the time the presidents wife designed a version where the white parts of the McGinnis scheme where black not white. Eventually the paint scheme evolved into something a bit more original even if it combined elements of different real life paint schemes, but after all isn't that what goes on in real life right? I kept the road number as a tribute to t he locomotive that inspired it all.

So up first is my Dash 9, it's had some plastic parts removed awaiting etched metal brass parts. I'm going to have those side nubs in the poto milled down and a details west air tank set put in with actual plumbing. As for the side grills, again I'm not going to go nuts and gut into the shell and replace everything as I really don't care for that amount of work. But having a see thru radiator grill cover so I can mount a speaker for sound to escape, yeah that will be a route I go. Since it was my mom who never made it out of the totaled car wreck I was in in spetember of last year, this unit has a Roadnumber designated 4349 for her birthdate and will not follow standard numbering rosters; F-Units/Business cars 3200 series (along with the caboose), GP Slug Set 4400 series, and my other Dash-9/SD70ACe with their fuel tender following the 4100 series. I'm also on the lookout for a safety cab kit either from kato or Athearn. Anyone whose been following TSGMultimedia's SD40-2 series saw how Dan cuta cab kit in half and used a few tricks for making mounting it easier. Not something I can do with the F_'s but with the road units I'll be using the same trick. And the benefit to doing a modern freelance? No nasty seafoam green cab interior. Lol

I took the front grab Irons off as they were in the way of me doing some test fitting and they got bent somehow, oh well. I can always make replacement ones or find a replacement set on ebay. I was toying with the idea of replacing the cab for an ulta II from an ES44AC model but I might do that later down the road to her trailing unit as this one is special. So for now enjoy my 40 dollar find at the Great Midwest Train Show.0


Onto the stars of the show, the F-Units. So as mentioned before these were a 100 dollar Steart F3/7/9 set with one powered A and one dummy B purchased 5 to 6 years ago, I was never happy with them on my Rainbow FLeet because they were not in the BN Passenger hockey stick just solid green and I wanted to replace them. But after running into a problem with finding the Rapido FPA/FPB-4's and not wanting to use the FP('s (I never liked their elongated look for some reason), I decided a few days ago to repurpose these girls into my star units. Some detail ideas like the diaphragm boxes that say BN-1 and BN-2 had are still a possibility ust not right now. These girls were primered in Tamiya Spray Primer, Gray. I tink they turned out great

Now because of how the steart chassis are built, there is a plastic cover that emulates the fuel tank and battery boxes. Under the fuel tank is where the screws for the motor go. So rather than install Hi-Tech Details fuel tender, Im going to cut that plastic clip so only the fuel tank part remains and then glue on (after tripping the back part of the skirts obviously) Detail Wests 1500 Gallon Fuel Tank extension sides. Then I'm going to take the part in front of the Frame's area where the motor screws in and that chunk is going to be milled flat to the frame. The motor can still sit in it's cradle, be screwed in and give me room to add Hi-Tech Details F-Unit Battery Box kit so I have some piping under there as well as add in their F-Unit brackets for the underframe. Now that latter part is an iffy one and I'll have to buy one to find out if this will work when the time comes. I'm going to be using an ESU Lok Sound Select decoder and hopefully be able to do full lighting on my lead unit which will include Reversing Light, Lit Number Boards, Rotary Beacon (<2 the Burlington Northern), Classification lights iwth White/Green LEDs (as these girls either run the business train as an extra or are on normal daily freight duty), Nose MARS Light, Nose Red Emergency Stop Light (BN Style Vertical ALighnment; and you never know when something will arise on a club layout), Twin Horizontal Headlights, and Deitch Lights. If I can squeeze a cab light in I will but most likely not. All lights will be Modernized LEDs.

Much like ICG's rebuilt "F10s" these are designated by the railroads Pine Ridge Carshops, Pine Ridge, WI, a Fictional Town, being their headquarters and interchange with the WIsconsin Central, PRC FP10A & FP10B, the FP designation given as they are dual Freight and Passenger units, both with HEP generators in them in case one fails or the business Train's power car breaksdown during the run. The story goes that they had an aging fleet of GP20s and 30s before taking ownership of a pair of F-Units. The F's had a set of bworn out 567C's but the body's trucks and traction motors were good. The Geeps had the reverse. So they took the 645 Core, added on the 657C parts and thus the F-'s now run the RL version of this, the 567E. Now if I an find an RL sound for this, it'd be great, but for now I'll use the 657C prime mover sounds. This was done RL to supplement the fact that EMD discontinued support for the 567 and the 645 had compatible parts. Yeah I did some research on F-Unit swaps. I'm also adding a couple of gps domes and PTC setups to mimic NS's Thoroughbreds. I decided that with a CN Partnership, every locomotive on the roster will be running PTC. WHich makes sense since it's becoming an RL standard.

But enough of my long winded post, here's the girls in their primer awaiting new parts and modifications.


Okay so now onto my Train show finds. I have this one vendor I go to, a very nice old couple, very flexible iwth negotiating. In fact I got my Dash-9 from them. But on my first show back I reached in and pulled out a caboose I've wanted forever, Rapido's CP Angus Van. This one was painted for CB&Q so I have no problem repainting it over. If It had been the BN one....well maybe not so much. I normally love Rapido's products but this was a mixed bag. The grab Irons are metal but the rear railings have premolded cut levers and were Plastic. So I took them off. I will have a proper set custom built with working cut levers as those will be red. I'm also swapping the trucks out and rewiring the lighting kit into the pickups, Athearn's Genesis Generator Trucsk Late Type and the RIng Engineering EOTD/Truck. If Anyone can tell me what size wheels the Genesis Caboose Generator trucks are let me know as I need to know if I'm buying the 33 or 36 trucks. I also am not a fan of how difficult it is to remove the body from the frame as I need to fish out some parts that were loose when I bought it. But that's okay, Overall I'd rather pay the 30 I did for this caboose than the 600 for the brass version of the CN St Charles Pointe Van. So here's the photo with the cupola removed.


FInally another item from the couple mentioned above, I looked up and low and behold there it was staring me in the face, the TTX 3 Car Articulated Gunderson Maxi IV Well Car set. I saw a custom weathered one on that popular auction site a couple years ago and wanted to add one to my mixed freight set. So now I finally have it. It's gonig to be weathered, trainline airhoses installed (possible magnelocks) and cut levers with the top 3 containers being CN's cargo pool (Reefer, standard and Rapido's forthcoming Drybox Heater). Kadees have already been preinstalled before I put them back in their box.


So what's next on the projects list? Well besides a concept designed to built a massive 3 engine stall shed, which will be later, I've ordered Details West F-B Unit detail parts to add in the rear digphram kits to my B-Unit. Next month I'll be picking up the A Unit kit to get my hands ona few missing parts from my kit I had bought before. I'll update from time to time as I Need to but hopefully things are back on track with this project.

 

SO Update for today, my ordered B Unit door kit is in, a day early to boot too, good ol generic popular auction site lol. Anyways, as with all locomotive shells and parts, I've been filiing the door frames rears so they'll fit, and filing the top part of the "doorways" on the stewart shell so everything will fit. First doorway frame is drying right now, and tonight I'll attach the other one. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the diaphragms glued ontop (Minus their striker plate rears as those perished in the great prtying off of last week).

I already have the Kadee Stewart Close coupling kit installed so I'm restricted on radius' with the diaphragms but tat's okay, I planned for wide radius turnouts anyways. I also test fitted the coupler buffer plates in the kit. Due to the insanity of parts required to put the Stewart Clouse COupling kit on, I will be installing these parts last after all detail/decoders/speakers/paint/decals are done so I only have to go through that massive headache once. I also found out the B Unit kit does in fact come with the backup lights. So when I order the Super B-Unit Detail Kit I'll have spares but my plan is to buy either an A or B DCC Ready Stewart/Kato Motor F3/7/9, move the coupler kit clips over with the shell and install the spare parts on said unit and sell it as a project unit. I figured this is the easiest way to get the motor I need, and if it's got the onboard dcc ready board, it will be easier to swap in the ESU LokSound decoders. Photos to follow tomorrow.

Super Detailed A-Unit Kit is up next month (hopefully). And all underframe work will begin once I get someone to do the custom frame milling I need which also requires the purchase of the powered unit mentioned above So for now I'll be over there gluing my fingers together, who hasn't done that before am I right?

Later.
-DragonFyreGT; Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

Some fine modeling. Nice looking scheme as well


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I am pretty confident that the caboose trucks have 33" wheels. Athearn doesn't say, but I remember reading that somewhere. I don't think a caboose is heavy enough for 36" wheels.

 

Well that's good to know about the caboose at least. Ah well so Im a bit delayed. This booster unit shell is causing a lot of chaos and problems for me. I still have to pop both ends off and readjust the height by a milimeter. I also had to file off the bottoms so the couplers wouldn't bind. And then to get my turning radius to work I had to file off about a milimeter of plastic off the back of the shell so I could turn both units. Needless to say there's a lot of work to be done including some squadrom putty fill in. And no I'm not going to worry about "functional" diaphragms or things like the reinforcement bars you see in prototype. Some things aren't worth it to me especially since I won't be cutting out the side grills for see thru ones, since the stock ones look pretty real. But this has definately been a test in patience and I'm still not done with it yet, but I did test fit the coupler buffers and they work and fit nicely.

The kit also came with reversing lights, as I previously mentioned, and so does Details West 310 Super Detail Kit. From what I understand, the doors/frames are not in that kit so I'll some repeat parts and parts I wont be using (On the 309 too) but that's because I Have other plans. And since htis is the cheapest way to get the fuel tank brackets for my clever Idea of installing them without touching the mount on the chassis for the motor, I may as well go for it. Plus the interior visors for the cab on the A_unit kit are a plus.

Walthers also makes a super detailing kit for old Athearn F blue boxes that includes a drilling template for roof grab irons. I see no reason why I can't use those ona Stewart Kit. Although I might buy pre-bent cab grab irons for the roof of the cab. I haven't gotten that far yet. I'll also need to do some clever filing on the square GPS Dome part to have it fit the roof. but for now I'm going to be fiddling with the booster and getting these parts to fit a bit better. But so far so good for this update.

Now to write a strongly worded letter to Jason Shron about the assembly/disassembly of his caboose.... Dear Shron......what the ey, ey? Lol




DragonfyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

So quick update, every month/month and a half I get eye injections to correct my vision. It's why I stay in HO Scale. So the lack of updates is my eyes adjusting and recovering from getting the Captain Jean Luc Picard/FIrst Contact Borg treatment. So today after selling some uneeded pc hardware I turned my focus to working on a module to start with.

I'm going to build part of Pine Ridge, my fictional town from the engine yard perspective. Saves on space and I want the yard to be a focul point. White building with Amtrak Heritage Blue Trim, brown brick lower base and white doors/roof. This will require 2 kits. Both of them will be The Shops from Pikestuff connected together, with the office buildings being rotated 90 degrees (when all is said and done only 2 sides will be unused in the base kit). This is going to be using peco inspection pits, custom floor bases a modified walthers crane, interior details, lighting, and a sound kit to be very realistic. Now due to the length of the Dash9/SD70ACe and fuel tender set, they won't fully fit inside so I'll be letting them sit partially outside for a more realistic scene. I love illusionary tricks in this hobby. But all of tis requires track planning.

Track planning is something I rough draft and then eyeball myself, but sometimes I have to plan things out, and this is one of those times. To cut down on electronics and wiring, I'm using manual throws on my switch track. I really don't want to do much actual switching as I'm not fully into that. But hey to each their own right? So before I post my rought draft, I'm going to say this, if anyone wants to modify in a similar fashion to what I've done to help me out, by all means do so. If you want to use it on your own layout, by all means do so. This hobby is about sharing ideas afterall. The way the mainline comes in before it splits up it willl basically follow an S curve, a very wide one so that the yard is on an angle but eventally will straighten backout the way the engine yard is There will be a parking lot and fencing and a small downtownish area along the side before the mainline goes over a river and through a tunnel.....sadly not to grandma's house.

The concept behind this is to blend modern and old, create a small town USA Feel while still having a railroad with modern facilities. The brick work is to t ie it in with the down town area to make it feel more like small towns do, to emphasize that this town survives BECAUSE of the railroads. This is also why I put the engine shed up front, because without the railroad, this town would be kaput. So enough of my yammering, here's my mocked up shed/yard plans:



Enjoy.
DragonfyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

So it's been a month or so with a la ck of updates. Rater not so much a lack as constant rain, I do meann constant energy sapping rain. Things have been accomplished. To start with I ordered a set of 4 Kato Unitrack 34 1/8" Radius Unitrack to use to work on the diaphragms of my F-Units. A Little binding is still occuring. But as luck would have it, I dug around marklin's website and found they make 43" raidus curves in the C-Track module. So at some point I'lls wap the Kato track out for that. This should let me get them turning nicely But atm I am waiting to find the cannon fans I need for cheaper than Cannon's website. So they're in the shops til then. I will post some photographs of thhem in a quick update post tomorrow When I have better light in my staging area up here.

So for now I'm turning my attention to my Bluebox Dash 9-44CW. To boot, I'm ordering some parts from Hi-Tech Details next month, including the Dash 8 thru 9 Exhaust stack to be mounted in the stock location (I dunno if I want to paint the stack part silver or not so I'ts going to be put in blace with a little easy snap glue if you know waht I mean), The BNSF style Octagon Antenna dome, and the UP style small GPS Dome, the round one. I plan on later fabricating some PTC BNSF short style antennas. I'm also going to install, hopefully, Detail's West Dayton-Phoenix Air COnditioner and Air Tank Kit.

FOr the air tankns I had to take the side skirts off the chassis (How handy) and file the nubs off for the original stock tanks. Wether or not I need to cut the back part of the frame out and mill part of the chassis down I don't know until I get the tank kit in. But I did this pain stakingly overa month with a hand file. It was an awkward angle that made my hands hurt and why I didn't use a hobby knfie or a dremel, don't ask. Also forgive the grainy photographs as it looked brighter in my viewfinder of my cellphone. But here's the part on and off the unit, with the filing done:


Oh One quick mention. I've found that the Kato Dash 9 Exhaust walkway flates seem to be a bit better than the athearn ones are so I'm going to see about picking one up and doing some modifications to make it fit along with overlaying Detail Associates Radiator Screens. I really don't think I want to cut into the rest of the shell for actual grills. Most of the dtail work I'm doing will take your eyes away from that plus the fact taht the speaker will be under my only see through grill for sound wil ldefinately help with that. So until next time.
-DragonFyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

I had to change my plans for the month slightly. First off my 3ds charge cord died and than Nintendo put up the preorders for the new Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon of which I Had to preorder them for a christmas gift. But all is not lost.For you see, the 9-44CW Dayton Phoenix AC unit is now installed on my project Dash 9.

As good as the athearn plastic part was, it was slightly off and not every realistic with ovious sections and seams where it was molded and the lack of an overhead f roof fan on the top of the A/C Unit. Overall, as is with all Details West parts, I've come to absolutely love how well it makes the model stand out. And since this part of the dash 9 will still be painted black on a slant, it's okay to install now. See the below attached photos.


I do wish that the vents were etched see through, but oh well, it's a sharp stand out part regardless. So next month I'm going to be focusing on the lower frames of the Dash 9. Picking up the Air Reservoir Tank kit (Despite the athearn part having the piping, it didn't have the stands that the tanks on the prototype rest on so I decided to replace it and file out the pegs the stock mount on) and the sandfuel filler hatches and filters. Both from Details West. If I can find it, I'll throw in the Dash 9 specific cables/pipes. And since the Athearn Dash 9 Mounts a bit easier than previous blue-box models, there shouldn't be a mounting issue. Despite working from BNSF Prototypes, no I'm not going to go with their 4 window cab and keep mine te wy it is now.

Next up has been someting I've been putting off for a while. Combinsin kits of the Cryogenic tank cars and as much as I Love BLI's newest offerings in said tank cars, I think its easier to buy a kit and work on it myself for fun. I've also mocked up a custom LNG logo along with a crude paintscheme idea since this will sit between my Dash 9's/SD70. Scatchbuilding incoming, thank goodness for photo etched walkway sheets and the mass load of reference photos sitting on my hard drive Haha. I did borrow a photo crop from a brass train site (model was sold) just pureply for fuel line/MU Reference since i Had some issues finding decent shots online for ref work.


Also the final paint scemes for the road untis are done, including front/rear logos/stripes, and a side banner logo along with variations of Cab Numbers, Markings and even my own Operation lifesaver logo (something I've wanted to do for a very long time):


I owe an F-Unit updte post, I will get that done, it's just been so insanely hot here I haven't done much else. So Until Next time.

-DragonFyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

Not yet I don't. I'll worry about having that figured out when I get done with the detailing and modeling phases of the locomotives. I do have a decal file made up with transparent backgrounds and offwhite sections on anything that I don't want to be removed but still looking white on blue/black backgrounds. When the time comes I'm going to look around and see what I can find on someone who can make custom decals to match what needs to be done. But as I said for now the joy of putting it all together and getting it ready to go, gives me time to play with designs and see what works and what doesn't work.

At this point I've redone my logo designs about 6 times before deciding what worked for the road units and the F Units and the Caboose. The slug set is up in the air as I'm toying with the idea of an ALCO RS32 slug set and knowing that because the brakewheel is on the nose, not being able to use the front nose logo. I'm also about to start mocking up MOW schemes as well. and we'll see what works and what doesn't before I get to the paint/decal portion of the project.

 

So this update is long overdue. To start with I'm going to be jockying back and forth etween my F-Units and Dash 9 for the remainder of this year. And that's because my laptop needed an emergency cooler pad for the heat wave the midwest has been choke held in. That being said it's also an Oppourtunity to pickup the tools I need to replace. And since my dash 9's air tank kit will require cutting and drilling aswell as the grab iron mounts and such on the F-Units, I'm going to be picking up a 42 Precision Pin Vise set next month along with a set of Details Associates EMD Snubber Brake Dampers and a Details West EMD Early to Late type Speed Recorder cable.

It's a known fact that the GP's and the F Series (And yes the F40PH's are included in the F-Series of Cabs, I've looked it up) share the same "Blomberg" style trucks. And every photo of the GP40-2's I've seen that got upgraded to Dash 2 electrical had their trucks updated to the the Blomberg M trucks with the Hydraulic Brake Snubber/Damper either on the front of the sides of each Truck or on the rear. So in terms of repairing an F-Unit with the class 2/3 whatever part you have access to or on hand , theory, what if these girls got donar Blombergs from a GP40 during a rebuild? Would make sense for that being there. But from what RL Prototyping I was able to research it seemed that even then, the F-Units later had their brakes upgraded with one shoe per truck bringing them to 4 instead of the original 8 and the GP40's with the snubbers (I use the 40's as an example since I was researching them specifically) also had the same modifications done with their brake shoes aswell. This also means the rear of my F-Unit trucks will have the brake cylinder housing removed. Oh Well, fun little experiment. I did have a photo of a rebuilt F-Unit (It may have been an FP9 or 7, I don't remember exactly) but that photos on a hard drive that has no eternal enclosure or way to hook it up so it will ahve to wait for now.

But I've yammered your ears off enough. Lets move onto the meat of the post. My F--Units close coupling and the Kato Unitrack test. Along with Kadee Height Gauge checks! Starting with the height gauges, my -Unit was only off by a half milimeter at most and it was tested on grades and nothing decoupled, so we're good there.


The Booster however. Let the nightmares begin. This unit has fought me tooth and nail with the diaphragm kit and I still need to paitn glue on the sides and get a hobby clamp to lock it down while the glue dries. That might make a bit of a difference. But the couplers are a different story. They are way too high and as you'll see in the photos this is in the "Not Acceptable" levels of the standards of the height gauge. Anyone whose worked with a Steart F-Unit has most likely used Kadee's close coupling kit. It's assembled in 4 or 5 parts layered on each other and mounted onto a plastic coupler tab that clips into the diecase frame ends. A neart system as when I buy a powered chassis I can unclip everything and move it over. However, shimming this thing is going to be a nightmare. I have to disassemble this somehow and fix the height and having never done that before outside of normal Kadees, I am expecting a serious Battle. That's why before I install the coupler buffers which will be the the last parts after paint and such (I have to make sure all sound/dcc and wiring is done first as I don't want to keep reassembling this nightmare kit) I will shim and properly mount the height and THEN we will be good to go. As much hassle as I can save.


Now onto the Kato track. It's awesome. Seriously can't say enough for it and I'll be mixing it with the Trix DC track as I need the wider curves more. I'd do conventional track but atm I don't have hte space to build benchwork yet, This is more about getting a train running. Kato's maximum radius is 34 1/8". It's tight even with my F-Units but they turn, just need to be coaxed. No derailments so far. But I feel that, and after you all see the outer radius photo, the Trix/Marklin 43" radius curves will make these girls feel more comfortable. But this experiment did help me to figure out the filing work to be done on the rear of the -Unit since I will be running them back to back.


Well that's it for now. A couple other tools I do need to pickup at somepoint, a new hobby knife kit, hobby miter box/sw, a force pull gauge, a digital scale and a work magnifyer with LED lamps. But a little each month and my kit will be back up and running again. So for now, this overdue post is done and there will be another one next month with brand new parts that should have been done years ago! Woo! Anyways. If anyone is curious about my laptop cooler, I'll be posting a rreview in the cattle car for you alptop people.

-DragonFyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

Yeah it's been almost a month. Crap happened. Mostly I ordered a cheap but wrong sized laptop cooler and had to wait til this month to order a new one at a much higher price which pushed this months Detail work back to next month. But fortunately it has given me time to go back and try to refit the diaphragms on my units properly with no gaps. Still working on that and final progress will be shown with next months updates including new truck parts. For now, I've decided that since the F9A&B will run back to back you won't really see if I have the Details West door in there. But you will see from the front of the F9B. So with some filing, cutting, and tweaking, I have the door mounted in the frame with the diaphragms ready for installation on the F9B as soon as the other diaphragm is tweaked to fit smooth and proper. Enjoy the crudity that is modeling work. I'll hit it with some primer after it's on the model since the rear needs a new touch up:


This is as far as I've ever gotten detailing in HO Scale, and I'm about to go into uncharted territory after that. Most of my work looks crude but it won't when it gets paint and clearcoat and weathered etc. I also have all sound files and details picked out. Both F9A&B's will be running ESU Lok Sound Direct Fit with the 567D3A Prime Mover, Copper Bell sound and the Nathan P3 Horn although the casting will be a Cal Scale P3U mounted Above the Engineers Side of the roof and all roof details minus the GPS dome, ANtenna's and Rotary Beacon base will be blue. Since I Have a pin vise coming next month too I'm going to go ahead and mount the Housing on the F9B for the reversing lights and once that's glued in place, I'll have a professional drill through it, put a lens on it and mount a cool warm LED into place. Most of the wiring and lighting is out of my area of skill and I'm willing to admit that.

I also have some other plans next week for the battery Box/Fuel Tank barring that I can get my hands on a mini hacksaw. A Hacksaw? Well you'll just have to stay tuned til my parts show up Til Than.....Follow the Pack.

-DragonFyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

 

I went back and read your part about the coupler height on the 9B. If you haven't fixed it already, I would try putting an overset shank Kadeem on it. With the shank on the top of the coupler, it will set it lower than the draft gear.

 

Wow I hadn't even thought of those couplers. I was looking at the washer system that was shown on TSGMultimedia. This makes it a lot easier since I'm going to have to screw the couplers back into the locomotive anyways. When I pick up the powered chassis, I'll pick a pair of the overshanks up and give them a test run. That should fix the problem. Sadly as said before the Stewart Close Coupling Kit leaves a lot to be desired since it doesn't spring back very well, or maybe my kit was missing something (but I'm pretty sure I hadn't missed anything). I figured that if the couplers stay level with each other, I shouldn't have much issue taking corners since they'll be straightened back out anyways. We'll see in time.

-DragonFyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator

UPDATE: Okay so peeking around Kadee's website I figured out what went wrong. In my conversion Kit was supposed to get (years ago mind you) one set of those 6 piece sets with a 35 for the F9A and 3 normal #5's with standard draft box for the F9B and F9A Rear. I didn't get the latter.. so What I'm going to do is order a set of #5's with the draft box and coupler springs. install and recheck the height. If all is good great. Otherwise I'll order a set of #58 Overset shanks and fix the problem that way. Looks like next month's detailing post is going to be a busy one. Don't you love it when you get products missing stuff. Ah well. Good thing I checked as the parts list rises.

 

How about when parts fall out of your hand during filing and go missing in action? Haha, so one more minor update, I don't know where the Door frame/diaphragm went for mounting my F9B back to back with the A Unit. It's a big pice and it's just gone. I've looked everywhere. So Now I have to order a second set of daiphragms and ANOTHER F8B Kit. Problem is, the Super B Unit Detail Kit from Details West has the doors (that I'm putting on my A and B Units) but not the Door Frames. You have to order the A/B Standard detail kit to get the door frames. Why DW, Why? I'll have 2 doors leftover after all this. Oy. Well and One door frame so I'll just buy a powered Steart A Unit, swap shells/couplers and put the door/frame spares on the dummy A and sell that.

That being said, the Fuel Tank Skirts, B_Unit Detail Kit and the mini hacksaw will be in september. I have Renn Faire, Star Trek Las Vegas (My first one wooot), Milwaukee Irish Fest AND my cousin's birthday part at Six Flags next month so the detai lbudget has been .....derailed. The Snubbers/Kadees/Speed Recorder are still being planned though. Ah the joys of the hobby, I should have known once I hit the point of no return anything and everything that can go wrong will Lol.

-DragonFyreGT
Blackwolf Mountain Owner/Operator