RS-3 narrow gauge conversion

[Ray Dunakin]

This isn't a "finescale" project, but maybe some of you might find it interesting. I have a 1/29th scale Aristocraft RS-3 which I'm converting into a 1/24th scale narrow gauge loco. There's no real prototype or anything, and I'm trying to use as much of the existing shell as possible. I will be adding some new details and changing some of the existing details.

The two biggest factors in making it look like a narrow gauge loco in a larger scale, are to widen the deck and to give it a bigger cab.

I started by widening the deck. To do this, I glued 1/4" square styrene strips to the edge of the frame, then topped them with 1/4" x .010" strips. I still need to cover the expanded deck with new non-skid treadplate:






I also decided to make the hoods slightly taller, by gluing 1/8" x 1/4" strips all along the base of the hood pieces. And I reduced the length of the short hood, in order to accommodate a larger cab:







I removed the "bug-eye" classification lamps. Soon I will remove the existing grab irons, fill the holes, and replace them with new grab irons that will be larger and spaced more appropriately for the increased scale.

To make this look like a narrow gauge loco in 1/24th scale, it needs a new, bigger cab. I began scratch-building one out of .080" thick styrene. I cut the front and rear walls to shape, taped them together and carved out the windows. While doing the windows I also trimmed the curved edge a little more:





Here's how it will look on the loco:






That's all for now. I'll post more updates as I go.

[Malachi Constant]

This isn't a "finescale" project, but maybe some of you might find it interesting.

Yup ... watching with interest here.  -- Dallas

[Ray Dunakin]

I haven't been able to get much done this weekend. Too many interruptions, plus I wasted a lot of time trying out a technique that didn't work before settling on one that did. Anyway here's the latest update...

I've been building up the frames around the windows on the front wall of the cab. There are two parts to these. The first is cut from a sheet of .010" thick styrene, then glued to the window. They overlap the inside edge of the window a little bit:






Next I glue down a thin styrene rod to form a sort of "bead" around the inner edge. This is really slow and tedious but adds a lot to the appearance:







Two windows done, six more to go! Then I do the side windows.

[finescalerr]

Incredible. I would have used a laser cutter or something. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

I considered using laser cutting but decided against it for a couple reasons...

First, I was concerned that anything I drew on the computer would turn to not fit correctly on the model, and would need to be tweaked and redone to get it exactly right, costing time and money. And second, I didn't really want to wait to have to send it out -- I just wanted to get to work on it.

[Ray Dunakin]

I've made a little more progress...

Finished framing the windows on the front and rear walls of the cab, and glued the cab together. To create the arched roof, I glued in strips of styrene, then sanded down the angled edges:




It still wasn't rounded enough so I filled it in a bit with spot putty:




Then I topped it with .015" thick styrene sheet. Unfortunately that wrinkled a little in places, so I had to smooth it out with a little more spot putty. I also rounded all the corners, and started detailing the side of the cab:




In this photo you can see some of the detail on the side of the cab:




That's all for now, more to come!

[eTraxx]

Dang Ray. That's looking good. Makes me want to jump up and model.

[lab-dad]

Looking good, thanks for showing the missteps.
Why didnt you use pre-formed (heated in boiling water and put over appropriate shape) sheet styrene for the roof?
Would have eliminated the work on the strips.
Some reinforcement strips under the roof line would have kept the front/rear spacing.
Just a suggestion/comment.
I worked an hour last night with styrene and it all went into the trash 
-Marty

[Ray Dunakin]

Marty, I considered forming the styrene, but I wanted it to be pretty thick (.080") so that I could sand the edges round and still have plenty of material for support.

[Malachi Constant]

Shaping up nicely ... still watching!   

Cheers,
Dallas

[Ray Dunakin]

Today I've doing some detailing on the short hood. I replaced the original grab irons with new, slightly larger ones, spaced farther apart, as appropriate to the new larger scale. Most of the grabs are from Phil's Narrow Gauge, I just bent them a little to fit the corner positioning on the hood. I had to make the longer grabs myself. I used Phil's brass, nut/bolt pins to secure them:




I also carved off the molded door handles and replaced them with new handles made from brass rod:




I put some small details to the top of the hood. I also made the sand box fill hatch larger and added hinge and latch detail:

[NORCALLOGGER]

Ray,
Well done.  There is nothing like hand building for a feeling of satisfaction.
Beautiful work on those cab windows, it is the tedious little details that really pull a project like this together.

Keep up the good pace.
Rick

[Gordon Ferguson]

Ray,

appreciate its a bit late but came across this and immediately thought of your conversion

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/165642/1825746.aspx

[JohnP]

Speaking of critters, a fun book to own is "Critters, Dinkys & Center Cabs" by Jay Reed (ISBN 0-9647221-2-7). My local hobby shop had it. It has so many ideas for model inspiration in all scales- I bought it to make a battery powered 1-1/2" scale 7.5" gauge loco.

This project looks good so far.

John

[Ray Dunakin]

I finished putting the grab irons and door handles on the long hood. I also filled in the overly-wide panel lines and scribed new, thinner ones; and replaced a couple of molded-on pipes:






I scribed some lines into the smoke stack, and replaced the molded details:




One of the reference photos I found included a close up view of the horn, which inspired me to go nuts and add all the little details to the horns on my loco:




The sideframes of the trucks have a lot of molded on detail, including the brake cylinder. I'm cutting those off and making my own, completely 3-dimensional brake cylinders. I haven't finished that yet, but here's a pic showing how I'm altering the shape of the steel arch-thingy (pardon the technical terminology!) to more closely approximate the prototype. I used epoxy putty to fill out the shape. Since this piece must be able to move up and down, I just put a piece of wax paper between the two parts before adding the putty:




That's all for now, more later...

.