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 Posted - August 01 2020 : 6:59:50 PM
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Here is my first ever steam locomotive kit build. It took me two weekends and several evenings to finish.
Started off with the frame obviously. Used files to file down all of the flash on the frame. This step took longer than I expected.
Frame free of flash
Started work on the mechanism. Used a round file to file the axles down until I had the it rolling with no resistance.
Mounted the yoke and steam-chest.
Running gear assembled.
Mounted the engine with weight on the frame to test everything. Doing this showed me that the axles were still causing some binding/resistance. I probably re-assembled and disassembled the locomotive 6 or 7 times during this step to get the running gear to roll perfectly.
Decided to re-paint the locomotive. The plastic shell, even though it was painted still had large amounts of plastic flash all over and the mold seem line running down the boiler was attrocious.
First coat of black after painting the smokebox grey.
More paint. I believe I ended up doing 8 coats of black so that I could cover the sanding marks left behind where I removed the mold seem.
Getting there. Paint turned out great.
After hand-painting the bell, whistle, thing on the smoke box, and grabs. The two "splotches" on the paint is where I handled it when I shouldn't have. Oh well, the dull clear coats took care of them, so not a big deal.
Here it is in it's current state. I need to hit it with a few more coats of dull clear but it's finally presentable.
I can't wait to do another one of these sometime. I have several other projects in the work that need attention before I can start another!
Edited by - kristofer4301 on August 01 2020 7:00:54 PM
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Posted - August 01 2020 : 7:03:21 PM
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Looks great! Yes, those roundhouse kits have a TON of flash. Not the biggest fan of the gold siderods, but other than that I like it! It is very rare you see one of these actually done up nicely,yours is no exception. 
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Posted - August 01 2020 : 7:50:45 PM
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Kits like that are cool projects. It's a pity that facet of model railroading is not as available as it once was.
I like what you did with yours.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - August 01 2020 : 8:40:01 PM
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All I can say is WOW. Especially these older kits, not a shake-the-box
type project, but require skill and ingenuity.
Back in the day, throwing together an Athearn blue box kit provided
a certain degree of satisfaction that comes from DIY.
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Posted - August 01 2020 : 10:39:02 PM
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Thank you for the kind comments everyone.
This was kit had a lot of “firsts” for me.
I was torn on what to do with the siderods. I figured metallic gold to match the drivers and Wabash decals.
Honestly building kits like this is some of the most fun I’ve had in the hobby in years. I’ve always been a repairman but this stuff is on a whole different level.
I have a new in box Hobbytown of Boston E7 that is at the bottom of the project list. Excited to dive into that when I can.
I have seen a lot of.....less than amazing finished kits, like you said Blax. I think that people see these on eBay (or wherever) for cheap and think it’ll be something they can do in a weekend. I also prefaced this by watching and reading all I could on building a kit like this. Next one should be a lot easier.
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Posted - August 02 2020 : 08:33:07 AM
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| Yeah, all Mantua kits and such built back then were NO FUN! all I see are black boilers, no decals, no trim, no weathering, just built to stock standard. BORING!! I'm glad that you have a different color smokebox, some nice big colorful decals, jewel in the headlight, all very interesting to look at.
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Posted - August 02 2020 : 3:28:59 PM
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That looks awesome!! Nice work!
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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