Impressive work Darth.  I do have one question though -- why did you use the old (?) gear tower instead of using a NWSL (or similar) replacement?   

I now have the large 1" flywheel and one of the NWSL universals. Walthers made it look like there were enough parts for two universals, so now I have another set on order that I'm waiting for.

Anyway, here's the most recent progress.

Having just one of the universals in there was enough to improve operation a LOT, so it should be perfect once I get the second one. And with that 1" flywheel on the coreless motor, this thing coasts like no other!

Great work Darth. It should,be a beauty once it's done.Unfortunatly I wouldn't have the patience to rebuild it along the lines you have done and I would have wimped out and bought a proto E6. I admit it I'm kitbash shy when it comes to locomotives. Still thumbs up on the great work.

Rob

Darth, have you considered calling this series "Pimp My E6?"

Cool stuff as usual. So you cut/ground slots in the truck casting for the two large gears so you could spin the gear tower 180 degrees? The gearing looks awfully close to the bolster. Did you grind some of the frame away for clearance? I can't really tell in your last photo.

The gear tower is so sturdy that it looks like it came from an old electric can opener.

Also, have you ever tried Timewell flywheels? I've heard good reports about them.

I've now gotten the other universal kit, but I decided to put it in my Bowser T-1 instead. I had put a Hobbytown universal in the T-1 earlier, so I switched it to the Hobbytown chassis. The Hobbytown universal has a design that's better for the long swinging of the trucks.

The E6 now runs very well, drawing around 0.15 amps on straights and about 0.25 on curves. The brass gears have a bit of a whine to them. I expect that all of this should improve with some good hours of run time. Once I'm sure it's running like I want, I'll begin the process of painting. It's going to be in the Santa Fe Warbonnet, which will be the most complicated paint scheme I've ever done.

R. T. POTEET, you're right about how smooth these things are. That's why I wanted the Hobbytown chassis for this project.

About the helical drive for N-scale steam, I may have an idea for you. There are some high-precision small motor and gear manufacturers (like Portescap and Maxon) that make gearheads with various ratios to go directly on the motor, although they're a little expensive. If you could put a small gearhead onto the motor, all you would have to figure out beyond that is the helical gears on the axles.

[motor][gh]---[g]
                 (wheel)

SteamFreak, when I turned those gears around, one thing I made absolute sure of was that the gears had plenty of clearance. If I ever do that again, I think I'll wear a breathing mask, because I must have inhaled a tiny bit of zamak dust. It was hours before I got that flavor out of my mouth!

I've looked at Timewell flywheels, but never actually bought any. Their 1" flywheel is the same as NWSL's, so I think things would have turned out the same with either one.

Darth Santa Fe wrote:

I think I'll wear a breathing mask, because I must have inhaled a tiny bit of zamak dust. It was hours before I got that flavor out of my mouth!

So does it taste like chicken?

Darth Santa Fe wrote:

This chassis came with Hobbytown's (not Pittman's) massive DC-90 motor, which is a great motor if you've got a strong power supply, but at 0.4 amps out of the mechanism, I wanted a different motor. I replaced it with a Maxon 9-pole coreless motor, which has over 50% more power than a Mashima or Sagami, runs excellent at low speeds, and draws very little current under no load. The only problem is it's too fast for a passenger-geared E6 past 8.5 volts (the chassis has 10:1 gearing), so I need to find a way to reduce its speed.

I don't know if they're still available, but Heiden offered a transmission to convert older Athearns for  slow speed running.  You might be able to modify it to work with your current set-up.

Nice work, by the way, on your progress so far.

Here's an easy way to add "plugs" for your motor, lights, etc.:

It's just a piece of circuit board, with the copper split down the middle, then rail joiners are soldered to it.  Each of the wires from the trucks, plus those to the motor, are fitted with short lengths of rail.  Makes it easy to remove the trucks for servicing, and would also be handy, if you use working headlights, for separating the body shell from the chassis.

Wayne 

Just a small update this time. I discovered that the helical gears MUST be well cleaned and then fully greased before running! I failed to clean and then add grease to two of the axle gears, and when I opened the truck, there was a nice little pile of brass shavings under each gear! Luckily, I caught it before they ground themselves down much, so hopefully they'll run without destroying themselves now.

doctorwayne, that's pretty genious the way you made plugs from N-gauge track parts. I'll have to remember that for future wiring projects.

Darth--

One thing I've found out working with a lot of older brass locomotives:  Brass gears+grease=FOREVER!  I'm sure you caught it in time--we're talking Sherman Tanks, here, LOL!  Considering what I've seen and read about your other locos, I can't wait to see what you do with that Cary superstructure. 

Really admire your work!

Tom

Well, it's been over a year, and I've finally decided to get back to work on this thing.

I'm currently preparing it for a re-coat of primer. My last attempt got slightly destroyed by masking tape that was too sticky. What sort of masking tape will hold on well enough, but not risk damaging the paint again?

Also, what are the proper horns for a Santa Fe E6? One of the stock Cary horns fell on the floor and got run over by a rolling chair, so I need new ones (and I might as well get really good ones, since Cary's are no better than average).

 years ago i did an A-B-A alco hobbytown locomotive with the huge motor in the B unit and jack shaft drives to the 2 A's which were weighted with a bunch of type slugs.  that thing would pull the paint off the walls.  talk about smooth, it was unlike anything i had run before.  of course, back then we had mostly athearn diesels which would run 250 scale mph and varney which kind of hopped down the track because of egg shapped wheels.

a hint, try lapping the gears in with tooth paste.  that always worked well for me.

grizlump

Darth Santa Fe

What sort of masking tape will hold on well enough, but not risk damaging the paint again?

I use 3M #230 drafting tape.  Low tac, adheres well, flexible.  Comes in 3/4" only, but it can be trimmed by the usual methods...

Darth Santa Fe

Also, what are the proper horns for a Santa Fe E6? One of the stock Cary horns fell on the floor and got run over by a rolling chair, so I need new ones (and I might as well get really good ones, since Cary's are no better than average).

Here's a link to an article on the SF Historical/Modeling Society's website about horns:  http://atsfrr.net/resources/BrownPaul/Horns/Horns.htm

It looks like they came equipped with Leslie A-200-156/A-125-247 as delivered, but had them replaced with S-3L-R's or S-5T-R's later on.

I'm looking forward to seeing this beastie on the rails! 

After the complete failure of Modelflex paint twice in a row, I finally decided to try some good paint. Today, I bought 3 colors of Scalecoat II enamel paint (MOW Gray (the primer), Silver, and SF Red). I accidentally ordered the big 2oz. bottles, but at least I know I won't run out for a while! The paint seems to be of very high quality, and I really hope it works. Just to test it out, I brushed some gray onto a piece of copper that's been handled quite a lot. After letting it set for a few hours, I stuck a piece of masking tape on, peeled the tape, and the paint stuck to the metal! It's still tacky, so I see why it needs to be baked. It's also shiny, so I shouldn't have to give it that extra clear coat for the decals.

The score so far:
Scalecoat II: 1
Modelflex: 0

At this time, there are about 10,000,000,000 gnats flying around outside (no joke ), so I think I'll wait a while before starting the painting for the 3rd time!

Modelflex is meant for plastics not metal! To use Modelflex on metal you have to start with an oil based primer. As a custom painter I've used a lot of Modelflex paint over the last 10 years with excellent results. You shouldn't blame the product if it doesn't work when you mis-use it.

modelmaker51

Modelflex is meant for plastics not metal! To use Modelflex on metal you have to start with an oil based primer. As a custom painter I've used a lot of Modelflex paint over the last 10 years with excellent results. You shouldn't blame the product if it doesn't work when you mis-use it.

I realize that now. I can't blame the product, since I've also had some good results with it, and there's a huge variety of nice colors. But I can blame Badger:

"Superior adhesion to most plastics, resins, metals and various other substrates."

That was taken directly from their website, so how was I supposed to know I was misusing it? Oh well, at least I've got the right stuff now.

I still haven't gotten to the painting yet, but I know I'll do it eventually! I found out today that my lacquer thinner dissolves Modelflex paint very quickly, so a good soaking and brushing should have the old stuff off in less than 10 minutes. And then I'll use scalecoat paints and bake them on. I want to finish my Shays first, so they're my painting priority right now. But I've still at least refined the drive more.

I managed to salvage a coreless motor that I broke the shaft on. It had a large red spacer on the shaft, so I glued it on and used brass tube to extend it. The other coreless motor is pretty fantastic, but it's just too fast for the E6's gearing. The high gearing and large flywheel also gave the old motor a huge starting current (stall current is about 3 amps!). This newer motor has a more appropriate top speed, lower current draw, and higher low speed torque. As you can see, I remounted the flywheel in the more typical Hobbytown fashion, and connected the motor with an extra Tenshodo universal (I didn't want to mount the flywheel on my weaker repaired motor shaft). The motor is mounted with double-sided foam tape, and I added a diode for directional lighting. I also got rid of some gear slop, and straightened out a couple bent axles (bent at the wheel). The E6 runs far better now than it ever has, and I'm much happier with it. Once it's painted, I'll make the flywheel mount a little more robust (), since it's just Athearn bearings glued to the frame right now.

Don't worry, guys! I'll have it finished someday!!

By the way Scalecoat II is for plastic and Scalecoat I is for metal!!!

Rick

dti406

By the way Scalecoat II is for plastic and Scalecoat I is for metal!!!

I saw that before I ordered it, but when I asked what paint to use, Scalecoat II was recommended. I've already tested it on some metal, and it worked perfectly well. And, it didn't peel when I put tape on it.

Thats fine, I have both Scalecoat I & II and sort of use them interchangably when I am painting.  But I do like the Scalecoat on metal that can be baked, it certainly makes for a good durable finish.

I also have an E6 with multidrive and the Cary Bodies in a box, I had started putting it together but came to a stop for some reason, probably because I moved and it was not important enough to get out of the box and finish.  I may have to do that so we can have some more heavy metal locomotives to show the the current generation.

Rick

And now, back after 4 years,

The New Adventures of the E6!!

I finally got the guts to paint the thing and finish it! Using the Scalecoat II paint, some very old Microscale decals, some Model Master clear coat, and a LOT of patience, the Cary/Hobbytown ATSF E6A is finished!!!

This is without a doubt the most difficult thing I've ever painted! And it's not easy working with old decals either...

The lift rings and handrails are all hand bent from brass wire, the etched windshield wipers are some extras from a Stewart kit, and the horns are Cal Scale Leslie A200s for ATSF diesels. I haven't figured out what to do for glass, but I'm glad to at least have it done! I mean, it's been 6 years since I started this project! It's a great runner with the modified Hobbytown chassis, and I think it turned out looking great too! Now I just need to get some passenger cars to put behind it.

Good lookin' results  and good for you for stickin' with it.  

Wayne

Darth:

Your paint job is fantastic! Double for the decals!!

I have some American Model Builders E7A window glazing kits. They are for P2K locomotives. I can tell from your pictures that the specific kits I have won't fit your E6 front windows. The corners on the Cary shell are almost square whereas the P2K kits are obviously quite rounded in the corners. The side windows look to be reasonably close, but that might be wishful thinking. Perhaps with a little filing they could be made to work. The nice thing about the AMB kits is that they are masked both sides.

I wonder if it might be worth contacting them to see if they can suggest something.

The address on my packaging (which is a few years old) is 8229 Brentwood Industrial Drive, St. Louis, MO. I don't have a phone number. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Dave

Darth:

I'm curious to know what you used to mask the shell. It obviously worked very well.

Thanks.

Dave

hon30critter, I've used AMB products before and know some ways to contact them, so I'll have to see if they have anything. Believe it or not, I used regular blue painter's masking tape from the hardware store.

Looks really good.  The red came out very well.  How did you mask off for the warbonnet look?