My First Loco Kit

[jonathan]

Recently, I happened across and old Athearn Loco Kit, #4282, GP35, B&O (of course), with flywheel-drive.  It came with metal railings and stanchions.  Picked it up cheap.

I am presently in the throws of building this model and upgrading as I can.  Have hardwired the trucks (no more brass clip), added Kadee couplers, and assembling and painting the body parts.

A few questions if you don't mind.

1. The engine is more noisy than my newer models. Is this to be expected?  I have cleaned and lubed the trucks.  It's more noisy going forward than reverse.  If it's normal, I can live with it.  It runs smoothly otherwise.

2.  Are the old drive wheels good to run on?  They are obviously the old iron (sintered?) wheels, which sparked at first, but after I cleaned them, they seemed fine.  More concerned about cleanliness and durability than appearance.

3.  Does anybody know how old this kit might be?  It was never opened, and I feel a little lucky to have found a loco kit at all. Can't find a date on anything in the box..

Will post pics when I'm done.  Having fun with it!

Regards,

Jonathan

[Jim Banner]

Some people swear at Athearn wheels, others swear by them.  My own experience has been positive.  I use a tiny bit of light weight, conductive oil on my rails.  This helps suppress sparking and allows the wheels to wear in to a mirror shine.

Athearn gears can be noisy.  The standard cure for years was to clean off the oil and grease and apply Pearl Drops toothpaste.  It has just enough abrasive to polish up the gears in a few hours of running (various speeds, both directions.)  Then you scrub off the toothpaste very thoroughly using a soft old tooth brush and lots of running water.  Finally you re-lubricate with gear oil on the gear teeth and light oil on the bearings.

Jim

[simkon]

My old Athearns run louder than my newer ones, but Jim has great advice on that. I don't think there's anything wrong with the old drive wheels. In the last few runs of Blue Box Kits, Athearn did not make a B&O GP35, so it has to be from before 1999, but I expect it isn't from before the late 1980's because it has a flywheel. If I had to guess I'd say early to mid 1990s. And 2 or 3 blue box locomotive kits are still available from Athearn (they are F7Bs).

[jonathan]

Thanks, Jim.

I actually applied tiny drops of conducta-lube to each wheel, and let it run for a while.  That cured the sparks.  If it gets the wheels shiny as well, all the better.

I've read the "pearl drops" solution somewhere before.  Didn't realized it was meant to quiet the gears.  Will ponder that one.  Sounds like a good slow-day project.

Jonathan

[Tylerf]

All my LHS's have a few of the kits still, but they are quite old. I have never considered them kits as the loco is really already assembled but have some details that need installation(very similar to kato locos) but that's not important. Quite a few years ago I got a set of blue box dash-9s one powered and a dummy, but the powered unit wasent very reliable and I never even cared to install dcc in it. However I REALLY liked the dummys because they were fun and easy to place in different parts of long trains without difficult dcc programming (at least difficult to me) so I've been fortunate to find several $10 dummys at different train shows. They are neat locomotives to have and athearn was really the biggest manufacturer of dummy locos. The detail of the models are definetly basic but a great starting point for super detailing with I've done to all mine. Now at this point I really don't know why I'm rambling on about these kits but hey maybe some of this is relevant...

[simkon]

As a side note, one of my LHS still has a ton of blue box locos (powered & dummies) and another LHS has a ton of blue box rolling stock, so I've got a good amount of Athearn kits to choose from. The kit rolling stock is still readily available too. Athearn made a lot of affordable, good running, detailed locos. I have one from the late 70s that still runs great.

[jonathan]

Don't worry, the 'rambling' was quite relevant.  I also intend to super detail this loco in the future... wiper blades, decals, MU hoses, number boards, etc, the list is endless.  For now I just need to finish the initial project.  Gonna weather it just a bit, so it looks as old as it sounds.  Will post some pics, soon.  Now where is my wife's camera....

Jonathan

[pdlethbridge]

Now with your first loco kit out of the way, it's time to move to a Bowser kit. They have a nice super detailed USRA mike kit that you'll just love.

[Tylerf]

Oh Yeah I forgot to point out another thing the blue box locos are great for, and that is repainting. My first repainting project was with a nice inexpensive blue box sd40. There was no risk in wrecking an expensive loco bit rather a $10 one.

[jonathan]

PD,

I thought Bowser quit producing steamer kits a while a go?  All the listings say discontinued or something to that affect.  If I see one at the upcoming train show (counting the days), I will consider grabbing it up.  Are they expensive?

Tylerf,

don't know about repainting.  Don't feel like the small fortune investment in an airbrush system is in my future.  Also, I only buy and model CSX, Amtrak and B&O.  It does sound tempting, though. 

Regards,

Jonathan

[simkon]

Bowser's steam locomotive kits are semi-available. Currently, they are taking all their spare parts and throwing them together in a box to make as many complete kits as possible, and they will do this until they run out of sufficient parts. I would expect they would be kind of hard to get though, and may only be through special order.

[pdlethbridge]

you can find a good supply of Bowser kits at Paws Trains.
The usra mike and pacific with detail kit run under $140 The motors are DCC ready.

[jonathan]

Here's the pics of my progress on the GP-35.  I kept the weathering subtle.  I used a little diluted white glue to keep the stanchions in place before I painted them.  The arch welder light is still on board.  I haven't reached my lighting binge stage, yet.  The whole thing got a quick shot of dullcote.  You can see the tape marks where I masked the windows.  Didn't even know the residue was there until I zoomed in on the pics.  She runs and pulls great.  Will get to the gear polishing in the near future.

Thanks for the free advice.

Regards, Jonathan

[Nigel]

Hi Jonathan;

Nice work.

A few points on information:
* the Athearn flywheel drive came out in the mid '70s for the GP35.
* the plastic truck side frames point to your model being mid '80s or later.
* based on the differences in performance between forward and reverse, you probably need to also shim the worms so that they cannot move very far - .002" is more than enough clearance.  To shim the worms, you but thin flat washers between the worm and the bearings on each side of the worm.
* the sintered iron wheels will last forever, and provide great traction.  Their downside that they are dirty.

[jonathan]

Thanks, Nigel.

Will be on the lookout for tiny washers... along with all the super detail parts... and thicker glasses!

Regards,

Jonathan