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Post by m a y o r 79 on Dec 15, 2020 22:03:26 GMT -5
I've said it more than a few times but its finally time to start the build! All told there will be four of these for the beer line, three will be H10-44's and one will be an H12-44. At least thats the plan for right now. My plan was to build #783, but......the old saying measure twice, cut once. Oooops! I drilled out the grab irons on the wrong side, so this one is going to end up being #764 instead. Over the weekend they took a soaking in some paint stripper. This unit started out as a Pensy, the lettering all came off nice, but we never got back to gray plastic. not a big deal though. Here's the shell on the bench before taking a bath. The frame and motor are in the background. To the frame I'm planning on adding a SoundTraxx Tsunami II decoder, mini speaker and a Current Keeper II. There's just too many fun sound effects to play with in urban railroading There arent many details that are needed on the Milwaukee units. I added grabirons on the nose (make sure you do the correct side, LOL), handrails at the cab door, a new horn and a bell on the end of the long hood. I need to modify the louvers on the side, adding some above the doors on each side (Archer louvers) and filling in some of the ones on the doors. I need to find an MU cable connector for the ends as well. The Milwaukee ordered these in the 1950s for single unit operation, but by the early 1960's they were all rebuilt for MU operation. So far so good!
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Post by icghogger on Dec 16, 2020 9:15:36 GMT -5
Nice beginning!! Drilling a hole in the wrong place is a common occurrence for me.....I just plug 'em with styrene rod and start over....!
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Dec 16, 2020 10:17:30 GMT -5
Nice beginning!! Drilling a hole in the wrong place is a common occurrence for me.....I just plug 'em with styrene rod and start over....! Yeah me too, one of the grab irons has 3 holes on one side to get it straight! I'll just fill em with putty. Unfortunately I realized I drilled out the wrong side after they were installed, so it was easier to just pick a new number rather than start over. I've got three more chances to get it right! LOL
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dekon
Staff Member
Posts: 634
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Post by dekon on Dec 26, 2020 16:35:36 GMT -5
Looking really good. Mike, your builds made me look at Milwaukee Road locomotives. Some many different makes and models. Saw a picture of an RSC2 with the ducting on top of the hood and I had to make one.
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Dec 31, 2020 20:39:34 GMT -5
Richard the Milwaukee certainly had a ton of different locomotives to choose from. It gets maddening sometimes though because so much of what they had was home built or heavily customized. Means a lot of kit bashing.
These H10-44s were shockingly more or less stock from FM. A few more details and mine should be ready for paint. I need to do some surgery on the motor/frame though to make them DCC friendly, then figure out how to cram a Soundtraxx decoder, speaker and Keep Alive under the shell! That should be fun. LOL
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Sept 6, 2023 21:32:04 GMT -5
Need to take some pictures but I finally restarted this project. Modified the louvers on the side to match the prototype. Primed and sprayed the orange last week before we left on vacation. Need to mask and paint the black next, and get the decoder installed.
Should be running on the layout by the end of the month!
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dekon
Staff Member
Posts: 634
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Post by dekon on Sept 7, 2023 14:47:09 GMT -5
Can't wait to see them. I really enjoy your builds.
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Oct 21, 2023 8:06:45 GMT -5
Well, long overdue but I finally have an update on this project, though a small one. Got the shell painted fully yesterday afternoon. Still have a few small details to add (mu connectors, hoses, etc, on the pilot, all weather window, etc) and decaling the shell. Fortunately there isnt much to decal on Milwaukee units! LOL This is the first time I've ever used Tamiya making tape and I gotta say I'm impressed! I only had two very small spots where I have any paint bleed under the masking tape to fix. One spot is a very faint bit that snuck between the gap between hood doors, I could possibly hide that with weathering. The other is a very small bit of paint bleed on the very front hood. The tape isnt cheap but man does it work nice! Next up is getting the decoder, speaker, and keep alive fitted onto the frame. Since this is the older Walthers version its a bit more challenging to rewire it for DCC but not impossible.
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Post by icghogger on Oct 21, 2023 8:47:21 GMT -5
Looking good, Mike!
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Post by countryroads on Oct 22, 2023 11:17:44 GMT -5
Yes Tamiya tape is great little pricey but worth it
Unit looks great can't wait to see it done
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