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Now that the ES44 is mostly done, my SD45 is the next one on the chopping block....  

The specific model I am working with is here. This conversion is similar in most respects to the ES44 one here.  Check the first post in that thread if you are interested in the hows and whys regarding the design.

I figure this guy for an old school, working class dog kinda look, heh. So no plow or MU cables, mismatched main air hose piping, and a bit of a ding and patch from an errant freight car on the front pilot. Here are a few views of the front and rear: 

front1front2rear1

Here is a vew of the assembled unit from the underside. The mounting boss on the truck for the electrocoupler will definitely have to come off this one, even with a kadee 743 as shown:

clearance1

Clearance between the truck side frame and the stairs on the pilot is also quite close:

clearance2

 Here is how the coupler is mounted. A 740 is too big, so I've designed around a 743:

couplermount

 And finally, here is the assembled front pilot on the body shell:

frontshell1frontshell2

Gonna gel on the design for a few days, and then order parts. I'll post pics as hardware arrives and installation progresses...

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Images (8)
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Original Post

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I really like this one!  Definitely makes sense.  Most of my units would also get plows, so I'm with Joe here.  Possible to make mounting hole indentions on the inside of the pilot and provide a plow option for us northerners? 

Since all my diesels get fixed pilots, I cutoff the loop on the MTH trucks, especially on the SD45 it's a tight fit and I use the standard Kadee draft gear box and couplers. 

A couple other recommendations

SD40-2, MTH does not make this locomotive with scale wheels and a fixed pilot

SD70M-2/ACe , slightly different then your first SD9043MAC pilots

P42

Dash 8-40C and 40CW

 

Last edited by Mike DeBerg

I've got lots of EMD GP and SD units that need solid pilots. I'm looking forward to seeing your results on this MTH SD45. I'm guessing the pilots for 38's, 40's and such will be very similar.

Also, have you ever considered printing in some of the metal materials they offer on Shapeways? That's what I was going to try with the test 3D pilots I've modeled.

Thanks for all you're doing for the 3RS side of the hobby, "Thor" We really appreciate it.

Last edited by richtrow
Mike DeBerg posted:

I really like this one!  Definitely makes sense.  Most of my units would also get plows, so I'm with Joe here.  Possible to make mounting hole indentions on the inside of the pilot and provide a plow option for us northerners? 

Since all my diesels get fixed pilots, I cutoff the loop on the MTH trucks, especially on the SD45 it's a tight fit and I use the standard Kadee draft gear box and couplers. 

A couple other recommendations

SD40-2, MTH does not make this locomotive with scale wheels and a fixed pilot

SD70M-2/ACe , slightly different then your first SD9043MAC pilots

P42

Dash 8-40C and 40CW

 

some of the newer MTH model pilots have holes already drilled and tapped that accept the side screws for mounting KDs. So like on my Genesis, all that was needed was a shim, and some mounting holes.

richtrow posted:

I've got lots of EMD GP and SD units that need solid pilots. I'm looking forward to seeing your results on this MTH SD45. I'm guessing the pilots for 38's, 40's and such will be very similar.

Also, have you ever considered printing in some of the metal materials they offer on Shapeways? That's what I was going to try with the test 3D pilots I've modeled.

Thanks for all you're doing for the 3RS side of the hobby, "Thor" We really appreciate it.

This is great and a needed improvement to some of the EMD style pilots on (slightly older) MTH models. They did improve the GE pilot details and I haven't seen that on some EMDs yet.

Joe, sure.  However, I really like the more to scale appearance of these pilots AND the extra details that are present.   For example, many of the MTH locomotives still have the older, thicker MU hoses and either no air hose or not well represented.   Also the MU hoses don't align to the holes in the snowplows very well, often you can only get 2 of the 3 MU hoses to line up without any modifications.

Last edited by Mike DeBerg
Engineer-Joe posted:

All my engines are up north. So they all get plows. Even the visitors!

Mike DeBerg posted:

I really like this one!  Definitely makes sense.  Most of my units would also get plows, so I'm with Joe here.  Possible to make mounting hole indentions on the inside of the pilot and provide a plow option for us northerners? 

Noted. I'll see what I can do... 

richtrow posted:

I've got lots of EMD GP and SD units that need solid pilots. I'm looking forward to seeing your results on this MTH SD45. I'm guessing the pilots for 38's, 40's and such will be very similar.

Also, have you ever considered printing in some of the metal materials they offer on Shapeways? That's what I was going to try with the test 3D pilots I've modeled.

Thanks for all you're doing for the 3RS side of the hobby, "Thor" We really appreciate it.

The sintered metals are cool, but don't have the resolution of the detail acrylic. For example, the steel has a minimum embossed feature size of 1.0 mm, vs. the acrylic at 0.1 mm.

 I poured some plastic pilots using various resins from Alumilite. They handle everything I throw at them and have never broke. So I expect the same from these. I won't know for sure until I get my hands on a set.

 I also use plastic KDs in both my G scale and O scale apps. They never break. I'd have to guess it's all in the quality of the plastics?

I got an all plastic G scale engine and a main air cable snapped off the second it touched something.

I really like the additions and can't wait to test these out.  I have a WC SD45 and a BNSF SD45 ready for these immediately.   As I was thinking about these, one other idea came to mind is locating the full length handrail holes in the new pilots for the side and end railings.   Similar to having a locating hole on the backside, might be yet another helpful value add...

 

 

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http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr013.htm

I'm guessing that back when this was made, it had those steps sticking out from the pilot, that were outlawed? (something I heard).

Some of the roads that I see pictures of have the unused hose ends going into boxed steel on the bottom of the pilots where those steps would have been

(cut off?)

I'm just guessing but it appears that the pilots were modified and/or filled in differently? I see a more modern looking cut lever that is hinged at the outsides of the pilots.

See the source image
 
Mike DeBerg posted:

I really like the additions and can't wait to test these out.  I have a WC SD45 and a BNSF SD45 ready for these immediately.   As I was thinking about these, one other idea came to mind is locating the full length handrail holes in the new pilots for the side and end railings.   Similar to having a locating hole on the backside, might be yet another helpful value add...

Hi Mike, there are 0.020" holes for locating the handrails:

handrailholes

Attachments

Images (1)
  • handrailholes
Engineer-Joe posted:

I'm guessing that back when this was made, it had those steps sticking out from the pilot, that were outlawed? (something I heard).

Some of the roads that I see pictures of have the unused hose ends going into boxed steel on the bottom of the pilots where those steps would have been

(cut off?)

I'm just guessing but it appears that the pilots were modified and/or filled in differently? I see a more modern looking cut lever that is hinged at the outsides of the pilots.

Yeah, I saw a lot of variations in the pics I looked at. For example, here are a few with the step/pocket:

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/628595

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/244196

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/100562

And then these without, which are representative of what I modeled the design after:

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/618600

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/555456

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/413502

Mike DeBerg posted:

Perfect, Although I think most end rails mount on the front side of the pilot?

Yeah, I was just looking at that again, since you asked. Maybe I should reorient those holes so they go through the pilot front to rear, such that the handrail goes in with a 90 degree bend at the end. That might look a little better.

There may be clearance issues between the wire and the plow, as it it currently laid out, though. I will have to look at that.

Ok, got the fit check done this weekend, and it looks great. I made a couple minor tweaks to the model, but nothing that needs to be printed and checked again. This one is going to look really good on this model, I think.

Front and rear pilots on the body shell:

IMG_7002IMG_7003

From the underside:

IMG_7004IMG_7006

Coupler mounting boss needs to go away, even for the kadee 743:

IMG_7009

Clearance between the pilot and the trucks is.... as intended. 

IMG_7012

Stair details came out nice:

IMG_7013

Shapeways pages are up for the complete set as well as the detail parts. Enjoy!

 

Attachments

Images (7)
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