Using Cannon Doors

[bnmodeler]

I'm building my first kitbashed/scratch built locomotive and have framed where the doors with the .020 Evergreen strip, are going to be placed but am wondering about the joints where I built up the sides. Does anyone fill in the gaps, they are very small, before putting the doors on? What do you use to fill them?

[antlorch]

If there is anyway you can get your hands on the Mainline Modeler August 2001 there is a great article on building hood sides. I use Bondo spot putty for all my joints. I went down to my local NAPA and picked up a tube, its big enough to last for awhile.

[Raeder]

One of the members here did an extensive write-up on his site on working with Cannon doors to build hood sides.

www.6axlepwr.com/HOOD_SIDES_cover.html

He covered pretty much everything you'll want to know about assembling them, the process, what goes where, what sizes of styrene strip to use, suggested tools, etc.

Kevin

[jbconn]

Hi all,

I've looked at this thread and the excellent Brian Banna tutorial as referenced on the Cannon & Co web site. I still need some reassurance/clarification.  The tutorial and other examples I've seen use 0.020" styrene as a door separator.  Is this based on the offset of the hinges from the back of the door?

Rather than use the exact method detailed by Mr. Banna, I am wondering about using a 3-D printed "bare" hood as the backing plate.  The reason for this is that my prototype uses SD-45 type radiators and hood ends, and I have not seen suitable hood ends and roof stock available from Cannon or anyone else for that matter.

Thanks

Jim Connolly

[simulatortrain]

I too was looking at 3D printed hood sides, but I don't think the trouble and expense is justified. I was also looking at laser cutting, but styrene does not laser cut as well as it probably should. Since then, I actually tried building a gondola in styrene, and it was much easier than I expected. If you haven't tried building with styrene first, I would recommend giving it a shot before you decide it's not for you.

I realize after typing that that you are probably actually talking about printing a 3D hood with holes and blank spots for all the Cannon parts, which could end up being worth it. It will probably still cost more than you're expecting, though, if you haven't done any 3D printing before.

[jbconn]

Thanks Adam,

Yes, what I was thinking of was building a hood with plain flat sides like what Mr. Banna used as a backing sheet then adding styrene and Cannon doors like he did. The 3D printed detail would be on the roof of the wide SD-45 style long hood end, to which I would add Cannon fans, Atlas dynamic brake hatch, radiators, etc.

I wasn't thinking about modeling holes and blank spots for the doors, but that might be a plan if I had all the doors first and measured them carefully enough. Hmmm...

I have done a couple of designs. Right now I'm waiting for the cab I designed for this locomotive that should ship Friday. It has molded latches and other details that I can copy onto the long hood (provided they look good on the cab). I expect that the Cannon doors would be better looking.

Thanks for the info

Jim