May sound goofy, but as a teen, I remember seeing many SCL U-Boats and thought it was cool that I could look at a grill on these brutes and see straight through to the other side.
After studying NightCrawler’s outstanding Tunnel Motor pictures, I decided early on that I would like to install “see thru” grills on my Athearn U-Boats. The prototype GE U-Boats have large grills on the body sides towards the rear, just like the EMD Tunnel Motors, though the sizes are different. Problem is that no one manufactures grills for the U-Boats. I haven’t found any scratch building material; brass, plastic, or steel, that resembles vertical grills other than the parts that NighCrawler used on his locomotive.
O.K, I know that the rivit counters are going to “hang me out to dry” for this, but I’ve decided to purchase and try “adapting” the EMD tunnel motor grills to the Athearn U-Boats. While the grill plates are vertical on GEs and EMD, the old GE grills were more corrugated. However, I’m not too picky----just want to capture the “look” of the see thru grills. Plus it will really enhance the look of the Athearns as well as help with the sound output from the Soundtraxx decoder.
(BTW: Last I checked, Athearn’s not producing the U33 this year, what’s going on?!)
If any of you know of a better option for grills, please let me know!
There is probably some kind of etched brass that would do the job and give you an acceptable look. I’m not much of a rivet counter either.[swg]
The question is once you cut out the openings and install the grills, will you be able to see all the way through like you want? Are any of the motor components or electronics blocking the space? It’s been a long time since I’ve been “under the hood” of an Athearn engine.
It depends on your angle of viewing. I had a friend do this to a Stewart U25B for me. I’m not sure what material he used - but if you look at the unit directly from it side - you can see the internals of the unit.
If you view it slightly from above, you can see through the grill, but the running gear is not as pronounced. It looks much better than it did before.
For true effect, you could un-power the back truck, but I don’t think its worth it. Unless your eye level is exactly at the side of the engine, (90 degree viewing of the side), its not as bad as you might think.
This is not a problem. I know that some components will be seen, but the overall “see thru” effect adds such a nice, realistic dimension to a locomotive. [:D][8D]
Recently I installed “See Thru” side radiator grills on an FP45 using the “Plano” scratch build metal grill material. The grills looked small and yet the “see thru” effect was quite striking! [:D] Looked nice, until I ruined the locomotive with liquid CA! [B)][:0][:p]
Gd891, You have a good idea. I would do something like this to a dummy unit that would have a sound decoder & speaker installed in it.