G16
Road Foreman
Posts: 87
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Post by G16 on Oct 21, 2011 0:01:21 GMT -5
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Post by icghogger on Oct 21, 2011 8:35:26 GMT -5
VERY Nice Work!!
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Post by tamaman on Oct 21, 2011 9:16:25 GMT -5
That's a nice loking unit!
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Post by iomalley on Oct 21, 2011 11:31:13 GMT -5
Man that's big! Is 4539 not a unit with dynamic brakes? (nevermind, just read up that 4539 is a what if number....sorry.)  |
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Post by spud7378 on Oct 21, 2011 20:48:30 GMT -5
very nice!
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G16
Road Foreman
Posts: 87
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Post by G16 on Oct 21, 2011 23:36:29 GMT -5
That's a kit from Roco or Red Caboose?? Can you give more details about the kit itself. Great job btw. As you know Red Caboose is an American brand but they got Roco to make the O scale GP9 drive for them about 20 years ago and Intermountain did the tooling, molding and decorating of the carbody. This thing happened in the old days such as Kato of Japan produced the first GP7's & RS11's for Atlas. It was very well detailed, ran decent but was very fragile so it needed a carefull hand. However, there were problems with the Roco drive. The gears on the driver axles had a tendency to split after a while. They could be repaired, by drilling the hole in the gear out slightly, then supper gluing the crack and super gluing them on to the axle. The 1992 May issue of Model Railroading magazine had a product review of this GP9: www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/300/22375/may-1992-page-9Meanwhile, here are some more good pics (downloaded from the internet) showing the kit in details:       |
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Post by big train james on Oct 22, 2011 19:18:18 GMT -5
That's a kit from Roco or Red Caboose?? Can you give more details about the kit itself. Great job btw. These are decent kits that are now the basis for the Atlas O gp9's. The only issue I've ever heard is with the chassis. The frame is too weak and will sag in the middle over time. Atlas must have tooled a new frame (probably diecast) for the model as I've never heard the same complaint about their version. The gears tend to split from hoop stress as well, similar to the problem with P2K gears. Various replacement parts, like the frame, and detail parts are available through P&D Hobby in Michigan and Des Plaines Hobbies in Chicago. Also I believe some Atlas parts will work too. Gears can be had from NWSL. One big distinction between the original Red Caboose kit and the current Atlas model is the drive. The old kit drive used a single motor with towers with either idler gears or chain drives to the trucks. Much like HO drives based on the original Athearn drive. The Atlas version has two motors, each mounted vertically to it's own truck. This is the default O scale drive system now (ostensibly used to satisfy the wants of 3-railers) that allows room for electronics and smoke machines and the like. Here is a link to the Atlas gp9 chassis exploded diagram. www.atlaso.com/partspdfs/GP%209%20chassis%202%20rail%20complete.pdfMost 2-railers in O scale don't care for the two-motor drive, but O scale product development is driven by the 3-rail market. The con is poor slow speed control due to low flywheel mass and an inadequate gear ratio. Even getting rid of proprietary control systems from MTH or Lionel and switching to DCC helps only marginally. Back emf decodes generally don't function well with the two motors since they don't know which motor to listen to. A second issue is the front motor protrudes into the cab area on many models, making it impossible to do a cab interior. Bob Sobel, associated with the Appalachian and Ohio O scale layout published in MR several years ago has done quite a bit with the Red Caboose kit. In fact seems to prefer it to the current Atlas version. Below are a couple of links to pages or discussions about the kits from various sources. I'm sure more can be found on the web. www.aorailroad.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=3pdhobbyshop.com/show_products.php?category=Trains&sub_category=%26quot%3BO%26quot%3B%20Scale%202%20Rail&sub_sub_category=Drive%20Components&manufacturer=P%26amp%3BD%20Weaverwww.desplaineshobbies.com/store/product/31677/GP9-BODY-KIT-UNPTD/www.desplaineshobbies.com/store/product/41000/GP9-Brass-Frame/Here is a great shot of a couple of the units. Unfortunately these are Atlas, but they are all from the same tooling.  See more on the Atlas forum: forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=47620&SearchTerms=gp9I will be happy to answer more questions if I can. I'm kind of making the move from HO to O scale and while I haven't really built anything I sure spend a lot of time nosing around it. Jim |
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Post by big train james on Oct 22, 2011 19:27:49 GMT -5
Did the kit come painted for the CN or did you do the paint work? One of my two flavors I consider pursuing is the Central Vermont in the transition era. I have tried to figure out how to do the yellow areas that wrap around the front, sides, and roof of the hood ends. I want to do the non-dynamic brake units with the torpedo tubes on top. One of my inspirations is this photo:  My favorite Alco, and my favorite 1st generation diesel. All it would need to be perfect is a couple of 2-8-0's. Yum! Jim |
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Post by big train james on Oct 22, 2011 19:36:52 GMT -5
One other problem with the Atlas (or anybody else's) two-motor drive, is that it usually has exposed spur gears that are part of the truck. While I haven't heard any horror stories about it, it's considered to be asking for trouble with dirt and crud issues in the gearing.
The Atlas O switchers have a single motor drive with enclosed gear boxes, much like HO models. My plan of sorts for gp9's and F units is to use the Blomberg trucks from their mp15dc with a replacement motor and drive shaft. Someday. It will require some fabrication, for which I have neither the time nor skills at this time.
Jim
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G16
Road Foreman
Posts: 87
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Post by G16 on Oct 22, 2011 21:50:27 GMT -5
Did the kit come painted for the CN or did you do the paint work? One of my two flavors I consider pursuing is the Central Vermont in the transition era. I have tried to figure out how to do the yellow areas that wrap around the front, sides, and roof of the hood ends. I want to do the non-dynamic brake units with the torpedo tubes on top. One of my inspirations is this photo: My favorite Alco, and my favorite 1st generation diesel. All it would need to be perfect is a couple of 2-8-0's. Yum! Jim My kit was factory painted in the CN livery except for the additional detail parts e.g. hood-mounted bell, handrails, speed recorders, antenna, etc. which were painted myself. Seems there is no ready made CV diesel decal available on the market. Microscale offers CN & GTW in O scale. You may want to change the lettering yourself. With the decal pieces, it would be easier to wrap the round roof corners of the hood ends. pics from Microscale Industries:  |
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G16
Road Foreman
Posts: 87
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Post by G16 on Oct 22, 2011 21:58:52 GMT -5
Jim, just a small finding. The current Atlas GP9 almost 100% looks like the old Red Caboose unit except for the area around the coupler pockets or the pilots. |
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