Thanks everyone for your comments.
Sir Madog, if Bowser gets enough backorders, maybe they'll bring out another run of the K-4 and L-1 kits. The L-1 seems more likely to me, since so many others are already making the K-4. If you're good at looking around the internet, train shows and eBay, maybe you can find an unbuilt kit.
topcopdoc, sounds like you've still got some fun projects ahead. The super-detail kits were made up almost entirely from Cal Scale parts, and all of those are still available. Bowser also has the detail kit instructions and parts list on the A-5 page, so if you can't find a complete kit, you can still get all the individual parts.
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Darth,
You did a great job on the Bowser kit and thanks for the informative tutorial. There are still some Pennsy fans out there with Bowser kits still in the boxes.
I have completed the T1, E6, and half of the G5. The rest of my Bowser kits are still waiting.
It was unfortunate that Bowser stopped making the kits. I am still searching for the super-detail kit for the A5, just in case someone sees one.
Doc
you have build a mighty fine loco there
I wish I still could get a hand at a Bowser K-4 or L-1 kit. It is a shame they stopped making them!
JoeinPAWhat's your next adventure going to be?
I still have to finish my Tyco Chattanooga project, and I've got a couple brass diesels to paint. But as far as projects like this one, I'm not really sure what the next one will be.
FlashwaveMaybe you can clarify for me. IS Bowser completely out of the steam kits? or is parts still available? I ask because at some point I'm in need of both a 4-8-2 (or 2-8-2) and a 2-8-0 drive set. I was considering Bowser, and bilding the drive from a parts list, otherwise I'll head to NWSL.
They've stopped regular production of their kits, but they still do small runs if they get enough backorders. Their retail website shows that they still have a large stock of parts, so you should still be able to find at least most of what you need. The cost of individual parts does add up quickly, though. http://www.bowserorders.com/.sc/ms/cat/HO%20Bowser%20Parts
Maybe you can clarify for me. IS Bowser completely out of the steam kits? or is parts still available? I ask because at some point I'm in need of both a 4-8-2 (or 2-8-2) and a 2-8-0 drive set. I was considering Bowser, and bilding the drive from a parts list, otherwise I'll head to NWSL.
-Morgan
Darth:
Thanks for your excellent series on the progress of this kit build. I'm glad to see that you've shown that kit building can be a fun and rewarding experience. I enjoyed your video and was interested in the comparison of the Bowser drive with the NWSL unit. What's your next adventure going to be?
Joe
Now if we could just turn you to the Dark Side young Braden. DCC that is!
I hate Rust
And now, a huge photo gallery!
I've also taken a video for all of you to see. As of right now, YouTube is still processing it, but the quality should be better soon.
This thing really is a smooth runner. At 12 volts it gets up to about 42 scale MPH, and draws less than 0.1 amps. The thing is also so quiet that I can't hear much more than the wheels on the track. The motor is pretty small, but it's still strong enough to slip the drive wheels. It doesn't like backing through curves very much (I'll have to take a look at that), and it doesn't like an 18" radius either, but I'm overall very pleased with how it runs.
Well, this build has been both fun and challenging, and I think it turned out great. Hope you all enjoyed watching it come together!
Great stuff. You should PDF your threads into 1 document. It would be handy for future builders of the kits.
Springfield PA
After the gloss clear coat is dry, the decals can be put on.I used Microscale decals instead of the ones provided by Bowser. Bowser's decals are very good, but they only included the cab numbers and one size fits all lettering for the tender. Microscale provided all of the needed decals, more options for lettering, and their decals have better coloring. Once the decal glue has disappeared from soaking in warm water, they can be slid into place. Once they're right where they're supposed to be, they can be set with something like Walthers Solvaset. Once the decals are set and dry, the final clear coat can be applied.
After the final coat, it's time for reassembly!During the assembly, everything should be oiled and checked for proper and free movement in the same order as was done in the first assembly. It's always good to make sure everything works before it's completely assembled, so then it can be fixed more easily without the risk of damaging the paint.
And now, the kit is finished! And if all is done right and carefully, you can have a finished kit like this one too.!
Most of the painting and detail is now finished! It won't be long now!
After the primer is done, I like to do the lighter colors first. The smokebox and firebox were painted with about a 60/40 mix of Floquil "Graphite" and Scalecoat II "MOW Gray", which makes a very good graphite gray ("Graphite" has tiny glitter particles in it, so any areas not being painted this color should be masked). After that came the red on the cab roof and tender deck, which is Model Master "Rot". Next was Scalecoat II "Brunswick Green" over the boiler and tender. Last was Scalecoat II "Black", which was used on the frame, trucks, drivers, tender steps, and tender pilot.There actually is a noticable difference between the "Brunswick Green" and "Black"! After the colors are painted, the rest of the details can be added. After that's done, a high gloss clear coat is sprayed over the entire engine and tender, which will help the decals to work and look best.
The only things left now are the decals, semi-gloss clear coat, and final assembly!
I usually let the paint cure for a day and then put it in the oven. Although there are no fumes present in the oven, I do not use my wife´s oven, but a small, table-top one I bought only for this purpose. At about $ 20 it was a bargain.
Here's a picture of the engine in all its primer.
I'll probably paint the graphite next, followed by the red, then the DGLE, and finally the black. Then the details will be assembled, it will get its decals, and it will get the final clear coat (I'm going to use semi-gloss on this one, since it looked so good on my brass 4-4-0). Then it will be reassembled and completed! It's always exciting to see a big project coming together.
yeah, it's sad that they've had to close down that part of their business.
I've got a NYC K11, and the PRR B6 and E6 (no dice on the K4 ). I think i've got a K4 on backorder, so if enough people order it, one might show up in my mailbox :)
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
How about "baking" it in an oven?
Your loco is coming along nicely - eager to see more pics! I wish I could get my hands on a Bowser PRR K 4 kit...
I finally got the final part needed to finish this kit earlier this week, which is the universal. Everything is starting to take shape, so it won't be too long now!
The NWSL universal was the last part needed to make the new mechanism run, and after a couple hours of fine-tuning, it worked great!The 3/16" universal fit great in the Genesis hex-drive flywheel. The fit was tight, and everything had to be lined up perfectly to work well. I used the single piece universal ball shaft, since little modification was needed for it to fit. I had to cut the end of each ball off just ahead of the tabs for safe clearance. After some final tuning, the Mikado ran around the track almost silently.
Since the drive is finished and working great, everything needed to be cleaned to get it ready for painting.To clean it, I used warm water with soap and a toothbrush. This will be the first time I've ever painted wheels with anything but a brush. To ease the painting process and get a better finish, everything should be disassembled nearly as far as it can go. Some parts (like the frame) are left assembled, because there are certain things that are easier to mask and paint after a certain amount of assembly is done.
I don't have a picture yet, but everything has now been masked and airbrushed with a coat of Scalecoat II MOW Gray to act as a primer. Because it's an enamel, I'm going to let it dry (or "cure" if you want to be proper) for no less than a couple days. The coating looks great so far, and my attempts at filling and sanding turned out smooth for the most part. I think this is going to be one great engine when it's all done!
I've made a little more progress with the details and motor now.
Because the new motor is so different from the DC-71, a new motor mount had to be made.The motor is a 13x35mm, 7-pole, high power coreless type. It's rated to run at 8,800RPM at 12V, with a stall torque of 1 oz-in (about the same or more than an Athearn gold motor), and a stall current of 0.56A. It runs very quietly, and it should be plenty strong for a 2-8-2. The mount is a piece of brass sheet, and the motor sits on a foam-rubber block I saved from the garbage at work. The block isolates vibration well, but it's also very sturdy and holds onto super-glue very well, so everything remains stable and quiet. The piece of brass wire going from the motor to the gearbox allows a little side-to-side motion of the gearbox, but it keeps it from going out of place.
While playing around with the electrical connections, I found that simply having the tender sitting on the trucks made the connection very unreliable.Bowser provided tabs for soldering wires onto the brass axle wipers/retainers. I decided to keep the wires as out of sight as possible, so I drilled holes in the frame to feed them through. I put a screw inside the tender, and soldered the wires to some spade connectors secured by the screw. The tender's electrical pickup is now much more reliable than before.
Since I'm waiting to finish the mechanism before I start any painting, I went ahead and brush painted some of the details to be added later.The engineer and fireman were pre-painted by Bowser. I left the handrails and some of the piping alone for now, but the other parts are at least ready to be assembled once then engine's painted.
I'm expecting the NWSL universal to arrive soon, so I should have more progress coming up pretty quickly.
Looking good!
New progress!
To fit the new NWSL gearbox in the frame, the slot for the gear had to be widened significantly.Most of the work was done rather slowly with a file. I tried speeding it up a bit with the drill press, but I quickly regretted that decision when the frame caught the drill bit and gave me two big (fortunately not deep) cuts. The gearbox needs a tiny bit of space on each side so that it can have a little room to move. A gearbox like this should never be tight in the frame.
Assembling the gearbox was a tiny bit tricky in a couple areas, but not too bad overall.I used the tall double idler gearbox so that it could fit up into the boiler. The worm is steel, the worm gear is delrin plastic, and the reverse worm gear and axle gear are brass. A little bit of flash had to be cleaned from the plastic gear, but the rest of them were very clean. The worm was binding a little bit with the idler gear and had to be raised about 0.5mm. The axle gear was the trickiest part to get on, since I don't have a proper pressing tool. It must be straight on the axle with no wobble to work properly. Once completely built, lubricated, and run a little bit, this is one of the quietest, smoothest, and best quality gear systems I've ever used. The 16mm flywheel is a slightly modified Athearn that came from a Genesis motor I accidentily broke a while back. I decided to put it on the gearbox because the motor I'm going to use has a pretty short shaft. It will need just a little more balancing, but it should add a nice bit of coasting with the new motor. So far, it hasn't caused any problems.
That's all for today!
About time for a up date Slacker! Like I should talk!
Ken
I've finally taken more pictures, so this topic can now get moving again!
That's everything for now. I should be getting the new NWSL gearbox tomorrow, and I'm hoping the motor will also get here real soon.
After over a year of leaving it pretty much alone, I'm finally getting back to building this Mikado! It's too late to post pictures right now, but I'll at least tell you all what's going on.
Originally, I was building the kit as is. But now, I've decided to put every little effort I can into the detail of this thing (much more difficult than I thought it would be!). I'm filling every little gap and pit, filing and sanding everything as smooth as I can get it, and adding additional details that weren't included in the kit or instructions. So far, I think I have most of the major stuff out of the way.
I will also be replacing the stock motor and gears with a coreless motor and NWSL gearbox. It will be more hidden from view than the DC-71 motor and direct worm drive, and it should also run quieter and smoother. The stock drive is already smooth and pretty quiet, but I want to see just how far I can take it! If there's room, I'll also add a flywheel.
twhite Andre-- Thanks for the reply. Actually, I've already got brass models of the MT-3,4 and 5 locos that I like really well. I think my main concern is that I'd like to try building a Bowser kit, just to build one, but I don't know what I'd do with another 'off-road' loco, hence at least trying to adapt it to a kinda/sorta MT. The only other option I could see would be substituting a larger boiler and trying for a Rio Grande M-78 3-cylinder job, but then I'd run into main rod placement problems (3rd instead of 2nd drivers) and besides, I've already got two of those, anyway, LOL! Gonna have to think about this, I am. Mainly, I'm kind of hot to build the Bowser just to see if I CAN! Tom
Andre--
Thanks for the reply. Actually, I've already got brass models of the MT-3,4 and 5 locos that I like really well. I think my main concern is that I'd like to try building a Bowser kit, just to build one, but I don't know what I'd do with another 'off-road' loco, hence at least trying to adapt it to a kinda/sorta MT. The only other option I could see would be substituting a larger boiler and trying for a Rio Grande M-78 3-cylinder job, but then I'd run into main rod placement problems (3rd instead of 2nd drivers) and besides, I've already got two of those, anyway, LOL!
Gonna have to think about this, I am. Mainly, I'm kind of hot to build the Bowser just to see if I CAN!
Tom
Here's a nice shot of engineer's side of SP #2464 (P-8). http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/SP2464.JPG
Fireman's side of #2461 http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/SP2461.JPG
Note that the air compressor is forward of the Worthington BL type FWH.
Tender on #2464 is a 120C-3, which is what comes with the new Athearn MT-4.
Better shot of the placement on SP #2487 (P-10) http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/SP2487.JPG
Now there's a challenge. Bash the Bowser to a P-10 with skyline casing. The tender's a 120C-8, which you'd have to get in brass
And a comparison shot of the Bowser USRA kit: http://www.bowser-trains.com/holocos/usra_light_pacific/USRA-LT-PAC-03.jpg
Engineer's side: http://www.bowser-trains.com/holocos/usra_light_pacific/USRA-LT-PAC-05.jpg
Obviously there's some differences and it would take a lot of work to remove the sand dome since it's cast on the boiler. However, with some work, it could be done.
I'm about $30 short of the price plus shipping for one of the kits from Standard Hobby Supply. Oh well, a few more weeks.
Andre
Does the tender have plastic trucks with pick up wipers? I've learned most of my problems and noise with my Mantua Mike comes from the metal on metal on metal in the tender. The power goes from the wheels/axles to the metal truck to the metal tender floor that has a motor wire connected to it. Not the best set up.
Darth Santa Fedti406Darth, just so you know PRR tenders were usually painted in three colors, DGLE for the tank, black for the frame and trucks and oxide red for the coal space and tender deck. The locomotive was painted for the most part DGLE except for the pilot truck and wheels, top of the walkway, frame, trailing truck wheels and optional for the drivers of black. Smokebox and firebox were graphited and the cab roof was a mixture of ocide red and black. Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. By the way, what's DGLE? I was planning on using Modelflex Brunswick Green..
dti406Darth, just so you know PRR tenders were usually painted in three colors, DGLE for the tank, black for the frame and trucks and oxide red for the coal space and tender deck. The locomotive was painted for the most part DGLE except for the pilot truck and wheels, top of the walkway, frame, trailing truck wheels and optional for the drivers of black. Smokebox and firebox were graphited and the cab roof was a mixture of ocide red and black.
Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
By the way, what's DGLE? I was planning on using Modelflex Brunswick Green..
Dark Green Locomotive Enamel, most manufacturers call it Brunswick Green for some reason. DGLE is the official name in PRR painting specifications.
For metal models I prefer Scalecoat I, but to each their own.
Rick
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
By the way, what's DGLE? I was planning on using Modelflex Brunswick Green.
gmcrailYour tutorial and the photo of the kit pieces, don't show a back plate for the cab. Does the kit come with one, or do you have to get the super detail kit to get it?
The cab comes with a full interior, and even has a painted crew included! The standard kit includes the backplate, and the detail kit includes the crew. Right now, only the Deluxe model with the detail kit is available, so you don't have to worry about not having either of them.
Excellent tutorial, Darth! As a fan of Bowser kits, I concur in your assement of them as excellent-running locomotives. I do have a question: Your tutorial and the photo of the kit pieces, don't show a back plate for the cab. Does the kit come with one, or do you have to get the super detail kit to get it?
Bowser got the dies from Penn Line back in the early Seventies, and the PL locos didn't have backs for the cabs. I know that Bowser has backs for the cabs, but I wasn't aware that they weren't putting them in the kits....
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Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
Darth, just so you know PRR tenders were usually painted in three colors, DGLE for the tank, black for the frame and trucks and oxide red for the coal space and tender deck. The locomotive was painted for the most part DGLE except for the pilot truck and wheels, top of the walkway, frame, trailing truck wheels and optional for the drivers of black. Smokebox and firebox were graphited and the cab roof was a mixture of ocide red and black.
Tom, I don't know if you let Sante Fe equipment on your railroad, but they did pick up three PRR L1 Mikes at the end of WWII.