Model Railroading > Kitbashed Phase III RS3

I’m basing my HO layout on the east end of the C&NW’s Alco line in southern Minnesota in the 1976 time era, and I need lots of Alco diesels.  Here is an example of what I’m doing to build a realistic motive power fleet.  The prototype for this engine is CNW 1554 (2nd) which was acquired by the C&NW with the Litchfield and Madison in 1958.  Built as L&M 303 in August of 1956, it was the last RS3 built.
 
This is a Stewart/Bowser Phase RS3 shell on an Atlas RS3 chassis.  This was one of the early yellow box Atlas RS3s made by Kato in Japan.  I used the Atlas cab as I found their cab to be more authentic.  Back in 2007, I built a Phase II RS3 using the same process.  You can find my TO posts on that project by searching the title “Kitbashed Phase II RS3”.

1. Prototype photo by me in June of 1974 near Rochester, MN.
2. A crop of the hatch over the prime mover.I’m not sure if this is the standard design on all Phase III RS3s or if it’s a railroad shop modification. Photo by me in May of 1977 near Kasson, MN.
3. The bottom view showing the frame mounting points. The fuel tank and air tanks are scratch built and have lead cores for added weight.

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4. A close up of the fuel tank.

5. My cheap and dirty decoder installation.

6. Finished assembled model.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/16 18:35 by CNW.

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7. Close up of the hatch over the prime mover.  The flange was made with a piece of .003” brass attached with CA.

8. Close up of front pilot details.The footboards are made from etched roof walk material and brass bar.  The end handrails are all scratchbuilt from brass.  The side handrails are made using Smokey Valley #108 stanchions.

I will post more pictures after it's painted.

Dennis

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/16 19:50 by CNW.

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Very Nice.  I sent Lee English the 8' Alco Erecting Drawing for these, so soon we will have really nice ones out of the box..
 

Your modelling skills are off the chart. Always love seeing your work-well done!

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

Great stuff as usual Dennis.
Regards,DK

Dennis,

  Very nice work, good photos also.

Ed

Nice work Dennis!  I always love seeing what you've been up to.

I was literaly thinking the other day that I hadn't seen a post from you in while, and then there is this fabulous model, with equally nice photography.  Just super stuff, as always!

Elizabeth

Seconded.

- Jeff Carlson 

algoma11 Wrote:
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> Your modelling skills are off the chart. Always
> love seeing your work-well done!

Beautiful work.

Warren

Amazing work for sure and thanks for sharing. With that stated, I will say the obvious. It would be a real shame not to put sound in that unit. Alco sounds have come a long way and it would be naked without sound.

Only my opinion and nothing more. Well done.

Bruce

Really, really nice modeling and it looks like some solid research to work from.  Neat work.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Gary B.
Waverly, NE

Wonderful you have done a great job on this unit

 

Excellent.  Thank you for sharing!


-Tom

brfriedm Wrote:
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> Amazing work for sure and thanks for sharing. With
> that stated, I will say the obvious. It would be a
> real shame not to put sound in that unit. Alco
> sounds have come a long way and it would be naked
> without sound.
>
> Only my opinion and nothing more. Well done.
>
> Bruce

Yes, I was tempted to put a Tsunami Alco 244 decoder in this one.  I love the sound produced by the current generation of sound decoders but I have a hard time with the prime mover sound based on the speed of the model.  I've tried manual notching on a Tsunami and other work arounds, but it all seems like a lot of button pushing.  I'm not intending to bash sound in any way; I'm just holding out for now.  Maybe future technology will utilize a motor amperage sensor to determine the load on the drawbar of the locomotive?

Thank you, to everyone for the compliments on my work!

Dennis

Very nice work. Pleawse show us the engine when it is painted. What did you use to attach the brass stanchions and foot boards to the locomotive?

Dirty little decoder install indeed! Good job keeping it tidy. The footboards are great and look better than any available aftermarket part.

Have you checked out the Tsunami 2 line of decoders? I'm sold and will be dropping one in my GP35 build soon.

Posted from Android

Beautiful work no doubt - can't wait to see it painted and done.  I like the Stewart RS3 shells with all the available phases, however...  I've always felt that the roof contour of these shells is too rounded - look at the prototype photo & you'll see the difference.  The roof comtour on the Atlas RS3 is more accurate in my opinion.  Now Bowser is going to release the RS3 phase ll soon I'm told with the Hammerhead & phase lll units to follow sometime next year.  Curious to see how these will look & if they're going to use the old Stewart shells or start with something new.

The LoKsound Alco 244 sound decoder is far superior to the Soundtraxx Alco 244.  TCS Alco 244 isn't bad either, but the LokSound version makes you think you're standing trackside next to the real thing.