New Haven F-5 Consolidation Build

What a nice build, your 2-8-0 is so nice.

@86TA355SR posted:

Which brand rivet decals are you using?

Thanks.

Archer. I also used ones from Micro Mark a few years ago, and only remember that I thought they were far harder to use than Archer's.

~Chris

I made my own pilot support poles out of styrene and am now happy with them. Main bracket is made from sheet stock, a small tube, and a dowel. The pole itself is a dowel that fits snugly inside the tube.

Using the same mounting holes I drilled for the original poles:

Fitting the pole:

I used another piece of tube at the top of the pole to provide a visual transition onto the underside of the boiler. They are not attached to the boiler at all, but press up against the underside when the bracket is held flush to the top of the pilot (using blue painters' tape for the test fit). I'll paint these separately from the rest of the engine and add them after assembly to ensure they fit correctly.

~Chris

A bit of progress over the last week:

1. I received a new version of the steam dome, shorter and flatter up top. Looks much better to my eye.

2. Front headlight bracket was removed, a piece of the boiler casting that extended into the headlight cut off, and the marker lights cut off and the holes filled.

3. There was no room for a Kadee coupler box on the pilot, so I modified the coupler to mount to the existing cast-in box.

4. A new whistle and safety valves were mounted to this piece between the steam dome and cab.

~Chris

Chris, nice solution to the front coupler by adding a piece to catch the screw where the spring would reside. The regular length Kadee’s don’t have a lot of meat on the shank after you drill the hole. I never thought of modifying the shorter version.  I’ve gone to using the Atlas, Kadee lookalike. They are sold in a 4 pack without boxes. They offer a wider shank than the Kadee and a mold line that helps you find the center. You still need to file notches in them behind the coupler to get them to pivot properly in the cast pilot box if your doubleheading.

When you started this project. I went on the New Haven Google site to check out the photos.  While not the particular engine your modeling. They were used in the Walpole, Norwood area of MA. . just a few miles from where I grew up. I’m guessing they served Bird & Son in East Walpole which had constant rail traffic.

The details your adding are making this on par with a full brass engine with road specific details. I’ve enjoyed following along.

Nice job on the Kadee.

Thank you Dave and Harley!

Dave - the idea of filling in the short Kadee came accidently. I purchased the short coupler to see if I could shoehorn in the shorter coupler box, and after I realized I couldn't I just made use of what I already had. Working well so far.

The regular assignments of the 15 F-5's in the 1940s were the local freights out of Waterbury and Boston, and that most likely included the Walpole local that served Bird & Son. There was a great article in the Shoreliner on this industry a few years ago, in Volume 35 Issue 3: "Bird Mills -- East Walpole on the Wrentham Branch". I'll dig out a copy when I have a chance and see if there is an F-5 in there.

~Chris

The headlight shape stands out when looking at the side profile of an engine, so that is an important detail for me. I had designed and 3D printed some proper Pyle National Golden-Glow headlights for my New Haven 0-8-0 project a few years ago and reused them here. Similar to the headlight on a New York Central Hudson, it narrows to a rectangular cross section behind the reflector. Reflector area is painted silver, number boards white, hand brushed on over the airbrushed black coat.

A handrail was also added to the pilot; from its size and location, I can only assume it was for use when a crew member was riding the footboard (only allowed when the footboard was at the "rear" of the locomotive, as dictated by the direction of travel, according to New Haven rule S.92).

The marker lights on many New Haven engines were mounted on sheet metal or strap iron brackets that were riveted to the front of the smokebox, as opposed to holders on the smokebox sides. There are no brass castings (that I know of) that imitate this design, so I spent a while thinking of the best way to tackle it. I came up with a three piece solution: (1) a diamond cut out of sheet styrene to represent the sheet metal, (2) a piece of styrene tube with one side ground flat to glue to the styrene sheet, and (3) a brass caboose marker light with the sprue cut down to fit inside the styrene tube. Here are the parts laid out:

On the smokebox front, I sanded off two rivets equally spaced on each side to give a flat area for the brackets to glue to:

Brackets in place:

The next three photos show the marker lights themselves in place, along with all the front end details temporarily mounted to make sure I liked the look and nothing was too lopsided. A little lopsided is OK - this engine was nearing 40 years old at the time period I want to represent it, so a crooked detail or two speaks to that age. The firebox modifications, shorter steam dome (now painted), and whistle can also be seen:

Aside from some miscellaneous pipes I have to add back over the firebox area, this completes all the details I had in mind.

I'm considering representing the power conduit from the headlight over the smokebox front, but as the headlight and headlight bracket will be mounted last (long after paint, decals, and clear coating) I need to figure out how I would add it without risking damaging it or ruining the paint.

~Chris

As always Chris, your work is exemplary. I look forward to seeing you run this at the summer gathering. Bill

Chris- Just perused your build thread. Very impressive work.

Bob

I completed the tender today. After applying the rivet decals, two more coats of Tru Color black were applied to seal them in. Text decals are from Microscale, which still produces their New Haven Steam Locomotives set in O-scale. I clear coated first Tru Color Flat Clear (to seal the decals, same brand and paint type as the black) and then with Tamiya TS-80 for a more dulled flat finish.

The headlight lens is a Lionel postwar reproduction of just the right diameter - a thin layer of white glue around the edge holds it in place well. I designed the headlight to accept a 3 mm LED from the rear. Inside the tender is the Blunami board seen in previous posts. The tender shell is isolated from the frame on this model, so signal reception to the board is excellent.

~Chris

Looking good.  Where are you sourcing your rivet decals? 

I used Archer decals on this project. Majority of the tender rivets were from their "Railcar rivets (7/8 inch diameter)" set, using the already offset columns on the right hand side of the sheet.

No photos this post, but I put the first coat of primer on the boiler and pilot tonight.

~Chris

Thanks!  Very helpful.

Well Young Man, It looks like we will be seeing this engine running at the summer gathering. It will look great hauling cars around the layout. Bill

Final paint is well underway. Like the tender, all paint is Tru-Color.

Boiler in primer:

Then the smokebox front and a section of the sides were painted graphite. The entire smokebox would be graphite when fresh, but with neglected maintenance at the end of the steam era the sides were actually blackened with grime and soot, to the point where photographs show almost the same color as the rest of the boiler. The I mimicked that here by leaving only the boiler front as exposed graphite and allowing black overspray to come around the perimeter.

Graphite on the boiler front:

Overspray on the boiler front to dirty it up:

Painted boiler sides with the cab attached:

Painted pilot:

I applied the last coat of paint on the boiler with the cab and new steam dome attached to help blend everything in. I then put the whole painted shell under a heat lamp for the paint to fully cure. Here's where an issue arose - the heat lamp caused the paint on the 3D printed plastic dome to either evaporate or diffuse into the primer layer, exposing the primer. Lesson learned, do not heat cure the paint on a 3D printed part. I removed and repainted the dome afterward, so it is all fine now. Here you can see the paint damage around the top radius:

Decaling the cab and pilot is up next.

~Chris

It's coming together nicely, I can't wait to see it all done,

i’m following your project with great interest. I have a Weaver Consolidation in Great Northern livery and, as you did, would like to remove the stock headlight and replace it with one that more closely matches the GN prototype.

How exactly did you remove the stock headlight and headlight bracket from the smokebox front?

Did you remove the light and the bracket together as a single piece, or did you first remove the headlight from the bracket, and then remove the bracket from the smokebox front after that?

From your photos and my own inspection of the interior of the boiler/smokebox casting, it appears the headlight bracket is inserted thru a rectangular opening below the center of the smokebox front. Were you able to pull or push it out, and how difficult was it to do that?

I presume the stock bracket is fixed in place with some sort of adhesive, and I’d be interested in how you loosened (or softened or dissolved) the adhesive to facilitate removal of the bracket from the smokebox front.

Did you then reuse the stock bracket to support the new Pyle headlight and reinsert it into the existing bracket hole?

You did such a clean job in removing the bracket and headlight, I’d like to be able to duplicate your success in making this modification.

Thanks for posting this very interesting and informative thread!

RTR Mark

Hi Mark - the headlight bracket is just a press fit into the boiler front, and the headlight is a press fit into the bracket. After disconnecting the wires to the light bulb, I gripped the headlight bracket with pliers and wiggled it back and forth until it came free. I don't recall exactly, but did something similar to free the headlight from the bracket. I wasn't concerned with scratching the paint as I knew I was going to repaint it anyway.

~Chris

Thanks, Chris, for the info.  It's very helpful.

The pilot and cab have been decaled. "Observe Rule S92" was a helpful reminder to switching crews that riding the pilot step was not permitted when the locomotive was moving forward, or moving backwards with trailing cars (essentially if the crewman was at risk of being run over if they fell off the pilot). This text was taken off a Microscale decal sheet for New Haven road switchers, the rest of the lettering is from the NH Steam Locomotive sheet.

~Chris

The decaling came out really nice. Good color match.

Coming along nicely Chris. Please share videos when you run it on Bill's layout.

Bob

Done with three days to spare! Engine shell was clear-coated and then dulled down with Tamiya TS-80. Reassembly was a breeze. Headlight, LED, and headlight lens are the same as the tender discussed earlier. The blend of graphite on the front to dull black across the smokebox worked exactly as I wanted.

I did have a little mishap while breaking the engine in this evening - it was getting jammed in reverse, and while I was trying to diagnose the issue the engine got jammed in both directions. Only after opening it up and disassembling it down to the gearbox did I find the culprit was actually the front main rod screw worked itself loose and wedged itself behind the crosshead, conveniently hidden from a side view:

An angled low profile wrench quickly took care of it:

Engine has been reassembled and is being broken in again. Just like a real steam locomotive, some inspection and maintence will be needed on this one.

No videos for now - I'm waiting for Bill Parks this weekend where I can really show it off.

~Chris

You’re hired, report to Harmon at 7 am tomorrow morning,…..bring your tool box,….awesome work Chris!!….nice model,…

Pat .

That's a real work of art!! Great job!!

Very Well done Chris. This was more than just a few detail changes. Most impressive is the work done on the tender. I filed away how you did the coal bunker. Even such a little detail as the lettering on the pilot beam. Really makes the engine pop.
Looking forward to your next build.

Tremendous work. Thanks for a fun thread.

Now that is a smart looking engine. Great work.

Hey Chris, Great looking engine. And you finished in time for the rail guys gathering this weekend. I look forward to seeing it pulling a good string of cars,  Bill

Here are my final photos and videos from Bill Park's yesterday - my F-5 ran well for nearly 4 hours continuously. The Blunami control is fun and the sounds are dynamic and vary with grade/load, which was perfect for Bill's layout as trains are constantly changing levels.

I'm glad many people enjoyed this build, and I hope you'll all enjoy these videos as well. I have few more not directly related to this engine I'll be posting in one of the New Haven oriented threads.

~Chris

Very nice Chris, …it checks all the boxes! ….great work!..

Pat

Looks very nice.

Runs as good as it looks. Just exceptional work.

Chris, I’ve checked out a few installs on the Blunami. On a layout the size of Bill’s with tunnels and such. How does it do with reception as far as receiving commands ?  I have one Lionel with Bluetooth capability and gave it a try. Wasn’t to impressed.

Great job!

Hey Chris, Many thanks to you and Don Klose for operating the layout at the summer gathering of Model Railroaders. I was tied up smoking beef tenderloin and entertaining. The Consolidation ran beautifully all afternoon and was running opposite  a Lionel Mountain just outshopped by Harmon Shops. That also runs fine Pat. We had a nice group of attendees and wives totaling about 40. Many thanks as well to Rick Tota for singing songs including some railroad stuff . We are already planning next year.

@Bill Park posted:

Hey Chris, Many thanks to you and Don Klose for operating the layout at the summer gathering of Model Railroaders. I was tied up smoking beef tenderloin and entertaining. The Consolidation ran beautifully all afternoon and was running opposite  a Lionel Mountain just outshopped by Harmon Shops. That also runs fine Pat. We had a nice group of attendees and wives totaling about 40. Many thanks as well to Rick Tota for singing songs including some railroad stuff . We are already planning next year.

Sounds like you guys had a good time Bill!….you’re in good company with Don & Chris!…those guys are a class act, ….give hugs & kisses to Ms. Barbara for us!!…

Pat

@Dave_C posted:

Runs as good as it looks. Just exceptional work.

Chris, I’ve checked out a few installs on the Blunami. On a layout the size of Bill’s with tunnels and such. How does it do with reception as far as receiving commands ?  I have one Lionel with Bluetooth capability and gave it a try. Wasn’t to impressed.

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Dave - Bill's layout is about 50' long and 20' wide at the widest point, and I had no reception issues. I had better reception with my Blunami engine than the other engines running under Legacy (as the layout has ground plane issues due to the weaving overlapping track, and the remote has difficulty communicating with the Legacy base from the layout ends).

I've also tested it at home and I can hear commands received by the engine on my basement layout from the second floor (whistle, bell, etc). I do have the tender shell isolated from the frame so there isn't a huge shield around the board.

All Bluetooth isn't created equal now that it's been split into different protocols, frequencies, and power levels. SoundTraxx claims a range of 100' and has a good explanation of why in this video: https://youtu.be/CX9sEaUP9j0?l...79tmZC09Kf&t=496

~Chris