With the knobs in place, a gauge was made using .010 x.125 styrene. I matched up 2 door knobs against the styrene and place a mark where the door knobs are located. I drilled 2 #69 holes through the gauge. I wanted the holes oversized just in case I made and error in measuring the widths of the knobs. When I place the gauge over the knobs, I took my #17 chisel blade across the gauge to cut the knobs evenly in length.

One of the details I pushed myself to do was the door latches on the hood. These look like a bunch of molded dashes across the doors; at least that’s what they look like to me. Below I have a pic of what they look like compared to the model.




Not being sure how this would turn out, I figured I’d give it a shot and see if it was worth the effort. But I truly wouldn’t know if it was all worth it until I painted and weathered the model. As it turned out in the end, I was happy with the results of my gamble.

First I sliced away the latches level to the doors and body. Then I drilled #87 holes on each end of where the latches were. I made my latches out of .006 brass wire and used round tip pliers to make half-moons, basically I made Alco lift rings.

When I inserted the wire through the holes, I would pull the wire through from the inside of the shell. This kept the loop close to the body and while doing this, the wires had to be cut flush to the inside of the body. There isn’t much room between the shell and the weight that goes over the motor. It’s a real tight fit in there. Once the wires were formed, I removed these one by one and dipped the ends into CA and set them back into their place.

Next in line was the cooling fan. From what I could see, the RDG S1's didn’t have the screen over the fan shroud. I did see some pictures of the S2’s with screens over the fan shroud. I don’t know for sure if the S1’s were delivered with them or not. The Reading could have removed them after they added walkovers over shroud. So I omitted the screen from my model.

I removed the cast fan from the hood, it wasn’t necessary but it would give me a little more breathing room for the electronics I’m adding. I made my louvers out of #4525 .030/.040 Evergreen metal siding. I used the metal screen that came with the model as template for my dimensions. There is a ledge where the screen rested on in the shroud; I made sure the louvers fit nicely by sanding any rough ends and test fitting in the shroud. When I was done, the next step was to get the louvers to fit lower in the shroud. To make that right, I sanded the inside ledge off flush to the shroud with a sanding stick. I removed enough material on all sides to allow the louvers to slide down below the lip of the shroud. I made sure the louvers were level across the shroud and glued it in place.

Another one of those missing details is the water filler on top of the hood. I used a PSC #48436 cored cast union for my water filler. The water fill on these units do not have a valve on them, they’re a straight pipe with a cap on it. I didn’t make a cap for mine; I just drilled a hole for it at a proper location and glued it in place. Below is a pic by Richard Wolfram from the top of an S1 and the model.

One thing I forgot to mention, I plugged the hole on the hood just in front of the cab. I guess it was for a hood mounted bell, I never bothered to check it out, just filled it.

Proto provides a shutter control rod with the extra parts they add in there box. For me it was too wavy and thick in diameter so I didn’t use it, instead I made my own using #14653 Plano eyebolts. These are scale 2 3/8 x 1 3/8 eyebolts. I first cut 3 pairs of eyebolts off their tree; I then cut them in half which gives me 6 eyebolts to use but I will only need 5. I glued the eyebolts in with CA. The locations were shown in an earlier pic within this section. For the control rod, I’ll add that during final detailing.

Next I’m using #4510 BLMA scale grab irons. The holes that are provided by Proto are too big in diameter for the scale grabs. Instead of plugging the holes, I used DA NBWs I had sitting around and glued these in all those holes. Having the bolt head detail for the new grab irons, I drilled #87 holes centered directly under those NBWs for the BLMA grabs. I glued the grab irons in with CA on the side of the hood only; I had to keep in mind the tight inside hood dimensions. The nose grabs will be added near the end of the body detailing when I make the curved grabs. I did bend a grab iron for the top of the nose and cemented that in place. .010 was used for that grab iron.



Next up I had to work on the sand valves and lines for the rear truck coming off the hood. Proto doesn’t provide for dual sanders on each side. Since I don’t have sanders that match the ones on the Proto model, I made my own.
The sand valves used on these early diesels were the same that was used on steam locomotives. Cal-Scale makes the valves but they’re a little to over-sized, PSC also makes them which are a little smaller in diameter. So I used the PSC valves #3414. Two of these valves have to be modified with longer lines that flow back to the rear truck. Looking at pictures, I carefully bent the valves to the desired orientation.

Photo credit Richard Wolfram.

I cut the lines to be replaced and filed the ends flat. I bent new lines from .020 brass rod and sized them up according to pictures. I re-drilled the hole for the Proto valve so the new valve line fits in. Now I test fit the valve with the line before I soldered them together to make sure my length and bend look right. When I was satisfied with how it all looked, I removed them from the shell and soldered the wire to the end of the valve.



Next, I took two more valves and orientated them for the front of the rear truck, then drilled open 1 of the old sander holes and drilled a new one for the other side. I test fit both lines together to make sure they both sat and looked like they should according to the prototype. I filed a flat on the backside of the valves so they would sit closer to the hood. Then I can also apply CA to them to help hold these in place through handling. Next, I glued them in place and trimmed the excess wire flush to the bottom of the hood.

Next I made the lifting lugs for the hood. I bent mine from .012 brass rod and glued them in place. They were trimmed tight to the inside hood.

Getting close to wrapping up the details on the hood, I made sure the number boards fit nice and flush and glued those in also.

Adding the remaining grab irons and making the curved body grabs was next in line. Having the right tools to bend the curved grab irons really helps. I made a special pair of needle nose pliers which I shared a picture of earlier. I have no prototype measurements for those curved grabs, bending them are all by eye and taking my time. The wire I used for the curved grabs is .010.

When I originally wrote my explanation on how to bend these curved grab irons became a bit confusing, it was long and extremely wordy. I re-edited my technique by making a curved grab and explaining the process with the help of pictures to keep this at a minimum. I also use this same technique when I make my curved grabs for the RS3s.


For the second bend I use my special tool. When I make my bends with the tool, the total drop down on the grab is about .030.