Model Railroading > Cannon 36" fans

I know a lot of folks eagerly awaited the arrival of the Cannon 36" radiator fans, so I thought I'd post a note here about what I found while building my first 8 for IAIS GP7M 400 and GP16 495, hoping it'd save others some time.

Under the "Grill Forming" step, the instructions state to "Place the grille etching over the center pin of the Lower Forming tool (4) with the word "top" on the etching facing up. At 46 years old, I know my eyesight is dimming, but even with glasses AND my magnifying lamp, I still couldn't see any evidence of the word "top" on the grill etching. Consulting my photos of IAIS 400, I found the first attached pic showing that the "spokes" of the grill should diverge from the center cap angling toward the left/counterclockwise. So, if you can't locate the top of the grill according to the instructions, just be sure to orient your Cannon grill according to the photo below and you'll be fine.

As you press down on the grills in the forming tool, I found it really helpful to put the forming tool base on a hard surface and just pressing on the top of the tool. Trying to use the tool by pressing it between my fingers left a few wrinkles in the outer grill rim, but they disappeared once I pressed down on a hard surface instead.

I found a bit of flash on my fan bases, both on the bottom and between the spokes, but it was easily cleaned up.

Second photo is of my in-progress model of the 400.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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Joe
Thanks for the plug on the fans. When I had the instructions printed, the test samples for the etchings did say "top", however in the process of making the production etchings it became necessary to modify the art work and only have a letter "t" there to keep the etching from failing during the forming process. Of course by then the instructions were done.

Glad to see you worked it out.

Dave Hussey
Cannon and Company

Great that you shared your findings. Thank you. I am one who has waited for these fans and am glad to hear you are satisfied with your assembly. Another great product engineered by one of the best in the business - Dave Hussey.

Rick

dh30973 Wrote:
> ...however in the process of making the production etchings it became necessary to modify the art work and only have a letter "t"
> there to keep the etching from failing during the forming process. Of course by then the instructions were done.
>
> Glad to see you worked it out.
>
> Dave Hussey
> Cannon and Company

Thanks for the clarification Dave. I'm glad to hear that maybe my eyes aren't as bad as I thought. :-)

By the way, someone on the Proto-Layouts list was asking what these fans were replacing on my models, so I put together the attached comparison pic showing the prototype, some of the P2K fans I'm replacing, and the new Cannon offering. The P2Ks improved with some of their later models, but I think it's still well worth the money and time to replace them with Cannons.

If anyone would care to pass that pic on to other forums/lists, it's also at http://www.iaisrailfans.org/gallery/IAIS-400-GP7M/Fans .

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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Are you able to say how these parts compare to the Highliner/Genesis fans?

I don't have any Genesis Geeps. I've seen pics on Athearn's site (e.g., http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG62470 ), and I believe the fans look much better than P2K, but to me, the caps look a little "off" in the photos, like they're not fully seated on the grills or something. Perhaps someone who has one can comment.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

iaisfan Wrote:
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so I put together the attached comparison
> pic showing the prototype, some of the P2K fans
> I'm replacing, and the new Cannon offering.

Thanks for that comparison picture. The thinness of the spokes on the Cannon fan are what do it for me. Definitely a big improvement!

- Jeff Carlson

I think so too Jeff. I still can't get over how these class up a P2K Geep.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd