One thing I found to make a smoother runner was to check for flash on the plastic gears. If you have a magnifier that helps or else get in some really good light. I used both a knife and a file.
Jack
BRASS wheels were commonplace on older engines.
They stay polished from occasionally running, however will pick up 'gunk' contaminents from track, same as Nickel Silver.
If you want better pickup from the tender, the new style tender might fit the tender shell. All the wheels pickup on the new tenders. I have bought some frames and tender trucks from Roundhouse for my two 2-6-0s and one 2-8-0. The new tender frames fit the older MDC tender shells just fine. Here are what the new parts look like. I ordered tham from Athearn/Roundhouse.
You can easily add DCC & sound.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
twhite wrote: West Coast S wrote: Yep, still have one, mine was reworked years ago with a Kemtron valve gear kit (remember those?) and firebox modifications to eliminate that huge empty space under the cab. Does indeed build into a fantastic model. To be accurate, I should have gone with smaller drivers, the same as SP did when they rebuilt theirs.DaveDave--Precision Scale in Montana picked up most of the Kemtron line, as part of their superb brass detail accessories, I'd bet you can still get that valve gear kit. Actually, if I remember correctly, the 4-4-2's that used to wheel the Sacramento portion of the "San Joaquin Daylight" between Sacramento and Stockton, kept their high drivers until scrapping. I could be wrong, but those little gals were sure high-steppers, LOL!Tom
West Coast S wrote: Yep, still have one, mine was reworked years ago with a Kemtron valve gear kit (remember those?) and firebox modifications to eliminate that huge empty space under the cab. Does indeed build into a fantastic model. To be accurate, I should have gone with smaller drivers, the same as SP did when they rebuilt theirs.Dave
Yep, still have one, mine was reworked years ago with a Kemtron valve gear kit (remember those?) and firebox modifications to eliminate that huge empty space under the cab. Does indeed build into a fantastic model. To be accurate, I should have gone with smaller drivers, the same as SP did when they rebuilt theirs.
Dave
Dave--
Precision Scale in Montana picked up most of the Kemtron line, as part of their superb brass detail accessories, I'd bet you can still get that valve gear kit. Actually, if I remember correctly, the 4-4-2's that used to wheel the Sacramento portion of the "San Joaquin Daylight" between Sacramento and Stockton, kept their high drivers until scrapping. I could be wrong, but those little gals were sure high-steppers, LOL!
Tom
I believe that all of SP Pacific Lines 4-4-2s were disposed of before WWII except for four class A-6s #s 3000 through 3003 that were taken out of service between 1948 and 1950. They had 81-inch drivers. They were rebuilt in the Sacramento and Los Angeles SP shops from the A-3 class in 1927 and 1928 with new cylinders, valve gear, superheating, feedwater heater, a rear booster truck, and sport cab. They were very efficient and capable of very long range with a single tender-load of fuel and water.
Mark
This document shows it. Your instruction sheet that came with the loco will show the same.
http://hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionMdc/Assembly%20Explosion%2004L-2%204-4-2%20Atlantic.jpg
The 2-6-2 is rather generic, I have a unbuilt example, but SP did aquire several such lokies during the EP&SW merger in 1924, considered odd balls, they migrated to the commute route and were scrapped by 1936. Is it just me or is the cylinder casting too small for this model?
Top of the frame :
Bottom of the frame:
I can't see any screw holes for the motor & gear plate.
- Luke
Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's
New Haven--
DON'T SOLDER IT!! You'll just distort and melt the metal. There should be a long screw that goes up from the bottom of the driver frame that holds both the gear-plate and motor on. The directions with the kit should show you exactly how. Those MDC kits are made so that you can just keep your soldering iron on the wall and out of the way. File and screwdriver, my friend.
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
The kit came yesterday, which was a surprise. I have only one problem, how does the motor and the gear plate connect to the frame? I was thinking about soldering it. Is that a good idea?
B.T.W, I think it came with a nice can motor!
New Haven I5:
I built three MDC Prarie kits just a few years ago; two of the ASTF style and one of the SP/Harriman style. Standard Hobby was clearing these kits for under $40 each. I now wish I had purchased every kit they had available. All three were enjoyable to build. I would suggest you buy a fresh set of jewelers files as the longest part of the assembly process will be cleaning up the various cast parts (lots of flash). Another tool I found useful was a spring loaded center punch, the type that you push down onto the work until the spring mechanism inside snaps forward (very handy for setting rivets). Its also a good idea to sharpen the point on the punch so the tip fits more positively inside the hollow rivet end.
The SP/Harriman kit ends up looking a little spartan, especially under the cab. Since I installed DCC sound decoders in the tender, I made the wires look like oil and water pipes running between the tender and cab. This greatly helped disguise the lack of detail under the cab. After reading an article in MR about upgrading an MDC 2-8-0, I also replaced the original can motor with a double shaft motor so that I could install a flywheel (the author of the article cobbled up a flywheel on the original motor but I preferred the simplicity of a double shaft motor). The original gearing was also replaced with NWSL 1:72 gearing using the original motor mount (again not agreeing with the author of the MR article). The flywheel and very short gearing make these locos glide over most dirty track. The new gearing also allows these locos to crawl around at less than 5 scale miles per hour for hours without stalling and reduces the top speed to around 50 scale miles per hour.
Other improvements included adding electrical pickups to the insulated drivers and adding all wheel pickup to the tender (much easier than it sounds). I used a Radio Shack PC Board Etching Kit to fabricate a PC board to mount under the gear cover using the gear cover screws. Bronze contact wires were soldered to the PC board and bent to rub against the back side of the insulated driver rims. The tender mods required the installation of styrene truck bolsters to better insulate the trucks from the die cast frame. Then, two bronze contact wires were inserted through holes drilled in the truck cross frame. One wire was bent to rub against the axles while the other wire was bent to rub against the backs of the insulated wheels. Solder some flexible pickup wires to the bronze contact wires and you've got all-wheel pick-up.
I did have to add flat springs (brass shim stock) between the frame and lead/trailing trucks to improve tracking (apparently not enough weight in the trucks to overcome the friction in the design). Though not monster pullers, they will pull a train that would be a believable load for the prototype. A surprisingly easy weathering job per the John Pryke system and these three locos are the pride of my collection.
Adding some running board ladders to the pilot and injectors to the cab underside would greatly dress up the SP/Harriman style kit. A Bowser super detail kit for a smaller loco might be adapted as well. Enjoy!
Hornblower
New Haven I-5 wrote: New Haven I-5 wrote: http://www.internethobbies.com/mdcrounho2621.html This seems to fit my tastes better. (I always seemed to like praries) Just bought it! Thanks to Loathar for giving me the URL. I will keep you all posted when it arrives & as I complete it.
New Haven I-5 wrote: http://www.internethobbies.com/mdcrounho2621.html This seems to fit my tastes better. (I always seemed to like praries)
I have a Precision Scale catalog with the Kemtron cross reference part numbers if anyone is interested.
West Coast S wrote: Yep, still have one, mine was reworked years ago with a Kemtron valve gear kit (remember those?) and firebox modifications to eliminate that huge empty space under the cab. Does indeed build into a fantastic model. To be accurate, I should have gone with smaller drivers, the same as SP did when they rebuilt theirs. Dave
Looks like the Harriman style Atlantic (SP/UP). It makes into a nice-looking, nice running engine. Enjoy!
Try here: http://www.kitbashdepot.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=21_75
Rotor
Jake: How often does the train go by? Elwood: So often you won't even notice ...
Kitbash Depot has them. I questioned Dan Bush of Kitbash Hobbies about the drivers.
His reply:
Search Google for kitbash depot. It will show right up. I cannot post the URL. Someone flags it and Trains.com deletes the post, plus gives me a warning.
Others have no problem.
Blind Bruce wrote:I have been looking for one for some time now. Is there more than one?
IIRC, someone posted a shop that still had some for sale a week or two ago. They listed 4 different kit models. 2 had brass wheels and 2 had NS wheels. It's probably back on page 4-6 by now.(here in the general section) Don't remember the name of the thread.
Edit- http://www.internethobbies.com/mdcrounlocki.html
http://www.jaystrains.com/HO-HOn3/Locomotives/hosteam.htm
Found these.
New Haven I-5 wrote: I have a chance to buy a MDC/Roundhouse Atlantic (4-4-2) kit. Are MDC/Roundhouse kits good for a first-time kit builder, or is a Bowser kit easier?
73
Bruce in the Peg
The older Roundhouse loco kits are generally easier to put together than Bowser kits, mainly because Roundhouse doesn't have all the complex 'eccentric' valve gear to assemble. I built several Roundhouse kits back when they were available, and with tinkering, they can be turned into good little runners. One thing I would do--since the Roundhouse wheel treads are brass and not nickel silver and therefore oxidize rather quickly--is to pick up a pair of Tomar track-slider pickups for the loco and tender and install them after you get the loco assembled. This will improve the pickup about 90% and give you a nice, smooth running loco.
If I remember correctly, the 4-4-2 was available with three boiler assemblies-- a kind of 'generic' Southern Pacific, ATSF and Pennsy. About all you need for assembly is a file and a screwdriver. They're nice little lokies, IMO.