All these years in the hobby, never owned a piece of brass before. Finally got one. Alco Models RS-3, custom paited as Reading 514. In very nice shape (box needs new foam, as usual. Hello, Reboxx…). Couple of marker jewels need replacing. Markers and correct horns were added by whoever painted it, and it even has a trust palte and builder’s plate decals.
Flash makes it too light, it’s really a much darker green and looks right.
Haven’t tried running it yet to see how it goes. I jsut walked in the door and didn;t finish what else I needed to do when I saw the box waiting for me.
Congratulations, Randy. I know you, of all people, will have this little honey purring like a contented kitten in no time and that you will enjoy your decision and purchase.
Actually I hope to have it burbling like an Alco (minus the smoke), if I’m going to remotor this I’m going to put sound in as well.I need some Alco sound, my other sound diesels are EMD and the same 567 motors, too.
I guess I don’t really like the RS-3, I only have 6 of them now, counting the ones that are undecorated. And probably enough parts to make at least one more if I strip the old paint from either the PRR or L&N shell.
When you get the new foam for the box, if you intend to keep the engine in that box I advise doing what most of the importers took to doing – wrap the engine so it does not touch the foam itself. left unattended that can be an invitation to some unhappy results. I know some brass engines come wrapped in a sort of Saran Wrap but I do not know if that would be good on a painted model. It is OK, even long term, on an unpainted model at least in my experience. A linen handkerchief would probably be a good idea.
That’s beautiful, Randy; I love the Alco RS series and would love to have one, so I envy you. And since you have one in Pennsy livery–I really envy you!
Good luck with it! Let us know how it runs and how you ultimately modify it, especially (I assume) the DCC conversion. I understand there’s not a lot of room for a decoder in an RS body.
be sure to carefully wrap it in a thin plastic, but not saran wrap or anything that clingsand .never but never place a brass model in the foam unwrapped…even new foam.
It came in a plastic baggie much like Stewart locos are packed, so I have that covered. And checking Reboxx, their replacement foam inserts seem to come with a bag as well
I just my second brass loco, the fourth brass model I’ve purchased since I got into the hobby, the other day, a BLI Q2 (yeah it counts) and there is nothing in model railroading quite like a good brass locomotive. They always have a certain feel and character that even the most detailed plastic models will not have I find. I love good models made from both materials but again there isn’t much like that brass model feeling.
I can generally resist, although if I do build my ‘ultimate’ layout I’ll also need a coupel of steam locos that are available only as brass to serve as pushers on the old Hill track. Still in service in my year, but not used very often since the new Low Grade line was opened up.
Found a 9V battery handy and touched it to the wheels, it runs, and very quietly too.
Nice choice Randy, always my favorite diesel. I have about 5 of them but none in brass. I too finally got a brass after 50 years in HO, but it doesn’t run very well; has a bad gear tower. Mine is a Hallmark SD9 in the PRR paint. Very nice but no better than my BLI in details. I just wanted a brass loco and got it cheap. Keep us informed as to your progress with it. Congrats!
I took it up to the train room, was goign to try in on address 0, and/or figuoreout how to open it up to check the motor. Well, I put it on the track, no tpical buzz. Nothing with address 0. So I took it over to the bench and figured out the half dozen or so screws that have to come out to remove the body and what to my surprise did I find:
It’s been remotored, with a small round black can motor (Sagami maybe?), the fuel tank area was filled with shot and glue for extra weight, and…it has a decoder! Digitrax something, I didn;t bother to try it with JMRI to do an ident, but it’s blue shrink wrap - was installed witht he label side up against the hood so I can;t see the model. And it has lights front and rear. So back to the layout I went, tried the cab number, no go. Tried the last 2 digits of the cab number, no go, so I put it on the program track and read CV29 - 6, ok, 2 digit address. Read CV1 - 54. First and last numbers of the cab number? Wierd. So I reset it to the cab number, put it back on the main, and off she went - somewhat inelegantly since I didn;t put the hood back on, but it runs reasonably well AND has a nice can motor. So, coupler checkup and lube and I might take it along to pull my train at Timonium next weekend. And snag a replacement foam from Reboxx if they are there.
Congrats on buying a brass locomotive. I bought my first brass locomotive about 25 years ago. It was an N&W W2 by NWSL. I still have it (of course). I bought it for about $150, which was a lot (and still is). I was not into N&W at the time. I was just looking for a small locomotive for my freelanced model railroad The Rowe Valley Railroad named after my father-in-law. I wanted a steam locomotive that could make it around 24 inch radius curves and still look good. I was relatively new in the hobby and had someone else install the lights and custom paint it. I had my own decals. Now that I run N&W, I have not had the lettering changed. It does need to have DCC installed. Good luck with your project.[bow]
If the decoder was Digitrax or an older blue covered TCS it would be printed on the shrink wrap. It could have an older MRC blue shrink wrapped decoder with no printing on it. Reading CV8 will tell you who makes it. Manufacturing codes can be found on the NMRA site.
The earlier posters are correct. Brass is addictive. My second was a fixer upper 2-10-0 that runs great now with its can motor and new drivers. The coast to coast tender has an ESU Select and medium oval speaker. I am bidding on a third now.
Welcome to the machine like the Pink Floyd song said.
It’s a Digitrax, but which one I don’t know - it’s sort of glued up in the hood with the side that has the printing on facing the shell so I can’t see it. Wierd thing is whoever put the decoder in hooked up 2 of the wires, I think the track pickups, with 2 pin Miniatronics connectors, but the motor leads are just soldered together, so I can mostly remove the shell. Wierd.
I’ll eventually redo it for sound, with the small can motor it won;t draw too much current, and there’s actually a decent amount of room for a speaker or two. There significantly more clearance than say an Atlas/Kato one, because the motor sits so low.
SHame that I’d have to strip the paint and start over. A Trainmaster is the one loco I don;t have. I’ll keep an eye on it, but I can get the Atlas plastic one with DCC and sound for udner $200, in the proper as delivered scheme for my timeframe. Nice attention to detail there, though - it even has the drip rails over the cab windows.
I don’t think it will be hard for me to resist other brass - there’s so much nice plastic these days. Case in point, the T1 steam loco. The PCM and Broadway versions are more and more accurately detailed than the old NJ brass ones (Daiyung). The more recent Overland brass versions are without a doubt the nicest models of that loco ever. But with a factory painted one goign for 10x what the Broadway costs…I can resist. This one was too good a deal to pass up. If I take one of my $40 undecorated Atlas ones, add additional details, figure in paint and decals, I’ll have nearly as much into it as this brass one. I have 3 such models to complete, plus an MDC kit and an Athearn that’s already Reading and just needs details.
