Erie-Built

Discuss All Facets of 2-Rail, 1/48 Scale, Model Railroading
bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:14 pm

Well, there is no prototype for this one. Nobody in the real world ever grafted an F-M nose on a PA body.
There is definitely a point on the nose of the F-M. It is only a question of the contour leading up to that point. Drawings do not match photos.

User avatar
ScaleCraft
Posts: 6458
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:15 pm
Location: Floe Ice, Auntarctica

Re: Erie-Built

Postby ScaleCraft » Sun Dec 05, 2021 11:33 pm

One of the many facts I seem to have randomly picked up over the years, Signor says the Erie-builts had no dynamic brakes. In his book on the Tehachapi, he mentions under one photo about that on the Santa Fe.
Dave....collector, restorer, and operator of the finest doorstops

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Mon Dec 06, 2021 12:11 am

I just added some contour to the Alco roof. It is with a small chunk of brass and some JB Weld. Next will be the corrugations for the nose, and paint. Next photo will be more colorful - if I can find that really good maroon paint.

Jay Criswell
Posts: 1979
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:38 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby Jay Criswell » Mon Dec 06, 2021 12:30 pm

Bob,

What maroon paint would that be?

Jay

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Mon Dec 06, 2021 12:36 pm

Not sure. Jim sent me two bottles; one was perfect, and the other was sorta brown. Cannot find the good bottle.
Milwaukee maroon must beb difficult - K-Line used brown on their otherwise pretty darn good Hiawatha cars.

Jay Criswell
Posts: 1979
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:38 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby Jay Criswell » Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:38 am

Bob,

Somewhere along the line I ended up with a few bottles of Hobsco (Walther's?). They are all 2 oz. bottles and contain, 1 Milwaukee Road Maroon, 1 Gray, 1 Aluminum, 2 Orange, and a partial container (maybe 5 oz.) of thinner. I assume this was produced to go along with Walther's Hiawatha cars. It's doing me no good just sitting here.

Would it be correct for your venture? No idea. I'll send it if you want to try it out. As always, once in your possession, it's your problem! :D

Jay

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:06 pm

I could try it. Nice thing sbout doorstops - if you don't like the paint just strip & start over.

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Fri Dec 10, 2021 12:09 am

Getting ready to shoot orange. Too cold right now, but probably this weekend. Really happy with how this looks!

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:31 pm

Here we go - the sticker looks better on this one than on the more detailed Atlas nose. I will make the corrugated deals, then I am going to repaint the thing entirely and put a better sticker on it. May even move the fabricated trucks under it, although Milwaukee used only the cast trucks, similar to the PA trucks now under it.

Image

User avatar
De Bruin
Posts: 903
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:24 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby De Bruin » Tue Dec 14, 2021 3:05 pm

Great job Bob! Looking at it one would never suspect the switcheroo unless they were familiar with the Erie Built car body.
Ironically the Milwaukee Road actually did something similar albeit grafting an EMD cab onto a DL109 car body.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_DL-1 ... n_1958.jpg
referred to as "Old Maude"
8^)
Litigation Crisis Consultant- remediating legal-media issues; mitigating federal, state and local investigations, court orders etc. Your serial felony history, contractual defaults, bankruptcies no big deal.
contact morbo@getoffthehook.com

E7
Posts: 8262
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 1:35 am

Re: Erie-Built

Postby E7 » Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:54 pm

Anything would be an improvement over the DL-109 nose!

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Tue Dec 14, 2021 7:58 pm

Well, surprise, F-M fans. Note the difference in nose lengths in that photo.
Jim Scribbins did a nice book on the Hiawatha - and on page 254 he notes that there was indeed a longer, more pointy snout on the earlier units. I had sort of suspected that some were more pointy than others, but was unaware of the snout length disparity.
Learn something every darn day - too bad it isn’t useful stuff.
So my modified Atlas nose may be less correct for the B-17 windows than the sand cast variant.

User avatar
R.K. Maroon
Posts: 2921
Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:20 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby R.K. Maroon » Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:55 pm

De Bruin wrote:Looking at it one would never suspect the switcheroo unless they were familiar with the Erie Built car body.

I agree with Pete on this one but might go one further. I'd bet you could pair the two AA and run them for the public and many, many viewers would not know heads from tails. People tend to see what they think they are seeing.

Bob, I will also add that your "vision" that an Erie-Built nose match well to a PA body was closer to spot-on than I would have imagined. I would not have guessed that they fit together so well. This is not a comment about the aesthetics of the match-up, just the practical matter of getting them to fit. In my experience, one often finds that matched pieces often don't line up. To think that unmatched castings will is either a leap of faith or visionary.

Jim
Slow progress is better than no progress

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Wed Dec 15, 2021 1:07 pm

No - just faith that the original pattern makers followed prototype dimensions.
Width is rarely a problem - measure all your Diesels; I bet all are 2 1/2" +1/16, -0.
Height, too, is predictable. Try it.
And yeah, putting an F3 nose on a DL-109 saved that unit from terminal ugliness!

I gave some consideration to putting very thin radiators on the hind quarter, but I agree - the thing turned out well as-is, and if we ever find a good bronze foundry we can have more sides cast and convert this back to a PA.

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: Erie-Built

Postby bob turner » Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:50 pm

Bumping this thread - Rich was correct; I have really covered my Erie-builts well here. Time to do a little bit more work on my Milwaukee projects. I am going to do some ALCO truck work this evening and stick that on the back of the “lost plastic” thread.
Off to the airport.
I note that the Clubhouse was mentioned above - I made a mistake last week assuming tha a photo was just of three “alternatively proportioned” women on a SoCal beach, and posted thereto. I regret that, and since I have the choice, I shall never again even open that hate-filled segment of MTJ.


Return to “O-Gauge, 2-Rail, Model Railroading”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests