I have a Proto 2000 GP38-2 that I’m super-detailing with Details West parts. The DW front and rear snow shovel has pertrusions that are slightly wider that the holes that are on the front of the locomotive.
Now, I know that I’ll have to redrill the holes in order for the new plow to fit. My questions is:
Would it be easier to glue a thin layer of styrene (0.01" or 0.02" thick) across the front (in order to cover the existing holes) then redrill new holes, or…should I find some suitable diameter sprue, glue that in the existing holes then redrill the new holes. Either method has it’s pluses and minuses. I was just curious what some of you all have done in this situation.
Tom, if the device will hide the original holes, I wouldn’t bother filling or occluding them with more styrene. I’d just tap new holes to match the distance between the protrusions on the Details West device. You’d have to match paint quite closely with the original paint job if this added styrened bulkhead is going to be visible to any extent…don’t know it that would present much of a problem for you.
I would use small Evergreen rod to fill the existing holes, assuming the plow doesn’t cover them up. The other method wouldn’t allow a flush fit, even if it’s only by a few thousandths.
I’ll work on getting a pic posted by this evening.
The real issue of redrilling the holes is that the new holes will only be slightly wider than the original ones. If the distance between the two were more than a drill bit diameter, I’d just drill new holes. Unfortunately, it’s more like 1/2 or 1/3 a drill bit diameter. (Hence the need to cover or fill in the original holes.) I guess I could widen the existing holes to make a “slot” but that’s a lot of filing. The locomotive is black (Norfolk Southern) so I’m not too worried about making the paint.
This may sound weird, but bare with me for a moment.
Even if you cover the existing hole with a thin layer of styrene, the bit will try to follow the original hole once it breaks through. Plugging the hole may have the same effect if the material used for the plug is softer than the original surface.
I’d drill out the existing hole large enough to plug it with a piece of styrene rod that will allow drilling the new mounting hole through the plug. Once plugged and sanded smooth, you’ve got a consistent surface to drill through. I’d further recommend making a drill template out of thick styrene, it’ll be alot easier to get the holes exactly where they need to be.
The locating pins on Detail West plows are just that, Locating Pins. There’s no need to fill the origional plow mounting holes unless they are visible after installation of the new cast ones. I always mount the Detail West castings with Walther’s Goo. This gives a good flexable bond that can handle mishap from a bump from non centered coupler or just any mishandling. The Goo allows for easy removal w/ a blade or chisel if needed.
When setting the plow heights, the template provided on the back of the package is for exact prototypical height up from the rail head. You should note that many times, positioning the plow as recommended, you can have coupler trip pin (glad hand) interference from an opposing coupler. In other words if the shank isn’t long enough, the opposing coupler pin will hit the bottom of the plow. I will always set the height to just allow the trip pin to just clear under the plow. I realize this is much higher than the prototype, but the new position is barely noticable.
When I mount my Chessie Rock pilots, I have even more trouble w/ clearance due to the convex shape of the plow. I need to use a long centerset coupler or the curve will hit the bottom of the plow.
Most normal plows only require the use of the #5 (medium centerset) for proper operation.
For ease of mounting hole placement, I set a thin styrene stip on the shelf of the Kadee height gauge (tad more than the pin diameter) and place the plow on it. With the model on a section of rail align the casting and measure or mark the pin position. Even if your holes are slightly off, just reem them to make sure the fit is level and on centerline. The Goo will do the rest.
With the installation of a different plow, you may need new MU hose and cable if applicable and the air hose may need to be changed to a
I tackled the Details West (DW) plow modification this evening watching the All-Star game. Here’s what I ended up doing:
Located some black sprue from an old Proto 2000 kit
Measured the OD of the sprue and found out that it was ~0.08"
Drilled out the original 0.04" OD holes for the plow with a 5/64" (0.079") OD drill bit
Pushed a small section of sprue through new holes and glued it from the backside with liquid cement
Let liquid cement completely harden
Figured out where the pertrusion on the DW plow were in comparison to the original holes
Hand-drilled small (0.031") pilot holes for the new plow for accuracy
Hand-drilled larger pilot holes with 3/64" (0.047") OD drill bit
Here’s what it looks like so far:
Click pictures to enlarge
I still have two remaining things to do before installing the new Details West plow is complete:
Hand-drill the final OD size for the DW plow pertrusions (0.056-0.058")
Clean off/smooth any pertruding sprue with an X-acto knife so that it is flush with the surface
Since the plow is going to cover up both the new and old holes, I’m not going to do any touchup painting. Besides, I don’t think there will be any to do when I’m done anyhow.
As mentioned above, I ended up drilling out the original holes with a drill bit twice the diameter of the original. The center lines of the new holes ended up falling right at the inside edge of the original holes. (See pictures above.) Since I filled the holes with styrene sprue, I didn’t have any problems with the drill bit wanting to follow the original holes at all.
Since I still have the rear plow to install, I’ll definitely keep the drill template idea in mind for next time. Thanks again!
My original concern was that the bit would attempt to walk into the softer of the two materials, the pilot or the plug, but it appears you’ve done a great job.
I’m sure we’d all like to see the finished product. Please post the pictures.
I envy you HO guys, there’s not as much eye strain as in N scale.
Mike, I think pre-drilling the smaller pilot hole first helped in that respect. The larger drill bit didn’t wander. I’m hoping that the final drill bit won’t either.
I’ll definitely post pictures when I get the plow on. I still have to finish painting parts.
Even with HO, Mike, I still need to use my Optivisor quite often. I don’t envy you N-scalers in that respect.
Tom, I installed both the plows that came with my Proto GP38’s and had a problem with the trip pins on the couplers of the box cars, other loco’s etc hitting the plow. This might be something you may want to check out before you get to far ahead.
I just wanted to post an update to this thread. I recently finished priming, painting, and attaching the snow plow, hoses, and air horn to the front end and top of my GP38-2 this past week:
In general, I’m pleased with it. There are a couple of minor things that I’d do differently if I had the chance to do it over again. Even so, the whole experience went pretty well. I ended up using spray cans to prime and paint everything.
I still have the rear of the locomotive to do. Unfortunately, I have to wait till I go back to Alliance (an hour+ drive from Cleveland) and pick up another snow plow because I only bought one originally. [D)]
I’ll also be outfitting the rear of the locomotive with a Kadee #156 (long shank) coupler so that there will be enough coupler swing for pulling rolling stock. The medium shank #58s or #158s don’t allow enough swing so that cars being pulled derail around R22" or less curves.
The picture of the front coupler is a #58 with the pin sawed off. I’ll be pulling cab first so it’s mainly there for show. I’ll post one final time when I’ve completed the project.
This would look real nice with my fleet of horses. Very nice job. I have that same unit without the details. One thing on the couplers, is to watch for coupler droop on the long shanks. I had to put them on an Athearn Dash 9 because of the snow plows. I was able to minimize the droop but not totally eliminate it.
Click pictures to enlarge
