My Mogul backdate saga continues

[Terry Toenges]

I guess that's possible. I did see pics of real ones with trim all around. I'll have to search those out again.

[dutchbuilder]

A private swimming pool?

Ton

[Terry Toenges]

I got to looking around on line and in some of my books and I could only find a few like that. There again, most of them I couldn't actually see the roof but I couldn't detect any trim on the parts I could see.
Maybe it's because I've been around Bachmann's 4-4-0's with the roof trim for so long that it was implanted in my mind that that is the way they were. I never had any real reason to take an in-depth look into the roofs until now.
"Bachmann made it so it must be true."

[Terry Toenges]

I went through my railroad books dealing old steam and found very little. The only ones that looked like they had it all around were Virginia and Truckee's #11 and #18. Some had the side rails. A Winan's Camel appeared to have it on the sides and back.
Theses are my books that I checked:
Narrow Gauge In The Rockies by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg
Hear The Train Blow by Lucius Beebe and Charle Clegg
Early American Steam Locomotives by Reed Kinert
Pacific Slope Railroads by George Abdill
A Locomotive Engineer's Album by George Abdill
Civil War Railroads - A Pictorial Story of the War Between the States,1861-1865 by  George Abdill
Rails West by George Abdill   P64 - #815 Union Pacific - side rails.  P97 - #8 St Louis, Hannibal, & Keokuk - side rails.  P100 -   #72 Katy – side rails.  P101 - # 124 Kansas City & Pacific - side rails.  P102 - #75 and #14 Missouri, Kansas &Texas – side rails.  P113 -  #1 Kansas City,  Pittsburg  & Gulf - side rails.  #2 Kansas City, Fort Smith & Southern - side rails.   P115 - #140 and #11 Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf - side rails.  P156 - #380 Southern Pacific - side rails.     
The Movie Railroads   by Larry Jensen  P156  & 158   #11 & #18  Virginia & Truckee – rails all around.
Iron Horses - American Locomotives 1829-1900 by E.P. Alexander
Early American Locomotives by John H. White Jr. P39 - #242 Boston & Albany - side rails
Railways by C. Hamilton Ellis   
Portraits of the Iron Horse by Otto & Robert S. Henry 
Pioneer Railroads by Hank Wiend Bowman P74 - #65 B & O Winans Camel -  3 edges.   
The Baldwin Locomotive Works 1831-1915 by John K. Brown   
Nevada State Railroad Museum Equipment Guidebook  Prepared by Staff & Friends
California State Railroad Musem  Railroading In California And The West  Richard Steinheimer
Railroads In The Early Days Of Steam by American Heritage Society

[Terry Toenges]

When I glued the cabs together, I had to cut notches in the top rails on the walls so the sides would fit flush with the front and back.

I got the cabs painted and I got my roofs assembled tonight. I took the trim off of them. I put some balsa along the seam on the inside and made some gussets so they would hold their shape. That was kind hard to do and it was just a lot of eyeballing instead of measuring so it looked close to what I wanted. It all turned out pretty good. I won't permanently attach them yet because I'll have to add the people when they arrive and figure out how much weight I'll add.

The gussets are all in place.  I still have to paint them.

As a side note - While I was in the check out line at Hobby Lobby buying the balsa wood, I saw these little clothes pins. They are about 1/3 the size of regular ones. I pondered on them a bit and thought maybe I'll find a use for them. They turned out to be perfect for holding the wood to the cab sides while I glued the roof pieces together. Regular clothes pins would have crushed the balsa wood but these had just enough spring and not to much. The notch in them that normally goes over the clothes line was big enough to fit around the top of the window frame.

[Terry Toenges]

I got some of the stuff painted and it's sitting on the old boiler now. The headlight and cab will need another coat of paint. I had to sand those a little.

I am experimenting with different wood loads. These are the extra thick long matches cut to 1/2" which is 2' in 1/48th scale. 3/8" or 16" scale looked too short and stubby. I tried a few different colors on the matches. I painted one side with burnt umber and went over it with brown ink that looks kind of bluish. That came out the best color wise. I might still go find some regular long matches that aren't so chunky because these look kind of large.

Another shot of the stuff on the old one. I started on the new shell and got the old domes, stack, light, and light platform off of it. I won't be using the platform and the light will sit on the bracket like it is above. I had to use my Dremel to grind out a hole in ther bracket so the wires will pass through and the light will sit flush on the bracket.

Slowly, it comes together. The semi-flat black paint still looks pretty shiny.

[Terry Toenges]

I had some ups and downs the past few days.
On the old frame, I got the wires soldered for the headlight. I added a micro-mini 2 prong connector so I could separate the body if I needed to do that again.
I went to put the body on the frame and it was really being a hassle because of so little room under there and the connector and extra wire wasn't letting it go down all the way. With all the pushing, I the plastic piece away from the crosshead guide. I stopped and tried to glue that back. Many tries and I couldn't get it right. The glue was getting built up and making it worse. I'd have to try to scrape glue off and do it again. I was using Locktite liquid super glue. When I would get it to stick, the guides would end being too far part and the crosshead wouldn't stay in place between them. I went back to the boiler to try to force it down and somehow I broke the end of the frame that sticks out that hold the pilot. I glued it back and let it sit for a while.
I got those loupe things so I was checking out the wheels and realized they were really cruddy with all the little hairs and lint stuff that has accumulated over the years. I didn't see that stuff until I put the loupe in my eye. I spent considerable time cleaning all that stuff out.
I figured since I've got the new one, I'll work on it. Since I had trouble with taking the other apart to deal with the headlight issue I would revert back to my original plan.
I would try to ream out a space for the headlight without taking the loco apart. I wiggled the light loose and pulled it up a little. I took a pair of cutters and cut the upper platform so I was able to loosen it and slide it out from under the light. I drilled a small hole in the platform forward of where the wires when down inside. The I used my Dremel to enlarge it bit by bit. I took the cutters and cut away the metal in between and reamed it a little more. It worked and now the light sits down on the metal platform and the wire runs underneath. (It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be or I would have tried that with the old one.) I was happy.
I decided I wanted the wheels and white trim painted black because I didn't care for the white. I used my nut driver from the new set I got and removed the main crank pin bolt (size 2,5). The connecting rod bolts are a different size :-(  The set I have has a 2,5 and 3,0. Those bolts are somewhere between 2,5 and 3,0. I'll have to just keep them connected and work around it. I unscrewed the bottom and in the process of trying to pry that off, broke loose the plastic guide that hold the crosshead supports. Argh! That thing again on the new one now. I can't get the plastic plate with the wipers pried off the frame but I have some wiggle room to where I'm able to turn the drivers by pulling it up off the gear and turning it. I'll just have to paint a little and turn the wheels and paint a little and turn the wheels.
With all this hassle, I decided to give up on the old one (because it's seen it's better days anyway) and buy a second new one. The crosshead on the old one won't cooperate with me trying to glue the support piece and I don't know if the super glued frame is going to hold and I still never got the shell all the way down on the frame anyway.
Tomorrow, I'll try to paint the wheels and then put it together then pray that I can get the crosshead support glued back the right way on the new one.

[Terry Toenges]

I did some measuring on these bolt sizes.
On the old Mogul, the main crank pin bolt and the connecting rod bolts are 2.5 mm.
On the new Moguls, the main crank pin bolt is 2.5 mm. The connecting rod bolts are 2.8 mm. Why would they do that?
I can not find a 2.8 mm hex nut driver. They make 2.8 mm star nut drivers.
The closest in inches is a 7/64" hex nut driver. That works out to 2.7781 mm. I don't know if that will work.
I got the light, domes, stack, and cab glued on today. I was going to take pics but my camera went down on me.  Now, I have to get a new camera. It's been acting up for a few months and now it finally bit the dust. 

[Terry Toenges]

I got my tender fences in the mail yesterday from PSC. I had ordered two sets, one for each tender. They were pretty short so I used the sides from the second set to make it longer. I had to trim the end piece down because it was too wide. I also trimmed the side pieces down a little. I ordered two more sets of fences for the other tender.

[Len]

When my repair shop was open I often had to deal with odd size bolts and nuts. I'd find the closest undersize nut driver I could, 7/64" in your case, and 'broach' the hex out with a jewelers file until it fit. Then I'd mark the size on some white 'Bandaid' first aid tape and wrap it around the handle.

Len

[Terry Toenges]

That's a thought. It's just that they are so small anyway I think that would be hard to  do.
It just sucks that Bachmann would put bolts on there for which there are no commercially available drivers that I have been able to find.
I ordered the 7/64" one. When I got it, I found out it wasn't a nut driver to fit over a bolt but one to fit inside a bolt like cap screws.
I did get the wheels  and white trim painted by doing how I mentioned in a previous post.

[Terry Toenges]

I've been working on the tender. I was in the hospital with pneumonia from Sunday through Tuesday so I've been taking it easy for a few days.
I got the D&RGW lettering off. I used Qtips and 71% isopropyl alcohol. It took a lot of rubbing. I tried 91% a little but that seemed to take it too deep to bare plastic so I went back to the 71. While the white lettering was gone, there was still a visible shadow of the lettering and logo.
This morn, I took the shell off and painted it semi-flat black. I took an emory board and got the white stripes off the frame so I masked off the wheels and the innards and painted the frame.
I used Rustoleum to paint the tender fence a flat brown.
I got the long matches all painted and stained and cut to 1/2" long.
Once the tender dries over night, I'll number it. I got Woodland Scenics Roman Numbers Gold dry transfers.
I numbered the cab, but the the number looks too small so I'll remove it and try to fit a bigger one on it. It's hard because the side is divided into four panels and doesn't leave much room for numbers.

[Terry Toenges]

I have questions about the Mogul. I'm curious as to how the fireman gets down to the tender. Does he climb down a ladder? Does he jump? If so, how does he get back up? How does the engineer get in position? Climb a ladder?
I wanted to leave one door of the cab open but there is such a big drop off.
I Googled "Mogul" images and can find any of the back of one without the tender blocking the view.

[Terry Toenges]

Little by little. I have to do some on the cab yet. I had numbered the wrong panel so I got the number off and brushed over it. I should have sprayed. It's not glued down yet, nor or the figures or stack glued yet. Once I get the cab done and glued, I'll add the whistle.

[Terry Toenges]

I needed to make a lens for the headlight and I had to figure out a way to prop it up. This worked out ok.
I tried putting clear silicone sealer in there first. I tried it on a piece of cardboard and it dried clear. I then put some in the headlight cavity. I waited for three days and it didn't look like it was clearing up. When I had put in the cardboard, it was clear in a few hours.
I just pulled that stuff out and filled it with Woodland Scenics Water Effects. I'll see if that works.