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New to this site..need info on Bowser 4-4-4-4 HO PRR Duplex..

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  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Friday, November 20, 2009 9:23 AM

here some progress pics of it..The decials on this train stink on ice..plus there was one set missing too..going to have to order some new ones for it...made the two holes at the top front end plus added the four small humps at the top front end too.I'll post new pics tonight of it..kind of liked the bear metal with the brass looks.." mce_src="">" mce_src="">

  • Member since
    March 2009
  • 802 posts
Posted by rjake4454 on Friday, November 20, 2009 12:47 PM

Very nice, love that paint job.

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Friday, November 20, 2009 2:56 PM

Wow, you have done a lot of good work on that model...well done!  It should be a stunning and strong performer when you are done.

You may wish to take a look through this thread on another forum by someone who knows Pennsy engines and how they appeared to people viewing them:

 http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/57660482/m/956105581

-Crandell

 

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Friday, November 20, 2009 5:25 PM

It's gloss black/green now...I'd used etch primer on it first,that is pea green,,then used black primer,then used gloss black/green..wont clear coat it until I get new decials for it..Going to run one powerfull upto date motor in it..I'll run the challanger/bigboy drive system in it..because the front motor will be in the way of a smoke unit..I have a trainshop checking on a MTH challanger smoke unit for me.....I'll post new pics tonight...Crandell,I'd looked at that thread aweek ago,and saved it..I'd stumbled on that thread when I did a google surch...

  • Member since
    June 2005
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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Friday, November 20, 2009 9:40 PM

Did the decals not stick? Do you have any decal setting solution? Bowser decals won't stick well without it, as I found early on with my first kit. Walthers Solvaset works very well.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the finished kit! It looks very good so far.

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  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Friday, November 20, 2009 11:53 PM

Ya they didnt go on wright.. I have used this style of decials in 13 years..Thats on model cars..lol!!..Might order a new set and have the local sign/grafic shop make me some news one's.. Or could see if I can get some from BLI???See if they sale spair /replacements decials for there T1 duplex..I left the decials on the one side of the tender ,that was the only spot I'd put the decials on..I'd left them on to take pics to show you guys...going to make side lenzes for the maker lights.Going to try to run the side/mars and lower front light by fiber opics the same in the tender on the red mars lights.." mce_src="">

  • Member since
    March 2009
  • 802 posts
Posted by rjake4454 on Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:08 AM

Joseywales, you have done a fantastic job painting that beauty. Simply outstanding. Gotta love that tender deck, and one you put the lenses on the rear marker lamp slots, please post more pics!

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 21, 2009 2:09 AM

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 21, 2009 2:11 AM

 Yeah!! - more pics please!

May I offer a word of advice? If you put up a length of white or light blue colored cardboard behind the loco, it will show much better, what a fantastic job you have done. Also lower the viweing perspective a little more and your pics will be perfect.

Btw - why do your pics always come up twice?

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:59 AM

thank guys.. first train I'd ever put together in my life..some of the brass work shouldve been made better...alot of fileing work on those rail hold downs..they should made the front ones like the back ones on the boiler.. I think they where press made and fit nicely too....On the dubble pics?? I'd been asking you guys about what I'm doing wrong on posting my pics with no answer/reply to my question....What I been doing is copie the pics and pasting at the top of the image URL and thats it..then post them...How are you guys go by posting your.????..I'll put a white back ground and retake the pics..

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Sunday, November 22, 2009 10:00 PM

heres some more pics..just remeber its not quite done yet..going to get new decials set for it..I'd left the messed up decial on the tender to see what it looked like..will remove them when the new decials gets here.." mce_src="">" mce_src="">

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    April 2003
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 23, 2009 12:06 AM

 Joseywales - what a good looking beast she is! Just rolled out of the shops in Altoona! You have done a great job.

 I upload my pictures to photobucket. When I want to insert a picture in a post here, I just click on the image in photobucket with the right button on the mouse, select "copy image location", go back to the pase, click on that little tree thing on the message board and paste the location where it says Image URL, the hit the button "Insert" and voila, here is my pic in the post! Try it!

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Monday, November 23, 2009 10:43 PM

Thats what I did and the pics come up dubble on me.....Ok I have alittle proublem guys...How big of a power pack/transformer I need for it.??This old bachmann N scale transformer model #6600 dont have the guts/power to run this train..it's input 120V. 60 HZ. A.C..  output: 18 V. A.C.  17 V. D.C..  MAX. output: 4VA. total..I'd thought HO&N transformers are universal with one another??

  • Member since
    June 2005
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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:08 AM

Those Bachmann trainset transformers have very little power output (I'd say 0.5A before overload). They can handle any of Bachmann's engines (which draw no more than 0.3A on average), but a Bowser T-1 is pretty much out of the question. You can get a decent MRC power pack for $35 - $85 with around 4 times the power output of Bachmann's. The Railpower 1300 series is good for starters, and is the same power pack used by Athearn (except it's in an MRC box). The Tech II and Tech 4 are more high end, and pretty much everyone loves their Tech IIs.

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  • Member since
    June 2005
  • 4,367 posts
Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:18 AM

When you post a photo, does it look like this?

[-img-]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70/DarthSantaFe/T-1Finished4.jpg[-/img-] (removes dashes)

If that's the way you do it, it should come out like this:

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  • Member since
    March 2009
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Posted by rjake4454 on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:35 AM

I can't get over what a fine paint job that is. And this is your first engine you put together? Talent comes natural to some people I guess, I could never dream of accomplishing a project like that.

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:55 AM

When your a bodyman/painter we want somthing old to look like new again...Thanks for the commit... but I havent  putting models together for alongtime ....but been mainly working on R/C nitro boats

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:24 PM

looks like you painted your train black too,darth santa fe.." mce_src="">" mce_src="">

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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 11:55 PM

Actually, mine's brunswick green. It's almost completely black, but you can see a hint of green if you look at it just right (and with the right lighting). Yours is looking very good! Will you be adding a coal load?

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  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:01 PM

where did you get the coal load from? I did get a price from MTH on the smoke unit...she told me there no diegram on the challanger..wanted to see what there drive unit setup looks like..maybe like I said run that challanger drive system in my T1?why have a train without smoke?Might paint the outedge of the wheels white like I see in some pics of the T1 plus the silver bearing covers on the trucks....Did anyone see bowser website? Said there not making anymore loco kits any more!Sad

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Sunday, December 6, 2009 9:09 PM

HELP!!!!!!!!!  I'm having proublem in keeping my fratecar coupled to my tender of my T-1....tryed loosing the screw and tighting it.... it uncouples in the begining off the curves...

  • Member since
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  • From: Illinois
  • 255 posts
Posted by onequiknova on Sunday, December 6, 2009 9:51 PM

What brand of couplers? Do the coupler heights between the tender and freight car match?

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Sunday, December 6, 2009 11:05 PM

I ment you say it makes my freight car derail..sorry for the miss understanding..as soon as the car and tender starts into the curve the freight car derails at the tender..coupler are both at the same hights..using the old coupler..need to get one more kd coupler to hook on the freight car.. have one for the tender that came with the train..

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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Sunday, December 6, 2009 11:14 PM

Are you force coupling a horn-hook style coupler to a knuckle style? That could be your problem if you are. Or is the freight car coupler truck mounted? Truck mounted couplers can be drag their casr off the tracks much easier than frame mounted couplers.

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  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Monday, December 7, 2009 12:35 AM

No..I have both horn style couplers...the freight car coupler is mounted to the truck.. the tender is mounted to ther frame...the freight car derails off the track when the tender and freight car starts to go into the curve...just got done running the T-1 for and hour only having one motor in it and it runs flawlessly.. runs like a swis watch..

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Monday, December 7, 2009 10:34 PM

Thats what I'm subspecting.. running a 18" radious curve..bowser has it on there manual index about it can run on a 18" radious curve after you do two quick mods to it...I'd made a temp pivot coupler bracket that will move with the freight car...its only temp until I get some 22" radious curve tracks...I'm still planning to remotor it with the new can flywheel motor run it like the challanger/bigboy shaft system...it will work... i'll post the video in a day or so...I did get the price on the MTH smoke unit..will get one for them too...

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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 12:19 AM

A T-1 tender with horn-hook couplers on an 18" radius will definitely drag just about any car off the track, so I think I can pretty much guarantee that that's your problem.

When you remotor it, will the motor be in the rear, or in the center? I know of a few that should do the job real well, but it might run a little bit under prototype speeds since they all run slower than the Bowser motor. All are just as powerful as Bowser's motors.

Canon EN22 Just about the best you can get. Single 2mm shaft
Igarashi Used by BLI, Rivarossi, Lionel, and a few others. Double 2mm shaft
Canon coreless They don't get much better than this. Single 1.5mm shaft

One thing about the coreless is it needs more careful handling than the others (I accidentily snapped the shaft off of one, and had to get a replacement motor). But once it's installed, it's every bit as reliable and durable as the rest of the can motors out there.

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  • From: Kokomo IN
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Posted by climaxpwr on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 8:26 AM

Awsome paint and assembly work!!!  I should hire you to paint my future Bowser kits!  I can paint, but I cant paint like that.  Bowser may lack a bit in the detail dept compared to the new plastic/diecast from China, but they will always win in the pulling war.  Most guys putting the traction tire set on the BLI's are running into side rod issues on the I1 decapods, and they dont pull for crap without the tire.  They should be been done in all diecast like the K4.  I bet if you made the frame ridged, then took the two inside drivers and machined off the flanges, it would still run awsome and handle normal model RR curves much easier.   Mike

LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case! 

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: stmary's ohio
  • 165 posts
Posted by joseywales on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 11:35 AM

I'd thought of that but those flages bolt to the top of the boiler.. no way of bolting the bottom on it ..I rather try to keep it semi arttulated.. helps it go around the curves better..Dark ,My girlfriend been talking to moco about his motors.. thing of swiss escap or maxon motor or the faulhaber motors..thing of mount it at the rear of the last drivers ,were the old motor is at.. then run a unionversal joint then a shaft going threw one bracket with the worm gear and a mounting bracket at the end of the shaft.. both brackets will have brass bushings in them..the same setup as the UP challangers/Bigboys have..maybe buy the parts from bowser...http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/challenger/Challenger.pdf.. on the BLI T-1 motor is mounted at the center,but they cut off the two center wheel flanges to get there going threw the 22" radious curves..

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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 3:33 PM

Here are a couple more good coreless motor choices, since you say that's what you're looking for.

Faulhauber 22x24mm
Faulhauber 23x42mm
Maxon or Escap 26x42mm

Just remember that for the Bowser T-1, your motor should have no less than 2 oz-in of stall torque to be safe. Every motor I've mentioned has that much or more torque.

Another motor that may look good is the Maxon 22x32mm motor sold by the same guy. I've tried one and it's excellent, but it has a ridiculously high current draw under high load (about 3A at stall).

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