Post by m a y o r 79 on May 21, 2011 15:23:55 GMT -5
Well for some reason I decided to start yet another project 
. Not sure if this is the right place for this thread or not since technically it's not a diesel, but rather an electric build. The plan is to build something reasonably close to a Milwaukee Road Steeple Cab switcher out of plastic. 
For a little history, the Milwaukee had 5 electric switches total, all built by GE-Alco. GE provided the electrical components and Alco built the bodies and trucks. So I'm not sure if this belongs in the GE group, Alco group, or somewhere else Units E-80 thru E-83 lasted up until the end of electrification and were the ES-2 class. The one I had initially intended on building looks like this:
There was a fifth switcher, #10000 (renumbered E-84 but it never wore it) that worked out of Great Falls Montana, it was the ES-1 class, and was retired around 1939. This one was a little different in that it operated at 1500 volt, and was considerably smaller than the others:
About 4 years ago I bought a Cannonball Car Shops steeple cab kit with the intention of modeling E-80. In doing research I discovered that the E-80 was different from the kit I bought so I kind of put the project on the back burner for a while. I dont have a lot of detailed information on the two classes of electric switchers but from the research I have done I believe the ES-2 class is about 3' longer than the ES-1, as well as being bulkier. The hoods on the ends are higher and the cab sits higher off the frame. I could probably live with the length difference, and making the cab and hoods higher with styrene shouldn't be too terribly difficult .
Now I'm not sure if I want to model E-80 or the smaller switcher #10000 which is more accurate for the kit I bought. Either way the basic work to begin the project is about the same. And since I don't think I'll be modeling the electrified mainline when I start my layout (someday) this is going to be more something for fun and to take to shows.
I don't think this is going to be a fast build, but I was planning on posting updates as I progress on the build. So far all I did was open the bags of parts and I'm starting to plan things out. So far this is what I have:
The kit from Cannonball and the donor Spectrum 40 ton switcher trucks:
A lowering kit and motor mounts from AMB:
I need to make a run to the hobby shop to pick up a few other parts to get this thing really going. The first step is going to be getting the frame and trucks mounted to the AMB kit.
I'm not sure exactly which one I'm going to do yet, but my thought right now is to do #10000. OMI did the ES-2 series so those can be seen every now and then, but I've never heard of anyone modeling the #10000.
Thats about it for now. Wish me luck ;D
. Not sure if this is the right place for this thread or not since technically it's not a diesel, but rather an electric build. The plan is to build something reasonably close to a Milwaukee Road Steeple Cab switcher out of plastic. For a little history, the Milwaukee had 5 electric switches total, all built by GE-Alco. GE provided the electrical components and Alco built the bodies and trucks. So I'm not sure if this belongs in the GE group, Alco group, or somewhere else
Units E-80 thru E-83 lasted up until the end of electrification and were the ES-2 class. The one I had initially intended on building looks like this:There was a fifth switcher, #10000 (renumbered E-84 but it never wore it) that worked out of Great Falls Montana, it was the ES-1 class, and was retired around 1939. This one was a little different in that it operated at 1500 volt, and was considerably smaller than the others:
About 4 years ago I bought a Cannonball Car Shops steeple cab kit with the intention of modeling E-80. In doing research I discovered that the E-80 was different from the kit I bought so I kind of put the project on the back burner for a while. I dont have a lot of detailed information on the two classes of electric switchers but from the research I have done I believe the ES-2 class is about 3' longer than the ES-1, as well as being bulkier. The hoods on the ends are higher and the cab sits higher off the frame. I could probably live with the length difference, and making the cab and hoods higher with styrene shouldn't be too terribly difficult .
Now I'm not sure if I want to model E-80 or the smaller switcher #10000 which is more accurate for the kit I bought. Either way the basic work to begin the project is about the same. And since I don't think I'll be modeling the electrified mainline when I start my layout (someday) this is going to be more something for fun and to take to shows.
I don't think this is going to be a fast build, but I was planning on posting updates as I progress on the build. So far all I did was open the bags of parts and I'm starting to plan things out. So far this is what I have:
The kit from Cannonball and the donor Spectrum 40 ton switcher trucks:
A lowering kit and motor mounts from AMB:
I need to make a run to the hobby shop to pick up a few other parts to get this thing really going. The first step is going to be getting the frame and trucks mounted to the AMB kit.
I'm not sure exactly which one I'm going to do yet, but my thought right now is to do #10000. OMI did the ES-2 series so those can be seen every now and then, but I've never heard of anyone modeling the #10000.
Thats about it for now. Wish me luck ;D
