OK, well, you're probably right. I need another one for my #7905 U28CG, and that thing was such a complete PITA to make it would be just as easy to take the U30CG one back off and use it as a master to do it in resin as to make another one from scratch. So count me in, give me a week or so.... probably $5 including postage. email me at the address on the randgust.com webpage if you want one and I'll start building a list.
OK, I'm in for four of the resin fuel tanks, i will go to your Randgust web page and send you an email from there with a firm order. Thx, Randgust.
Got the molds done last night, tore everything apart this morning to inspect, looks good. First test part tonight. I could probably make this a lot easier with fewer mold parts if I didn't insist on any visible molding lines...its become a matter of pride. Don't know if you guys know this, but using a scratchbuilt part as a master pretty much permanently trashes the part, by the time I glue in the molding gates, air leads, and add-ons,... it never can go back on a model again. That's why people that ask to use one of my models as a pattern usually get the "are you NUTS???" response. So I'm in just as much as you guys now, if I ever want a fuel tank again.
You can put me in for two sets of fuel tanks. P.M. me or hpwrick@yahoo.com a message with regards to monies needed. For those interested in the prototype. I bumped into this on You Tube and thought you might enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgZ77yecB5M&feature=related
Randgust, thx for the parts and the sacrifice of the scratchbuilt U30CG fuel tanks. I'd no idea the molding process would trash the scratchbuilt master. We're here supporting you with our money to make up for it. Rick, great videos, thx for posting that.
I'll document this here...basically so you can understand why even simple stuff like resin casting can make ya nuts. First test, well, pretty good except for I need to add more air bleeds. Got trapped air bubbles up around the fuel intake, repairable, but annoying. Something as simple as that fuel intake 'nub' did it, so I have to modify the mold to bleed that off, try again. Close...
OK, here's the shots of the tank casting. There are two here, one painted in primer gray so you can see it and one in the 'out of the mold' condition...
Now the next problem is that the Trix frame is much different from the Kato. The fuel tank that is on the 'stock' U30CG is a different design, shorter, and attaches differently: As-is, out of the mold, it is too long, and at the top, too narrow to fit on the Trix frame. I'm game to try it, heck, I'll chop one up and fit it AND sell the junk frame I hacked up to demonstrate the idea. The question is ... does anybody care? I think it will work by cutting that 'lip' off of the stock Trix frame by the circuit board, and cutting the new cast resin tank a big shorter...
Randgust, thx for the shots and THX for doing the Kato mechanism U28CG / U30CG fuel tanks for me and those of us who want it. Superb work and really appreciate the time savings. Well worth the $. I'm still working on my three U30CG's.... got the decaling nearly done, after that working on the grab-irons and wire handrails... slowly but surely... when I get to another noteworthy point I'll post some pics... thx.
Hi, Jerry, so you're doing two U30CG's, using the Trix mechanism? I have 3 Trix U30CG mechanisms that I won't be using for anything, let me know if you need any spare parts. .
I find it fascinating that an obscure diesel from the early 1970s has such a following. One of the things I love about TrainBoard.
It IS interersting, but remember...Cowl/full carbody unit, warbonnet paint, and it pulled the Super Chief!...warbonnet ALWAYS sells!...look at all the fantasy pieces painted in warbonnet colors over the life of model railroading that never actually wore warbonnet paint, or were even ATSF... These actually walked the walk (well...not really...the problems are well documented) Other modelling hobbies exhibit the same kind of 'popularity' focus...goodness knows in WWII modelling, aircraft and armor, anything with a cross and swaztika sells!...that one used to always befuddle me...not that i didn't think the German aircraft were any less 'beautiful', and, of course...technology was rushed to the front in the form of the jets...but there are guys out there building kits of ' living only on the drawing board' type of aircraft because they have crosses on them..."Luft 46"...kind of a 'what if' the war lasted long enough for these aircraft to actually be produced.. not unlike us lettering locomotives for our own fictional railroads... But, again, it's tough to not smile at the sight of a warbonnet! (I'm battling the desire to add a few Athearn FP45's to my roster, even though they are completely out of my modelled era!) Randall, John, those fuel tanks add the final signature to a really well done project! Bruce
I think that Trix did exactly what we WISH some of the modern manufacturers would do, when you remember. I can, I've been at this for a while. They did the investment in the U28C...gee, according to Spookshow back in 1970. Well-designed for the era. The U28CG didn't come along until 1972. Now if you look what they did the ONLY investment made was in tooling for the shell. They designed the entire thing around the U28C mechanism without modification. OK, so it's like 4" too short. Big whoop. Even this many years later most of us can't spot it. It's not so much that they produced an oddball as that they capitalized on the tooling investment they already made with another option. Now, we can't get Kato to pull the trigger on some other body on the NW-2, even though it's painfully obvious to everybody it works. And there's umpteen other locomotives out there with similar issues, where the mechanism (for all intents and purposes) is already out there. I'm the guy sticking an Intermountain SD45-2 shell on a Kato SD40-2 chassis and that works great, how long did that take? Same with the F-45 on the SD45 chassis! If you beam back to 1972, there was NO six-axle EMD chassis long enough for the FP45 except that pancake-motor Lima mess, that barely ran. Mehano had an SD45, Lima had the FP45. Trix had the U28C. If they wanted a six-axle passenger unit, this was it. Not a bad plan, in retrospect. The ones I got a kick out of were the Amtrak-painted U30CG's that looked sorta-kinda like a P30CH. Close....
Randy, excellent recollection on your part. I can't be throwing up any pictures to contradict you....laugh:. Trix was actually the best performers of their time. They could out pull anyother locomotive, best in detail and ran smoother then anything else out there. If only they had kept up with the times. Even the F9's proudly pulled what I could make up of a Santa Fe Super Chief. More like the Grand Canyon but what the...well.
Somehow I came into possession of one of these that someone had custom painted for Milwaukee Road. I may have to drag it out and see if I can at least repaint it. Just what I need, another project.
Oh well, can't let you guys have all the fun. Thanks for the "how to" instructions. So far I have stripped the old paint off and painted everything silver. I went ahead and removed all the opaque windows and milled out the chassis on the inside. I will install glass later. I added an LED to light the lower headlights. Not sure yet if I will body mount the couplers, modify the fuel tank or add more ladder grabs on the nose. I cleaned up the mechanism and it runs quit nice for an antique.
Russ, looks good. Thx for the ideas you posted above, I hadn't thought about removing the opaque windows, but based on the photo above, that may look better and may be something to consider, as the real U30CG's all had a rather open look to their windows: http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/6/7/7/4677.1079229060.jpg http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/9/7/0/7970.1222355707.jpg I also noted your idea about putting an LED to light the lower headlights. Like you said, just what we need, another to-do to add to the project . Keep us posted on what you end up doing, knowing the nature/quality of your work, I'm sure all of us would love to see it.
The shell that I got from Verne had black-painted windows. He did such a nice job I decided to leave them, but normally I yank the Trix ones. He also did the weathering on the grilles. Tanks are leaving out the door all this week... Jim Hinds (Richmond Controls) made me up a light package for my FP45 several years ago (Atlas SD50 frame) and put two low nose headlights and a high mars light in it. The top red light apparently was only used for emergency use and as a trailing unit marker. I'm using my unit for trailing-unit work only so I don't have lights in it, but if you are putting it in the lead (and using DCC) that's my suggestion with any split-frame chassis conversion. I'm pretty sure the U30CG had the same light package spec'd by the ATSF as they had on the FP45. Years ago, when the Trix-chassis units were the backbone of my six-axle fleet, I had three of them converted over to SD45's with old Atlas shells. On those three (and on two more F-45's) I converted the "GE" fuel tanks over to EMD with a whole lot of styrene, squadron putty, and filing, plus some tubing added for the air reservoirs. You can fill in the Trix fuel tank shell to look right. If I could make it look EMD, well, anything is possible. Four of my current body shells (U36, U28CG, 2-F45's) date back to the Trix drive era, now mounted on Kato drives.
