Model Railroading > C&NW Oelwein Rebuild SD9 project

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a motive power project.  Recently, I’ve been able to spend some workbench time on this C&NW “Oelwein Rebuild” SD9 project.  The base model is Proto-2000.  The chassis was reworked with a Kato motor with flywheels and the shell was modified with a chopped nose and blanked over dynamic brake equipment. A herald was temporarily applied to the nose to make sure everything lined up properly and will be removed when I clean the shell before painting. The following details were used:
 
Cannon & Company - 36” cooling fans
Plano Model Products - end ladders, lifting lugs, lift rings
Smokey Valley - handrail stanchions
Hi-Tech Details - MU hoses
Detail Associates - exhaust stacks, front class lights, headlights, drop steps, cut lever brackets
Details West - Leslie air horn, Salem air dryer, roof beacon
Athearn - all weather window
Scratch built - handrails, snow plow, cut levers, grab irons, Prime E-bell, winterization hatch, jacking pads, sun shade, windshield wipers

I hope to start the painting soon and I will post more when the model is complete.

Dennis
 

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Amazing  craftsmanship Mr.E.!

Any chance of us learning about your scratch built plow? Is there a flat pattern, a trick for the curve...?

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO

We TO oldies know the finished product will be outstanding, because your work always is!

TJY

A former M&StL unit? I can't wait to see the final product as it is looking amazing already.

You do such crisp clean work.   Your other stuff has been nothing less than amazing.  Can't wait to see this one finished!

Another job well done! What did you use for the poling pockets?

Posted from Android

Hookdragkick Wrote:
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> What did you use for the
> poling pockets?

Model photos can bring out the defects in a model.  I didn't notice before, but the pictures make those polling pockets look huge.  They were shaved off a boxcar body.  I have since removed them, sanded them down to about half the thickness and reapplied them.  Is it better to just leave a detail off than to cobble something on?

Dennis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/20 20:09 by CNW.

rnb3 Wrote:
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> Any chance of us learning about your scratch built
> plow? Is there a flat pattern, a trick for the
> curve...?

I scratch built the plow because the prototype plow was shop built and has a unique shape.  Somewhere, I have a CAD pattern drawing that I made following prototype photos.  The curve was done by eyeball with a small pliers.

Dennis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/20 19:34 by CNW.

CNW Wrote:

I have since removed them, sanded them down to about half the thickness
> and reapplied them.  It is better to just leave a
> detail off than to cobble something on?
>
> Dennis

Leaving off a feature like that would keep me up at night. I'm glad you reconsidered and reapplied.

Posted from Android

Fantastic work

Mike Stewart

What a nice surprise to see this Dennis.  Great work, and photography, as always.  What did you use for the two front windows in the cab? Scratchbuilt windhshield wipers!  I can't see me ever trying to solder those two tiny wires together like that!  Yeah, close up photography is a great modeling tool, and a humbing experience.  I recently had occassion to butt-solder some railings, and consulted your description of how you did so on your U25B project.  Still, I didn't find it all that fun.  I did find that a small bit of sandpaper worked great for cleaning up a little excess solder.  Absent any Athearn/Scale Trains SD9 in the near future, I'll stick to a small stash of Smokey Valley handrail Ts on my next run at a couple, even though they don't look quite as nice.  That really is nice, clean work.  Can't wait for the painted photos!

Elizabeth

Agreed, great model and brass work. Post photos after painting, but glad you took these to show how much work paint hides. 

Betsy Wrote:
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>  What did you
> use for the two front windows in the cab?
The piece with the two front windows was scratch built.

> Scratchbuilt windhshield wipers!  I can't see me
> ever trying to solder those two tiny wires
> together like that!
Those two tiny wires were soldered together when they were long wires.  I solder them together while they are taped in position on a wood block and then trim them to length.  I built up my soldering skills during my career in the electronics industry, and kept them after retirement :-) .  My regulated temperature soldering station is helpful too and allows me to keep the temperature as low as possible.  I use paste flux (yes, I know is leaves a mess but there are products that will remove it easily) and minimal solder.  If a joint has too much solder, I take a piece of stripped small gauge stranded wire and dip it into the flux.  Then use it with the soldering iron to wick up excess solder (there are products out there specifically for that purpose; one is called Solder Wick).  An Xacto #16 blade or small file works good to remove or shape the solder joint.  I've been using WD40 Specialist Contact Cleaner as a flux remover as it is safe on plastics.  Before painting, everything gets a good scrubbing with Dawn dish soap in hot water.

Dennis
 

Do you think you could post a few photos on the drive train modification?  Modification done to mate the Kato trucks to the Proto 2000 frame and add the Kato motor and flywheel.  I would like to make the same modification to a Proto 2000 GN SD7/9.  Learning's from your experience would save me (and others) a lot of time. 

Engine looks fantastic work as always.  Extremely impressive work.  Looking forward to seeing the engine painted.

Thanks, Mark

Casselton Wrote:
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> Do you think you could post a few photos on the
> drive train modification?

Here are a few shots of the chassis and drive.  I actually used the Proto SD9 trucks as they run very smooth after disassembling, degreasing, cleaning and assembly with some good quality gear grease used sparingly.  The drive was built a few years ago but if my memory is correct I used the Kato drive shafts and couplers.  I may have drilled out the Kato universal coupler to make it fit the P2K worm shaft.  The motor is held in place with silicone glue.  I use lead sheet for ballast and try to keep the ballast balanced so each truck has the same load.  The decoder wiring is managed with a home made PC board.  I make the boards from blank PC board stock (bought on Amazon) and scribe the breaks in the copper with an awl.  The four pin socket is for the lighting wire harness from the shell.  As you can see I'm not into sound.

Dennis

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Thank you so much for posting the drivetrain photos.  Very helpful.
Regards, Mark

Well this looks just great.  Really impressive.

Jim

That's really nice and simple inside.  Don't see that much these days!

I regularly use the solder wick when I get a bit too much on the PIA/PSC stanchions, I was afraidn the butt-joints on a handrail would just come apart if I tried it on that.  There just isn't much surface to those joints.  I still use paste flux as well. A bit of acteone cleans up any residue quite nicely...

Elizabeth