Frame painting

Before moving on to the final piece of this build, I’m going to get the frame, fuel tank and trucks prepped and painted before finishing up with the detailing of the deck. Since these will get weathered, I need these to dry thoroughly. First thing I do is glue the fuel tank to the frame. I used Barge cement to glue the fuel tank. I let that sit for several hours while the cement cures some. I then give the frame a bath using 70% alcohol. I use a soft thick brush to do the scrubbing honors. I also did the gear housings and truck frames. I let these dry and check them for any oil residue that never came off.

I will paint the frame with Floquil. I will add white to the black to give me a weathered base. I just add enough white to blind the black not turning it Guilford gray. I don’t use weathered black from Floquil, for me it’s not the right color I want. I don’t paint the gear housings or bottom gear caps. When these where grit blasted, the grit gave the housing a nice weathered look. I will add more weathering highlights to these. If I didn't add details to the truck frames, I wouldn't be painting those either. To thin the paint, I use lacquer thinner. My mix ratio is 60% paint, 40% thinner. I’ll make several smooth thin coats at about 16 psi. I will let these dry a good week until I can’t smell the paint anymore. Then, I will start the weathering process. So while the frame and its components are drying, I will finish the detailing of the deck.

Yes I was referring to Cannon. Cary is manufactured by Bowser and I don't know if they still do. Todd Shoffler

Todd, Cannon still makes their cabs, I'm not sure about the Cary version. Actually, I don't recall a Cary version(Bowser).

Deck

Now it’s time to get this project completed by making some mods to the pilots and the deck. I’m going to start with the front pilot by cutting away the front foot boards and the screw bump flush to the pilot. I also clean up the coupler pocket by removing the lower lip of the pocket. I sand the bottom face of the pocket smooth. Next, I shave away any foot board details sand smooth the area flush to the pilot. For the rear pilot, I just remove the lower lip of the coupler box, and clean that up.


Next, using the template from the DW 155 snow plow, I mark the location and drill the holes for the snowplow. After fitting the plow to the pilot, I remove any casting lines on the plow and clean it up with 400 grit sandpaper. I then use a #80 drill bit and drill the holes for the plow grab irons in the locations provided. I bent my grabs out of .012 brass wire. I used CA to glue these in place.


Now if you remember, I’m replacing my over sized Kato handrails with brass wire. So the following mods reflect that option. I open up the holes on both pilots where the Kato handrail ends went in; I used a #56 drill bit. I used .047 styrene rod wet it down with liquid cement and pushed the rod into the holes. I nip these close to the pilot but not flush. I’ll nip the back side later. I’ll let these set up overnight before cutting the plugs flush to the pilot. Now, I’m going to plug the holes for the handrails at the steps. I don’t need to drill these out, .025 rod and liquid cement was a good fit. I push the rod in until it stops and Nip of the excess. Next, I use a #79 drill and drill the holes for the MU hoses and main air hose.
Now, I’m going to plug the slot on the deck where the Kato drop step mounted into. I used .020x.030 styrene fitted and cut to length. I used CA to glue those in place.


If you’ll notice, I have drilled 2 holes for the placement of Smokey Valley deck stanchions. I can’t use the inner stanchions from the Kato set unless I pin them to the deck. Unfortunately, there’s no true bottom for the Kato Stanchions to drill into. There’re just posts. Now, you can go ahead and use a SMV handrail kit if you like. You do have to plug the holes along the deck and re-drill for the SMV’s. I just have extra SMV stanchions that I can use for this project. But my choice was to re-use the Kato stanchions since I do have a drilling jig for them. You can just buy the SMV stanchion set without the railings. Walthers does carry the SMV kits. Or, just use the Kato handrails as is. It’s your Choice.
To drill the holes in the deck for the two center stanchions, I made a simple jig out of a 3x5 index card. I take a 3x5 card and tape it to the top rear porch deck. I then turn the deck upside down on the edge of the bench. With a pencil, I trace the outer edges of the deck and pilot; don’t forget to mark the step areas. Remove the card from the deck and cut out the tracing. From the outer stanchion to center stanchion it’s .273. Then I mark .018 from the edge of the anti-climber to the center stanchion mark. Now we have the locations for the holes to be drilled. I tape down the jig and drill the 2 holes using a #64 drill bit. For the front pilot, you have to cut out a small section on the jig to fit the top of the deck. I took a sample pic of the jig and how I placed it.

When the plugs set up overnight I cut them flush and sand them smooth to the pilot. For the step well plugs, I just cut them flush. Now I take a sharp pointer and locate center on all plugs. For this project I will be using .012 brass wires for the handrails. I drilled all handrail locations with a #79 bit. I made the holes a little bigger to allow the CA to flow in.

Next I’m doing some work under the deck. I’m going to remove a group of handrail pockets on the engineer’s side. By removing these, the Cannon air tank will sit flush underneath the deck.


On the left side of the deck, there’s no need to remove anything. Instead, I have to build up the air tank support for that side. First, I’m going to make some pads to match the handrail pockets depth. I will be adding a strip of styrene across the pockets and onto the pads. When the styrene is glued in place, this will provide full support to the air tank and will make the deck more ridged. Next, I cut and add 2 pieces of .040 x .080 styrene and glue them with liquid cement to the underside. These will be the base of the pads.


To add the top pads, I measure .270 from the side sill and make a location mark. The pad dimensions and placement are below. The pad placement is for the support strip will sit flush end to end. I use liquid cement to glue down the pads.



With the pads in place, this makes the pads level to the top of the stanchion pockets and will add support for the .080 x .060 x 1.895 styrene strip to lie across. I glued the styrene strip to the pads using liquid cement.


Now I’m going to do some work to the blower duct on the deck. The Kato duct is missing the length wise weld seam. Adding this seam is really not an easy task to do. So what I do is, I use a small General steel ruler, I first draw a line across the length of the duct as a guide. I tape the ruler down as an aid, but the ruler still has to be held in place, if not it will move. I gently pull my scribe across following the ruler. I’ll do this several times until I get a nice deep scribe about .005 to .007. I remove the ruler and gently continue to pull across the scribed line again to just clean it up. That’s usually when the scribe moves off the line and scratches the side of the deck. No big deal, it happens, the scratches can be filled and sanded.

To continue the scribing adventure, if you look at the top of the duct, you’ll notice that the tread plate is in sections. The blower duct has those same matching blocks. To add those sections to the blower duct, I use a machinist square and draw a line at each location where I will scribe downwards to the seam. I continue to use the square and replace my pencil with the scribe to add those separations. I smooth out the scribed seams with 600 grit sandpaper. These don’t have to be real deep like the main seam. If you look at prototype pictures, you’ll see weld spots all the way across the blower duct seam. I’m not going to create the spot welds instead I’m going to use Plastruct #90850 .010 styrene rod and fill that seam across. If the scribe is a least .005 in depth, the rod will sit in real nice and give the appearance of weld detail. I use liquid solvent to set the rod. Be very light on applying the solvent. It will melt the rod completely on you.


Now I’m going to add fuel cutoff switches to the side sills. At the same location as the molded Kato cutoff switches, I’m cut two .020 x .030 x .155 styrene strips, and attach them using liquid cement to the underside of the Kato switches. I center these under the cutoffs. This addition will have to sit overnight to dry along with weld seam.
After a night of drying, I use a 317 chisel blade and cut angles on each side of the cutoff switch extensions. The measurements I have are .140 at the top of the angle and .085 at the bottom. The width of the Kato cutoff is about .080. I used this as a guide to make my angles. When I was happy with my angle dimensions, I sanded away the Kato cutoffs. I made new cutoff plates with .005 styrene; I cut them .065 x .065 square. I placed a very light drop of liquid cement on the side sill and set the new plates in place.


I let the plates dry for an hour before continuing on with the project. You’ll also see I have a circle location marked in my pic for the future fuel cut off switch button. I’ll add that button later on in the build.

Next I’m going to setup to the Salem air filters. Now a ways back in this build, I marked the locations for the air filters in reference to the fuel tank. Now I did explain what had to be done if the DW air filter set is used. Since I’m using the Railflyer parts, set up is really simple. First I take .020 x .040 strip styrene and mark off .095 for length. From .038 on one end, drill a #75 hole in the center of the styrene. This will be the support bracket for the large Salem filter. Drill another hole .080 from the inside edge of the side sill at the location marked for the small filter. When I drill the hole for this, I place my finger over the area to be drilled so I can feel when the drill is about to break through. And since I’m not adding new deck plating, I don’t want that to happen.

Glad i am not doing an SD45 in N scale!!!! This is an incredible project. you have put an immense amount of dedication and thought into it. Really looking forward to seeing the final product!