Way back in the day I started scratchbuilding a GE 70-ton switcher. That never got off the ground, mostly because I absolutely could not make a cab I was happy with. But right around the time I took a break from the hobby Bachmann beat me to the punch with a ready-made 70T. They’re esteemed enough to be hard to find on the secondary market now, but I managed to snag a yellow unlettered unit in NIB condition. When I finally pulled the shell off the manufacturing date on the decoder was late 2015, but I’m pretty sure it had never been out of the box before I bought it. Once I put it on the track at the local RR club, it ran flawlessly. It’ll pull 7 cars without issue, which my featherweight scratchbuild attempt couldn’t manage. This is a good start, but I model the Southern Pacific, not the Painted and Unlettered. SP had a large fleet of 70-tonners, seemingly no two of which were alike, and none of which quite match whatever Bachmann based theirs on. Work will need to be done. The first order of business is getting the shell apart. As is Bachmann’s wont, all the details were glued on with gobs of CA glue. Despite the glue I was able to persuade everything off unbroken except for the front and back end handrails, whose bottom ends didn’t have any convenient angle to push or pry at without snapping them. Admittedly, I didn’t try TOO hard, because SP’s MU-capable 70 tonners had a different end rail design that I’ll have to scratchbuild anyway. A quick alcohol bath stripped off the yellow paint to reveal an equally yellow shell, and a little careful scraping and sanding removed the remaining glue blobs: And that’s where I stand. Figuring out what SP-specific details I’ll need to add, what Bachmann-specific details I'll have to fix, and how I can convert the EZ-Mate couplers (which are not EZ at all) to something a little nicer.
My first order of business is to deal with the stock couplers. It doesn't matter how good I make this engine look if I can't pull a train with it. The locomotive comes with EZ-Mate couplers, which are similar to McHenry couplers but slightly worse in every respect: L-R: EZ-Mate, Micro-Trains, McHenry. The EZ-mates are oversized enough that they don't always couple to MTs without some persuasion, and getting them uncoupled is even worse. And frankly, they look goofy on such a tiny engine. In order to make my life a little harder, Bachmann opted to mold the coupler mount into the shell rather than having a separate coupler box: I can't find much info online about converting these to MT couplers, even though I'm sure it's been done. If all else fails, the McHenry couplers are nearly a drop-in replacement in the EZ-Mate coupler box, but I'd sure like to stick with MTs across the board.
I've put Z couplers on a couple other locomotives in the past, but I don't have any of them on hand anymore. I'm hoping there will be enough room for 905 Z couplers on this project too, but I don't have any on hand to measure, and the LHS didn't have any. But if I could fit regular N-scale MTs on my scratchbuild, maybe there's hope here.
Here is what I did with my Bachmann 70 tonners. I tied to get as close to the photos I was working from. For the couplers, I borrowed an idea from Mr. Straw or Mr. Stahl (Can't remember exactly. And, it may have been neither one -- the idea is not mine) So - I used Micro Trains passenger car couplers number 1017. Cutting off the "tail" and gluing the coupler box to frame. The coupler box has to be the older style - Looks like the new may use a modified MT 1015 box. and - here are the end results. #5107 #5101 I also swapped out Bachmann's decoder for a Digitrax DZ123MO (This is on one of my 44 tonner's - end result is the same) - much better motor control. Thanks, Wolf
Hot damn those look nice! I'm gonna have to keep that coupler trick in mind, if the Z scale couplers don't end up fitting. What sort of material did you use for the walkway above the radiator hatch on 5101? That seems to be the consensus. I guess if you're gonna make some modelers unhappy, you might as well make them all unhappy.
Thank you!! For the screen above the radiator of 5101 I used some really fine wire mesh. "I don't believe the Bachmann model matches any prototype. Jason" Correct Jason, that's why I wrote - I tried to get "close" to photos that I was working from. Yet another N Scale compromise. Thanks, Wolf
A little progress made. I filled in some of the unnecessary holes in the body (horn, handrails, etc.) along with the extra vent on the left side. I also shaved down the GE marker lights and added SP-style marker housings at the corners of the hood. I'm not sure how I'm going to add the lenses to them, but since MV lenses have disappeared off the face of the earth and the marker lights are unspeakably tiny, I might just settle for a dab of silver paint. I also finally found some clear pictures of the bent sheet metal bracket that holds the number boards above the cab windows. This would be a breeze to make if I had the ability to produce my own etched metal parts, but I am not so lucky. I suppose I'll try cutting them out of phosphor bronze by hand. Also in this photo, note the grab irons on the hood in front of the cab door. Some of SP's 70-tonners have grabs there. Some have grabs at the front of the hood instead. Some have both. There's no rhyme or reason to them that I can find, so I guess where I put them on mine depends on how many grab irons I feel like installing. But in the meantime I have some couplers and wire for the handrails on the way.
As I suspected, the 903 Z scale coupler boxes are too long to fit in the tiny space between the pilot and the truck. They'd have to either stick way out in front of the pilot, or prevent the truck from pivoting. And the MT 1017s at the LHS looked to be the bulkier new style. I suppose I'll live with McHenrys or Accumates until MT embraces the whisker spring and stops making their coupler boxes so gosh darned long!
While I puzzle over the number board and coupler problems, I picked up a pair of round-nose pliers and started working on the end handrails. Not shown: the small pile of misshapen rejects I accumulated before I got two that looked sort of correct. I'm glad I have a lot of wire, at this pace I'm gonna need it.
Well, technically, there is not a single model of anything that matches the prototype, if you inspect closely enough. The brakes don't actually work, for example. The air hoses don't carry actual air. I could go on...
My first attempt at soldering the handrails didn't go so hot (no pun intended). Getting everything in place and soldered together was easy enough, but as soon as I tried to test fit the soldered rail assembly in place the joints started coming apart. The standard tin/lead solder I use just isn't strong enough to withstand the constant slight bending involved in the process. Anyone have any suggestions for a sturdier way to join phosphor bronze?
All I've managed with the handrails is making my pile of rejects larger, but in the meantime I did add a new horn, start on the walkway, and cut some number board brackets. I'll need to solder wire pins onto the number board brackets to mount them securely, but for now a big blob of sticky tack will have to do.
I've been slowly picking away at this project in between weathering rolling stock, and Ian has given me an extra day off to really make some headway. I’ve settled on road# 5120, the second-to-last 70-tonner to be retired by SP. With a concrete goal in mind and three blurry reference photos in hand I’ve: • Drilled lots of holes everywhere for grab irons, wind deflectors, etc. Most of these parts won’t be permanently installed until after the shell is painted. • Worked on the drop steps/MU plugs. I’m hoping to find a more detailed option for the MU plug than just a slice of styrene rod, but those sort of fine detail parts seem to be rarer than unicorn farts these days. I can’t even find half of BLMA's products anymore. The drop step itself is only held on with friction for now, so I can take it off when I paint to save some headache. • I searched high and low for a solution for the non-standard lift tabs on the sides of the hood, before finally finding one: BLMA modern EMD cut lever brackets. The shape isn’t quite exact, but the difference is miniscule enough that at 1/160 no one will know. And they’re stainless steel, which should withstand my klutzy abuse. The good news is, each cut lever set includes some extra brackets. The bad news is, even with all my spares I still came up one bracket short. The worse news is, Atlas/BLMA have redesigned this cut lever set with new brackets that are a totally different shape. Anyone have some of the originals lying around? I can't hide the missing lift tab behind the smokestack forever You can see how skewed some of the handrails are. I'm about ready to admit defeat on those. I also sanded down the seams on the sides of the cab and reshaped the edges. Before is on the left, after is on the right. It's a small detail, but the smooth curved edges of the little GE switchers are so iconic that these seams stood out like a sore thumb to me. Now I can drill holes for the sunshades. Oddly enough, 5120 has angled metal sunshades instead of the canvas awning-style sunshades on all of SP's other 70-tonners. Considering how tattered the canvas ones always looked, it's a smart change! As I get closer to decal time, a horrible new concern has occurred to me: what size of lettering did SP use on these? I have a suspicion the 'Southern Pacific' lettering is smaller than on a regular road unit, but Microscale only makes SP switcher lettering in orange. But that's a problem for future me, right now I'm still a couple of #80 holes and a hurricane away from being ready to prime.
Yellow, goodbye… With most of the major details added, it's time to start painting. A coat of primer took care of the glaring yellow plastic. Better yet, it revealed very few spots in need of sanding and/or filling. And now I face a conundrum: where's the paint? My old go-tos for railroad colors were Polly Scale and Scalecoat II, which are now discontinued and horribly expensive, respectively. Do I dare try and mix accurate SP colors using non-RR hobby paint? Or do I bite the bullet and spend $50 on two bottles of Scalecoat?
If you haven't given them a try, take a look at TCP paints. They are an acetone based paint, they dry glossy just like Scalecoat. Covers very well. Much cheaper in comparison. I've been using TCP since Floquil went away and really like it. SP Dark Lark Gray Tru Color Paints
You've reminded me , I have a bottle of Tru Color Concrete I picked up for another project and never used. So I thinned some with my usual primer and sprayed it onto some scraps, and it seemed to go on really well. I'll have to pick up the SP colors from the LHS tomorrow!
Speaking of primer, when I started my recent GP35 project, I picked up some light primer from them as I had a couple of GP35 shells that were molded in black. The primer went on very well right out of the bottle with no thinning. It covered extremely well. Just keep one thing in mind when using TCP, they say it'll spray right out of the bottle, but depending on how long the bottle has set, the acetone seems to dissipate and will need to be re-thinned. I had a bottle of Rock Island Maroon and Yellow that was pretty thick, no way to spray it. But I added straight acetone to them and viola, good as new. I've also found that if thinned even more it works better and still covers nice. I've used it on the 5- U33B's and now the 7- GP35's with great results. Good luck.
