Doorstops - Cast Brass, Bronze, Aluminum

[Dennis Holler]

Doorstops... I have a few junker Scalecraft K4's and about 2/3's of a CLW H10.... I'm working on the mechanism of my most recent K4 now. Looks like it has some Lobaugh drivers on it. Please set me straight if that is not the case. I really need to just sit down and get the drives of these three locos squared away as they are each a mess in their own way.

k4 tender.jpg (179.41 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

K4 side.jpg (129.81 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

K4 right side.jpg (148 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

K4 -2018.jpg (129.94 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

K4-2018front.jpg (129.73 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

SC%2520K4-1.jpg (77.31 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

IMG_1784.JPG (2.19 MiB) Viewed 7407 times

IMG_1783.JPG (2.15 MiB) Viewed 7407 times

100_1499.jpg (139.78 KiB) Viewed 7407 times

[bob turner]

Rich and I are having a nice conversation in the PM section while our fellow forum members are exchanging one post a day. So I thought I should resurrect this old thread on doorstops.

I just looked at all three pages, and I think I can add a few more photos - but first, what is "doorstopism?"

Here is my take: as I stated in the first post, maybe 50% by weight sand cast? I don't make the rules. And it must be said that, while doorstop O Scale is sort of legitimate scale modeling, we make no pretense at being accurately or highly detailed. Doorstops are sort of caricatures. There is a charm with these models, not unlike the charm some find in old tinplate.

There is room for this branch of O Scale. It co-exists in my collection with USH, fairly accurate scratchbuilt steam, a trio of Overland PAs, and a string of PSC Harrimans ten cars long. Eleven if I decide to capture that 40' PSC RPO.

Rich and I are ruminating about E-7s, me with a windshield fetish, and Rich with the problematic headlight bezel. I have no truly accurate E-7s around here, but am planning to get some sand cast sides done to resurrect an aluminum B and two not-so-hot A's.

So, let me see about some more doorstop photos, and then maybe Rich and I can wax eloquently about windshields and bezels in public.

[bob turner]

These first photos are my problematic E-7s. The problem is that I did not spend enough time getting the porthole windows correct and the rivet bats skinny enough - plus, the upper air intake screens are sort of wrong. The plan is to make masters of better quality, and cast new sides. So far the plan is just a lot of boring work. Not what a hobby is supposed to be. Herewith - First, what I started with, then a couple shots of my progress so far.

New Adams Diesel 001.jpg (1.35 MiB) Viewed 7349 times

Adams E-7 A.jpg (1.06 MiB) Viewed 7349 times

Adams restoration 001.jpg (1.56 MiB) Viewed 7349 times

Adams restoration 016.jpg (833.21 KiB) Viewed 7349 times

[bob turner]

T & P is how this pair arrived. Next photo is the stripped unit. Photo 3 is the sort of finished product in red oxide, parked next to an Overland E-7, and backed up by what I am capable of if I actually take my time.

Photo 4 is to show you why I am dissatisfied with this pair - the big deal is probably those windows. Maroon sent me the Keil Line lead castings, which I plan to use on my casting pattern. And for the pattern, all bats will be a uniform .080 wide, and dead-straight. Intake openings will be per drawings, which I assume came from the MRR Cyclopedia on Diesels.

If this generates any interest at all, I have a bunch more to share - ten photos lined up, not all E-7s. Even the lowly All Nation NW-2 has a doorstop version!

[J. S. Bach]

Doorstops are sort of caricatures. There is a charm with these models.

Caricatures and charm, maybe; but at thirteen plus pounds and eight-wheel drive, this one should pull the plumbing right out of the station as the late Don Wertz would say. On second thought, it just might pull the station!

100_0034.JPG (6.96 MiB) Viewed 7342 times

100_0045.JPG (3.67 MiB) Viewed 7342 times

If this generates any interest at all, I have a bunch more to share - ten photos lined up, not all E-7s. Even the lowly All Nation NW-2 has a doorstop version!

Bring them on, your photos are always worth looking at.

[E7]

Here is one I sent to Bob: An E8, but somewhat better than many of them (opinion)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/O-SCALE-2-RAIL ... SwFSRbmqpu

Bob thinks Locomotive Workshop

I'm not sure!

Rich

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Here is one I sent to Bob: An E8, but somewhat better than many of them (opinion)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/O-SCALE-2-RAIL ... SwFSRbmqpu

Bob thinks Locomotive Workshop

I'm not sure!

Those drives in the B unit reek of LWS.

[E7]

Those drives in the B unit reek of LWS.

I'd be the last to dispute the origin of the loco, and I do recall seeing one or two of the LWS kits with the grey colored castings.

Jan Lorenzen passed on not to long after I became interested in "O", so I never had too many encounters with the LWS kits.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Those drives in the B unit reek of LWS.

I'd be the last to dispute the origin of the loco, and I do recall seeing one or two of the LWS kits with the grey colored castings.

I can't make a statement regarding the engine, but that drive.........

Jan Lorenzen passed on not to long after I became interested in "O", so I never had too many encounters with the LWS kits.

I've probably built far too many of them and paid the price for doing so....but I got over it with therapy and medications.

[E7]

I've probably built far too many of them and paid the price for doing so....but I got over it with therapy and medications.

I've heard they were not for the faint of heart!

[bob turner]

My only genuine LW kit was a tank car. It was a bunch of sheared brass pieces, an .010 wrapper with crooked rivets, and a PSC dome. I did use the dome. The wrapper became boiler bands.

I used his coined drivers before he had the bright idea to plate the axles and pins before pressing. After that, all press-fits were eccentric and wobbly. To salvage a driver one had to plug both holes and re-drill. In the beginning he had some Lobaugh parts that were ok, so long as he didn't drill them.

But he did produce doorstops of some quality from the Penn-Erie patterns. More on that later - here is an E-7 that I am sort of proud of. The nose is from Bob Stevenson - probably an F-7 nose - and the sides were soldered up here.

Adams E7s 002.jpg (830.84 KiB) Viewed 7278 times

[bob turner]

And here is one of the T&P disasters, for which I am planning cast sides:

Adams E7s 004.jpg (873.86 KiB) Viewed 7278 times

[E7]

Hard to tell without a front on shot, but I believe that Great Northern is your most accurate piece.....better go back to Bob S. for more cabs. The pilot is way better.

I don't think there is any difference between the F's and the E7 E8 cabs.

Rich

[rogruth]

A question and comment from the 3 R person that also likes 2R who reads everything on this forum, even the stuff that he doesn't completely understand.
From reading and looking at the photos provided, it seems to me that doorstops are passable models to most of us but have something lacking or wrong to the aficionado of 2R. Most of the photos I see of Doorstops seem to be very nice but that is probably to my being a 3R person.
I marvel at what has been done with the materials used and the tools available. This is beyond any capability I ever had. 65-70 years ago I was able to assemble HO kits and a few HO Mantua brass locos. They were never as nice as what I see here.

[E7]

Roger,

Considering the technology available and idea that information was not so easily obtained (but then, you could go look at the real thing in some cases) some of them are pretty decent.

Even some modern brass models fail pretty miserably.

Like most of this stuff, it's about what you like.

Rich