Hello Folks! Last year i took the opportinity to purchase one of the very last classic Bowser steam loco kits. This was an Pennsylvania Railroad Class A5 Shifter. This is what the box contains: Chassis, boiler, cylinder blocks, gearbox, tender body and some more parst are made of die cast zinc alloy. A few parts are made of white metal. But the most ones are lost wax brass parts. The kit contains also Motor, wheels, gears, screws and stamped sheet metal parts. At first i removed all flash and sprues. Then i assembled gearbox, motor and mainframe. Screwing all together, assemble wheels anf coupling rods. Feeding the motor temporary by wire clips and made the first test run. As for small loco a good current pick up is essential, the A5 got a 3-point bearing for the axles. Therefore i milled the second axle bearing in the frame. Only on a length of app. 1mm in the middle of the bearing i did not mill. Here the loco bears on the rear pair of drivers. You must not mill the sides of the bearing as there is not any for and aft motion allowed of the axle in relation to the frame. Now this axle can swivel in vertical manner. All four wheels will stay now on the rail on uneven tracks. Then i rivetet the valve gear, a riveting tool was enclosed in the kit and mounted it. A test run again and after a little justage it works very well. Mounting the body to the chassis i remarked the boiler was sitting too low on the front end. So i made raisers of 1mm styrene sheet and glued it on top of the cylinder blocks and exaust steam pipes. Now the body sits correct horizontally. Next thought was the very dangerous cab. There is no backhead detail nor even a backhead. Also there is no cab floor. (to be continued) Greetings Lutz
PRR A5 part 2 Loco and tender with mounted bodies. The preview of things to come. I made the decision not to use the heavy Andrews Tender Trucks included in the kit. Instead ordinary PRR freight car trucks as shown on this photo: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/prr643s.jpg Also on this photo you can see the framework of the loco. The Bowser kit shows there a massive cast rear end. So i tried to detail the rear frame by adding styrene stripes: As there is no look through between boiler and frame because of the gearbox, i added some leaf springs on the sides of the gearbox.
Amazing! I hope that you will continue posting photos of this assembly. Nice job. I am also amazed that you found the kit intact. Isn't it rare to find a Bowser kit that you can assemble? Thanks.
PRR A5 Part 3 O.K. this kit was overcomplete. There were no missing parts. On the opposite there were 3 (three!) coupling rods, you can see them in the plastic bag, a second brass bell and some useful parts extra. But no brake shoes. In the instruction sheet they are not listed too. That was also fact on my other Bowser kit of a PRR L1. Living in Germany i ordered it at my local dealer. At least it lasts about 8 months until delivering to Germany depending on Bowser. I am glad i got it. As i wrote there is no backhead or cab floor, so i had to do a little bashing of my own: The solution was styrene sheet. It was 1.0mm and for the rounded portion 0.5mm material. No blueprints were available, so i took photos to made it "looking right". The floor was also slightly raised as the cab backhead suggests. For better mounting the body i milled the edge of the gearbox away. And on the motor bracket also so that the boiler backhead will fit. Then i detailed the chassis. In my srapbox i found some brass brake shoes of suitable seize and mounted it.
PRR A5 part 4 Hello ! Above: this is a shot for comparison. Look for the running boards beneath the smokebox. By comparing prototype photos with the model you see the running boards are moulded to the smokebox. On the prototype A5 there is a gap and a mounting angle for the running board. So i milled the portions on the model away and made mounting angles from brass straps. A photo which shows the milled motor mounting block to made cleararance for the boiler backhead: Also you can see ash pan details made from styrene half tube. A new problem was how to fix the shell on the chassis. The solution i made were 2 screws, one in front as original, and one in the rear. For the rear fixature I glued a nut between 2 inside carved styrene rods. So the shell is easy lifted off the running gear if necessary for maintenance. Greetings Lutz (to be continued)
PRR A5 part 5 Hello! The next step was drilling almost "thousand" holes in the chassis and the shell for fitting the super detail parts. Mostly holes of diameters of 0,5mm , 0,8mm and 1,0mm and the zinc alloy of Bowser ist very hard too. You have to oil often the drills or they broke or get torn very quickly or more bad they stuck and broke. At first i detailed the running gear and chassis. Brake shoes were not delivered with the kit, so i mounted some suitable ones i had in my scrap box. Then i started detailing the shell. By comparison with prototype photos i missed som detail parts notz include in the kit. I misses the leverage for the reverse gear and i made one of styrene sheet. Also the lower end of the ashpans were missed. The solution was by cutting a length of plastic tube longitudional and glueing the halves beneath the firebox. The injector was missed too and i mounted one out of my scrap box. continued part 6
PRR A5 part 6 On this photo you can seen the modified running boards as described on part 4. The mounting angles are made of brass strips. Prototype photos are good for comparing your own work with the real thing. So i found some pipings and handles on the prototype not yet detailed on the model. I made some of copper and wire recyled from old electric cables. Compare the two photos above and look to the footboards. To get more close to the prototype i cut the old footboard off. Then i new ones of brass profiles by soldering 2 rectangular profiles to an L-profile of suitable length and glueing the new footboard. The couplers are Kadee #78 in her boxes glued in place after done some clearance work. So they are electically isolated. The head light. This was no deluxe kit an so no bulbs were included. There were brass and pewter castings for the headlights. To get them lighted i decided to make it with LEDs. This are "Golden Sunny White" 3mm LEDs. To make clearance i had to drill the lamp housings at the rear. The legs of the LEDs were insulated by pulling over thin insulating tubes stripped from electric wires. It is just you uninsulate a thin wire and take the insulate tube and pull it over the LEDs legs. 2 holes were drilled at the top of the smokebox for the legs to get inside the shell. Later after painting a cover made of clear styrene sheet will be glued to the front of the headlight. (to be continued) Greetings Lutz
SUH'WEET! I can't wait to see the finished product! I've only done one Bowser kit about 10 years ago. A Pacific. Took me the better part of a year. Great job on this little guy!
WOW I am amazed at the level of your work on this steamer. You have alot more skill and patience than I would for something like this. A true craftsman you are.
Hi, You have done a really great job on this engine. As for Bowser, they are taking orders for this engine and if / when they get enough orders they will make a run of them. The required number is not really that high - I think maybe 15 or so. After I saw how nice your build is going I called Bowser and put an A5 with the Super detail Kit and Valve Kit on order. I have been able to get 5 of the old Dock Sides and 2 of the old B6's - 0-6-0's this year doing that.
I Really want to get a B-6 kit, before they all run out...it's a lot of money though, for a switcher....sigh And I'd be replacing the boiler because I don't have any use for belpaires in my territory!
PRR Part 7 Hello Folks! Thank you for watching my report about the Bowser kit. The reason i doing this, it is hard to find any small switchers and in Europe, I live in Germany, very hard to get it. This A5 is the only 0-4-0 model you can say ist's a model loco and not a toy loco. So it is on 0-6-0 switchers. O.k. there ist the fabulous P2K 0-6-0 USRA, but it is a very "lightweight" 0-6-0. The Bowser A5 outpulls the P2K twice and tripple. The next part is the tender. Out of the kit box ist is only a heavy shell. There are two massive cast on columns to mount the trucks. I decided to modifiy this really heavy construction. At short: - making a bottom for the tender out of 0.5mm styrene sheet - remove the front mounting column, this will lighten the tender about several gramms - mounting Bowser plastic freight car trucks instead the metal Andrews type enclosed in the kit - coal bunker extension self made of 0,5mm styrene. I chose the 45° type made of planks. - the light encloses a 3mm warm-white LED - railing of 0,5mm steel wire for strenght - Kadee #78 coupler and box (to be continued) Greetings Lutz
This is a great thread. I'm really glad I saw it and tuned in. I have always wanted to try one of the Bowser kits, in particular - the Long Island G5. I've built a couple of Roundhouse models for friends and fixed a few of them and some similar (construction) Mantua models. For some reason I was always a little intimidated by the Bowser kits. I'll keep following along with this and hope my courage builds. Thanks Chris
Chris, if you havent gotten one of the G5 kits, its to late, Bowser has discontiuned all kits a few months ago. If you watch ebay close, set up a wanted post, you can probably find one if your patient. Its funny, the last year of production, It was said Bowser didnt sell a single kit, then they pull the plug and the kits that are out there have become gold plated price wise. The bidding wars on ebay are insane for some kits. They are not that hard to build, most is just busy work filing, drilling and mounting detail parts. Even the valve gear isnt that hard. If you have a nice small tack hammer and a small hobby anvil on your bench. I built the Challenger as my first kit and didnt have any issues with it. Its all about being patient and rechecking things, Tap the rivet a couple times then check it, you want the joint free to move, but not floppy loose. The building of the kit is the enjoyment that you will have when the hard work is done. I try to work on my kits a couple hours a week at the minimum so I dont forget where I am at. Sometimes my wife helps by gluing and holding parts till the ACC glue sets up. I am getting ready to start a PRR M1a Mountain and will be picking up a PRR T1 Duplex kit soon. So many of todays modelers have it so easy, but I think they miss out on what true Modeling really is. pulling it out of the box and running isnt modeling, thats playing with trains. Which is fine, but its the construction part that is so enjoyable. Mike
PRR A5 Part 7 O.k. it is time to continue. Test fit it together b n Testing if the shell can easy lift of for maintenance. A look to all plumbing and details that all these parts are properly fitted and do not interfere. And now it is time to make smoke signals with the soldering iron. This loco should not only look great, it should do switching duties also great with DCC. And my motto is: "Do not allow any chances for current pick up problems" And so the duty to do is clear: - Pick up from all 4 loco wheels - And from all 8 tender wheels. - Make shure all wheels keep contact to the rails. - Install a NMRA conform socket for a DCC decoder. There is enough room in the tender for a DCC decoder, so i decided to install the 8-point socket in the tender too. I am sorry, but this i have not documented by photographing. For 4 wheel current pick up from the loco i made wipers out of 0.5mm brass wire. Soldering it on an small piece of copper sheet and then glued on a piece of 0.3mm styrene sheet and this device was glued on the underside of the frame. The wipers pick up the current of the insulated wheels while the pick up from the uninsululated ones is done via the axle bearings. As i equipped the loco with a three point supension all 4 wheels will stay on the railheads and will make continous electrical contact and also perform pulling power. The theoretics you can read here: Scalefour Digest 41.0 'The principles of model locomotive suspension' Don't worry, but sroll down to chapter 7, that simplifies that theories. The tender trucks are similar bolstered. And coming back to the electics, there are 6 wires to install as conections between loco and tender: - 2 for current pick up, one to the wheel wipres, one to the frame - 2 for the motor - 2 for the head light. (to be continued) Greetings Lutz
Because a picture says more than thousand words, yesterday i made one: This photo shows the completed loco which had collected some mileage in service. Some chipping is unavoidable in rough shunting... But she pulls like a:bear-wink: Greetings Lutz
