I’ve been gathering the proper kits and parts for a while now to build a Santa Fe E6A diesel, and now I’ve finally got just about everything needed to do it.[:D] I thought I’d show some progress pictures so you can all see how it’s coming along, and maybe get some ideas for your own projects.[:D]
I’m building the diesel using an older chassis from Hobbytown, and a metal body from Cary (Bowser).
This is the chassis in its original construction. You can easily see that the gearing was all outside, and it stuck out far enough that trying to cover it all up wasn’t possible. So, I decided to move it.
This was probably the hardest upgrade I’ve ever done on anything so far. The gears had to be pulled and repositioned, and because there were no ridges on the shaft where the main drive gear went, the gear had to be soldered on. I also had to split the truck frame in two, and grind out a lot of metal for clearance. The gear tower was too low when turned around, and had to be shimmed to get the proper gear mesh.
A third screw had to be added to the bottom to hold the truck together. This needs to be done slowly and carefully, or it can fail like my first attempt. The truck holds together fine, and the gearing works just as well as before.[:D]
I replaced all the old U-shaped bearings with pieces of K&S #127 1/8" brass tube, since the old bearings allowed too much slop, and they weren’t perfectly shaped so they caused excessive drag, especially with the body on (current draw with a new motor was well over half an amp at half speed). The new bearings have very little slop, and they allow everything to move extremely freely no-matter how much weight is added.[:D]
Although the old gear tower isn’t the quietest, it’s one of the most reliable there is. The standard Hobbytown drive is also one of the smoothest once fully broken-in.[:D] I’ve heard a number of stories on how bullet-proof (or even missile-proof) and long-lasting they are.[:D]
I now have the large 1" flywheel and one of the NWSL universals. Walthers made it look like there were enough parts for two universals, so now I have another set on order that I’m waiting for.[:(!]
Anyway, here’s the most recent progress.[:D]
The Maxon motor only has a 2mm shaft, and the flywheel and universals require a 2.4mm shaft (which I knew before I ordered them), so I drilled out the middle of some K&S 2.4mm brass tube to 2mm to get the flywheel and coupling onto the motor. It was kind of a trial and error process, and I never got one that was perfectly straight, so when I got close enough, I mounted the flywheel on there and drilled a couple small holes in the flywheel to get it perfectly balanced. The shaft on the upper gear was slightly too small (probably 2.38mm or so) for the universal coupling, so I squished the end of the shaft in a vise to expand it outward a little. The copper motor mount was soldered together before, but I discovered pretty quickly that solder is NOT a good mount for motors! The mount is now held together with 2 ton epoxy, so it should last forever now.[:D]
Having just one of the universals in there was enough to improve operation a LOT, so it should be perfect once I get the second one.[:D] And with that 1" flywheel on the coreless motor, this thing coasts like no other![:O]
[bow] Great work Darth. It should,be a beauty once it’s done.Unfortunatly I wouldn’t have the patience to rebuild it along the lines you have done and I would have wimped out and bought a proto E6. I admit it I’m kitbash shy when it comes to locomotives.[sigh] Still thumbs up on the great work.
The first Hobbytown kit - actually it was kits - I ever put together was their universal GP drive on which I mounted a couple of Athearn’s GP30 bodies. They were, indeed, exasperating. I am not blessed with inordinate mechanical skills and I remember there were a couple of times I got out and out discouraged and came close to giving up. I didn’t and with the help of a couple of the fellows in the club in Taxachusetts I eventually got the bugs out and they ran like a jewel. When I got ready to go to the Philippines in the fall of '65 I was made a very good offer and I sold them.
I will say this, though; I have never forgotten just how smooth those helical drive mechanisms were, once you get the slop out of them. I have been doodleing around with designing a helical drive mechanism for (at least) N-Scale steam locomotives.
Darth, have you considered calling this series “Pimp My E6?” [:D]
Cool stuff as usual. [tup] So you cut/ground slots in the truck casting for the two large gears so you could spin the gear tower 180 degrees? The gearing looks awfully close to the bolster. Did you grind some of the frame away for clearance? I can’t really tell in your last photo.
The gear tower is so sturdy that it looks like it came from an old electric can opener. [(-D]
Also, have you ever tried Timewell flywheels? I’ve heard good reports about them.
I’ve now gotten the other universal kit, but I decided to put it in my Bowser T-1 instead. I had put a Hobbytown universal in the T-1 earlier, so I switched it to the Hobbytown chassis. The Hobbytown universal has a design that’s better for the long swinging of the trucks.
The E6 now runs very well, drawing around 0.15 amps on straights and about 0.25 on curves. The brass gears have a bit of a whine to them. I expect that all of this should improve with some good hours of run time.[:D] Once I’m sure it’s running like I want, I’ll begin the process of painting. It’s going to be in the Santa Fe Warbonnet, which will be the most complicated paint scheme I’ve ever done.
R. T. POTEET, you’re right about how smooth these things are. That’s why I wanted the Hobbytown chassis for this project.[:D]
About the helical drive for N-scale steam, I may have an idea for you. There are some high-precision small motor and gear manufacturers (like Portescap and Maxon) that make gearheads with various ratios to go directly on the motor, although they’re a little expensive. If you could put a small gearhead onto the motor, all you would have to figure out beyond that is the helical gears on the axles.[:D]
[motor][gh]—[g]
(wheel)
SteamFreak, when I turned those gears around, one thing I made absolute sure of was that the gears had plenty of clearance.[:D] If I ever do that again, I think I’ll wear a breathing mask, because I must have inhaled a tiny bit of zamak dust. It was hours before I got that flavor out of my mouth![xx(]
I’ve looked at Timewell flywheels, but never actually bought any. Their 1" flywheel is the same as NWSL’s, so I think things would have turned out the same with either one.
I don’t know if they’re still available, but Heiden offered a transmission to convert older Athearns for slow speed running. You might be able to modify it to work with your current set-up.
Nice work, by the way, on your progress so far.
Here’s an easy way to add “plugs” for your motor, lights, etc.:
It’s just a piece of circuit board, with the copper split down the middle, then rail joiners are soldered to it. Each of the wires from the trucks, plus those to the motor, are fitted with short lengths of rail. Makes it easy to remove the trucks for servicing, and would also be handy, if you use working headlights, for separating the body shell from the chassis.
Just a small update this time. I discovered that the helical gears MUST be well cleaned and then fully greased before running! I failed to clean and then add grease to two of the axle gears, and when I opened the truck, there was a nice little pile of brass shavings under each gear![:O] Luckily, I caught it before they ground themselves down much, so hopefully they’ll run without destroying themselves now.
doctorwayne, that’s pretty genious the way you made plugs from N-gauge track parts. I’ll have to remember that for future wiring projects.[:D]
One thing I’ve found out working with a lot of older brass locomotives: Brass gears+grease=FOREVER! I’m sure you caught it in time–we’re talking Sherman Tanks, here, LOL! Considering what I’ve seen and read about your other locos, I can’t wait to see what you do with that Cary superstructure.
Well, it’s been over a year, and I’ve finally decided to get back to work on this thing.
I’m currently preparing it for a re-coat of primer. My last attempt got slightly destroyed by masking tape that was too sticky. What sort of masking tape will hold on well enough, but not risk damaging the paint again?
Also, what are the proper horns for a Santa Fe E6? One of the stock Cary horns fell on the floor and got run over by a rolling chair, so I need new ones (and I might as well get really good ones, since Cary’s are no better than average).
years ago i did an A-B-A alco hobbytown locomotive with the huge motor in the B unit and jack shaft drives to the 2 A’s which were weighted with a bunch of type slugs. that thing would pull the paint off the walls. talk about smooth, it was unlike anything i had run before. of course, back then we had mostly athearn diesels which would run 250 scale mph and varney which kind of hopped down the track because of egg shapped wheels.
a hint, try lapping the gears in with tooth paste. that always worked well for me.
After the complete failure of Modelflex paint twice in a row, I finally decided to try some good paint. Today, I bought 3 colors of Scalecoat II enamel paint (MOW Gray (the primer), Silver, and SF Red). I accidentally ordered the big 2oz. bottles, but at least I know I won’t run out for a while![:D] The paint seems to be of very high quality, and I really hope it works. Just to test it out, I brushed some gray onto a piece of copper that’s been handled quite a lot. After letting it set for a few hours, I stuck a piece of masking tape on, peeled the tape, and the paint stuck to the metal![:D] It’s still tacky, so I see why it needs to be baked. It’s also shiny, so I shouldn’t have to give it that extra clear coat for the decals.[:D]
The score so far:
Scalecoat II: 1
Modelflex: 0
At this time, there are about 10,000,000,000 gnats flying around outside (no joke [:O]), so I think I’ll wait a while before starting the painting for the 3rd time!
Modelflex is meant for plastics not metal! To use Modelflex on metal you have to start with an oil based primer. As a custom painter I’ve used a lot of Modelflex paint over the last 10 years with excellent results. You shouldn’t blame the product if it doesn’t work when you mis-use it.
I realize that now. I can’t blame the product, since I’ve also had some good results with it, and there’s a huge variety of nice colors. But I can blame Badger:
“Superior adhesion to most plastics, resins, metals and various other substrates.”
That was taken directly from their website, so how was I supposed to know I was misusing it? Oh well, at least I’ve got the right stuff now.[:D]
I still haven’t gotten to the painting yet, but I know I’ll do it eventually! I found out today that my lacquer thinner dissolves Modelflex paint very quickly, so a good soaking and brushing should have the old stuff off in less than 10 minutes.[:D] And then I’ll use scalecoat paints and bake them on. I want to finish my Shays first, so they’re my painting priority right now. But I’ve still at least refined the drive more.
I managed to salvage a coreless motor that I broke the shaft on. It had a large red spacer on the shaft, so I glued it on and used brass tube to extend it. The other coreless motor is pretty fantastic, but it’s just too fast for the E6’s gearing. The high gearing and large flywheel also gave the old motor a huge starting current (stall current is about 3 amps!). This newer motor has a more appropriate top speed, lower current draw, and higher low speed torque. As you can see, I remounted the flywheel in the more typical Hobbytown fashion, and connected the motor with an extra Tenshodo universal (I didn’t want to mount the flywheel on my weaker repaired motor shaft). The motor is mounted with double-sided foam tape, and I added a diode for directional lighting. I also got rid of some gear slop, and straightened out a couple bent axles (bent at the wheel). The E6 runs far better now than it ever has, and I’m much happier with it.[:D] Once it’s painted, I’ll make the flywheel mount a little more robust ([:D]), since it’s just Athearn bearings glued to the frame right now.
Don’t worry, guys! I’ll have it finished someday!!
