We have downsizing ahead and I decided to radically downsize my rolling stock. I have a nice Proto 2000 E6A, that I converted to DCC & sound, that suffers from a key flaw, so I was resigned to a poor ultimate sale experience. But overnight, I decided to take a crack at addressing the problem.
The issue was a broken left side, middle door, left (thin) plastic handrail. Long story short, I clipped off the part, drilled a couple of holes, bent some phosphor bronze wire I forgot I had, painted white and UP Armor Yellow, and problem nicely solved. Here is an "after" shot:
20210918_142048 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Some observations:
a) I was selling myself short on what I might accomplish; or even if it failed, so what...have some fun.
b) It is really helpful to have supplies on hand that might be useful. I had ordered a number of handrail wires (types and sizes) when I upgraded an IHC Pacific year ago.
c) The main priority is to enjoy and learn; crossing things off the list / selling things fast is not top priority.
For what it's worth...
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Nice results, Paul.
Lots of modellers run into small issues like that, and many don't have the confidence to attempt a repair, so settle for less money or even scrap the somewhat damaged item.
Those of us with either a little more confidence (or maybe just less anxiety) figure...what the heck, I should be able to fix that....and even when we find that it's worse than we thought, often come out not only fixing the problem but also bolstering our confidence.
The more often we take those steps, the more inclined we become to carry on in the same manner.
Wayne
Nice work, Paul.
York1 John
Hello All,
Congratulations on all points!
Nice work!!!
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
peahrens Some observations: a) I was selling myself short on what I might accomplish; or even if it failed, so what...have some fun.
Sounds like the story of my life! But in all seriousness you are so right. There were things that we have all looked at and said, "I can't do that" but when we try it we find that we can in fact do it. I found that out with scratchbuilding. I looked at custom locos and thought I could never do that. Now I can! Great work on that loco!
JJF
Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing.
Yesterday is History.
Tomorrow is a Mystery.
But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Nice repair Paul! If you hadn't told me where the repair was I never would have known.
I am a firm believer in giving things a try. The initial results may be far from perfect but you will have learned a bunch and the second attempt will be much better. The little critter in my avatar is a case in point. I had never built anything like it, I won't admit how many times I had to redo some of the pieces and I won't point out the obvious design flaws, but ultimately it worked.
I also have a ton of spare supplies and parts on hand so when I decide to do something I can usually just go ahead without having to wait for an order to arrive.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
peahrensI clipped off the part, drilled a couple of holes, bent some phosphor bronze wire I forgot I had, painted white and UP Armor Yellow, and problem nicely solved. Here is an "after" shot:
Paul, GREAT JOB! Your repair was effective.
My wife does not understand how I can sit and drill dozens of holes for grab irons and find it relaxing. The end results are always nice, and I find the work relaxing and worthwhile.
When she sees me assembling brake rigging, she just shakes her head.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
dh28473Nice repair just wonder how hard is it to install sound i would like to try it.
Last year, I got a couple of Walthers' 30-foot "beer can" tank car kits. I got everything together and went to put the handrails on them. On the top, the kit was supposed to have two different handrails (one short, one long) for the platform since the side ladders were closer to one end of the platform. However, I discovered that the kits came with two short handrails and no long handrails.
Even though the kits were long out of production, I e-mailed Walthers to see about getting replacement handrails. I got a very fast response saying that they were looking for a suitable replacement.
Meanwhile, I looked at the Cat-5 wiring that I'd used on my layout for wiring and saw that the individual wires were about the same guage as the handrails. Grabbing one end of a length of wire with pliers, I stripped the insulation from the rest of the wire, straightening out the wire. Using the long handrails on other Walthers tank car kits, I was able to bend the wire into the exact shape as the long handrails. The replacement handrails that I made fit perfectly on the cars, and with some black paint, you can't tell the difference between the Walthers handrails and the ones I made.
I e-mailed Walthers back with a picture of the completed cars and what I did to replace the missing handrails. They said that they were update their records for the parts with what I did to replace them in case anybody else ever needs replacement handrails.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
What about just sound what did you use? I have the same model type